January 12 button ornament

 

This ornament is a mistake. It is not at all what I had envisioned, and now that it is finished, I can't remember what I had originally intended!

January 12 Button Ornament

Materials:

5/8" four hole button

size 20 thread

2 shuttles wound continuous thread method

Symbols:

+ join

- joining picot

Round 1:

Ring 3 - 3 + 3 - 3, reverse work (join to button)

Chain 6, reverse work

*Ring 3 + 3 + 3 - 3, reverse work (join to picot on previous ring and to button)

Chain 6, reverse work**

Repeat from * to ** around, with three joins in each hole, joining final chain to base of 

first ring.

Round 2:

Ch 7, lock join to base of next ring

Repeat around, reverse work after last lock join

Round 3:

Ring 12, reverse work

Chain 18, lock join to base of ring

Chain 7, lock join to base of next ring, reverse work

Repeat around. Cut, tie, and hide ends.

To be honest, I finished designing the button ornament yesterday. Still, I already had one for the 11th, so I saved it for the 12th.

Today, I focused on using glass gems, buttons, and thread that I had in my tatting bag that I carry to school. I'm almost out of this ball of ecru thread. I may have enough left for one or two more ornaments!

Ecru

 We headed back to school today! It was great to see students and staff members after the holiday break.

Ecru is not my favorite color, but I have been enjoying using it to tat around donuts! Today's tatting was inspired by my Doodle Ice Drop.

Speaking of Ice Drops, I decided it was time to get back into tatting Ice Drops. These glass gems are a little larger than I like working with, but I was able to use my original basic pattern by increasing my stitch count from 4-4-4-4 to 5-5-5-5. 

My Christmas tree for next year's fund raiser arrived today. I'm going to have great fun decorating it with tatted ornaments!

Keepin' it simple

I still need quite a few Ice Drops for Christmas gift giving, so I decided to stick with the basic pattern. I can tat them so much more quickly! 

End of the green

 

I used up the last of my green thread and green ribbon today. Once again, I underestimated the amount of thread left. I had hoped to get two or three Ice Drops out of the remaining thread, and I managed to get four! I did have to use the shoelace trick and do some finger tatting to finish up. I guess I'm free to move on to another color!

2 + 2 = loads of tatting fun!

Today was a total tatting day. I haven't had one of those in quite a while!

I'm on a roll with Laura Blanton's Coronavirus Button Cross.

And, it feels good to be tatting Ice Drops again.

I enjoyed the first cross so much, I decided to tat another.

The same thing happened with the Ice Drop. Mom asked what I'll be doing with these. I have a feeling they'll end up as Christmas presents!

Clean the shed!

Dave spent the day cleaning the shed. No, I didn't make him do it. I only go in the shed when it's absolutely necessary!

I was a good girl and stayed inside! I tried a variation with my Doodle Ice Drop. On the chain, I tatted 3-3-3-3 instead of 6-6. On the outside round, I did a lock join on the extra picots. I don't really like the look, but it was fun to experiment!

Another bookmark was in order today. This is "Wave" from Tatted Bookmarks by Robin Perfetti. I really enjoyed tatting this one!

I have five rows left to knit on Clue 5 of the Sanditon MKAL. I still plan on having a drawing for one of the high school girls to win this shawl. I'm not sure if or when there will be prom this year. We received word today that there will be remote learning through the end of April. Prom is usually the first weekend in May. Still, I hope to make one of the girls happy!

There are 32 Ice Drops on my little tree. My grandchildren took three home, so I have a total of 35 for the month of March!

After taking a picture of my Ice Drops for the month, I've been carefully setting them in a box. I have two of these boxes that look like books. I'm guessing I'll be able to fit six month's worth of Ice Drops in this box. I'll have quite a collection to share when the holidays roll around again!

Finishing up

I'm almost ready for Christmas! I just have to finish up this cowl, which will take about an hour, and I need to finish off these last two Ice Drops. I can't believe how much I've accomplished this year!

I finished a hat for my Secret Santa. She loved it!

I had just enough yarn left to crochet a headband for her. She love headbands! The Secret Santa week was so much fun. I hope I'm asked to participate again!

Family starts arriving today. I still need to finish laundry, go grocery shopping, and do one last quick clean around the house. With the Christmas gathering at our house this year, I don't anticipate having time for blogging. So, I'll take this opportunity to wish all my friends a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

One more day

I've been home sick with what turned out to be a sinus and ear infection for well over a week now. I finally managed to get to the doctor over the weekend, and I'm on four different medications. I do feel better, but Dave asked me to stay home and rest for one more day, so that's what I'm going to do.

As you can imagine, I wasn't really in the mood to do much of anything. Still, I managed to finish a Curds & Whey bookmark with what I had left of Marilee Rockley's Beach Cafe. I would have preferred one more pattern repeat and a tassel out of the same thread, but this one's for me and I'm happy to have it!

Ice Drops still cheer me up! I love that I can tat one so quickly and have something pretty to hang on my tree.

On Thursday I received my newest roly poly bag from Jane Eborall. I love these little bags! They're perfect for carry-along projects. Yes I could, and probably should, make something similar and start using up my fabric stash, but this one suited me perfectly and I was thrilled to be able to purchase it!

Yesterday I was feeling quite a bit better, and I decided a red ribbon would finish off this Ice Drop perfectly. Red is my mom's favorite color, and I think of her whenever I work with it. If you want it, Mom, this one's for you!

Chill in the air

It finally feels like fall! The mornings have been decidedly chilly, and I love it!

It was a busy day at school, but I managed to find time to finish another Curds & Whey bookmark.

I also managed to finish the white and green Ice Drop today. The other two were tucked in my bag, forgotten over the past few days. Oops! I snuck a colored one in there... so much for tatting only white Ice Drops for the month of October!

Forgetful

I did get on my computer last night, and I did read some blog posts. However, I forgot to blog!

One more motif is finished on my Eightsome Reel mat, pattern by Mary Konior. I do love Marilee Rockley's Lantana Citrus.

I've managed to tat three Ice Drops over the past couple of days. This one has a silver gem, but it sure looks white in the photo.

I really like the way the amber gem looks with Karey Solomon's hand-dyed thread.

My favorite one with this thread so far has to be this one with the purple gem. I'm not usually a purple person, but I love the way this one turned out!

Shuttle love

It's no secret that I love my shuttles, and this is one of my favorites!

It's my birthday shuttle from two years ago, made by Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design. I love personalized shuttles!

I purchased this shuttle from Rita at Palmetto Tat Days two years ago. It was a thrill to meet Rita in person!

While doing my porch walking today, I got to thinking that my little ice cream table has to potential of becoming a pattern for a tatted doily. Do you see what I see?

I spent a lot of time looking at cross stitch patterns online while Dave worked hard helping daughter Carol. I'm really much better as an overseer! ;-)

This is one of my favorite cross stitch pieces, and it's one of the last ones I did before taking up tatting. I know I've stitched a few small pieces over the years, but nothing as beautiful as this. Now that I have a little more free time, I'm thinking of getting back into stitching again. Why not?

Mad dash!

Daughter Joanne and family decided to leave today so that they could take the long way home. They wanted to visit Galena and the Field of Dreams in Iowa. That meant I had to go in to a tatting frenzy to finish promised Ice Drops!

Yesterday morning, Joanne chose which buttons/cabochons she wanted for her Ice Drops.

She chose carefully, knowing that there was no way I could tat around all of the buttons/cabochons she had purchased before she headed home.

Although I'm very happy tatting my Doodle Ice Drop pattern, Joanne likes the ones with lots of picots. I made sure that she was able to take at least one of her favorites home!

I also did a little experimenting with size 40 thread. This snap button is quite a bit smaller than the glass gems I normally use. By switching to size 40, I was able to follow my pattern without changes in stitch counts.

I received a lovely surprise in the mail yesterday. Elaine and I have talked on the phone, and she has ordered several Ice Drops from me over the past couple of years. She found this tatting book in an antique shop and thought of me. You know I spent time looking through this book today!

I was able to get one quick picture with granddaughter Sophia before everyone took off this morning. I would have liked to get pictures with the twins as well, but there was just too much activity and additional pictures were forgotten. Joanne many come down again in August, so maybe I'll get some pictures with the twins then.

We didn't need it, but we had heavy rain showers this afternoon. I love to read when it rains, and today I finished Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart. I thoroughly enjoyed this book! It's fiction, but it's based on real people and events from the early 1900s. I enjoyed it so much, I ordered the next two in the series!

Ice Drop day

Today was filled with Ice Drops! First, I finished an Ice Drop with a shank button.

I purposely used a shank button so that I could use it as a small brooch.

I had these button pins in my stash, and when I saw them I decided they would be perfect for an Ice Drop brooch!

When Joanne first arrived a few weeks ago, she decided I needed some fancier centers for Ice Drops. She will be the beneficiary, of course!

She's very pleased with the first one. I have quite a few to go!

My sister Janet came down to visit one more time before Joanne heads home. She really liked my red, white, and blue Ice Drops, and she asked me to make one for her granddaughter Abby.

Gavin wasn't able to come along, because he was on a Boy Scout camping trip with his dad. We didn't want to leave hime out of the fun!

Grandson Janko fell in love with this white glass gem with a splash of yellow. He chose white thread and a white ribbon. We're not really sure why!

Kara has requested a red Ice Drop, and I'm pretty sure Sophia will be asking for another. It's a good thing I enjoy tatting Ice Drops!

Be prepared

I try to carry a little bag with tatting in my purse so that if I have the opportunity, I can get a little tatting done.

I don't always get a chance to tat when subbing, but I did yesterday and today! I'm glad I was prepared!

I started working on daughter Carol's waffle stitch afghan yesterday. It's coming along nicely, and I love the colors she chose!

Mom wove bookmarks for me to give to the high school seniors. Tonight my friend Jen sent me a picture of her son wearing his. He may never use it as a bookmark, but it's nice to see that he likes it!