Finally!

I finally have time to post when my Internet is working! However, I have nothing to show. Oh, don't worry... I've been tatting, but it's secret tatting.

My friend Shelley Perreault asked me to test tat a pattern for her. She's going to teach it at Tatting Corner's Tat Days this summer, and it is adorable! It involves keys, beads, and blipless joins. It was a good challenge for me.

I can't tell you any more. You'll have to wait for Shelley to release the pattern!

Success!

Snowflakes, as you know, have six (or multiples of six) points. The Ice Drops I've been making with Liz Metallic can be ornaments, but they can't be snowflakes. Christmas will be here before long, and I need snowflakes!

After quite a bit of fiddling around, I finally figured out a stitch count that works for me. My rings are 5-4-5, and my chains are 5-5. With that stitch count as the basis for the first round, I can now move on and design snowflake Ice Drops!

Two Ice Drop Addicts have been very instrumental in influencing me to move beyond the basic Ice Drop pattern I started with about two years ago... Sarah Wood and Shelley Perreault.

Sarah posted instructions for a one pass Ice Drop in our Facebook group. I had tatted an Ice Drop the way she described, but I didn't like the look as much so I never posted any ideas. However, many tatters in the group did, so I started doing a little experimenting. The method still didn't grab me.

Soon Shelley posted her Peacock Coins pattern. I printed it out, but since it was a one pass Ice Drop I didn't try it out until Shelley asked me to test tat it for her. She wanted to make sure her instructions were clear. They were! Again, even though I liked the pattern, the idea of the one pass method just didn't do it for me.

Then I discovered bottle caps. Lisa Adams had some bottle cap needle minders at Tatting Corner Tat Days this summer. I bought one and decided to try making some for myself. What a mess! Magnets, glue, and bottle caps require a level of coordination that is beyond me. Of course I had purchased enough bottle caps to supply all of my tatting friends. I guess I heard the saying, "Go big or go home!" too many times. 😁

As you may know, I then became intrigued with flattening bottle caps with a tortilla press. Trust me... you don't want to get started doing this. It can become another addiction! The flattened bottle caps just had to be decorated with beautiful designs and tatting. Don't you agree? My basic Ice Drop pattern needed too much tweaking to work with bottle caps, so following Sarah's and Shelley's lead I started using the one pass method.

The nice thing about using the one pass method is that you can make adjustments as you go so that your cabochon fits snugly inside the tatting, no matter what size cabochon or thread you use. That doesn't work with my method. Now I think it's time for me to revisit Edda Guastalla's patterns and do some more experimenting!

A different look

I tried Shelley Perreault's Peacock Coins pattern with fewer beads. I still used a penny, the same thread, and the same beads, just fewer of them. While this is pretty, it just doesn't have the dazzle dazzle of the other one. I'll bet you can guess which one I prefer!

Five more spool pin doilies are ready for Mom's Christmas table decorations!

Believe it or not, I only have two squares to go on my Masquerade doily! If I had completed one yesterday and one today, I'd only have one to go. Oh, well! It's not like I'm in a race!

Oops!

I forgot to blog yesterday! I didn't really have anything to post. Daughter Carol and I went shopping for goodies to make up raffle baskets for the play this weekend. The directors and alumni are performing Rock of Ages. I'm not at all familiar with this musical, so it will be a complete surprise for me. They're trying to raise money for new stage curtains. I hope they're able to reach their goal!

I received a lovely surprise in the mail, an Ice Drop tatted by Mandy Kerwell-Bez, an Ice Drop Addict from France! She also sent me two rivolis so that I can tat my own. I've ordered a pretty silver neck chain to wear with it. I am thrilled to pieces! Thank you, Mandy!

I also received two new shuttles from Middy Clark of TheKnotted Vine. I adore these little shuttles! I love tatting with the teardrop shaped shuttles, and the red shuttle looked like something Mom would love... her favorite color is red!

Speaking of Mom, she loved the penny I tatted in the lighter green and asked if I could tat one in a darker green. Anything for Mom! The pattern is Shelley Perreault's Peacock Coins. I'll be adding a pin back to this at Mom's request. It does look pretty!

One of the chickens laid an egg today! It's not as large as it appears in the picture... camera angles and curled fingers can be deceiving. Dave found an egg over the weekend, but the chicken must have been in the rafters when she laid it. This is the first one found in a nesting box. I may grow to like these chickens after all! ;-)

A week between posts?

Yes, it has been a week since I posted, and it's been a very busy week!

In prepration for our retreat, I put together little tatting tins for everyone. Shawna Wachs was kind enough to make the decals for me. I think they turned out great!

Denise and I drove up to Minnesota on Sunday and spent Sunday night with daughter Joanne. Sophia and Kara were willing to pose for me, but Janko kept hiding from the camera... little stinker!

We treated each other to lots of goodies!

Not all were strictly tatting related.

But everything was opened with oohs and ahhhs!

There were fun gifts, practical gifts, food gifts, and tatting gifts.

It's going to be fun deciding how to use everything!

And, it will be fun remembering the wonderful three days we had together!

Timberhaze is a beautiful retreat center. This is our workroom with all of us enjoying ourselves.

Our commemorative shuttles were by Frivole.

Although bobbin shuttles are not my first choice, I do like working with these little beauties!

Our motif for the year is depicted on the back side of the shuttle.

I did work on my Masquerade doily, but I only finished one motif. I think we were having too much fun talking and sharing ideas!

Michelle brought along 2018 pennies to share. I chose to used Shelley Perreault's Peacock Coins pattern. I'm going to tat around a penny again with a different bead configuration.

Mom would like to have one as a pin. I think that's a great idea!

I also tried Shelley's pattern with a peacock coin bead and S-Lon beading thread. I need to perfect my tatting with this thread, but I found it very nice to work with.

The retreat was fabulous, and I'm really looking forward to getting together with this wonderful group of ladies again next year!

Denise and I had a long ride home, 10.5 hours. We did take a brief side trip to Norske Nook for lunch, which was delicious!

There was a lot of mail to open when I got home, and my first package was from Rita Richmond. Aren't these shuttles beautiful? I bet you know why I was attracted to them! ;-)

Remember when Marlene and Cathy came to Tollway Tatters? Marlene had a wonderful name tag stitched by a friend of Cathy's. Cathy was kind enough to have one stitched up for me. I love it!

So, now it's time to try and get back into a routine of some sort. I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately!

Laundry day... again

Friday is laundry day, and sometimes that means lots of crafting time, and sometimes it doesn't. I don't have much to show, but I did have a lot of crafting time today!

I sewed on my origami pouches this morning, but there's nothing but a stack of squares... nothing to show.

I also worked on sorting through a few boxes of my craft stuff, putting things in more logical places. Again, there's nothing to show.

I even spent time putting together the things I want to take to Minnesota, but there's nothing interesting to show their either. Maybe I'll have something good to show when I get back!

As I was sorting today, I found a few of Rita Richmond's shuttles tucked in to project bags. The projects have been long forgotten, so the shuttles have been put back with their buddies, except for this one. I needed it for today's tatting!

Shelley Perreault asked if I would check her Peacock Coins pattern. She's had it available on the Ice Drop Addicts page for a while, but I hadn't gotten around to trying it until now. Shelley's directions are easy to follow, and I like the way her pattern shows off the peacock bead.

I started the next Masquerade motif for my doily, but I didn't get very far.

I only managed to complete one spool pin doily today. I hope to get more done tomorrow. Dave wants to finish cutting down the tree in Carol's front yard, so we'll see how the day goes.