Brain freeze!

Suddenly, I can't seem to remember how to do anything with my computer! My printer is disconnected, and I can't get it going again. I can remember how to get a screen shot, but I can't remember how to combine images for a post. What next?

You'll just have to trust me on this... the Random Number Generator chose #9, Gina, as the winner of the January shuttle.

Congratulations, Gina! Please send me your mailing info so that I can get your shuttle on its way.

I'm sending out an extra big hug to all of you who posted a birthday wish for my mom. She's a wonderful lady, and I think she's the best mom in the whole world!

Celebrating January!

There's a lot to celebrate in January in our family. My "baby" brother's birthday is the 11th (49 years young). My niece Phoebe turned 30 on the 13th. I became a great-aunt for the first time on the 16th... welcome to the world Gavin Lawrence! Last, but certainly not least, my mom is celebrating her 79th birthday today! Happy birthday, Mom!

I think this is cause for celebration, don't you? About a week and a half ago, my friend Denise stopped by with some fabric and thread for me... we do that sort of stuff more often than we realize, I think. Denise thought this wintery fabric would be perfect on shuttles, and I think she is so right! So, one shuttle is for Denise. One shuttle is for me.

Whatever should I do with the third shuttle? How about a giveaway? I know... I'll have a drawing using the Random Number Generator. Leave a birthday wish for my mom on this post, and you could be a lucky winner!

I sure hope you read all the comments Mom! : )

Am I blue?

No, but I LOVE blue! It's my favorite color! this week I worked on "Glass Mat Adapted by Kendra Goodnow from Semco Book," which can be found in the Winter 2011 issue of Helping Hands Newsletter from Handy Hands. Last weekend my friend Denise stopped by with a surprise for me... fabric for decoupaging shuttles and a ball of size 20 Lizbeth, color #149, Peacock Blues. Isn't it gorgeous? Denise ordered it for herself, but when she saw it she decided I just had to have it. Thank you, Denise!


I think the Handy Hands newsletter is a great value. It costs $5 per year. There's always a coupon included, and there are always wonderful patterns.


I'll be honest, though. This is actually the first pattern I've tatted from one of the newsletters. I think I just have too many patterns to choose from!


I think this 8" doily is perfect for the pretty little glass basket Dave and I received for Christmas from our friends Gus and Irene. Now to find the right table for displaying it!

P.S. ~ the shuttle is one of Chris Hinton's beautiful works of art!

Taking a break from cleaning...

I've been working on my New Year's Resolution... a place for everything and everything in its place. However, I have so much stuff I want to go through, I need to take a break every now and then so that I don't give up! Good news... I've found a home for my back issues of Knitters Magazine! And, as of lunch time today, there is now a clear path to my printer and to my tatting books. I've thrown out three bags of stuff that I'll never finish, don't know where the directions are, or can't stand the colors any more. Don't worry... I made sure it was all worthless before trashing it! By the end of the month, I'm hoping to have my stuff organized enough that I can invite people in to "shop" in my sewing room!


In between work, cooking, and cleaning this week, I managed to finish another Spinning Wheel glass mat in LadyShuttleMaker's Piccadilly, size 20. I wish I could get a good picture of this. The thread is so beautiful in pale green and pink!


Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know that my favorite pattern is the Spinning Wheel glass mat from Tatting With Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. The flat shuttle is from Grizzly Mountain Arts. The other wood shuttle is one I purchased on eBay about a year ago. I really like the size of it, and it holds quite a bit of thread. The beautiful purple background fabric was woven by my mom about three years ago.

Now it's decision time... do I work on organizing for a little bit longer, or should I sit down and tat? I'll fill you in on my decision later!

Starting the new year off right

I spent about an hour working on reorganizing my sewing room yesterday... what a mess! At the rate I'm going, I won't be finished until next January. I think I spend too much time reminiscing as I go through my stuff. Anyway, I was appalled at the number of works-in-progress that I have! (I think works-in-progress sounds more positive than UFOs.) So, last night I sat down and finished a WIP that's been sitting by my chair for a couple of weeks.

This is "Pretty Practical Tatted Bookmark" by Linda S Davies. I started this bookmark so that I could help answer a question at InTatters. I made a minor adjustment to suit my needs... I only tatted 15 rings on each side instead of 20. This is a very simple pattern, easy to follow, quick to tat. I used one of my decoupaged Sew Mate shuttles. If you're thinking of trying decoupage, I highly recommend using fabric... it doesn't wrinkle the way paper does, and the little bit of texture helps me hold on to my shuttle. Yes, I have been known to send my shuttles flying across the room! I've lost the tag to the thread. It's Lizbeth size 40, and I think it might be color #116. Luckily, my husband is 100% Italian, so I can tat with these colors year 'round and use the excuse that I'm thinking of his Italian heritage! ; )

A place for everything...

and everything in its place... that's my New Year's Resolution! I'm terrible at resolutions, but I'm really going to try this year. After all, I have some wonderful inspiration. This is my Christmas present from my wonderful husband. I mentioned months ago that I was thinking of some sort of shadow box for displaying some of my shuttles. I thought Dave was busy building a bed in the basement, but instead, he was building this wonderful lighted display! As you can see, I've already put many of my blinged shuttles in the case. Some are in use right now, so I filled in with some "blank" shuttles.


We've had a very busy Christmas holiday. I'm not quite ready to go back to school tomorrow, but I really have no choice. We spent Christmas Eve at my sister-in-law's house eating homemade ravioli and playing Trivial Pursuit Christmas Edition. My family hates playing Trivial Pursuit with me. I make wild guesses that are often correct. They think I'm really smart... boy, do I have them fooled!

We spent Christmas Day at home, and then we headed to Minnesota the day after. We had a lovely visit with daughters Andrea and Joanne and their families, and then we headed home Wednesday. On Friday, daughter Alison and family arrived to spend New Year's Eve with us. We managed to stay up to watch the ball fall in New York City, and then we all crashed.

New Year's Day was pretty relaxed. We watched movies with the kids, ate lots of food, and just enjoyed each other's company.


When we returned from Minnesota, I went to the post office to pick up our mail. My exchange package from Trayna arrived! I wonder what Dave would say if I tried to tempt him with some Haggis? I'm really excited about the pattern book, and I love the tatted piece. Thank you for all the goodies, Trayna!

This was the first year I participated in Christmas exchanges, and I really enjoyed it. I love getting surprises in the mail.

I've spent five hours today working with computers. First I helped Dave put contacts in his Yahoo account so that he could use his email on his new iPad. Dave does not enjoy technology at all, but I'm slowly dragging him into the 21st century! He's now addicted to Angry Birds and Luxor. He even asked me to buy the full version of Angry Birds. What have I done?

Next, I tried figuring out what I did to my computer system... I can't print! Yesterday my son-in-law helped me set up my new router, and now I keep getting a communication error. I've had this problem before, but I can't remember how I solved it. My brain is tired, so I think I'll let it go for a while.

In the meantime, I want to get back to my old routine. I feel completely out of practice with both tatting and blogging! I feel like it's been f-o-r-e-v-e-r...

Ho! Ho! Ho!

It's hard to believe that tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I thought I'd better catch up a little with my blogging. I probably won't be posting again before the New Year, so here goes...


On Monday we had our Soup Club Christmas party at my house... soup, snacks, and movies! Great fun! From left to right... Peggy, me, Edna, and Judy.


Yesterday I received a surprise package from Battatter... totally unexpected! Isn't the gingerbread house adorable? Thank you, Carol!


I received Jane's wonderful magnetic butterfly bookmark earlier this week. Thank you, Jane! It's fabulous! I've already put it to work. No, it's not a tatting book. I have a PIG mentality... Problem with Instant Gratification. I've been tatting, but I needed to finish something quickly, so I turned to crochet. It seems I'm doing a little bit of everything lately!


Robert in northern Iowa sent me this sweet little Christmas stocking ornament as a thank you for winning one of my blog giveaways. Thank you, Robert! I love Christmas stockings!


Yes, I have been tatting. I won this pretty little linen hanky on eBay. The original stickers were still on it. The original sold at a price of 6/$1.00. Amazing! The edging is from The Craft of Tatting by Bessie M. Attenborough. I think I found this book at Alibris, but it's been so long, I'm not sure. It's an old library copy. Oh, how I wish that the trend in the 70s had not been to dispose of dust jackets! I really would have liked to see what this one looked like. If anyone out there in Tatland has this book with a dust jacket, would you mind posting a picture? The thread is size 80 Lizbeth, color #121 Marble. The pinks in the thread and the hanky match perfectly! The shuttle is one of Chris Hinton's new Tatted Shuttles, an epoxy shuttle with tatting embedded in it. The tatting in this shuttle is by AnneB. The shuttle holds a ton of thread, and it's a joy to use!


Here are the crocheted motifs I've been working on... all finished Tuesday night and Wednesday morning! I have no idea what I'll do with them, but they're lovely little bits of lace, so who cares!? My mom made my blocking board for me several years ago. I bought a styrofoam board, and some gingham table cloth material, flannel backed vinyl. My mom's a whiz at stuff like this, so she put it all together, and I don't mind saying that it's probably my most used craft tool! Thanks, Mom!


Last, but not least, I was visiting InTatters this morning, and someone posted that she was having a problem understanding a bookmark pattern. I guess I was in the mood for a challenge! I printed off the directions, and started the bookmark this morning. It seems like a pretty straightforward pattern to me. I'll let you know how it turns out. I'm using size 40 Lizbeth, color #116 (I think... I lost the tag). The shuttle is one of my decoupaged Sew Mates. I used sparkly Christmas fabric. I really like the combination of fabric and no point shuttles. Maybe I should come up with a shuttle-a-month for the next year! ; )

Well, if you've made it this far, I'm impressed with your stamina! I wish all of you a very merry Christmas, and a safe, healthy, and happy new year!