No bills today!

Just two wonderful packages! My two newest Roly Poly bags from Jane arrived, along with my very first Poke Proof Pouch. I know I can sew, but why... Jane has exactly what I want! Besides, if I don't sew, I have more time for tatting! ; )

I also received some wonderful HDT from Jess and Livi. We did a swap, one of my Origami bags for a skein of size 40 HDT. Jess has been trying to come up with the perfect Torch Lily. Although this color combo is very pretty, it just wasn't quite what she's looking for. A bonus for me is that Livi decided to dye some thread for me! See the lovely blues and purples? I feel so honored! The thread is called LLL2, which stands for Livi Loves Lace Too. Thank you, Livi! You made my day! I think I'll tat something really special with this thread!

Sulky Blendables #4012 ~ Baby Soft

I'm not a big fan of pastels, but I think this thread would be really pretty tatted up as trim for a baby bonnet or Christening gown. The Lily-of-theValley shuttle is one of my favorites from LaCossette.

I love Lily-of-the-Valley. My grandmother had a patch outside her front door in Philadelphia. The story is that Dad and his friends disassembled and reassembled a motorcycle in the yard, and Grandma could never get anything to grow there again, except for Lily-of-the-Valley.

My other Lily-of-the-Valley story involves a popular scent when I was in high school... Muguet du Bois. I worked at a local pharmacy, and purchased some because it was so popular among my friends. One night at dinner (I always sat on Dad's right), Dad became very upset because I smelled like cigarette butts! I was very much a good-two-shoes in school, and I was horrified that my dad thought I'd been smoking! We figured out that the lovely scent of Muguet du Bois did not react well with my body chemistry. So sad!

Believe it or not, I've lost some of these little Stumpy motifs, so I decided to make use of a little dish I purchased from Grizzly Mountain Arts. It's perfect!

I have another set of Stumpy motifs to send off to Chris & Erin Hinton at The Shuttle Shop. It's my understanding that Chris will soon be posting pictures of his Tatted Shuttles (shuttles with tatting encased in epoxy) that are ready for purchase. I wonder if my shuttle collection will increase? ; )

Sulky Blendables #4011 ~ Milk Chocolate

Yes, dear friends, I have finished tatting Stumpy in another Sulky Blendables thread with a luscious name! The shuttle is Zingy by LaCossette. You may remember that in an earlier post I mentioned that I was having trouble with the thread binding. I'm happy to report that since I've been more careful with my winding, and since I take the time to move the bobbin with my fingers if it feels tight, I haven't had a problem. I'm so glad I asked for advice!

I've had some wonderful surprises in my mail box since my last post. Lelia sent me some thread samples and bookplates. Thank you Lelia!

Jess and Livi sent me a blinged Starlit shuttle wound with some beautiful hand-dyed thread. Do you see the heart that Livi drew for me? Thank you, girls!

Last, but not least, my newest LaCossette shuttles arrived! The top one is Lily, the bottom one is Wisteria. There were two more in the package, but they were presents for friends, and I didn't think to take pictures before sending them off to their new homes.

I have other projects in the works... two Spinning Wheel glass mats in size 20 HDT, one Spinning Wheel glass mat in 12 wt. Sulky, Baby Lace hanky edging in size 80 Lizbeth Grape Splash... those are the ones on the table next to me. Maybe I should find the UFOs in my sewing room and finish some of them!

Sulky Blendables #4010 ~ Caramel Apple

Why oh why do some of the threads have food names? It is so hard to tat and not think of luscious caramel apples when the thread name keeps popping into my head! I think I've gained weight this week just thinking about the color name! To make matters worse, I chose to use my Blackberry shuttle from LaCossette. I LOVE blackberries! Let's just say it's been a mouth-watering week!

Daughter Joanne has been visiting from Minnesota this week. She's been spring cleaning my house and cleaning my carpets. Lucky me! Today we took a break from household chores and went quilt fabric shopping with my sister-in-law. Joanne is going to make a quilt for her. I was very good and did not buy one piece of fabric. However, I did find some more beautiful threads that just might be nice for tatting!
These are YLI machine quilting threads. The colors from left to right are Danube Blues, Alaskan Twilight, Kyoto Garden, Nordic Fjord, and Vineyard. How could I pass up names like that? Let me know if you'd like some samples. Be quick, though... I only have 500 yards of each color. ; )

I also treated myself to this book, Cathedral Window Quilts. I love the Cathedral Window pattern, and I have a beautiful section that my mom made. She gave up making the entire quilt, and gave a nice big section to my sister Janet and to me. I've been meaning to start using up my scrap fabrics. Who knows... maybe I'll be inspired! Or, maybe I'll just enjoy reading and looking at the pictures!

Just one skein...

...of Nectarine hand-dyed thread by Yarnplayer was used to make all of these goodies: One Spinning Wheel glass mat, two Stumpy bookmarks, and a length of Curds and Whey. What do you make with one skein of HDT?

The Spinning Wheel glass mat is in its new home under some of my gorgeous ceramic shuttles from LadyShuttleMaker. It may seem silly to hide such a beautiful piece of tatting under the shuttles, but I love picking up a shuttle and seeing that beautiful lace underneath. Besides, I have to put my tatting somewhere!

Speaking of LadyShuttleMaker, her new book arrived today! I've read through it, and I am very pleased with the detailed explanations of techniques. I'm really looking forward to trying this step-by-step process, but I'm afraid it will have to wait until school gets out. I need to really concentrate when learning something new.

Did you notice my two new shuttles from LaCossette? Like I needed another shuttle! She has a beautiful blue and white shuttle in her shop now called Little Hens. I'm trying very hard to resist!

What a goof!

I've been sitting here feeling sorry for myself, because people hadn't been commenting on my blog... or so I thought! Here, when I was playing around with settings trying to make it easy for all my blog buddies, I enabled comment moderation. It probably wouldn't have been a problem if I had known what to do with it!

So, dear friends, I have now caught up on all the comments from the previous week, and I'm feeling much better. I now know that you are not bored with my posts regarding Sulky thread, and I will continue my Sulky journal.

However, I have had to set up those annoying word verification settings. I couldn't believe the number of disgusting spam comments that Blogger caught. I will never mumble to myself about those goofy, wavy characters again!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled tatting...

Happy International Tatting Day!

May your day be filled with tatting, chocolate, and friendship!