Redbird in the snow

Redbird in the snow Nebraska picture by S. Hanke wandasknottythoughts
Picture by S. Hanke
Western Kansas and a lot of Nebraska was hit with a blizzard February 2, 2016.  A friend of mine took this picture of a redbird in her yard. I don’t know how much snow they had where this was taken but looks like quite a bit. Not enough to keep this little bird away.  Love this picture!*I was told they had about 10 inches (25.4 cm)

Forgotten kitty

Tatted cat from The Complete Book of Tatting, Rebecca Jones, found on wandasknottythoughts
Tatted Cat © Rebecca Jones 1985
tatted by Wanda Salmans
I was visiting an aunt this week and noticed this kitty on her side table among other pictures and nick-knacks.  I had completely forgotten about making this until I saw it again.
When I saw it I was trying to remember where I had found the pattern and when I had done it.  I had to do some thinking about how old it might be before I could think of the book.  Amazingly I guessed right the first time and pulled out the right book the first try.  The pattern is found in ‘The Complete Book of Tatting’ by Rebecca Jones.  I checked the published date to give me a clue of when I might have tatted it.  My copy of the book has “reprinted 1992 & 1994”.  I’m pretty sure I tatted this about 1995 and gifted it for birthday or Christmas the same year.
I’m guessing the thread is DMC pearl cotton size 8 because, at the time, there weren’t many other threads in pretty colors that I could find.  I didn’t take a lot of time to look at it closely when I was at the aunts’ house or I could be more sure.  It is mounted on light blue material in a wooden frame without glass.  It’s almost hard to believe I made it 20 years ago!
This is a favorite aunt that I spent many hours with growing up and once I knew how to tat she was the lucky recipient of quite a bit of tatting.  In those days I didn’t take pictures or write down what I made or where it went. This is one of the reasons I started blogging, to keep track of all that!
It gives me a little warm and fuzzy feeling to see that she has kept it all these years and still has it out to enjoy.
“The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat.”
Jules Renard
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January funk

I haven’t gotten much tatting done lately.  It also seems that what has gotten done has had mistakes.
Take Jane’s TIAS 2016.
I was doing great until Day 6.  It wasn’t that it was that difficult but I caught a thread where it shouldn’t aught to be and didn’t notice it until I was farther along.
2016 TIAS with a mistake wandasknottythoughts
Jane Eborall’s TIAS 2016 Day 6
And this is where I still am.  The way things have been going lately with my tatting I’m afraid to take it out due to the chance of making it worse.
But I am looking forward to finishing it.  Jane already has Day 8 out; I have a bit of catching up to do.
The doily I currently have in the round robin I’m a part of on Craftree is sitting by my chair waiting on me to finish it. I have it figured out – in my thread – but haven’t yet attempted it in the doily colors yet.  I really don’t want to mess it up.
I hope I get out of my funk soon.
On a bright note, I found my snowman that came off in the wash.
Button-centered Snowman after being washed wandasknottythoughtsHe looked pretty pathetic.

Button-centered Snowman after being washed still okay wandasknottythoughts

But amazingly his scarf, hat and flower are still attached.  I used craft glue to put them on and I really thought I’d find the tatting but not everything still together.  A little blocking and he’ll be as good as new.
I’m hoping a little patience and a little more care will soon get me back to as good as new, or least back to normal!
“You’re going to go through tough times – that’s life.  But I say, ‘Nothing happens to you, it happens for you.’  See the positive in negative events.”
Joel Osteen
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Marlis Edging

Marlis Edging on wandasknottythoughts
Marlis Edging in Lizbeth #698 Fudge Med and #603 Ecru size 10
This is another edging I made last fall.  Yes, it is similar to Kamryn because I had an idea in mind that I was working toward and Marlis was one of the first versions of that idea.  I’m not all that happy with it, though once I added the second row where it is attached the material I liked it a lot better.  The colors look pretty good with the runner material, though.After I had made Marlis and Kamryn – and a few other edgings – I saw a picture of an edging that is along the lines I originally was headed.  Fox over at tat-ology made ‘Gardenia’ by Iris Niebach, which if I’d seen it first I might have made it instead (I am sure I read about it on Fox’s blog when she posted about it, but I’ve slept a couple of times since then). Oh, well, this way meant I had to take a chance at figuring out just what it was I did wanted and if I could get there from where I was.

I had a lot of fun in the trying.

“Just keep taking chances and having fun.”
Garth Brooks
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Joy’s Heart Cross Bookmark

Joy's Heart cross bookmark wandasknottythoughts January 2016
Joy’s Heart Cross Bookmark © Wanda Salmans 2016
The center of this cross is Joy’s Heart (pattern found on My Patterns tab) with arms added. It’s done in one pass with shuttle and ball only, no fancy or difficult techniques. Made with Lizbeth #670 Victorian Red thread in size 20.
This was made in memory of my sister-in-law who loved anything hearts who lost her battle with cancer this last week.  We were the same age and though we didn’t see each other often we always enjoyed each other’s company.  She will be greatly missed.
I had almost a week to make a bookmark for my brother-in-law but I had a hard time getting started – maybe denial?  I finished the last arm and hid the ends a few minutes after the funeral.  The picture was taken in the foyer on a table there.  I should have found a better background but there were other things to do.
Funerals are hard to attend but can help so much with dealing with loss.  Besides all of the memories shared you also reconnect with extended family that unfortunately doesn’t get together often enough.  I also find myself reviewing my own life and wonder if I’m doing things I might regret or what things I might regret if I don’t do them.
As family and friends mingled, shared memories and tears, many of us kept saying “we have to stop meeting just at funerals.”  Someone decided to do something about that – plans have been started to have a family reunion later this year.  I’ve added it to our calendar and we’ve made plans to go.  We not waiting until the next funeral.
 There is a wonderful poem by Linda Ellis called “The Dash”. It really makes you think.

Of airplanes, ornaments, and snowmen

Several years ago I gave the white airplane on the right to a friend of mine for Christmas. He had it hung on his office wall at work and I noticed a few months ago that it was looking a bit wilted and yellow. It had been stiffened a bit but not enough it seems.  The smaller grey plane I meant to give him last year and didn’t (he got a tatted ornament just not the plane).  This year I wanted to make sure he got both his airplanes but in a way that would look good and last a bit better.
Tatted airplanes © Wanda Salmans pattern found on wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com
Airplane  © Wanda Salmans 2014 Pattern found on My Patterns tab 
Trying to find a background that worked with both planes took a bit.  Craft paper was the best I could find from my stash of both paper and material.  No worries, my friend really liked his airplanes.
I’ve gotten quite a few responses since I posted about these small ornaments.
Christmas Ornaments 2015 found on wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com
Button Christmas ornaments
They are very basic and simple patterns so I wasn’t going to write them up, but I decided to do a few to give people that would like to do something similar an start.  You can find the link on My Patterns tab as Christmas Ornaments 2015.
 The snowman that I made for myself and attached to a pin is missing in action.
Missing tatted snowman on wandasknottythoughts
Missing: Tatted Snowman. Last seen: on this pin on my shirt
I wore it Christmas day and forgot to take it off my shirt before I washed it.
I’m not sure where it ended up.  I used regular white craft glue to put it all together as it was never meant to go through the washer.  I’ll probably find bits and pieces of him in the clothes as we put them on, tucked up inside a sleeve of some shirt or other.  It’s too bad but not a tragedy to lose him as I have others but, man! I wish I hadn’t done that.
2015 is about to make its exit.  It’s been a thrilling year with the new experience of a cruise and visiting Alaska for the first time; a sad year where we have lost three family members and several close friends over the course of the year; and an exciting year as we’ve finally done some home improvements that had been put off for far too long.  It could be said it’s been a normal year with ups and downs, good times and bad.  As we enter 2016 I make no resolutions that I know I won’t keep but move forward with a positive outlook and hopes for a wonderful new year.
What are you looking for in the coming year?
“Every exit is an entrance to new experiences.”
Fortune cookie proverb

Color research

A tatted snowflake as a color sample found on wanda's knotty thoughts
Color sample made with Lizbeth thread size 10 in #606 Charcoal & #602 Natural
While making edgings for the table runner that were made this fall I discovered – rediscovered? – that my sense of what colors go together needs help.  Setting balls of thread on material gives an idea if they look good together but not necessarily if they work together for a pretty edging.
For a Christmas gift this year I’m planning on another table runner.  Instead of making the edging and then finding out the colors just don’t quite work like expected I thought I should do a little more research and make a sample with the planned colors and then make the decision.
Why did it come out as a snowflake?  It was a good idea at the time??
These colors didn’t quite work as expected with the material – good thing it was only a sample! – so more research was needed.
Tatted color samples of thread on wanda's knotty thoughts
 These were done only in one color so they could be put side-by-side with other colors to see how they would look.  Probably a much more practical way to research the problem and find the colors that work the best, don’t you think?
 
“Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.”
Wernher von Braun
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Christmas tree ornaments

Christmas tree with tatted ornaments on wandasknottythoughts
This is our Christmas tree this year, the same one I used at the craft show a few weeks ago.  It’s about 24 inches tall and is decorated entirely with tatted ornaments.  They can’t really be called snowflakes as most of them have have eight points, though a few have more.  I’ve wanted to have a tree decorated like this for years and this is the first time it’s happened.  It took a lot of these little decorations to dress this little tree – there are more than 30 on the front and sides.  I’m glad they were quick and easy.
Tatted Christmas tree ornaments on buttons on wandasknottythoughts
They may not be snowflakes but they do have at least one feature like them: no two are the same.  Even when the plan was to make a duplicate the stitch count usually changed or a ‘mistake’ changed the finished ornament.  That one with the blue button on the bottom left? The plan was to be the same as the one in the middle, but the stitch count should have been changed a bit because of the difference in button size – it wasn’t changed (enough) and it ended up being finished a bit different.
When these were first started the plan had been to use only red and green buttons.  Why?  It just sounded good at the time.  Then I got to thinking about Christmas tree lights and all the colors that were used.  So instead of being choosy it became much more random – reach into the button jar and use whatever came out.  I have several button jars, this one contains bright colored, modern buttons, which makes for a bright, happy tree.
Large tatted Christmas tree ornament on a button on wandasknottythoughts
This button is a bit larger than the others and it’s the only one this size that I made.  No, I didn’t plan for it to end up like this when I started but I think it came out well.  It’s a little too big to fit in with the other tatted ornaments but it’s on the tree anyway.
How have you decorated your tree? Do you have tatting on it?
“O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
What happiness befalls me when oft
at joyous Christmas-time
Your form inspires my song and rhyme.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,
What happiness befalls me”
author unknown

Kamryn Edging

 I just love the material for this table runner.  I picked it up at JoAnn’s when they had a lot of material on sale for 40% off.  There was lady there that was looking at fall-themed material at the same time I was. We liked so many of the same materials that we went to the cutting table at the same time so all of it could be cut for both of us while it was out.  We had a nice conversation while we were checking out the material. Fellow crafters can be pretty nice people.
Kamryn Edging, tatted edging on table runner with fall material on wandasknottythoughts
 Kamrny Edging © Wanda Salmans 2015
This edging was the last one I did before the craft show and it wasn’t supposed to go with this material.  But after finishing it and laying it with the other material it just wasn’t going to work; both my daughters agreed with me.  The two edgings and materials were swapped and all looked much better for it.Kamryn is a very easy edging, with only rings and chains.  Surprisingly it has no thrown rings, split rings or shuttle switching.  It went very fast, which is why it made it to the craft show. (It was the first thing sold, right at the start of the show). I think there are similar patterns out there but I was not following one when I made this, I just started and this is what came off the shuttles.
Kamryn Edging up close, tatted edging on table runner with fall material on wandasknottythoughts
Kamryn Edging in Lizbeth Fudge Med # 698 & Harvest Orange Med #694
© Wanda Salmans 2015
I’m very happy with how this came out.  Sewing it on went much faster than usual because I took Michelle’s advice to use invisible thread.  She had suggested to sew it on with the machine but mine wouldn’t work. Maybe the tatting was too thick for the setting on the machine??  What-ever the problem, I had to do it by hand, but the invisible thread mostly made it go much faster even doing it by hand.   Why had I not tried this before???
The last couple of weeks had a lot of things happening around here.  About November 18th western Kansas had a blizzard and ended up with 20 inches of snow (that’s a lot of blowing snow out there!); on the 19th we experienced a 4.7 magnitude earthquake that was centered in northern Oklahoma which I felt at our house north of Wichita (Kansas has felt 162 earthquakes in the last month); then abnormally high temperatures for several days, around 65ºF to 70ºF, then an ice storm over the Thanksgiving weekend (lots of power outages due to broken power lines and downed trees).  We are now experiencing pleasant temperatures and sunny skies, which I am thankful for.
I’m not sure what to expect next from the weather or other natural phenomenon, but I do know what to expect next from me: I will be working on the Round Robin doily I’m doing on Craftree and things for Christmas.
How about you?  What are you making?“There is no “buy” there is only DIY”