Another oops!

Daughter Joanne asked if I would tat a bookmark for her as well as one for Sophia. I love getting tatting requests from family members

Feeling confident after tatting Robin Perfetti's Five Petals Bookmark, I set out to tat another reversing the colors. As I was blocking the second bookmark, I noticed that I joined the last Star Flower motif in the wrong place. It looks a little unbalanced, but now I know to be careful of where my joins are. I guess I'll have to tat another... oh, darn!

I haven't posted the last few days, because I've been busy adjusting to my new schedule. Yesterday morning I finished Janko's afghan... three down, four to go!

I took the time to sort yarn, and came up with ideas for the next four afghans. This one is Ella's. The pattern is Lunar Crossings Rectangle Blanket from Crochet Kim. The yarn is Lion Brand Mandala, "Pixie." I had to pay attention to the set up, but now that the pattern is established, I think it's going to be fairly easy to crochet.

On the chicken front, we've had our first blue and green eggs!

Out of excuses

For the past five weeks, I've had plenty of excuses for setting aside my tatting, crocheting, weaving, sewing, and knitting. After all, I had grandchildren to play with! However, my excuses went back to Minnesota today. It's been very quiet and a little lonely around here today, but I can't be too sad. I get to see them again at the end of the month when I attend the Twin Cities Tatters retreat!

Papa got a little bit of quality time in with the grandkids before they left.

He has a magic iPad. When he opens it up, the kids come running!

It was a little bit tricky for him to answer emails, but I think he was okay with it.

June was a sad month for Ice Drops. I only managed to tat 12. I'll try to do better in July!

Janko's Christmas present is coming along pretty well. When this afghan is finished, I will have three Christmas presents done. I like getting started early!

I set aside Renulek's Wiosna 2018 for too long. I no longer had this round committed to memory. I did manage a few pattern repeats, though!

I finished the snail from Wally Sosa's Itty Bitty Zoo book. I only have one pattern left to test tat, and I'm hoping to start that tonight so that I can finish it tomorrow. Please don't go by my picture. I don't have the Beaded Twist & Fold Picot down, so my eyes aren't correct on this. I'm hoping that there is someone at Tat Days this weekend who can show me how to do this. The snail is so cute! He deserves to have proper eyes!

Wally's ebook will be available the end of this week, with a printed copy available at the end of the month.

Dave needed to do some shopping in Kankakee this afternoon. The cushion for our porch swing was ruined several years ago, and I could never find one that I liked. I really didn't like the last one. I felt like I hit the jackpot when I saw this blue one! I think I'll go out and sit on my swing for a little while before starting dinner. That pretty blue cushion is calling me!
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Crochet day

There was a beautiful breeze all day today, and the temperature was right around 80° for most of the day. It was the perfect day to sit and crochet on the front porch, so that's what I did! I made good progress on my grandson's granny square afghan. This will be his Christmas present. When I finish this, I'll have three Christmas presents done!

I am thrilled with my newest shuttles from Grizzly Mountain Arts! Dave made this shuttle and Jo painted it. It's as smooth as silk and wonderful to hold.

Not too long ago, Dave had a thistle shuttle listed. I missed out on it, but I was lucky enough to get this one. I love the way one leaf is folded down!

I would be thrilled to meet this talented couple, but that's not likely. I guess I'll just have to be happy with collecting their wonderful works of art!

Rainy Sunday

We had showers on and off all day today. The kids didn't seem to mind. They played with their toys and watched Moana, their current favorite movie.

I'm in the mood to sew, so while Joanne and the kids napped, I prepared fabric for some lined drawstring bags.

I also started a new Granny Square afghan. This one is in Lion Brand Mandala, Serpent.

I'm going to have to do some serious tatting if I'm going to tat 30 Ice Drops in June. I only have four done, and it's already the 10th!

Variety is the spice of life!

Before heading off to school this morning, I worked on my granny square afghan. Yes, I was at school again today, and I will be tomorrow and Friday. This week I've been subbing for teachers who are visiting other school districts to gather new ideas to use in their classrooms, something that was encouraged when I first started teaching, but somehow got lost over the years. I'm glad to see the idea of visiting other schools coming back!

One of the high school teachers requested a Christmas Red Ice Drop. Wouldn't you know, all I could find this morning was Victorian Red. I'm sure I'll find my Christmas Red soon, but for now this will have to do.

I worked on my sock after school. I think I'm ready to turn the heel!

Spring at last!

It finally is starting to feel like Spring around here. We still needed to wear light jackets, but there was a pleasant warm breeze and the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day!

Dave decided he wanted to have chickens this year. While he was outside building a home for them, I accomplished a lot indoors.

In anticipation of a beautiful day, I started out by tatting an Ice Drop in Spring colors!

It's been a long time since I've done any spool knitting. I actually started this yesterday, and then I doubled the length today. Spool knitting is very relaxing, and yes, I do have an idea for using my new found fiber fun. I'll let you know if my idea works!

I finished my Granny Square afghan today. This is child sized for one of my grandchildren.

I enjoyed working on the Granny Square afghan so much, I started another right away!

Dave has been asking me to make curtains for the treehouse for a couple of years. I finally gave in and cut out the fabric today. I think curtains are out of place in a treehouse, but Dave is busy making the inside nice for the grandkids, so I guess it won't hurt to do my part. I wonder what the grandkids will ask him to put in this year? They already have a chalkboard and chalk, a captain's wheel, and a slide. I'm guessing they'll want a table and benches or chairs of some sort so that they can sit out there and pretend. They'll be visiting before we know it, so I'm sure we'll have fun fixing the place up!

Liz Metallic Gold Dust

Have you guessed that I'm trying out all of my new metallic threads? Since I'm multi-crafting these days, an Ice Drop a day is a great way to keep tatting on my mind!

I'm sticking with the basic Ice Drop pattern for these tests. I do love Gold Dust! The shuttle is another of my beauties from LaCossette. She has a beautiful Red Glass Tiles shuttle in her shop, but I'll have to pay all my bills at the first of the month before ordering another shuttle. I'm trying to be good! 😉

I made pretty good progress on round 8 of Renulek's Wiosna 2018. It's all about setting goals for myself!

I didn't spend as much time on the phone today, and my rounds are getting longer, so it doesn't look like I made much progress on my Granny Square afghan. I'm using Lion Brand Mandala. It's kind of nice to have color changes without having to change yarns!

Today I learned how to use my mini warping reel from The Woolery. It's about time! I've had this for a couple of years. The design of the ones available now are slightly different. I've only used warping pegs before today, and I'm so glad Mom kept encouraging me to try my warping reel. It's so fast!

I've put the warp on the loom, but it's not threaded through the heddles yet. For some reason, I had a terrible time understanding how to use the reel and how to put the warp on the loom. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out both, but it took a morning and an afternoon call to Mom to finally put two and two together. I'm afraid of messing up because I'm brain weary from all the thinking I've done today. So, threading the loom will have to wait until morning when I'm sure my brain fog will have cleared!

Liz Metallic Violet

I had a lot that I wanted to accomplish today, so I set little goals for myself. As a result, I accomplished a lot!

First, I wanted to experiment with another color of Liz Metallic.

I love this color! Violet is a beautiful, deep purple. I wish the color and sparkle showed up well on the screen. My tatting was a little off today, so I noticed some uneven stitches as I was adding the ribbon. That's totally my fault, not the fault of the thread.

I used my newest shuttle from La Cossette. I love the bright colors! I've read that other tatters prefer to use a bobbin shuttle when working with metallic threads, so I decided I should give it a try. I can see where winding and unwinding the thread could damage these threads. I'm happy to report that this shuttle was a perfect fit for working with Liz Metallic.

Talking to my daughters, my mom, and a few close friends is part of my daily routine. I don't talk to all of them every day, but I do spend enough time on the phone that it would be easy for me to feel guilty about wasted time. So, I worked on my granny square afghan while chatting. It's an easy way to make progress!

I'm starting to feel like I'm falling behind on Renulek's Wiosna 2018, so I spent a good hour and a half with it today. Just think, I could have been finished with round 9 if I hadn't snipped of round 8. It's okay, though. I'm much happier with the way the round is fitting the second time around.

I made a meat pie for dinner, and while it was baking, I worked on my Park Avenue afghan. I feel like this one's working up quickly!

In addition to all of this, I went to a retiree's lunch today. It's great to get together with people I worked with for so many years. After that, daughter Carol and I went grocery shopping, and then I headed home. I think I may fall asleep in my chair tonight!

Liz Metallic Turquoise Green

My new thread arrived today! I'll start by saying that I'm not a big fan of metallic threads, mainly because they hurt my fingers. This thread is not an exception to the rule as far as that goes. However, it is an incredibly nice metallic thread, and I do plan on tatting many Ice Drops with it!

I decided to start with a basic Ice Drop. I'm not sure if this thread will work well with multiple picots. Time will tell. Yes, I will try tatting one with lots of picots!

I think this thread would be great for those who like to tat earrings. It holds its shape well, and the colors are very rich. I wish I knew how to capture the color with my phone camera!

As I was tatting with Turquoise Green, I kept thinking that it would make a beautiful peacock. 😀

I finished the half of the first panel of my Park Avenue afghan. While working on it, I started thinking about granny squares, and look what happened! Yes, I am multi-tasking again!