Productive day

 

This morning was our Tollway Tatters meeting, and it was a great one! We had 13 in attendance, and I managed to finish round 8 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2026.

I finished my doodad ornament of the day after lunch.

I have a nice little selection of doodad ornaments to show for the month of February. I still have quite a few doodads left, so I think I will continue tatting them in March.

Since it's the last day of the month, I decided to lay out the shuttles I used in February. There are 51!

I did order purple fabric for my yellow, gray, and purple wall quilt. Since it won't be here until either tomorrow or Monday, I decided to start on another project. I had a patriotic jelly roll in my stash, and I decided to make a lap quilt. I finished six blocks today, except for the binding. I'm going to bind each block, and when they're all finished, I will decide on a layout and hand stitch the blocks together. 

Tonight I need to look at crocheted edgings to finish off a table runner for a friend of mine. I believe her grandmother embroidered the table runner, and it does have a white crocheted edging. There are little yellow threads all around the doily, and Sue remembers it having a variegated yellow edging. I just need to find something that will work as an accent for the outer edge. Time for more research!

Another research day

 It took a while, but I finally found the video I was looking for!

This is the back-to-back technique, which is what I needed to use because of the mistake I made the other day. My blocks have been joined into rows, and I'm ready to add the sashing to the front side. I thought I wanted to use gray, but it looks too bland. So, I need to shop for some purple fabric, which I think will do the trick.

Since I spent so much time searching for the video, I didn't accomplish anything else today. That's okay. Tomorrow is Tollway Tatters, and I think I will get a lot of tatting done!

Research day

I didn't accomplish as much as I'd hoped today, because I spent a lot of time researching ways to join my quilt blocks. I thought I remembered what I had seen in videos, so I moved forward without double checking. That was a big mistake! Luckily, I didn't do too much damage, but I did spend quite a bit of time taking out stitch and looking for the video that I needed to watch. I may try again tomorrow. 

Because I spent so much time researching, I didn't reach my goal of tatting 2/3 of the way around round 8. It's good that I'm ahead of Renulek's postings!

Once again, I managed to tat a doodad ornament before dinner. I'm starting to see a pattern in my crafting day!

I had a sweet surprise from four senior girls today. We had decided to have a chocolate lunch, something we had done before. We each brought something chocolate and shared our favorites. The girls gave me this adorable fabric basket filled with two bags of chocolates, Dr. Pepper, tulips in a paper cone, a cute little duck, and a lovely card with a note from each of the four girls. This is something I will treasure for a very long time!

Not quite there

 

My goal today was to get halfway around round 8. I'm not quite there yet. I think I'll make my goal for tomorrow to be 2/3 of the way around. 3/4 seems like too much! 

Beginning round 8

Our power went out for a short time this morning, and since I couldn't use my sewing machine, I started tatting round 8 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2026. For this round I'm using size 20 Lizbeth #622 Pink Med.

After school, Dave and I went shopping for a new washer and dryer. I can't believe how expensive appliances have gotten. Still, it was something we needed. Just think of all the crafting supplies I could have purchased with that money!

Round 7

 

I really didn't think I'd have time to complete this round today, but because it was so simple I was able to finish. Round 7 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2026 is in size 20 Lizbeth #619 Baby Pink.

I also managed to tat a doodad ornament before dinner!

Rounds 5 & 6

 I planned on working on quilt blocks today, but that never happened.

Instead, I tatted two rounds of Renulek's Spring Doily 2026. Round 5 is in size 20 Lizbeth #633 Purple Dk, the same color as the first round. Round 6 is in size 20 Lizbeth #640 Antique Violet Med. 

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day, so I'm not sure how much I'll get done, but you know I'll try!

Round 4

 

I completed round 4 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2026 today. I really enjoyed tatting this round! I used size 20 Lizbeth #663 Bright Turquoise Dk.

I also completed my doodad ornament for the day. Not a bad day!

A good start

I got a good start on round 4 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2026. I had a little bit of a rough start. I joined the first ring in the wrong place two times. On the third ring I notice that I had wrapped the thread around the motif on the previous row. Of course I noticed it after I closed the ring!

Still, once I had the first pattern repeat completed, I realized that this round is going to be a fairly easy one to tat.

I did manage to tat a doodad ornament today. Any progress is good progress!

Round 3

 

Round 3 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2026 was a fun one to tat. I chose Lizbeth #130 Island Breeze for this round. I'm eager to see how it looks once I've tatted round 4.

I made two big mistakes in this round that took a couple of hours to fix. Because of that, I didn't get around to tatting any doodad ornaments today. It's a good thing I had several days when I tatted multiples!

Round 2

 

Today was one of those days that seemed to get away from me. Still, I managed to tat round 2 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2026. For this round, I chose Lizbeth #622 Pink Med. The pattern can be found for free on Renulek's blog, or you can purchase the full pattern in her Etsy shop. 

I chose to purchase the pattern, first of all to support a wonderful designer, and secondly so that I can proceed at my own pace. I tend to move ahead at the beginning, and then it seems that about halfway through I slow way down and fall behind. I know it's not a race, but I do like to keep up for as long as I can.

I only managed to tat one doodad ornament today. I'm okay with that. I'm building up a nice supply!

Taking the plunge

 

I had another successful craft day.

I started my day with tatting three doodad ornaments.

It feels good to tat up these little ornaments so quickly.

After that, I squared up my quilt blocks.

My next step will be to choose a layout. This one is a possibility, but I'll be playing around with these to make sure I like the layout. I have five other squares that can be used. I guess I just wasn't in the mood to arrange blocks today.

As for taking the plunge, I've tatted round 1 of Renulek's Spring Doily 2026. Round 1 is in size 20 Lizbeth #633 Purple Dk.

I've chosen my colors, and I've put everything together in a cute little fabric basket. Is anyone else starting this 20 round doily? It's very pretty!

Done!

Today was a day for big finishes. 

While looking for tatting supplies, I came across three Curds & Whey pieces that I had tatted. All they needed was to be blocked and put in bookmark sleeves. The pattern is from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konnor. Done!

I had two of these braided circle doodads left.

They are now ornaments. Done!

These flower shaped centers are what I was searching for. They were my favorite centers for my original doodads years ago.

My biggest accomplishment of the day was finishing the red, white, and blue tree. I spent about 5 hours today, and probably 15 hours total to complete this tree. It will be raffled off at the high school play, Bandstand, in mid-March. The raffle will benefit two groups, Adopt A Soldier and Project Headspace. 

Daughter Carol, who is the drama club director, asked for a red, white, and blue tree for the raffle. Of course I was flattered to be asked! When I sent her this video clip today, she told me she loves it. There is no great compliment in my opinion.

The best news is that I have another project checked of my list. Done!

All quilted!

 

It pays to get up early. Before breakfast, I had my first doodad ornament of the day tatted.

I also managed to quilt three blocks.

I'm feeling really comfortable with my walking foot.

Plus, I now have the quilting sequence memorized.

This afternoon, I got back to quilting.

The batting I needed to finish my blocks, arrived yesterday, so I was able to keep my pace.

I like the way the different colored borders change the look of the Hidden Wells blocks.

I can't decide if I like the purple or the yellow better.

My next step will be to trim the blocks to a uniform size.

After that, I will lay them out to decide on the final look. Then, I will be able to sew the blocks together.

Naturally, I finished my day of crafting the same way I started it, with a doodad ornament!

Wow!

I can't believe how much I accomplished today!

I managed to tat four doodad ornaments while thinking about how I was going to approach my quilting for the day.

I'm almost out of this style doodad, so I'll be looking through my stash to see which doodads I'll use to finish out the month.

The big advantage to tatting several in one day is that I get to use more of my shuttles!

Before starting to quilt, I needed to figure out how to use my new walking foot. Thank goodness for YouTube! I learned so much more from watching a video than I did from reading the instructions.

Once I figured out the walking foot, I needed to find my sewing machine bobbins. 

That took a while, but the good news is that I reorganized and decluttered five boxes from upstairs in the process.

I really had anticipated quilting these blocks differently.

Once I was sitting at my machine, I completely changed what I had planned to do.

This quilt will become a wall hanging to hang over a window in our new room addition.

I think I need 20 blocks to cover the window, but I'm not sure. I'll be able to tell more once I've joined the blocks.

I'm pleased with the number of blocks I quilted today. I could have quilted more if my back hadn't gotten tired. Now it's time to rest!