Where do I begin?

I really need to get back into blogging on a more regular basis. I simply can't remember what I've done! Luckily, I usually remember to take pictures.

There's been a lot of sewing going on. I like making tissue packet covers out of leftover material. I don't know of any craft shows coming up, but that's no reason to stop creating!

Daughter Joanne and family will be arriving at the end of the week. The kids like to help Joanne and Jan cook, so I decided to make some tea towel aprons for them. I love the tutorial from Missouri Star Quilt Company.

I'm making pretty good progress with my Granny Stripe afghan. It's nearly halfway done.

As Mom and I have been sorting and organizing, I'm realizing that I have a ridiculous number of tatting shuttles. That doesn't keep me from collecting new ones, though! These beauties are from Rita Richmond of Shuttle by Design.

My oldest granddaughter, Eva, starts college this fall. The school colors are navy blue and gold. She requested a new lanyard in the school colors, and Mom was eager to get back to band weaving!.

Janko, my youngest grandchild, loves dinosaurs. I found a free pattern online and made a set of them. The idea is that he will choose one and share the other two. We'll see if that happens!

I haven't accomplished much in the way of tatting lately, but I did manage to tat an Ice Drop over the weekend. This is a variation of my Doodle Ice Drop pattern.

Last week I spent one day in bed with a sinus headache. When I get a headache, I like to have a lavender pack to put on my head. It feels so good and eases the pain. I hadn't made any in quite a while, and Mom and I found the supplies for making them while sorting. I managed to make nine over the past week. These are 6" x 11" finished (I cut the fabric 7" x 12"), and they're filled with 4 cups of whole flax seed and 2 tablespoons of lavender. I store them in a ZipLock freezer bag in the freezer. They really are very soothing!

Takin' it easy

Yesterday was a pretty full day, so I decided to take it easy today. By that I mean that I did a lot of reading!

After a morning of reading and doing laundry, I decided it was time to tat an Ice Drop. I can't believe I'm still on the same ball of Rainbow Splash!

Part of my morning reading was to try and understand Inkle weaving patterns. I do have an Inkle loom, but I am determined to figure out how to make Inkle patterns work on a rigid heddle loom. I warped my Hard Maple card loom following the pattern, or so I thought. It didn't take me long to figure out that the pattern just wasn't going to work, so I took out what I had done and started weaving my own adaptation. It's not quite what I envisioned, but I figure this is all a learning process!

It was fun opening my mail today!

When Veronica posted these beauties in her Etsy shop, I just couldn't resist!

I love the artistry!
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Garden walk

Today was my friend Denise's birthday, and to celebrate she invited me and two other friends to attend the Kankakee Kultivators Club garden walk. It was a wonderful day!

We met at Denise's house at 8:30 and headed out.

We saw so many beautiful gardens!

It was pretty warm today, but luckily there was a brisk breeze.

We picked up lots of gardening ideas.

I don't enjoy gardening myself, but I do enjoy the gardens that Dave creates in our yard.

And now I have ideas for him! ;-)

Before leaving this morning, I finished Sophia's pink, purple, and yellow band. Sophia wove the first 6" and did a beautiful job. I just have to mail it to her now. I know she'll be thrilled to have it.

My day wouldn't be complete without an Ice Drop!

Summer fun

One of the joys of summer is spending time outside. Another joy is spending time with friends and family with little or no notice. Today was one of those days!

Daughter Carol and I went and looked at cars, enjoyed lunch at one of our favorite little restaurants, and then went looking for bathroom fixtures and towels. We didn't buy much, but we had fun looking!

Before heading out, I finished a pink Ice Drop. Sophia would be pleased with this one!

I also worked on Sophia's band. Sophia actually wove the first six inches of this band all by herself... not bad for a four-year-old! We didn't finish it while she was here, but I did promise to mail it to her when it's done.

I was inspired to lay all of my bands out on the ironing board and take a picture. It looks like they need a good pressing. Each band is laid out to show both the front and back side. I'm amazed at how much my technique has improved in a fairly short time.

One final Ice Drop of the day... I do like the contrast between the pastel glass gem and ribbon and the bold colors of Rainbow Splash. I wonder if Sophia will approve of this one? 

The calm before the storm

I'm sitting here enjoying my morning cup of coffee, listening the the rustlings of little children. They'll be up soon, and then the storm of activity will begin!

Joanne and family arrived Thursday afternoon. I knew they were coming. I could have paced myself, but I didn't. I left everything until the last minute... laundry, grocery shopping, dusting, cleaning bathrooms, sweeping floors. Somehow, I finished everything about a half hour before they arrived.

Then the first storm hit... a storm of hugs and kisses, giggles, running around to see what had changed and what had remained the same. In seconds all of the toys were out and spread around the living room.

Friday morning started out much the same as every day... peace, quiet, checking out blogs, a morning cup of coffee. I knew I'd be gone for a short time in the morning for my annual thyroid check. I was going to a new office and wasn't sure how to get there, so I left myself plenty of time. I arrived 20 minutes early, but I didn't get taken in for my appointment until an hour after my designated time... very frustrating!

By the time I arrived home, it was time to start lunch. I had been called in to sub for the afternoon at the last minute. One of the teachers had thrown out her back and needed to go to the doctor. Since Joanne and the kids planned on a long afternoon nap, I headed in to school. Soon after I arrived home, the rain started pouring down, so we couldn't take the kids outside to run around. That's the way it goes!

So now I'm sitting and enjoying my morning cup of coffee. The storm will begin soon, and I'm looking forward to it, even though it means I won't have much time for my tatting or weaving.

I finished this band before starting my chores on Thursday.

I finished this Ice Drop after the kids went to bed last night.

I hear little voices! Time to get ready for the next round!

Plenty to post

I have plenty to show, but I just wasn't in the mood to blog yesterday. I was having too much fun!

I finished my pretty yellow band early Sunday morning. When I finished it, I found that the finished end was about 1/4" wider than the beginning end. I guess I'm just not good at eyeing something for size, which is why I use picot gauges when tatting!

I had watched a Sami band weaving video by Durham Weaver. She used a piece of plastic marked with the proper width of the band. I didn't have any plastic that would work, but I did have some card stock. It came in very handy!

My friend Carol took this picture of me at Tollway Tatters. I don't like many pictures of me, but I think this one really looks like me. It must be that I wasn't paying attention to the person taking the picture! I kind of like my new glasses. What do you think?

Early this morning, I finished my band. Using the card stock measuring piece really helped. This is my best band so far!

Today I subbed for high school math. The kids were busy studying for their ETAs (end of term assessments), so my role was strictly supervisory, which gave me plenty of time to tat!

When I got home, I decided to set up my Shining Glen loom with another Inkle pattern. Tomorrow I plan to set up my Hard Maple loom with a Sami pattern. I do love variety!

Two by two

I seem to be doing things in twos lately! Today I tatted two Ice Drops.

I finished the ball of Spring Garden. There was enough thread left to tat the first round of an Ice Drop, but not the encapsulating round. That's okay. I think it makes a pretty little motif all by itself.

For my second Ice Drop I used size 20 Lizbeth #184, Rainbow Splash. It does make a pretty splash of color!

Since I now have two small looms, I decided to try warping an inkle pattern. I failed. I just haven't figured out how to warp following the patterns yet. So, I decided to do a little free form band weaving, and I do like the way it's turning out.

I made a big mistake with this warp. I put it on the loom backwards! The ratchets belong on the right, not the left. Luckily, with this style loom it doesn't really matter which side is which. I just need to advance the warp left handed, which makes me stop and think rather than advancing the warp automatically with my right hand. It's not a big deal. It just slows me down a little.

I'm making good progress with my Sami band. I've woven over half the warp, and I really like the way the pattern works up.

Tonight I'm going to take a break from tatting and weaving and do a little reading. Daughter Carol is going to be teaching AP European History next year. Her students are going to be reading Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder and A Little History of the World by E. H. Gombrich. I started both books several years ago, but never finished them. So, today I pulled them both off the shelf, and I've read the first chapter of each. They've both caught my interest again, so now is the time to start reading!

Warming up

We had a beautiful day here in northeast Illinois. It was sunny, bright, and 85 degrees, just as May should be!

What better way to start the day than tatting an Ice Drop? It works for me!

I finished up the band that Eva and I worked on yesterday. This was an exercise in maintaining tension, and I think we both did fairly well.

I'm getting close to finishing up my ball of Spring Garden thread. I think I may be able to get two more Ice Drops out of it.

My new loom arrived in the mail today! I'm getting much better at setting up a new warp. This is one pattern repeat, the longest one I've tried so far. I do like the green and gold together!

Mother's Day

Today was Mother's Day here in the U.S.A., and it was wonderful!

Dave had to work, as this is his busy season, but he gave me a beautiful planter to celebrate the day.

There's always a ton of paperwork this time of year, and grandson Aidan chipped in by alphabetizing checks that needed to be recorded.

Granddaughter Eva gave band weaving a try, and she said it was very relaxing. She even learned to pick out mistakes! I offered to set up a loom for her to take home, but she declined. Maybe I can get her hooked this summer. 😉

Daughters Alison and Carol prepared a fabulous meal for dinner... country ribs, roasted potatoes, asparagus, and a salad. We were all stuffed! Unfortunately, I didn't think to take a picture of the meal.

I finished my second band in this zig zag pattern, this time in red and black. The thread definitely makes a difference! This is in size 10 crochet cotton, where the pink and black band was in size 5 polyester crochet thread. The size of thread may have been a factor because of the length of the floats. I think I'll have to do some more experimenting to determine whether or not to use polyester thread for future projects.

Tonight I plan on making my Ice Drop for the day, and then I'll be off for a good night's sleep!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there!

Another attempt

With so many little things to accomplish today, playing with thread had to take a back seat. I did find time to get a little bit done!

I love reading, but I don't always grasp concepts when I read. Sometimes I need to read, try, read again, try again, and repeat. That seems to be the case with band weaving.

Today I tried using popsicle sticks to find the width I needed for my band. I also tried weaving a few rows to pull the threads in to the width I thought would work. This helped tremendously! I also went back to size 10 crochet cotton, which results in a narrower band. This one will be about 1/2" wide.

I chose red and black for the second go at this pattern. So far, so good. I'll be able to tell better if the change in thread makes much difference once I get the woven band off the loom.

Despite all the little chores and taking a much needed nap, I was able to tat an Ice Drop today. I feel the need to tat an Ice Drop a day, because Christmas isn't that far away!

The pattern or the weaver?

I finished my pink and black band tonight, and I can tell that I still have a lot to learn!

The top section shows the beginning of the band, which is very loose and untidy. The bottom part is tighter and almost looks puffy. Obviously, I don't have the tension part down yet!

Maybe I didn't follow the pattern correctly. The blue band had a definite pattern on the back, but this one does not. Did I do something wrong? I'll have to talk it over with Mom in the morning and see what she thinks.

I also tatted three more Ice Drops today. I'm getting close to the end of my ball of thread. It will be fun to see how many more I can tat from this ball of Spring Garden!