Cleaning up

The end of the school year is fast approaching, and I have some catching up and cleaning up to do! All of the books are now in order in the elementary library, with 22 books still out. This week I need to focus on getting the middle school/high school library in order, and I think we have about the same number of books still out there. We'll be out June 5th, but I'm attending a school conference with my daughter June 6th, so in my mind I won't be free until June 7th... much later than usual!

With so much to finish up at school, I'm finding it very difficult to focus on tatting at the end of the day. However, I did take some time this week to finish up two projects.

First I finished another Spinning Wheel glass mat from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. In case you didn't know, this is my all-time-favorite pattern! ;-)

This one is in size 10 Teenybopper by Yarnplayer, and it measures about 7 1/4" across. I love the colors, and I'm sure one of my granddaughters will claim it for her own!

This is my variation of The Workbasket cross that I love so much. I started this one when I was on jury duty a couple of weeks ago. All I needed to do was cut, tie, and hide the ends. This is in size 80 Majestic, a very nice tatting thread.

Here it is next to the same pattern tatted with size 20 Lizbeth. As you can see, there's quite a difference in the size!

Yesterday I received a beautiful card in the mail from my friend Carol. She included a cross bookmark... yes, it is THE cross bookmark! Carol found it when she was out shopping with friends before she learned to tat. Isn't it amazing that someone in Indiana chose to tat the pattern that I adore? Thank you for your thoughtful gift, Carol!

Starting Round 2

Doily VI from Tatted Treasures by Jan Stawasz, size 20 Lizbeth #168 Latte Foam

Round 2 is easy-peasy! I just need a little more energy at the end of the day so that I can get more tatting done. ;-)

Before school, I worked a little bit on my newest Spinning Wheel in size 10 Teenybopper from Yarnplayer.

If only we had a snow day... I could get so much done!

One skein of Teenybopper

In case you haven't guessed, Spinning Wheel glass mat from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior is my all-time favorite pattern! I love the way it shows off the colors of hand-dyed threads. This thread is Teenybopper from Yarnplayer. I think I may challenge myself this year to see how much I can tat from each skein of hand-dyed thread that I use. That way, I won't have unidentified bits of thread lying around! The other four motifs are from Occhi, the Peacock Book. I LOVE this book!

Here is my Teenybopper Spinning Wheel in its new home. Top left is my real English Aero shuttle. Top right is an impostor from who knows where., Underneath them is a German Aero shuttle. There is a big difference in each of these shuttles. I love the English, can't stand the impostor, and don't mind the German. I noticed that the Handy Hands catalog shows these shuttles now being made in Mexico. I guess maybe I'll have to try one of those as well.

The three shuttles on the bottom left are from The Shuttle Brothers. The three on the bottom right are Silent Tatters. The blue and brown shuttles in the middle are from either eBay or Etsy, I don't remember which. I guess I should try these shuttles out! ; )