Two down, eight to go

I think this is a good round for tatting in small bits of time. It doesn't take a lot of concentration, and I can finish a pattern repeat very quickly. Can you believe it? I'm 1/5 the way around!

Starting round 14

It was nice to have some time to sit and tat tonight. I've started round 14, and I can tell that this will be a very easy round to tat. Looking ahead at the rounds to come, I really think I'm on the way to finishing my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece by Christmas!

I love technology! Today I received some adorable pictures from daughter Joanne. Here's Sophia showing off her new hair do. I think she likes it!

Karolina appears to be totally unfazed by Jan's fussiness. Grandpa Jan is visiting from Slovakia. I'm sure he's having a wonderful time!

Catching up

It has been quite a hectic, but fun, couple of weeks. Because of all the activity, I've had little time to tat, let alone blog!

On Tuesday I helped out with play practice. Wednesday I fell asleep in my chair. On Thursday our soup club went out to celebrate Edna's birthday. Friday I fell asleep in my chair. Saturday we attended the wedding of two former students, and Sunday we visited friends. Whew!

The good news is, I finished round 13 of my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece! It looks like it could use a little shot of steam here and there, so I think I'll take care of that before starting the next round.

Three beautiful new shuttles arrived from La Cossette this week! I have fun decorating shuttles, but mine never look as beautiful as these. I love them!

Fox the enabler did it to me again... I just had to order these books from Rosemarie Peel. Fox told me to, and I'm glad she did!

Play practice is on my schedule for tomorrow night, so I probably won't have the chance to get any tatting or blogging tomorrow. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how the rest of the week pans out!

Steadily growing!

My Jan Stawasz Masterpiece is growing bit by bit! In only have three motifs left to tat around, and I've already begun one of them. I hope I have the time to finish this round this week.

My shuttle addiction continues. Today's mail brought a beautiful purple shuttle from Alma Negrete. It's so much prettier in person. I can hardly wait to start tatting with it!

I forgot my picot gauge...

I had no time to tat or blog on Thursday or Friday because my help was needed at play practice... what fun!

Saturday morning at 3:30, Dave and I left for Minnesota to meet the twins. By the time it was light enough for me to tat, we were well in to Wisconsin, and it was then that I realized I'd left my picot gauge at home. I'm not very good about making my picots anywhere near uniform, so my picot gauges are my friends! I didn't want to mess up my Jan Stawasz Masterpiece, so I knit this trip.

I finished my Lyden scarf on the way up. All I have to do is wash and block it and it will be ready for winter!

I then started my next scarf, Piland. This is another Knit Picks Preciosa Tonal yarn, Duchess. I really am enjoying my knitting these days!

Even though our trip was only two days, we had a really good time.

Daughter Joanne looks terrific! Somehow, Daddy Jan managed to avoid having his picture taken... at least with my camera. Baby Jan was much easier to catch with the camera!

We were able to attend granddaughter Lily's double-header. Afterwards the whole family came over and we feasted on pizza, and we all took turns holding the babies.

Ella showed Sophia how to make cupcakes (made of wood), and the girls treated us to the yummy treats they made! ;-)

Of course the twins were the stars of the show. It was hard to leave them in Minnesota, but Mommy and Daddy wanted to keep them. I guess we'll have to wait until Christmas when we can see them again.

Going for a different look

I was too lazy to lay out my doily to show my progress, so I had Dave take a picture while I held it up... not the best idea I've ever had! You really can't see, but I've tatted around six of the ten motifs. This round is very easy. I just haven't had much time to spend on tatting.

However, I did manage to finish the baby quilts. The blue-edged quilt is for Jan. The pink-edged quilt is for Karolina. The purple-edged quilt is for big sister Sophia. I certainly don't want to leave anyone out!

Sophia has a big responsibility watching the twins in the back seat of the car!

The babies went for their first check-up today and passed with flying colors. Yes, Jan is bigger than Karolina, but his size is a little exaggerated in this photo as he is sitting a little higher. I can hardly wait to see these three! ... daughter Joanne and her husband Jan, too! ;-)

Play season has begun!

Last night was the first practice for the middle school production of Bugsy Malone. Daughter Carol was short-handed and the full cast of 45 was scheduled to be there, so I was asked to come help keep the kiddos in line. My help really wasn't necessary, because the kids are so well behaved, but it was nice to be included!

As a result, I had no time for tatting yesterday... sigh! Sometimes life just gets in the way.

I did take my knitting with me to play practice. I have to tell you, the theory behind Sequence Knitting has been eye opening for me! I'm on my fourth scarf, and I'm still on page 9 of the book! Sometimes it just takes the right combination of instructor and student to make things click!

I belong to the Tatting Shuttle Addicts page on Facebook, and Monica Braxton is the current official shuttle maker for the group. One side of the shuttle has the TSA logo.

The other side can be engraved with your name... always a draw for me! This is Monica's "Eddie" shuttle, and it can be ordered with or without a hook. I may have to order another with a hook, just so that I can say I have one! ;-)

Sandra Pellerin of Elite Creation asked me to post a comparison of her large bobbin shuttle with a regular sized bobbin shuttle on the TSA page. I thought it might be interesting to those of you who do not belong to that group. As you can see, it's slightly longer than my LaCossette shuttle.

It's also thicker!

The larger bobbin holds a full 15 yards of size 10 thread.

Although bobbin shuttles are not my favorite to use, I do enjoy collecting them and I do use every one at least once! After all, I want each of my shuttles to feel loved! ;-)