Busy day

 

I accomplished a lot today. First, I finished tatting another bookmark, "Curds & Whey" from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. This was the last of "Harvest Moon" hand-dyed thread from LadyShuttleMaker.

The glue basting dried for more than 24 hours, and the five blocks that I quilted went very smoothly. The only negative is that on the purple color on the left, the glue shows through. Out of all the squares in these blocks, that color is the only one that showed this. Since the glue is supposed to wash out, I think all will be fine.

Late this afternoon, I finished sewing the two sets of strips together. I only have three strips to go. I really like the way this looks!

Curds & Whey

 

Have you noticed that I've been finishing off each skein of hand-dyed thread with Mary Konior's Curds & Whey? That's because this is a simple one shuttle pattern that looks good no matter where I end it. I've even been saving small pattern repeats to use as embellishments. Where or when I use them has not been determined!

I wasn't really in the mood to sew yesterday. Another book has caught my interest, and I wanted to be lazy and have another reading day. However, I also have a strong desire to see how this quilt is going to turn out. So, I spent the better part of the afternoon binding the next set of blocks.

I've watched videos on yet another way of attaching the binding, but the finished look is different, so I won't be experimenting with this quilt. I do have an idea for my next quilt!

Bits of lace

I haven't decided what I want to tat next, so I've been using up thread left on shuttles to tat bits of Mary Konior's Curds & Whey from Tatting with Visual Patterns. This is a great carry along pattern for me. All I need is a shuttle wound with thread, and little bits of time. These two pieces aren't long enough for bookmarks, but I'm sure I'll find some use for them.

Yesterday was cool and sunny, which put me in the mood to pick up my knitting. This is the Bramwell shawl pattern that I started back in June. I love the yarn, a silk/alpaca blend from Blue Sky Alpaca. I'm on the last pattern repeat of chart #2.

Yes, we have some warmer weather headed our way at the end of the week. However, with overall cooler temperatures coming soon, I anticipate many happy hours of knitting!

Bookmark day

I didn't finish a bookmark yesterday. I forgot to join on the next to the last ring, and it seemed to take forever to open that ring. I worked on it last night and this morning, and then successfully tatted the final two rings.

This is Braid: Five Rings from Robin Perfetti's Four Dozen Tatted Bookmarks. I used size 20 Lizbeth #679 Lime Green. As I'm going through these patterns, I'm realizing that if I had understood math a little better when I was in school, I might have been able to design lots of patterns. Thank goodness there are designers like Robin who experiment and then offer up there designs for the rest of us!

When I became frustrated with trying to open that little ring last night, I shifted to another Curds & Whey bookmark. I then finished it this morning. The thread is size 20 Lizbeth #103 Tutti Fruitti.

Since I'm on a roll with bookmarks, I decided to try out the next Robin Perfetti design, Frills. This is also in size 20 Lizbeth. The color is #107 Tropical Fruit. I think I could have made this one or two pattern repeats longer, so I may try tatting it again. 

We had a wonderful Tollway Tatters meeting this morning. Those of us who weren't fortunate enough to attend Palmetto Tat Days were able to hear about the classes and facility from those who did attend. It would be fun to make it back there. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what the coming year brings.

I think it's time to start another bookmark!

14 years

It's hard to believe that I started my blog 14 years ago on my 55th birthday. Where has the time gone?

Today was bookmark day, and I chose to work with Daffodil Dell by Tatskool. This is the Workbasket pattern I love minus the picots.

When I want to work with just one shuttle, I love tatting Curds & Whey from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior.

Finally, I decided to try tatting Christina from  Tatted Bookmarks ~ cross-shaped by Lene Bjorn. This time I left off the picots for a totally different look.

I still have a little bit of Daffodil Dell left, but I'm pretty sure I'll need to choose another color tomorrow!

Too late

I've found that I prefer blogging at night. That way I can keep a record of what I've accomplished in a day. That didn't happen last night, because I finished my last tatted piece too late. I just didn't have any energy left for blogging!

I started my day with another Workbasket cross in size 40 Lizbeth #117 Country Side. I left the picots off on this one, and I really like the sleek look. I laid the cross on a large white envelope, because I knew it would disappear on my Kindle cover. I like using my Kindle as a backdrop because of the texture, but I've realized that it seems to suck the life out of some colors.

With that in mind, I re-photographed yesterday's Curds & Whey bookmark. Now you can see more of the true beauty of this color combination from Tatskool!

I spent some time de-cluttering upstairs in the morning. Then, I loaded up the back of the car with items I no longer could use, and Mom and I headed to Goodwill. We visited daughter Carol for lunch and then headed back home. I was thrilled to see that Victoria Ong's new needle lace book had arrived in the mail!

This is Victoria's third book on needle lace, and I am thrilled to have it! It is very detailed and beautifully done. I've had the pleasure of taking a class with Victoria, and she has attended Tollway Tatters. She is a very patient teacher, and I am happy that she took the time to write three wonderful books on needle lace!

It took me until late afternoon to finish the Workbasket cross. I'm still adjusting to tatting with size 40 thread. I love working with it, but I haven't developed a feel for working with it, so it takes me quite a bit longer than when I use size 20. After dinner, I decided to tat another donut necklace. The donut is 5/8" donut and it works well with the size 40 thread.

My friend Sue has been using these 3/4" plastic rings in her sun catchers. They also work well with the size 40 thread. 

So, why did I switch from hand-dyed threads to Lizbeth? When I'm experimenting, I prefer to use the Lizbeth. It's less expensive. Once I know my ideas will work, I feel better switching to the hand-dyed threads. Truth be told, I have way more thread than I will ever be able to use (both Lizbeth and hand-dyed). Still, I hate to be wasteful!

Busy weekend

We had a very busy weekend with work around the house and spending time with family. Saturday was very hot and humid, but Sunday was absolutely gorgeous!

Somehow, I can't stop myself from collecting tatting supplies, and I love collecting bags. This weekend I received two of Jane Eborall's Roly Poly tatting bags. These are perfect for carrying around in my purse! I was only going to order one, the one on the left. However, those cute little bugs were calling to me, so I had to have two.

I finished the last of my skein of the pretty blue/green. I didn't quite have enough thread to go around the button. It still makes a cute pendant!

Moving on to another hand-dyed thread, I was in the mood to tat another Curds & Whey bookmark from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. The thread is Just Daffodils by Tatskool. I could not get a good picture of this thread. It is absolutely gorgeous!

I love the way the colors flow on the Workbasket cross pattern. I am so glad I decided to start using my hand-dyed threads. Life's too short to save everything for something special. Sometimes we need to enjoy what we have right now!

True confessions

I must confess that not all of the tatting I'm posting about today was done today. I finished the Curds & Whey bookmark on Friday, but forgot to take it out of my tatting bag.

I also found another December 1 button ornament in my tatting bag. I guess I wasn't too careful about checking on Friday!

However, I did tat the December 2 and December 3 button ornaments today. I think the December 2 in the middle is my favorite of the three!

Back to tatting

Today was just a half day of school for me, so I was able to get in some quality tatting time. I started with a bookmark in a new color, Lizbeth #712 Kelly Green Med.

After that, I went back to working on button ornaments in Lizbeth #109 Wild Flower. These are like candy. They work up quickly, and they're so cheerful!

31

 

I worked on bookmarks at school today.

I managed to tat two.

These are the bookmarks I've finished so far. I managed to tat 31 out of the ball of size 10 Elisa. The three colorful ones at the bottom. They're in size 20 thread. There is one more that I'm using right now for a grand total of 35. I'm very pleased that I was able to get 31 bookmarks out of one ball of thread!

Spring break

Today was the first day of spring break for me! I celebrated by doing laundry and doing some organizing upstairs. I didn't get too carried away, but I do feel good about what I accomplished.

My big accomplishment of the day was finishing round 10 of Renulek's Spring 2021 doily. I'm eager to start round 11!

I didn't get any ice drops or button ornaments tatted today, but I did manage to finish another bookmark. My ball of green thread is close to being used up. I'm guessing I have three or four bookmarks worth of thread left. Time will tell!

New shuttles

 

Opening the mail was fun today, because I received new shuttles from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. They're so much prettier in person!

Today I decided to tat two bookmarks, one in size 10 and one in size 20. I personally prefer the one in size 20, but the size 10 bookmarks are much quicker to finish!

The end

 

This is the last of my buttons from my tatting friend Hanneke. 

I think they look wonderful together on this little tree. I guess it's time to move on to a new project!

Volleyball

I didn't accomplish a whole lot today, mainly because I enjoyed watching granddaughter Ella play in a volleyball tournament... virtually! My internet connection wasn't the greatest, but it was enjoyable to watch anyway. Granddaughter Lily has a tournament tomorrow, so I may be glued to the screen again!

I experimented with olive bread today. Mom and I love it! Dave isn't a fan. Lucky for him, we still have some triple cheddar and pepper bread left!

My only tatting today was a bookmark. I guess it's better than nothing!

Progress

 

I'm making all sorts of progress. Today I managed to tat a bookmark and a button ornament, something I haven't managed to do in several days!

I also finished round 9 of Renulek's Spring 2021 doily. I took the time to pin this round before giving it a shot of steam. I wanted to make sure I had everything just right for starting round 10!

Slow start to the week

I'm off to a slow start with my tatting. Dave finished revamping our clothes closet this weekend, so my Saturday and Sunday were filled with sorting, pitching, cleaning, folding... you get the picture.

I did tat a bookmark at school this morning, but this afternoon was spent with more sorting and organizing.

Remember the year I had most of the third graders tatting? Those kids are now sophomores in high school. The other day Shelby showed me a tatted bookmark she purchased at Barnes and Noble. Isn't it adorable? She said she bought it because it reminded her of learning to tat in third grade. Does anyone know where the pattern is from? If it's for sale, I would love to purchase it. I think it would be a great gift for high school book lovers!

Bread

I am having way too much fun baking bread, and it's showing up on the scale! I'm going to continue baking bread, because I really enjoy it. However, starting tomorrow I'm going to be much more careful about how much I consume!

Yesterday was a tatting disaster. Can you imagine that happening twice in one week? So, today I went back to bookmark and ornament tatting, sort of a tatting reset!

 

Mission accomplished!

 

I finished cutting apart Dad's shirts this afternoon. Now they're all pressed and ready to be cut into squares for the quilt I'd like to make. We'll see how long it takes me to get to that phase!

My only tatting today was another Curds & Whey bookmark. I guess it's better than nothing!

Light bulb moment!

I don't know why it took me so long. I've seen the idea in many tatting books, but it took all this time for me to realize the benefit of having sample tatting pieces!

It took a question from a Facebook friend for the light bulb to come on. So, yesterday I tatted the back side of my basic Ice Drop in several sizes, all in size 20 thread. The top one has rings of 4-4-4-4 and chains of 6-6. The middle one is rings of 5-5-5-5 and chains of 7-7. The bottom one is rings of 6-6-6-6 and chains of 8-8. 

I'll probably make one smaller one with rings of 3-3-3-3 and chains of 5-5 and one larger one with rings of 7-7-7-7 and chains of 9-9 just so I'm prepared!

With these samples on hand, I can choose a shank button or glass gem and decide which stitch count will work best before getting started. I don't know whether I should feel brilliant for figuring this out, or foolish because it took me so long!

I like using this back with shank button, because it helps disguise the shank. As you can see, the base of the each ring just goes over the edge of the button. I think this size will work out great!

Mom asked if I'm going to mount the samples to a piece of paper or card stock. I think that's a great idea, and once I have all my samples made I may do that. For now, I'll just tuck them into my little sewing tin that I carry in my tatting bag.

My Roly-poly bag from Jane Eborall is perfect for take-along tatting. Jane, are you still making and selling these? I know I have at least three. This one is my favorite!

Another Facebook friend asked how I get my tatted bookmarks into the sleeves neatly. The sleeves come with a paper insert.

I pull the paper insert out part way and set the tatting on the paper. Then I gently slide the paper and tatting back into the sleeve. Sometimes this goes smoothly, and sometimes it's a bit fiddly. I'm not sure why!

When the tatting is close to where I'd like it, I start to gently pull out the piece of paper. With a little bit of tapping on the plastic, I can get the tatting to the exact spot where I want it to stay. I can then pinch the bottom of the tatting to hold it in place while I slide out the paper insert.

I add the tassel, and the bookmark is finished!