Off to a slow start

I really thought I'd accomplish a lot my first two days of summer break. My sinuses thought otherwise!

So, it took me two days to finish my second Noelle by Robin Perfetti. This one is in size 10 Aunt Lydia's. I like Aunt Lydia's for crocheting, but it's not my favorite for tatting, because it so so soft. It's fine if I don't make any mistakes, but it shreds if I have to unpick a stitch. Still, it turned out pretty!

It's 6" across, about an inch and a half bigger than the green one tatted in size 20 Omega. I think I like the way the colors flow better in the pink.

A trip to the mailbox yesterday yielded a pleasant surprise. Fox had some David Reed Smith shuttles for sale, and I love his shuttles! Although I had made up my mind that I really didn't need any more shuttles, I just couldn't resist. The surprise was the two lovely hankies. Thank you my Foxy friend!

Never let it be said...

that I limit myself to one project at a time!

I couldn't help myself. I went looking for something... I've forgotten what... I saw the thread holder, shuttle, hanky, and thread all within a few inches of each other, and I knew I just had to start another project!

I purchased the hanky at a discount store when I was visiting Mom in Alabama a while back. The thread holder and shuttle were decorated by me during my Mod Podge binge last year. The thread is size 80 Lizbeth #165, Grape Splash. The pattern is Baby Lace from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior.

I sure am enjoying working with the fine threads!

Jackie's hanky

I finished Jackie's hanky about an hour ago, and I love the way it turned out!

The hanky is linen. It was one from a lot of hankies I won on eBay about a year ago. The white is much softer than the color that shows up on my monitor. The thread is size 30 Fincrochet that I purchased at the Lafayette Lacers Lace Day last spring. I think the thread is really soft, so it was perfect for this older linen hanky.

So, Jackie will have something old and blue for her wedding. I love making wedding gifts!

I love June!

...and yesterday was a perfect day! My mom is visiting from Alabama, and yesterday we did a little shopping and then went to daughter Carol's house for a birthday feast. Carol made chicken, hamburgers, and peppers on the grill... yum! Daughter Alison and her children met us there. The weather was perfect, and the food was delicious!

When we got home, I checked the mail, and...

I found this beautiful hanky from Wendy!

It has my favorite color (blue), my favorite flower (rose), and it's hem-stitched!

Thank you, Wendy! I LOVE it!

This past week, I made some new online friends, including Marsha Greenberg. Guess what? She's a vintage hanky lover! She has published an amazing book, Hankie Couture.

Marsha's book is available in paperback at Amazon, but if you love hard-cover books, as I do, you might want to check out her eBay store. She still has a few autographed copies left! I have never made doll clothes, and I probably never will. However, seeing what Marsha has designed with vintage hankies makes me long to dust off my sewing machine!

I tell you, dear blog buddies, the Internet is a dangerous place! I am now also following embroidery blogs. It's true, and it's scary... there's more inspirational stuff out there! Thistle Threads is offering an embroidery kit to support the Winterthur Museum.

Yes, I caved! The kit arrived yesterday, and now I'm going to have to learn how to do tent stitch. It doesn't look complicated... thank goodness!

Now to the burning question... what's happening on the tatting front? I'm still working on my hanky edging, but with all the company this past week, I haven't accomplished much. I did start an oval doily, thanks to inspiration from Frivole. She just had to ask for ideas for oval doilies, and I just happened to have some patterns lying around!

I started "Graciella" from Tatted Doilies by Iris Niebach. I'm using DMC 8 from my dear friend Monica. I've never tatted an oval doily before! So far, so good!

For dinner, my husband and grandson grilled pork chops.

Alison sauteed asparagus, made her version of hummus (yummy!), and cut up red and green peppers and cucumbers for dipping. I'm still full from all the fabulous food we ate yesterday! After dinner, we watched The Ant Bully. Well, Dave and the kids watched it... Mom, Alison, and I read and played Words with Friends! All in all, I had a wonderful birthday!

Crazy for hankies!

I decided that my granddaughters should have hankies as well as my grandson, so I spent yesterday making them up. I'm still perfecting my technique. My goal is to make my own hanky blanks from my fabric stash and embellish them with tatting. I'm not happy with the machine results, so I think I'll have my mom re-teach me in the art of hand-sewing rolled hems when she's here at Easter. Of course, this all-day project did not make much of a dent in my stash! Still, a little here, a little there...

Isabella's quilt

Mary Engelbreit is one of my favorite illustrators. So when I saw this pre-quilted panel, I knew it would be a fun project. I love giving these easy-to-do quilts as baby presents. Our pre-school teacher, Aimee, had her first child, Isabella, the end of December, and this quilt is for that adorable baby girl.

I started finishing these panels as baby gifts when I was expecting my daughter Carol, who will be 27 this summer. My, how time flies! Normally, I can finish one in one or two evenings while watching t.v. I started this one at 7 a.m. yesterday, and finished it at 5:30 p.m. Of course, this time included 15-20 minutes of exercise every hour, but I was still amazed at how long it took me! The good news (besides finishing one of my projects)... my fingers feel a little more flexible today!

The squares are little handkerchiefs for my grandson, Aidan. He doesn't like tissues, so I thought I'd see if some soft cotton hankies would suit him.

Two projects down, ??? to go!