Dreary day

It's been a dreary, rain-filled day, and days like this make me feel sluggish. I thought I hadn't accomplished much, but then when I took my pictures for today's post, I realized I'd accomplished more than I thought.

My Spinning Wheel glass mat is coming along great! Even though I overslept this morning, I tatted quite a bit before school. We were on shortened schedule today, so I didn't have any extra time for tatting at lunch.

After school, I worked on my beaded crocheted bag. I'd have gotten further, but I found that I had added two beads instead of one right at the beginning of round 2. Luckily, crocheting is much easier to undo than tatting!

Just a little bit

I spent just a little bit of time tatting today. I did spend quite a bit of time organizing craft supplies, and I have way more than any one person needs. Tomorrow daughter Carol and her choreographer and vocal director are coming supply shopping for their summer production of The Little Mermaid. I hope they take a lot of stuff!

Too many irons in the fire?

Sometimes I think so, but I have so many things I want to accomplish that I have to keep trying new things. So, sometimes I make slow progress on my projects, but I'm happy with the progress I make.

I've broken my day into segments. I've been working on my Concentric Rectangles doily when I get home from school. Some days I have more time than others.

My Spinning Wheel glass mat gets my attention in the early morning and on my lunch break.

The beaded bag is my evening project. I may have to rethink working on this at night. I made a mistake in the second round and had to pull out rounds two and three. It seems I make the same mistake every time I make this bag!

Crocus Spinning Wheel

It was a busy day around here. Daughter Joanne and family were on the road back to Minnesota by 8 a.m. I met daughter Carol for lunch, and then we went to see the KVTA production of Aladdin Jr. I made it home by 4, and managed to finish my Crocus Spinning Wheel glass mat!

I love the way this turned out! The pattern is from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. The thread is size 20 hand-dyed thread from my friend Marilee Rockley aka Yarnplayer. Marilee was the first person I knew of who hand-dyed thread, and I eagerly awaited the release of each new color. Hand-dyed thread has a special feel that I love!

Before heading off to meet daughter Carol, I started crocheting a beaded bag for our new second grade teacher who is getting married in September. I've made this bag many times, and I love giving it as a wedding gift! The pattern is by Jacqueline Young and can be found in Donna Kooler's Encyclopedia of Crochet. I hope to have time to finish it before school is out, in addition to working on my weekly Spinning Wheel glass mat and my Concentric Rectangles doily.

There never seems to be enough time to accomplish everything on my list!

Calmer weather

Yesterday was a bizarre weather day. We had segments of time where it was bright and sunny, and then we would see dark, ominous clouds. At times there were gusts of wind mixed with snow that were so strong, we couldn't see the road in front of our house. We also had a couple of rounds of tiny hail. I guess I don't need to tell you that our Internet service was very spotty yesterday!

Luckily, everything is calm this morning. It's 27˚ right now, and we're supposed to reach a high of 64˚. That's spring in Illinois!

Since there wasn't much else to do while the babies were napping, I was able to tat quite a bit. I should be able to finish my Crocus Spinning Wheel glass mat today. Marilee's thread is so cheerful!

Joanne and family will be heading back to Minnesota this morning, so I guess I'd better start tending to my morning chores!

Happy International Tatting Day!

We celebrated at school today! At lunch time I told each group of students that today is International Tatting Day and that we celebrate by tatting in public and eating chocolate. Then I gave each student a Hershey's Kiss. The kids seemed really excited... about the Hershey's Kisses! ;-)

My fourth graders spent time tatting after our library lesson...

...and I managed to get a little bit of tatting done today as well!

My newest Spinning Wheel is in size 20 hand-dyed thread, Crocus, from my dear friend Marilee Rockley aka Yarnplayer. Isn't it gorgeous?

Do opposites really attract?

I really wanted to know, so I worked diligently to finish my Spinning Wheel glass mat.

In this case, I believe opposites really do attract. I'm not sure which one I like better. They may have to stay together forever!

Since this is the last day of March, it's time for a picture of my March tatting. I did have five more motifs, but those were sent off to Michelle's students. All in all, March seems to have been a very productive month!