Cousin love

Do you have cousins who live close by? I did when I was little. I grew up in Philadelphia, and my cousins Pam and Debbie lived in Upper Darby, not too far away from us. Their sister Laura was born around the time we moved from Philadelphia to Chicago. My cousins Scott and Eric lived in the same neighborhood as us, but they were ten and twelve years younger than me.

When I was in high school, we took a trip to Colorado to visit my Uncle Walter and Aunt Josie. It was great fun! Most of us met up again for my grandparents' 50th anniversary when I was in college. About 15 years or so ago, Dave and I took a vacation to Colorado and met up with Aunt Josie and some of my Colorado cousins again.

I also have cousins in Texas. I've met Nancy and Ann, but haven't met my cousin Brian yet... some day!

Despite the fact that we don't live anywhere near each other, I feel a bond with my cousins. Family stories have reinforced that bond over the years, and I am very grateful to be part of such a loving family!

Recently, my cousin Trish and I reconnected on Facebook. There are many things I do not like about Facebook, but one thing I do like is that I have been able to keep in touch with relatives around the country. We may not communicated directly very often, but we do have a way of keeping up with what's going on in the family.

Trish has been a great admirer of all the handwork that my mom and I have done. She makes us feel like super stars!

The other day, I received a Rita Richmond shuttle in the mail from Trish. I was totally surprised!

What better way is there to show my appreciation than to tat an Ice Drop? Thank you again, Trish!

I finished Jane's TIAS this morning. I never would have guessed that it was a Crinoline Lady! I still see a fancy letter D in there, but there are no signs of the jellyfish that I guessed at one point. :-)

I'm making slow but steady progress on my sister-in-law's runner. If I tat one motif a day, I think this will take me about two months to make. I'm enjoying the square motif, so maybe I'll experiment with some other square patterns that I have!

Sun, no sun

Yesterday was sunny, bright, warm, and cheerful! Today is rainy, dull, and chilly. What a difference a day makes!

I think I placed the charm in a funny way on this Ice Drop, or maybe it's because the ribbon is so stiff. I now have another St. Patrick's Day Ice Drop, but this one is not my favorite.

I had a wonderful surprise in the mail yesterday. The cat shuttle is a present from my cousin Trish, and the heart shuttle is a present from my friend Rita. Thank you, Trish and Rita! These little beauties are from Shuttle By Design.

My newest shuttles from Russia arrived. Doesn't Veronica do beautiful work?

I managed to tat another motif for my sister-in-law's runner. I'm almost to the point of having the pattern memorized!

Super Bowl tatting

I enjoy football when it's on, but I don't consider myself a fanatic. If there's something better to do, I do it. Dave's the same way.

So, we did turn on the Super Bowl last night. While it was on, I tatted and Dave watched videos on installing floor tiles. At about 8:30, I went to bed... I was tired!

I'm still thinking green! Although blue remains my favorite color, green is right up there in my top five. I'm not sure what the top five are... I'm just giving myself a little leeway! ;-)

I tatted the first motif for my sister-in-law's runner. The thread is size 20 Lizbeth #693, Linen Med.

I finished off the evening with another Valentine's Ice Drop. I'm happy if I manage to tat one each day, but I'm thrilled if I manage to tat two!

I wish I could count!

The ability to count would make my life so much easier!

I finished my Eightsome Reel doily from A Pattern Book of Tatting by Mary Konior. It's 6 1/4" square. So where does counting come in? Well, to begin with, I know that it takes 75 wraps around a Moonlit Shuttle to complete one motif. So last night before going to bed, I wound my shuttle. As I approached the last pattern repeat, I realized that I must have miscounted the number of wraps. Not a problem... I know how to add thread to a project.

As as I was tatting the second ring of the pattern repeat, the thread popped off the shuttle. What a ditz! I wound enough thread for a ring, not a pattern repeat! Again, not a big deal, but I could have saved myself a little aggravation.

Before breakfast, I tatted Day 10 of Jane's TIAS. Hmmm... looks like I need to figure out how to add links when I'm posting from my iPad!

Another Ice Drop made its way into my collection yesterday. I do love making these little ornaments!

Update on posting from my iPad:

I started with Puffin this morning, without success. My pictures overlapped and I couldn't separate them. I didn't have that problem the other day, because I only posted one picture! I also had trouble making corrections to typos, so I closed Puffin and moved on to Blogo.

Posting on Blogo was much easier, however figuring out spacing between paragraphs and pictures tested my patience! I haven't figured out how to include links. The link provided above was added on my laptop. Blogo does allow you to reply to comments for a mere $5/month. I'm not interested subscription services, so that's not a feature I will use. Publishing my blog post took a long time. It actually failed the first time. I'm blaming our slow Internet connection for that one. After publishing, I decided I wanted to add my update. I was having trouble with that, so I moved to my laptop for editing.

I'll continue to experiment with posting from my iPad, but I do find it much easier to post from my laptop!

Chrome

Why not try Chrome?

Hmmm... same photo choices as Safari. I guess I'll have to experiment or start posting with Puffin as my browser!

Safari

How did I forget to try Safari? I got so used to using the Blogger app, that when it stopped working I just started searching for solutions. I didn't think about going through Safari until this morning.

The first thing I've noticed is that I can't access the photos on my iPad. There are choices, but not one I've used before, and I'm not in the mood to look for them right now.

So, here's what I've learned from my quick research...

Puffin is a free browser that allows me to create a blog post the same way I do on my laptop, so there's no learning curve.

Blogo is a free app. It took a little bit of playing around to create a blog post, but it wasn't hard to figure out. Did you notice that the Blogo picture shows up larger than the others? I'm not sure if that's an advantage or a disadvantage; it's just what happens.

BlogPress is a paid app. I think it was $2.99 on sale. It was a little easier to use than Blogo, and I received an email from the company offering support.

I can't believe Safari is a dud for posting. I guess I must have tried it before and then used the Blogger app, but I really don't remember.

I was surprised to read on a Blogger support thread that there are many teachers who are upset that the Blogger app is no longer supported. I didn't realize Blogger was used in so many schools. Since the Blogger developers do not seem interested in updating the app, I guess it's time to move on!

I think I'll keep experimenting with all three for a while, but right now I'm leaning towa d using Puffin. I'll try to remember t keep you updated!

BlogPress

And now I'm trying BlogPress. Pretty easy, although I seem to be limited to adding five photos at a time. I guess I have to play and see which platform works best for me!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad