Monday, Monday

Joanne and the kids headed home early this morning. Dave is back at work, and the house is pretty well in order. I plan on spending a little time on housework today, and then I want to learn more about weaving bands. Yes, I am hooked!

Easter Sunday was filled with family fun! The Easter Bunny brought sun glasses, flip flops, and bats and balls for the kids. They were a big hit!

Sophia is really in to princesses, and she spent most of the time in her Belle nightgown. I think the sun glasses are the perfect accessory.

Sophia and I seen a lot of time weaving. I finished up her band after everyone went to bed last night. It's 26" long, and Sophia is really looking forward to showing it at preschool.

I knew I was doing something wrong, but I didn't realize what until I watched some videos this morning. Now I ready to rewarp my box loom and try some more band weaving!

With all the company here yesterday, it was easier to stop and weave a couple of rows than to pick up tatting. Still, I managed to start an Ice Drop yesterday, and I finished it this morning. I have great hopes that Sophia will want to learn to tat some day. She enjoyed showing Ice Drops to everyone, but she has not yet shown an interest in picking up a shuttle and learning. I have to keep reminding myself that she's only 4!

Weaving with Sophia

Dave and I have been having a wonderful visit with our daughter Joanne and her three kids. Of course, having them around means that we have been making changes in our routines... well worth it!

I didn't finish off my Ice Drops that I made at Tollway Tatters yesterday until this evening, and I found no time for tatting today... that's okay!

Papa didn't have to head off to work until later in the morning, so he had time to play games on his iPad with the kiddos. Luckily, they only ever want to play games with Papa. I have no patience for those games!

Mom recently found these box looms from Shining Glen Studios on Etsy. Mom has been weaving Saami bands, and I've been following her progress with great interest.

My loom arrived this week, and four-year-old Sophia was fascinated by it. She wanted to weave!

While I have no patience for iPad games, I have tremendous patience when it comes to teaching a child any kind of fiber craft, so I was thrilled that Sophia was interested in learning!

Between the two of us, we managed to weave quite a bit. Sophia wants to take the weaving home with her so that she can show her friends at preschool on Tuesday. That just makes me smile!

Tollway Tatters

We had a wonderful time at Tollway Tatters today! I managed to tat three Ice Drops. Unfortunately, my pictures don't show how pretty they turned out. 

This one was probably my favorite. There's a Panera Bread opening up at the Hinsdale Oasis on Wednesday, and the manager gave us sample cookies. I gave her this Ice Drop as a thank you and told her we would be stopping at Panera for lunch when we meet next month!

I also love this one. Can you tell that the glass gem is blue?

I finished this one right before we headed home. Now all I have to do is add ribbons!

Carol and I both make Origami pouches. They are great fun to sew and they make wonderful project bags.

Carol decorated hers with tatting. I guess I should do the same with mine!

We enjoy sharing goodies with each other. Carol found these adorable little dishes, perfect for holding the current tatting project! She also brought glass gems and coin beads for us.

Denise brought a multi-colored tutu Easter basket filled with eggs and little chicks. Each egg and chick was filled with goodies... thread samples, charms, glass gems, and a decorated shuttle!

Elaine and Barbara seemed to enjoy going through all the goodies. I brought glass gems and charms to share. I also found some wooden Easter egg cutouts at JoAnn Fabrics. I hope one of my tatting friends comes up with an amazing idea for using them with tatting!

We have great fun together, and even get a little silly at times!

Sue Anna brought along some of her stash of Marilee Rockley's hand-dyed threads and encouraged us each to take some home. We, of course, complied!

Sue Anna and Barbara brought treats, because we all need to snack while tatting!

We started packing up around 3:00 p.m. I don't know about everyone else, but I am exhausted from having so much fun!

Surprise!

Daughter Joanne called late Tuesday to say that she and the kids were coming down for Easter... surprise! Her husband builds high-tech greenhouses, and this is an incredibly busy time of year for anyone in the greenhouse business. Rather than sit at home alone with the kids for long hours, she decided to come down for a quick visit... lucky Grandma and Papa!

Of course we wish that all of the grandkids could be here, but we'll take what we can get!

I finished this Ice Drop right before everyone arrived on Wednesday.

I started this one Wednesday evening, and this morning Sophia chose this pretty blue ribbon to go with it.

While everyone was napping this afternoon, I had time to tat another Ice Drop. This is one of Marilee Rockley's hand-dyed threads. I don't remember the color name, but I do love hand-dyed thread!

A little of this, a little of that...

I did a little shopping today, then a little cleaning, then a little subbing, followed by my sewing class.

Tonight I rewarded myself with a little tatting time! This is my Blue Fudge pattern with a slight variation. The chains on the final round were shortened from 9 to 7, because I wasn't sure I'd have enough thread. Good thing I made the switch! I had to finger tat the last ring and chain, the good news being I had enough thread to finish!

Cleaning day

I am not Suzy Homemaker. However, I do get a cleaning bug once in a while. Today I decided to clean glass gems. Yes, you read correctly, glass gems.

My collection has been sitting around the house in pretty glass dishes, and they were getting quite dusty. As I'm cleaning them, I'm putting them in Mason jars. I figure it's much faster to clean the top of a Mason jar than it is to wash and dry dishes of glass gems!

Of course, I didn't want to get too carried away, so I took some tatting breaks. 😇

Today's Ice Drops all have red glass gems and white thread.

The variation came with the number of picots and the colors of the ribbons.

The red is so cheerful, and I love the contrast with the white thread!

Sunday tatting

It was a beautiful day today, but a bit windy.

So, I opened the windows and stayed inside to tat.

Life is good!