Sorting shuttles

I spent a lot of time sorting shuttles today. I know I will unearth more as my house excavation (organization) continues, but I thought I'd share a few pictures.

My dad made this beautiful shuttle display case for me years ago. When he gave it to me, he told me I could only collect as many shuttles as would fit in this case. Dad, if you're looking down from heaven, you must be shaking your head in disbelief! ;-)

When Dad designed this, he put two pegs on each layer to keep the trays in place.

He also inserted little brass beads in the side of each tray to show the tray number.

Dad installed drawer pulls on the sides of each tray so that they can be lifted easily.

He also made a top tray with a glass cover so that the contents of the first tray could be seen.

Mom lined each drawer with felt, which helps keep everything from sliding around.

Tell the truth. Did you count the number of shuttles that I have in this display case?

Celebrating

Dave and I celebrated our 36th anniversary today by upgrading our cell phones and router. Replacing Dave's phone was really a necessity. He uses it for work and it has been doing weird things for almost a year. Upgrading our router is our latest effort to improve our Internet access. I'll get it hooked up tomorrow, since we're both online tonight. My phone was working fine, but Dave wanted me to have a new one, and I was happy to oblige. Hopefully, all this new technology will keep us better connected!

I did spend a little time tatting today,

...as well as sewing. I decided to make a hanky pin cushion to go with the little fabric basket. I'm not at all happy with it. It's way too big... 6" square. I can't imagine anyone wanting a pin cushion that large, but I could be wrong. I had to use four times as much fill as I do with my 3" pin cushions, and the fill is the most expensive part. Now I know... no pin cushions out of a full hanky!

I spent most of the morning organizing my tatting shuttles. I did take pictures, but they're so dark, I think I'll wait and take better ones. I'm sure you're all aware that I have far more tatting shuttles than one person could possible need, but let me tell you, even I am overwhelmed by my collection!

How's the for a tease? ;-)

Ahh!

I'm sitting down to post after a very busy and productive weekend. I wasn't in the mood to post last night, so I didn't. I guess that's my prerogative!

My fascination with little woven squares continues. These will get mailed off to Mom this week so that she can turn them in to flowers. I can hardly wait to see what she does with them!

I finished my Raspberry Pink Med Spinning Wheel. Yes, I am still enjoying using size 80 Lizbeth!

I finished another fabric basket this afternoon. This is the project my sewing students are working on. I had purchased some inexpensive hankies a while back, and they seemed like the perfect fabric for the girls to use. I love the little owl buttons!

I also made a fabric basket for Mom using the same fabrics I used to make her pin cushions last week.

I haven't made Origami pouches in a while, but I thought Mom deserved a complete set! I do like the black, red, and white fabric. I may have to go back to Hobby Lobby and buy some more!

Now I'm ready to settle down for the evening with another Spinning Wheel. This one will be in size 80 Lizbeth #712, Kelly Green Med. I love Kelly Green!

Where does the time go?

As the sun was going down tonight, I was looking to the east instead of the west. The sun shining on the corn field across the road provided the most beautiful golden color. 

It's hard to believe that harvesting has begun in our area. It seems that the fields were just planted. Joanne was just here visiting with the kids when the corn was only knee high. Dave was just bringing in beets for me to can.

The days, weeks, months, and years just seem to fly by!

I was tired after subbing today. I took a little time to tat, but I just didn't have the energy to get very far. I will continue subbing. I really do enjoy it, but I'm also glad I'm retired so that I don't have to go to work every day!

Sub day

I subbed today and I will be subbing again tomorrow. It was so much fun. All I had to do was follow someone else's lesson plans, so much easier than developing my own. There are quite a few new kids at school this year, and it has been great meeting them. Of course the hugs I receive from students who know me well, make the day even better!

Our Internet has been spotty for a while, so Dave put in for a service call. It's funny, he gets more irritated by poor Internet service than I do. As a result of our spotty service, I wasn't able to post last night, and I had so much to share!

I wove some 2" squares for Mom. They're so quick and easy to make, and they take so little yarn. Scraps that I've held on to suddenly have a good use.

Our high school volleyball team has a Pink Night every year to raise money to help cancer patients from our community. Bella decided that she wanted make a pillow for the fund raiser. She chose this pink fabric from my stash for the front of the pillow.

She chose chocolate brown for the back. She's doing such a nice job with her pillows. She and her mom are going to make a pink and brown polar fleece blanket to go with the pillow. I'm sure there will be interested bidders!

Bella has also been experimenting with fabric scraps. This is her own design, and she has decided that she would like to teach her pattern to her sewing classmates.

Mom loves red, and I made these two pin cushions with her in mind. If Mom wants two, she gets two! That's just the kind of daughter I am. ;-)

So, the above was supposed to be yesterday's post. I guess this is a twofer day!

I was up at 4:30 this morning, so I had plenty of time for weaving and tatting before school. I've decided to weave a 4" square and then a 2" square... keep it equal, ya know! I now have 21 of each size woven. I have a feeling Mom may tell me to keep some of them. With the two of us weaving, she could wind up with more than she can use. You can have as many as you want, Mom!

I'm making pretty good progress with my Raspberry Pink Med Spinning Wheel. I'm still lovin' the size 80 thread!

Ta da!

I love the way this little Spinning Wheel turned out! It's really too small to be a glass mat (coaster) at a mere 3 1/2". I think this may be my new favorite shade of blue!

I finished some more squares for Mom today. They're made on a 4" pin loom, and the finished size is about 3 3/4".

Mom was busy weaving squares on her new 2" loom, so I decided to give mine a try tonight. It's funny, but the 2" loom produces a 2" square. I'm guessing there's less tension with the 2" size, allowing the yarn to maintain the size.

So why the two different sizes?

Mom is making two layer flowers! Isn't this adorable? I stole this picture from her Facebook post. I sure hope she's okay with me sharing. ;-)

Good intentions

I intended to get a lot of tatting done today. I really did have good intentions, but reality set in and I chose to work on the mundane household chores necessary to keeping the household together. I think I made the right choice! ;-)

Lots of goodies arrived in the mail today. I received this beautiful hand-painted shuttle from a new Etsy shop, PainTatPlus. I was her very first customer, and I received a lovely note along with the shuttle verifying that I was the first to purchase from her. Kind of cool!

While at Palmetto Tat Days, Jane Eborall kept encouraging me to work on my split rings. When I saw Karen Bovard advertise her newest tatting book, I just had to have it. Now I can practice those split rings, Jane. I know. I know. I have several split ring books, so I didn't need this one to get started, but I sure am glad I have it! I also have another of Karen's beautiful enamel shuttles. Maybe this will be the shuttle to get me working on those split rings!

I know I need two shuttles to work on split rings, so I consider myself very lucky that my newest purchases from Shuttle by Design arrived today! I guess I got a little carried away, but I know I will use them!

This little beauty from Tatting Shuttles arrived over the weekend. I was attracted to it because of the red inlay. Red is my mom's favorite color!

I love enameled shuttles, and these little beauties from Middy Clark at The Knotted Vine arrived today. I love these little works of art!

Yes, I am still obsessed with Handi-Wind Shuttles from Grizzly Mountain Arts! I have been a customer of Dave and Jo for years, and I am always impressed with the craftsmanship that goes into each and every piece!

In between laundry loads, I wove some more squares for Mom. I know I have a Zoom Loom somewhere in the house, unless I gave it away. I don't really need it. I have been using my Weavette loom, which works just fine, but there's this little nagging voice at the back of my head saying, "You must find your Zoom Loom!"

So, as you can see, I had lots of reasons for not finishing my Spinning Wheel today. Maybe I'll get it finished tomorrow! ;-)