Takin' it slow

I just didn't feel like doing much today, maybe because it was so dreary. So, I did a little cleaning, a little Internet browsing, and a little bit of tatting. Probably the most ambitious part of my day was walking the porch, something I've been trying to make sure I do every day. I only walk in 15 minute increments, but I find that I feel better and sleep better if I take some time to walk!

I actually started this Ice Drop last night. This is my Pink Fudge pattern.

Next, I worked on my Spring Garden pattern.

Before making dinner, I finished my Minty Fudge pattern. All three are tatted in size 20 Lizbeth #657, Ocean Turquoise Dk. I love this color because it is so cheerful!

The drama's over

Well, the middle school drama club production of James and the Giant Peach is over. There will be more drama when the high school drama club begins their preparations for their spring production. I do love being on the fringes of the drama club!

Now the cleanup begins. Coffee makers have been cleaned and returned to the cafeteria. Serving utensils have been cleaned and returned to the caterer. Coffee cups have all been washed and will be put away by the end of the day. I still have coffee thermoses and flatware to clean and tablecloths to wash. It's going to be a busy day!

I'm ready to get back into Ice Drop tatting! It only took me three days to finish this one... drama club did take over my weekend! This is my Pink Fudge Ice Drop pattern. I made a mistake in the count on my chains in the first round, so I needed to use my steam iron to tame my tatting. I plan on paying closer attention to my patterns from now on!

Just checking

I wanted to double check to make sure this would work. My old iPad is seriously sluggish, but the new one works just fine.

Yay! It works!

Fox asked

Fox remembered that I had tried a blogging app on my iPad a while back. I had forgotten! With a little bit of looking, I found that the app I had used was called Blogo. I tried this morning, and Blogo seems to work no longer... sigh! The Blogger app doesn’t work either, as I found out from reading Jane Eborall’s post from Fringe.

After about a half hour, I had the brilliant idea to access my blog through Safari. Duh! Simple solution! It’s just like blogging from my computer! However, I can’t add pictures. On to the next step... when in doubt, ask! Now I’m working through Chrome. There are three little vertical dots in the upper right hand corner. I tapped in that, then on Request Desktop Site, and I now have full functionality, just like I have on my computer! There is a little bit of lag time, but nothing I can't deal with.

I haven’t allowed much time for tatting the past few days. Instead, I’ve been helping daughter Carol (aka Madam Director) with last minute preparations for the middle school production of James and the Giant Peach. I’m pretty good at last minute shopping and costume alterations, if I do say so myself. Las t night was opening night, and it was wonderful! Dave and I will be heading off to help set up for dinner theater as soon as Carol calls..

I made a little progress on my sister-in-law’s runner, and I’ve made very few mistakes!

This morning I started another Ice Drop. I feel like I need to play catch-up!

Trying something new

I've been collecting Renulek's Christmas patterns, and I finally decided to start one. This is the first round of Bubble 3D-1. This is my first venture into tatting around a Christmas ball!

I managed to tat one Ice Drop today. The cold weather is heading in, and I'm really feeling it in my fingers. So, I'm taking the tatting very slowly!

Losing track of time

I haven't been really busy the last few days, and sometimes not being busy means that I lose track of time. That will change starting tomorrow... daughter Carol's drama club is performing James and the Giant Peach this weekend, and I am her go to person for last minute everything... a task I thoroughly enjoy!

I'm in the mood to tat with white!

I figure any glass gem color goes with white, and it's easy to choose a ribbon color that works well.

I do love working with the colored threads, but I'm pretty sure there will be people looking for Ice Drops that look like winter. Nothing says winter like white!

I finished my Easiest Ice Blossom (Karey Solomon's pattern), from our Tollway Tatters gathering this past Saturday. I don't normally like tatting with size 10 thread, but it's what Karey's pattern calls for, and it works perfectly for this design!

I played around with thread today. This pattern needs tweaking, but I think it could be the start of something good!

A fun-filled Saturday!

We had a wonderful Tollway Tatters meeting yesterday!

We had a nice sized group! From left to right: Denise, Sue Anna, Barbara.

I don't like selfies, but here you go... Marilee on the right, me on the left.

Ana and Mary...

Nancy, Marilee (again), and Carol.

I believe Nancy said she was working on a necklace.

Sue Anna brought projects for us, and this is Ana's.

Mary is working on these lovely motifs.

Carol is working on an edging from an old tatting book that has been reproduced as part of the Handy Hands newsletter. I love that Carol keeps a notebook of her work.

Barbara always comes prepared to tat!

Somehow, I missed taking pictures of Sue Anna's, Denise's, and my projects. Denise brought project bags filled with glass gems for each of us. Sue Anna brought all the goodies to tat Karey Solomon's "Easiest Ice Blossom." Mary decorated glass gems for each of us, and Marilee brought along her Spooky thread in sizes 20, 40, and 80. We don't always have goodies for each other, but everyone is very appreciative when there are surprises!

My newest shuttle from Emiko Suenaga arrived yesterday!

Both sides are beautiful!

I managed to tat two Ice Drops today.

I decided I needed some with white thread for Christmas in the Village. All in all, it was a wonderful weekend for tatting!

Test tatting for Robin

I was extremely flattered when Robin Perfetti contacted me and asked if I would be willing to test tat one of the patterns from her newest ebook, Snowflake Variations. Of course I said yes!

I liked the Small Crystal Snowflake pattern so much, I made three in a row!

I printed off my copy of the 40 page book this morning, and it is fantastic! I love that Robin gives both written and diagrammed instructions, making it very easy to follow. The illustrations are large, and the instructions are detailed.

I wonder if Perfetti translates as perfection? 😄

Oops! I did it again!

I forgot to blog yesterday. I didn't really have much to record.

I've been working on my sister-in-law's runner. I'm almost finished with my first ball of Lizbeth Linen Med. I think I will need two more balls to finish.

I finished another pendant in DMC Diamant. I do enjoy working with this thread!

Lazy day

Dave asked me what I did today, and my answer was, "Apparently, not much." I could not think of what I had accomplished!

I did manage to tat one Ice Drop pendant in Ocean Turquoise Dk. I now have the dozen I wanted for Christmas in the Village. Any more that I make will just be icing on the cake!

I did work on a Swedish band pattern today. The first two pattern repeats did not look good at all, but I did develop a rhythm by the third pattern repeat. I think I'm going to enjoy weaving this band!

Tropical Fruit

I spent yesterday and today playing with Lizbeth #107, Tropical Fruit. My goal is to have a dozen pendants for Christmas in the Village, which I will easily achieve.

I love how the choice of beads or glass gems can change the look of an Ice Drop.

I also love playing with ribbon colors!

I have another treeful of Ice Drops ready for Christmas in the Village...

and one more pendant. I suppose I should start tatting in Christmas colors!

Shopping day

Dave and I went shopping at IKEA today. It's about an hour away, so shopping took up a good chunk of our day. We bought some benches that I've long admired, and we put them together as soon as we got home.

I did manage to finish another pendant. I had dreams of accomplishing so much more today. Oh,well!

Tollway Tatters!

Save the date... October 21 Tollway Tatters will be meeting at the Hinsdale Oasis on 294 at 10 a.m. If you are in the Chicago area, we would love to have you join us! Look for tie-dyed t-shirts and tatting supplies. We try to sit between Starbucks and Panera Bread. Sue Anna said she's bringing a carful with her!

At the local level, yesterday was a snoozer! Thursday night I stayed up to watch the Cubs/Nationals game, which didn't end until 11:45. I usually hit the hay around 9, so I was up way past my bedtime. I managed to sleep in until almost 5:30 yesterday morning, and I did complete all my normal chores. However, I found myself taking several cat naps throughout the day. I guess I'm not the party animal I thought I was! ;-)

In between laundry loads, I managed to tat one more Ice Drop in size 20 Lizbeth Ocean Turquoise Dk. Have I told you that I love this color?

I made a little progress with my Curds and Whey piece (Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior). I have about 3" to go for my project. I hope to reveal it next week!

More turquoise...

I decided to stick with Ocean Turquoise Dk today. The frosted glass gem is slightly larger than the ones I usually use, so I increased my stitch count on the top rings to 7-7-7. I also increased the chain count to 9. It worked out perfectly!

I didn't work for a long time on my Curds and Whey piece, but it is getting longer. I'm starting to develop a rhythm with this pattern. It seems that once I really get a pattern, I can come back to it months later and remember what worked for me. I think this is going to work perfectly for...

Ha ha ha! I'll reveal what it's for later! 😊

Ocean Turquoise Dk

Cleaning and reorganizing in the bedroom is pretty much done. There are a couple of drawers I need to go through, but that won't take long. 

As before, I made sure I took time for tatting breaks. Today my thread choice was Lizbeth #657, Ocean Turquoise Dk. I love this color!

I've attempted Curds and Whey from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior many times, but this was the first time I've managed to tat more than two pattern motifs. I did make a couple of joins in the wrong place that needed to be corrected, but that was pretty easy to do. Now I wonder why I had so much trouble with this pattern in the past!

Cleaning

I'm in cleaning and reorganizing mode, not a usual state of mind for me. I've been working on our bedroom yesterday and today. It seems I'm not content to clean, I feel the need to reorganize everything, so it takes much longer than it needs to. I guess that really doesn't matter, does it?

 I have been pacing myself, allowing time for tatting of course! I finished the pendant I started yesterday in Karey Solomon's Distant Mountains.

Then, I decided to tat my Minty Fudge pattern in Karey's thread. It sure is pretty!

I received another anniversary shuttle from Emiko Suenaga today. Receiving a new shuttle always makes my day!

HDT

I love hand-dyed thread!

Today I started and Ice Drop using Karey Solomon's Distant Mountains. Isn't it gorgeous?

I didn't finish, because I wasn't home much today. Denise and I went out to lunch at the Chatterbox Cafe. This is the third cafe we've tried in Kankakee County. We've kind of set a goal to visit as many area cafes as possible. We haven't been disappointed so far!

After lunch we went shopping at JoAnn Fabrics and Hobby Lobby. We each found some threads to experiment with, and we also found glass gems for Ice Drops. We both have plenty of thread and glass gems, but it's so easy to get inspired by new colors!

Oops!

I was watching baseball last night, and I forgot to blog! What can I say? I guess I was distracted. 😁

I received two beautiful shuttles in the mail today. These celebrate Emiko Suenaga's one year anniversary of decorating and selling shuttles. Aren't they pretty?

I spent yesterday morning helping daughter Carol with costume selection for the middle school production of James and the Giant Peach. Most of the kids came in to school to show what they had from home, and then they looked for other items they needed from the Drama Club costume stash. It was a lot of fun watching them go through costumes!

I honestly don't know what happened to the rest of the day. Could running to the grocery store, putting together a meat pie, and talking to Mom really have taken the whole afternoon? I guess time really does fly when you're having fun!

Anyway, the baseball game started about 4:30, and I managed to tat one Ice Drop during the game. The Cubs lost, but it was still a good game.

I love the soft colors of this Ice Drop in size 20 Lizbeth Blue Ice. I think I might just have to keep it for myself!