Today is Flag Day in the United States. This day commemorates the adoption of the Stars and Stripes by Congress as the flag of the United States on June 14, 1777. It has been a beautiful day to fly the flag, at least the way we have it at our house. There has been minimal wind today letting it display its colors nicely. On a flagpole, it would be a bit harder to make out the stars and stripes as it hangs a bit limply without enough breeze to unfurl.
It’s hot today, letting us know that summer has arrived indifferent to the calendar. In fact, the last few days have been hot though much, much windier than today. With wheat harvest is in full swing the reduced wind is much appreciated. All that wind carries a lot of wheat dust with it.
Flag Day bookmark
In honor of the day I tatted a red, white, and blue bookmark. The picture gives the impression the bookmark is made with split rings but it is just rings and chains. I did make the second picot of each ring very small so it would look as much the same as the opposite side as possible. Originally this was going to have some kind of tail though it looks good without one.
Flag Day bookmark made in red, white, and blue
This bookmark was tatted with Lizbeth size 20 threads #654 Navy Blue, #671 Christmas Red, and #601 White. I need to keep them handy, Independence Day is only a few weeks away. I’m thinking of making a pair of patriotic earrings for the occasion.
I have several tatting projects I want to be working on, but for some reason, I’m having a hard time spending my time on them. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to or am not tatting, I’m just doing other things. Easy things, like tatting around buttons. These take little thought, mostly it’s “does the thread color compliment the button color?” They are easy to carry and easy to make. Add a pin on the back or maybe sew them to one end of a ribbon and, wah-lah! a fun little gift.
Working on more tatted buttons
While at my daughter’s a few weeks ago I took thread and buttons to tat with in the evenings or quiet times. One afternoon while working on one my grandson asked me about them; how long did it take to make one, was it hard? Can I have one? How could I say no to that? He admired the one with the red button. I just had to put a safety pin on the back before giving it to him. He proudly wore it on his T-shirt when we went out that evening and on the T-shirt he wore to school the next morning.
Granddaughter’s tatted birthday button
I was visiting my daughter to help celebrate my granddaughter’s birthday. She had already opened her birthday gifts when she saw that her brother had a tatted button. Of course, she wanted one, too. She is very much into pinks and purples and I happened to have just the button and thread to make the perfect one for her. She was quite pleased with it.
Everyone, where I work, is supposed to wear their ID badge out where it can be seen. The office furnishes badge reels to make this easy. I decorated mine with a tatted doodad, which has been known to draw a few eyes. Recently, when a friend of mine at work celebrated her birthday, I mentioned I would make her a badge reel decoration if she would like one. She enthusiastically said yes. Her color of choice was purple.
My badge reel not-quite-button
I used a button for hers instead of a doodad. I didn’t have beads that would work with the thread so I added a bigger bead to the center for a bit more bling. I thought I had it all worked out by taking glue to work with me to attach it to her badge reel. I was wrong. The glue I took didn’t hold at all. She knew of someone that had glue that might work.
Birthday badge reel tatted button
The glue worked. It also added a little extra bling to the tatting as well. You can see the original thread color on the button while the outside is all dark and glittery. Yes, this is what it looked like after it dried. My friend was very happy with the result.
I wish I had remembered to take a picture of it before it was glued down. Not that it doesn’t look okay now, but a before and after picture would have been nice. I didn’t get pictures of the buttons with my grandchildren, either. As many pictures as I take you’d think I’d remember to do this. The import thing is that all the recipients are happy with their buttons.
It makes me happy when I can make others happy. Isn’t the point of giving gifts to bring happiness to others?
“We all get so caught up in the moment of what we’re doing every day, it’s hard to hit that reset button and get pulled away from all that and see life from a different perspective.” Tony Stewart brainyquote.com
A member of Craftree.com was lucky enough to pick up a few tatting items from a friend, one of which was a Lael Morgan tatting shuttle. The shuttles were made in the 1970s and are not very common. I do not have one.
Lael Morgan shuttle
It was mentioned in the comments that Lael Morgan had a website, which I visited. I found that she is an author. Not surprising for a person who had a patent for a tatting shuttle she had written a book on tatting. Lace-Lovin’ Diane wrote about it on her blog a few years ago.
Tatting book by Lael Morgan
But that wasn’t the only book she wrote. She wrote at least nine other books as well. There was only the one that was about tatting, the others were much different. There is even one on earthquake survival. A lot of the books are about Alaska or people from or living in Alaska. Including “Good Time Girls.”
Non-fiction book by Lael Morgan
My husband traveled to Alaska last year and brought home this book. I didn’t realize the author knew anything about tatting until the conversation on Craftree. I haven’t read it yet, it’s been borrowed by my brother-in-law. I will definitely be reading through it when it comes back home. I want to find out if there is any mention of tatting in it.
Have you read any of Lael Morgan’s books? Do you have one of her shuttles?
“Historically, Alaska is a place that has attracted those fed up with conventionality.” Bill O’Reilly brainyquote.com
Memorial Day, an Amerian national holiday that is celebrated the last Monday of the month of May. On this day we honor those who have given their lives in defense of our country. Over the years it has come to be a day that all graves are decorated and those who served in the military are marked with flags.
Decorated graves on Memorial Day
Sunday we visited local family graves, ones that don’t take hours to get to It was a beautiful day for a drive. There was almost no wind, which in Kansas is very rare. The sky had puffy white clouds that cleared off in the evening. The sunset was amazing.
Park Memorial
On Monday morning, all over the country, there are ceremonies conducted at cemeteries and other locations to honor fallen veterans. I planned on going to a local observance but misunderstood what time it was. I did make it to another one just as they got started. Patriotic songs were sung, prayers were said, an uplifting message was given, and a roll call of veterans that died in the last year was read. Local Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts assisted with the ceremony, helping to raise the flag (to half-staff) and set flowers for each name on the roll-call. The VFW Auxillary (Veterans of Foreign Wars) helped with the honor guard along with local members of the military. It was incredibly moving.
Later in the afternoon, we had family and friends over for supper. It was a great end to a lovely weekend.
“Memorial Day isn’t just about honoring veterans, it’s honoring those who lost their lives. Veterans had the fortune of coming home. for us, that’s a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve. It’s a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it.” Pete Hegseth www.brainyquote.com/quotes
While looking through a drawer the other day I came across this barrette I decorated a long time ago. It has seen a lot of wear and tear, and maybe a bit of rough handling. There used to be three strands of the beads but two were lost somewhere along the way.
Decorated tatted barrette
I know this is made with DMC size 30 Ecru thread. After all these years, how do I know? Because I used it a lot back in the early 90s. I even know what pattern this is. It’s the skirt of “Colonial Lady Applique” from Aunt Ellen’s Tatting Handbook. This one has a mistake in it somewhere, hidden by the flowers. I made several Colonial Ladies back then, or at least parts of them, one of which I took to the fair. I noticed that I used white ribbon behind the tatting. I must have been in a hurry to wear it and didn’t have ecru ribbon to use.
Tatted barrette
I used to have long hair and wore this frequently. I now have very short hair – this wouldn’t stay in long.
I have a hard time throwing tatting away, even when mistakes are made. After putting in all that hard work it is a shame to just toss it. I have bags of things that have some kind of issue that I keep. I may find some place that I can use it.
Eventually.
What do you do with your mistakes? Keep or toss?
“Recycling turns things into other things. Which is like MAGIC!” unknown
My mother celebrated her birthday recently. This happens every year, of course, but sometimes it coincides with Mother’s Day. This year it didn’t, which made it much easier on the family. We always try to do something special for her birthday and something else for Mother’s Day. Everyone deserves to celebrate their birthday separate to a holiday, don’t they?
Metal leaf ornament
My sister and I found this beautiful metal leaf decoration in the gift shop of the Durham Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. When we saw it we immediately knew our mother would love it. It also isn’t something you can buy at any Wal-mart. How perfect as a birthday gift.
We also gave her a birthday card from both of us that I decorated with a few tatted flowers. I frequently add simple tatted flowers to cards, usually just single rings of picots. This time I layered them. The thread was almost an exact match to the flowers on the front of the card.
Tatted flowers on birthday card
Mother was very happy with both the gift and the card.
“There are two great days in a person’s life – the day we are born and the day we discover why.” William Barclay
I have so many things I would like to be making at the moment that I don’t get any of them started. To keep from not accomplishing anything I’ve kept on making bookmarks.
“Milan” tatted cross bookmark
I had a few false starts when making “Milan” cross bookmark. The first time the long, bottom leg came out great but I hadn’t thought through how to make the ‘arms’. The second time I finished it but the bottom leg was way too wide. I’ll keep it for myself – I did put a lot of work into it – but it looks rather odd. (I did not take a picture of it.) I learned a lot from both trials and this is the result.
“Milan” tatted cross bookmark in Lizbeth size 20, #658
When making “Milan” center it doesn’t lay flat but once the arms are made it lays flat with minimal blocking. Just putting this in a book or putting something heavy on it would straighten it out well. My problem with it was my chains – I couldn’t keep the tension right. I am pleased with how this one in Ocean Turquoise Light turned out.
Now if I can only get organized to work on the other things I want to!
“To think too long about doing a thing often becomes its undoing.” Eva Young
I had the occasion to use one of the cross bookmarks I tatted recently. Sadly it was put in a sympathy card to a friend on the loss of their mother. This is one reason I keep these bookmarks on hand, to send as a small token of my sympathy to let them know I am thinking of them during their time of grief.
“The people you have in your life grow and occupy space in the tapestry that makes up your life. When they are gone, it makes a hole where they used to be. The memories and love are still there and may always be there. So don’t look at your tapestry as filled with holes- look at it as your own unique lace pattern. The pattern isn’t over, but it is constantly changing. The pain of loss doesn’t ever really go away, but it does lessen over time.” Unknown
I didn’t get as many bunnies tatted as I hoped I would, but I finished enough to make bookmarks for a few special people.
Tatted bunny bookmark
A little green thread worked well as grass to support the tatted bunnies and a few flowers. They look very bright and spring-y, don’t they?
3 tatted bunny bookmarks
I made these for my mother and her sisters. They are the same but different 🙂 They were well received when I delivered them Easter afternoon.
My husband and I were fortunate to have several days of holiday from work Easter weekend. We did a little yard work, had some family time, and still had time to just relax and enjoy our time off.
I’m still working on the UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) that I’ve located. Okay, maybe just thinking about working on them. I keep coming up with new things I want to make. How do I decide what to work on first?
