Day 7 TIAS

Thank goodness for Jane and the 2013 TIAS! This is the only tatting I managed to find time for today... a few split rings, and voila... a feeling of accomplishment! Now, if I could only figure out how to make that accent mark...

In the pink!

I read Frivole's post about her newly named Victorian Trellis Doily, and I really had the urge to try tatting it... especially after watching her new video! However, after looking at the instructions, I have decided that I don't have enough brain power left at the end of a school day to concentrate on that beauty. I think it will have to wait until school is out for the summer, or until someone diagrams the pattern so that I don't have to think so much!

I really wanted to work on something pretty, so I returned to my favorite tatting author, Mary Konior.

This is Hen and Chick edging in size 70 Coats & Clark. It's so pretty and delicate! It may become a hanky edging, or it may be just a length of lace saved for a future project. Time will tell!

Last night I worked some more on my Spinning Wheel in Tatskool's Raspberry Sorbet... yum!

Before and after

I finally managed to transfer photos from my iPhone to my computer. I have no idea what I did differently, but it worked and I am happy!

Here's what daughter Carol's fireplace looked like at the beginning of the project. It was a little too plain for her taste, and she requested a new mantel for Christmas. She did not get a new mantel for Christmas. However, after Christmas Dave decided to undertake the challenge.

The timing was not perfect for Carol. She's in the middle of putting together the high school production of West Side Story, but we did manage to squeeze in some time this weekend to complete the project.

Here's how it turned out... one wall painted, mantel in place, and one happy daughter! I wonder what we can do to contribute to the happiness of our other three daughters?

The winter storm never appeared. It started drizzling about an hour ago. This is very strange weather for northern Illinois in January! Feeling kind of lazy, I decided to catch up on Jane's TIAS.

I completed Day 5 with very little trouble...

but Day 6 almost did me in! I wonder if split rings and I will ever become friends? They didn't turn out too bad, but I did catch Dave glancing at me every once in a while when he heard me mumbling!

There was a question on InTatters today about Lyn Morton's 5th Book of Tatting Patterns. This is a book I look at every once in a while, and then I decide I don't have the brain power to do that much work. Today I decided to take the plunge and try the center flower, using up the last of my Hydrangea Dark HDT from Yarnplayer.

I know Camelias aren't blue and purple, but I wasn't concerned about color, just technique. The pattern was very easy to follow, but I'm not sure if I was tatting it correctly, because it was very ripply. A little pinning and steaming did the trick, and I think it looks just fine. I'm not sure I'm ready to undertake this project yet, so I think I'll put the book back on the shelf for now. It might make a good summer project!

Just a quick post...

What a week! First I was laid low with the worst cold I've had in years... it was so bad that I stayed home from school and slept for two days! I didn't know I had it in me to sleep so much! Thankfully, I just feel like a normal person working my way out of a cold now.

Friday morning, I woke up feeling a little better, so I went on the Internet. No, I did not go on the Internet... I had no connection! I went to school, made it through the day with no problems and headed home to... no Internet access. :-(

I called our Internet service provider, and everything seemed to check out. The man I talked to suggested I have my router checked. Luckily, we had plans to go to daughter Carol's house to work on installing her new fireplace mantel that Dave made, so I was distracted from my Internet woes.

Saturday morning, I tried again... no luck! Daughter Joanne suggested rebooting my router. I did, and success! ...for about an hour. :-(

Saturday morning, I filled my time with chores... grocery shopping, laundry, a little cleaning... and then we were off to Carol's again to paint her living room and finish installing her fireplace mantel. The mantel looks beautiful. I did take pictures, but for some reason, I can't transfer the pictures from my iPhone to my computer... another puzzle for today. We arrived home around 10 p.m. and... you guessed it... no Internet access.

Well, I'm not one to sit around and wait for things to happen. I fiddled and futzed, plugged and unplugged, rebooted... everything I could think of! I have no idea what worked, but it worked, and I am grateful.

Dave turned on the weather, and they're predicting an ice storm today... great! If that happens, and I'll be surprised if it really does, I'm pretty sure I'll lose my Internet connection again. So, I figured I'd better get off a quick post, print out Jane's TIAS so that I can catch up, and do some blog reading before winter storm Luna hits. I wonder why they started naming winter storms? It seems so silly to me, especially since the the worst we've had is a half inch of snow that lasted less than a day.

Since I wasn't feeling well, I didn't get much tatting done, just these three little motifs with doodads from Hobby Lobby in the middle...

They first two are size 20 Lizbeth. The one on the left is #107 Tropical Fruit, next is #601 Snow White with beads from Michelle. The one on the right is size 20 HDT from Yarnplayer, Hydrangea Dark, with clear beads from WalMart. I was very surprised to find that WalMart had much larger containers of glass beads for half the price of the beads from Hobby Lobby. I'm sure there's a difference that a beading enthusiast would notice, but as a novice beader, I'm very pleased with my cheap beads!

Storm, storm, stay away!
Diane wants to tat today!

TIAS Day 4

I learned a new tatting technique today... make that two techniques... the Catherine Wheel join and undoing the Catherine Wheel join. I was quite pleased to complete the bottom row, until I realized that I'd put my very small picot in the wrong place. So, I retro-tatted the row and reworked it. I'm not thinking flower pot any more, I'm thinking coffee cup!

Since we had no school today, I spent my time between doctor visits (just routine, nothing wrong) tatting simple pieces. Yes, that's another braided doodad on the left in Lizbeth 166 Pink Cocoa, which makes me crave a bowl of Neapolitan ice cream! I played with layered flowers again. This one has three layers, which I'm not sure I like.

What's that in pink? Could it be another Spinning Wheel glass mat? Yes, indeed! I'm using thread that I've been saving for something special, and what could be more special for me than a Spinning Wheel? The thread is size 20 Coats HDT from Tatskool. The color is Raspberry Sorbet... yum!

Emptying shuttles

Today I felt the need to empty shuttles, not because I needed a shuttle... heaven knows, I probably have enough shuttles to open a shop! No, I just felt the urge to use up the bits of thread left from other projects.

These are all doodle flowers. The three that look layered, are! I decided to see if I could layer my flowers without looking at anyone's directions, and I am quite pleased with the results. I have an idea for using my little pieces of tatting, but I'll wait to see if I follow through before telling you what I'm thinking of doing.

The two bobbin shuttles are from LaCossette. The shuttle on the left is a Clover that I decorated with origami paper a couple of years ago. I'm becoming more comfortable using bobbin shuttles, but I do still love my Clovers!

Doodle, doodle, doodle

That's all I did today... doodle. Well, not all... I did do the laundry and the grocery shopping, but whenever I had a little free time... doodle, doodle, doodle!

The top piece isn't a doodle. It's Mary Konior's Leaf Braid from Tatting with Visual Patterns. I used size 20 Lizbeth for all of my tatting today. The green is #167, Jungle Greens. The pink on the left is #621, Dusty Rose Lt. The pink on the right is #628, Salmon Med. The doodads in the center are from Hobby Lobby.

Maybe I had a little too much fun today!