Helping out

I helped out with play practice again tonight. Since I don't attend all practices, I think I get a better feel of how far the kids have progressed. They have five full cast practices before opening night. I think Shrek Jr. is going to be great fun!

It's been a while since I've participated in Georgia Seitz's Online Tatting Class. When I saw this week's lesson, I knew I had to give it a try. The butterflies are tatted in size 80, and the rest of the snowflake is in size 20. I can hardly wait to see next week's snowflake!

Again, it took me two days to finish a Curds & Whey bookmark. There are a couple of glaring mistakes in this one, glaring to a seasoned tatter. I missed one join and joined in the wrong place on another pattern repeat. It's still a pretty bookmark, and I don't mind keeping this one for myself!

Guardian Angel

Where does the time go? I can't believe it's been over a week since I attended my first online tatting class with Georgia Seitz. I wasn't able to stay on for very long, but it was nice to see familiar names in the forum.

The pattern for the class was Guardian Angel by Kathy Hodge. What a fun tat this was!

There were two options for the angel's skirt, and I chose option #1. She was supposed to have beads in her hair, but my beads are put away someplace very, very safe... I'm not quite sure where! ;-)

I used size 20 Lizbeth #171, Green Coral Sea. Wouldn't it be fun to see a Christmas tree filled with angels in lots of beautiful colors? 

Tatting with Jan Stawasz

I managed to sneak in a little extra tatting time today, and since I've ordered Jan Stawasz's new book, I figured I should probably tat something from the first book!

I'm not overly fond of front side/back side tatting. I get lost, confused, and frustrated. Still, I decided to give it a go today. Yes, there are mistakes, but at least I tried. Now if I could only figure out how to consistently focus with my camera!

Now for the details...

Pattern ~ sample for Jan's Method
Book ~ Tatting theory and patterns by Jan Stawasz
Thread ~ size 40 Lizbeth, Cranberry Bush #181
Finished size ~ 3" long
Special tools ~
Penguin shuttle from Margaret Wall (purchased on eBay)
Holly shuttle from "'im in the garage" (sold in Jane Eborall's Etsy shop)
crochet hook from Grizzly Mountain Arts
picot gauge from Georgia Seitz

Happy New Year!

I made it all the way to 9:15! I'm such a night owl! ;-)

I did get up at 4:30. I just love the early morning hours. They're so relaxing, and I am able to organize my thoughts to get ready for the day.

So, have you made any new year resolutions? I always fail miserably, so I gave up resolving to accomplish anything years ago. I did have a conversation with daughter Andrea when we were in Minnesota, and I really like her resolution... look for joy every day. Now that's something I think I could get into!

On to my first tatting of the year...

I keep thinking that it would be nice to tat every piece from one book. I wonder how far I'll get before I'm distracted by someone's post, a new book, or a telephone call?

It occurred to me that there could be new tatters who might stumble across my little blog. Wouldn't it be nice to know all the details without having to ask questions? Maybe my resolution should be to provide more information. We'll see how that goes!

Motif #1 from Minitats: 69 Petite Motifs by Patti Duff (out of print)
finished size 1 1/4"
size 20 Lizbeth, Wedgewood Dk #656
Shuttle Brothers bobbin shuttle
Picot gauges from Georgia Seitz

Lessons learned...

...and there were several! First, it's a good thing I'm the only one who will be inspecting this piece carefully! There are at least three places where the stitches are twisted, and I didn't go back to fix them. My mother is right... a blind man on a galloping horse in the middle of the night will never know the difference!

I should have listened to Georgia Seitz! I bought the CD about tatting. I've watched it several times. But somehow, I missed out on a very important lesson until the last two rings of this glass mat... count twice, close once. If I had heeded this excellent advice, I probably could have made two Spinning Wheel glass mats in the time it took me to finish this one!

Wonderful thread is inspirational! Thank you so much Marilee (a.k.a. Yarnplayer) for your gorgeous thread! I love the way the color flows, and I think the hand-dying helps give the thread extra body.

Picots need to be consistent! As I was blocking this last night, I had difficulty finding four picots... they were too small! From now on, I will take the time to fix picots that are too small or too large.

Overall, I am very pleased with the final product. I think a tea cup from Sherry Pence (a.ka. MadMadPotter, LadyShuttleMaker) displayed on this glass mat would be beautiful! Hmmm... green or blue?