Busy weekend

We had a very busy weekend. I managed to pop in for the Tollway Tatters for a few minutes on Saturday. We had people coming over to pick up some furniture that we no longer needed. Also, my sister was down visiting for the weekend, and we had bejeweled trees to make!

I managed to finish four trees for grandchildren. I only have two left to finish for Christmas presents. After that, I will be doing them just for fun. Janet is working on a black and gold tree for a friend. Today was especially fun, because Janet's daughter-in-law and granddaughter came down to work on tress with us. 

Renulek's Spring Doily 2024 is coming along nicely. Round 4 took quite a bit of time, and I made a couple of big mistakes that took me a while to fix. On the next to the last motif I decided that I had the pattern memorized, so I tatted without referring to the pattern. That was not a good idea. Rather than take the time to retro-tat the whole motif, I cut it out and started it again. I was ready to tat the last motif when I noticed that I had joined a chain to the wrong ring. Luckily, that didn't take long to fix.

On to the next round!

Tree time

 

My sister is visiting this weekend, so Friday and Saturday were tree days. I subbed on Friday, which meant I couldn't get started until late afternoon. Still, two more trees are ready for next  Christmas!

Two more

Saturday was our Tollway Tatters meeting via Zoom. I wonder if many others are still doing Zoom meetings?  I'm grateful for the platform, otherwise we wouldn't be able to meet with so many tatting friends from so many places. 

I spent most of Saturday working on my test tatting. I'm getting pretty good at twisted picots, but I can't say I'm fond of them. 

Fingerless mitts are back on the agenda. Our food service director was saying how cold her hands were getting during our recent cold snap. I offered to make her a pair. It took a while to find my pattern. I was sure I had printed it out, but it wasn't in my binder. So, I searched the Internet. Now I know it's printed out!

Bejeweled Christmas tree production continues. This one is for Janko, my youngest grandchild. If you zoom in, you might be able to see dinosaur charms as well as sun, moon, stars, and planets. Of course, there is some Christmas thrown in!

Sophia is into pastels. This isn't quite a pastel tree, but it has pastel elements. Three grandchildren down with eight to go!

Favorite colors

When my daughters were young, I could buy gifts four at a time as long as I gave them in their favorite colors. Alison loved blue. Andrea loved green. Carol loved purple. Joanne loved pink. The girls still love those colors. Joanne, however, has moved on to red and white for Christmas.

I now have bejeweled Christmas trees finished for them for next year. Janet and I went looking online for boxes to safely store our trees, and we found some that we think will work perfectly. We're even thinking of jazzing them up with Christmas fabric, wrapping paper, and/or tape. Then again, we may just keep them plain white!

Trees and gnomes

I finished the last of the four trees that I had planned for the school secretaries for next year. 

They look so pretty, I don't want to put them away! I will, though. My sister is coming down today, and once I let her look them over I will carefully store them in anticipation of next Christmas.

After putting together a pot of chili for dinner, I decided it was time to finish up some of my Valentine gnomes.

I really do need to finish these this week so that I can get them off in the mail to my daughters and grandchildren.

I now have five finished, with only ten more to go!

Three!

 

I've now finished three of the four trees I wanted to make for next Christmas. Yes, I have started the fourth. My sister is coming down to visit this weekend, so I'm sure I will finish this one soon. The next step will be to carefully wrap them, tag them, and safely store them until next year. 

Each tree has some of the same elements, such as the dragon brooch. However, each tree is unique. I only have one white stand left and a few red, but I do have other options that I hope to try out soon.

Yesterday was not a good day for cranking. I tried five times and gave up for the day. I probably should have watched videos before getting started, but I wanted to see if I remembered the steps. With a little practice each day, I should have all the steps memorized in no time.

I only crocheted one row on my blanket yesterday, so there's nothing to show there. I have been working on my test tatting piece, but my fingers have been too cold to make much headway. The pattern is lovely, but I will be waiting for permission from the designer before posting it.

We're headed back to school today, and I have some gnomes to pass out to students who requested them. I have a feeling a lot of requests will soon be pouring in!

Then there were two

Yesterday was a day filled with phone calls, and it was difficult to focus on much of anything. So, I finished another bejeweled tree for next year!

We have another e-learning day today due to the frigid temperatures and wind chill. That means no school for me. Maybe I'll bejewel another tree!

Pearls

I love pearls! It doesn't matter if they're real or fake, colored or white, lumpy fresh water or smooth salt water pearls. I love pearls!

So, my second bejeweled tree will be loaded with pearls!

This tree has several treasured pieces. The G clef is actually a silver piece that my dad made. Janet gave it to me, and I used pearl head pins with the pin heads gently overlapping the silver. I'll need to do something special around the oval to hide the way the pins stick out. The bow pin at the bottom is one of Janet's.

Janet put three stands of red crystals around the bottom of her tree, and I really like the way it finished off the bottom. With that in mind, I decided that my tree would have pearls around the bottom. It helped to have three sizes of pearl beads on hand, and the blue pearl pins really set off the pearls the way I wanted them to. 

The square pin on the center left is one that I bought when Janet, Mom, and I went shopping years ago. Janet has quite a brooch collection, and she tried to get me addicted to brooches as well. I have a few, but not nearly as many as she does! The round pin with the drop near the bottom right is another of Janet's treasures. 

I'll be taking a break from bejeweling today. My finger tips are sore, and gnomes are calling!

O Christmas Tree

 Janet and I have been having so much fun!

I finished my little tree, the one on the left. The pearl bow on my tree was a gift from Janet.

Janet is still working on hers.

It's amazing that a few inches can take so much more time. Janet's tree is loaded with brooches and bits of costume jewelry she has collected over the years. Her tree has much more sentiment attached to it, and that takes a bit more time as well.

I started a second tree after school yesterday.

This time I have more sentimental pieces on my tree.

We've used up all the pearl head pins that I had, although I'm sure there must be more somewhere in the house. It's going to be so much fun making this tree sparkle!

Christmas fun

 

One little gnome was made yesterday morning. After that, we had a craft explosion!

My sister and I decided to make bejeweled Christmas trees!

After watching a couple of YouTube videos, we felt prepared to whip up gorgeous Christmas decorations. We've learned several things from this experience. First, one does not "whip up" gorgeous Christmas trees. We worked on ours for over three hours, and neither one of us is finished. Second, pushing pins into styrofoam for an extended period of time produces very sore fingertips. Third, we did not save any money by making our own instead of buying one someone else had made. Fourth, we have way too much of some supplies and way too little of others. Fifth, a good night's sleep brought on more ideas for Christmas trees!

We did stop around 7 p.m. so that we could watch a Christmas movie. While watching, I finished off a few more gnomes.

I made a list of who I would still like to give gnomes to at school. To reach my goal, I need to make ten more gnomes. I know I can do it, but I'll be working on gnomes right up until Christmas break.

Since I'm having so much fun, I don't see that as a problem!