Ready to tat!

I finished making and wrapping my Christmas presents yesterday. The Soup Club Christmas party was at my house today... snacks, soup, and movies! And now I'm ready to tat!


One of my artistic friends, Jennifer, agreed to "play" with some of my shuttles. Aren't they great? They're so much prettier in person. I think the first thing I'll do is tat something pretty for Jennifer as a thank you!

I took a little time out for tatting!

I've been busy working on Christmas gifts, and so tatting has kind of fallen by the wayside. Yesterday, I just had to tat! I decided not to wait until the last minute to make my bookmark for the One Bookmark A Month challenge at The Tatting Forums. In November, I finished Stumpy at the last minute!

This is a new pattern called Supermodel Bookmark from grrrlshapedthing over at InTatters. It was fun and easy to tat! I used size 40 Lizbeth, color #116.

Now, back to finishing Christmas gifts!

I caved!

I really tried to be a good girl and wait until Christmas, but the child in me just couldn't resist the temptation! My two exchange packages from The Tatting Forums arrived the other day. I did manage to resist for a while! ; )


Heidi sent me a beautifully decorated ornament, a lovely little bag, a spool of Country Mama thread, and a decorated pastel Clover shuttle. I LOVE it all! Thank you, Heidi!


My other exchange gift was from Karrieann... oh, my! So many goodies! ...a box of chocolates, Mentos gum, a tatted angel mounted on red felt... and then, there was a beautiful little tea bag with a tatted edge on the flap. And guess what was inside? Tea! Oh, and did you notice the beautiful little box, decoupaged with a lovely purple fabric and decorated with tatted butterflies and a tatted edging? Guess what was inside? ...some of Krystledawne's lovely HDT, Burt's Bees hand salve, and a Clover shuttle decorated to match the box. All of this was sent in an adorable Christmas tin. I LOVE it all! Thank you, Karrieann!

I think I'm the luckiest recipient in this exchange! Somehow, it doesn't seem fair that I should have received so much. I'm really looking forward to seeing what everyone else receives!

Let it snow!

I've become rather jaded when it comes to weather predictions. We never seem to get as much snow as the weatherman says we will. Still, we did get a light cover of snow last night. When daylight arrives, I may discover that there's more than I think. My fingers are crossed! I LOVE snow! It's ice that I despise!

I finished this pretty little snowflake last night. It's Snowflake 2 from Festive Snowflakes & Ornaments for Needle and Shuttle Tatters, edited by Barbara Foster. This was a fun pattern to tat, but I think I'll make some changes with the next one. First, I'll use a slightly smaller long picot for the center ring. I like the length of the fringe-like picots, but I switched to a smaller picot for the tips. Next time, I think I'll make all those picots the same size. As I was tying off the last chain, I found a strange loop of thread in the first ring. I'm not sure how it got there, but it's something I'll watch for next time!

The finished size is 3 3/4" in size 40 Lizbeth, color #116.

The random number generator has chosen!

Congratulations to...

#17 - Red

#13 - Karrieann

#10 - Josie (who owns "just two little cheapy bobbin shuttles")

Please send your mailing info to me at DianeCademartori at gmail dot com.

This was so much fun! I may have to do another! ; )

Spreading the Christmas Spirit

It took me a while, but I've finally decided which of the four Tatsy shuttles to keep for myself, and which three should be shared. This was a very difficult choice! Red is my mom's favorite color. Blue is my favorite color. The amber shuttle just plain looks cool!


Why Tatsy shuttles? I love them! They're perfect for winding a skein of HDT. If I'm working on a large piece, such as a doily, I don't have to join new thread as often, if at all. They're perfect for my beloved Spinning Wheel glass mat!


Yes, they can be cumbersome, and they do slow me down a lot! However, I am not, and have no desire to be, a speed tatter.

So, this holiday season I want to share my love of Tatsy shuttles with three lucky people. This will be another quick draw... tonight! So, if you're at all interested, please make sure you post a comment today!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Look at what arrived in the mail yesterday! A wonderful Christmas surprise from Marie! I wasn't thinking Christmas at all... I stayed home from school with a nasty sinus headache and slept the day away. I didn't even think about it being the first of December! Anyway, Dave gave me the mail, and it sat on the counter for a little bit... I just didn't feel like looking at it. Then I noticed that there was a bulky envelope... definitely not a bill!


Of course, I had to open it! I'm thrilled with all the goodies inside. I've long admired tatted pieces with letter beads, and now I have one in my favorite color! The decorated shuttle (again, my favorite color!) is perfect! ...and an ornament with beautiful Cluny tallies in the center, floss threaders, a beautiful bookmark designed by Edda Schneider. I am overwhelmed!


To top it off, Marie included a picture of her Christmas tree overflowing with beautiful tatted snowflakes! I feel a snowflake binge coming on!

Thank you very much, Marie! You have started my Christmas season off beautifully!