Craft Show

The craft show last weekend went well.  I sold several runners and a few other smaller things which means I paid for the booth and a bit more besides which makes it a successful show. Moundridge Craft Show booth with tatted items from wandasknottythoughts
My booth setup
I didn’t get a picture of the booth before the show started.  I had already sold one of my table runners by the time I thought about it.
Moundridge Craft Show booth with my sister with tatted items from wandasknottythoughts
 This is my sister’s booth.  We have two spaces but put our tables together.
I think the green-over-black really made the tables look good.
I talked to several other venders from the show and they all had the same results we did: people were buying but not a lot.  That still makes it a successful show.
This year I had a small Christmas tree that I strung with battery-powered LED lights and covered in small, button-centered tatted ornaments.  I also had small button-centered tatted snowmen. Each one was a little different.
Tatted button-centered snowmen from wandasknottythoughts
A few of the tatted snowmen on the tree at home before the show.
I thought they came out well; everyone that saw them thought they were cute.  I put pin backs on a few but they can still be hung on the tree.  My sister asked for one to be put on a barrette and it worked for that, too.
Tatted snowman with buttons from wandasknottythoughts
Tatted Button-centered snowman
© Wanda Salmans 2015
For all that it is very simple I wrote up the pattern and have added it to my Pattern tab.
Thanksgiving cornucopia from wandasknottythoughts

This week was Thanksgiving here in America.  Here at home we’ve had enough ice and bad weather that we haven’t been able to gather with any of our family so far.  But we are thankful that we have family that are healthy and happy even if we can’t see them this week.

 I’m also thankful that I can share my enjoyment of tatting with others at craft shows and on this blog. Thanks to all of you for stopping by.
“Thanksgiving is a time to remember…
our blessings and make good cheer with all who we hold dear.”

Eleonore Edging

I made several edgings this year going for a certain look.  This is one that isn’t quite what I was looking for but not bad and works with the material I attached it to.  I’m not sure you can see just how well the green in the edging goes with the green in the material.
 Eleonore Edging © Wanda Salmans 2015 wandasknottythoughts
Eleonore Edging © Wanda Salmans 2015

I used Lizbeth Leaf Green Medium #684 and Ecru #603 in size 10.

 It’s interesting that much of the fabric I found this year have this shade of green in them.  I could almost use this color in every table runner I’ve been working on. And I have found a lot of fabric this year, so much that I could make runners for several years and never buy any more material except for backings.  This fun fabric is one that I picked up at the store that is going out of business.
I was having a hard time coming up with a name for this edging.  It doesn’t necessarily look like anything, I didn’t make it for any particular person, and I don’t want to name it by the color, so what should I name it?  Did you know there are places that generate names?   I tried a site called “Behind the Names: Random Name Generator and it gave me ‘Eleonore’.  It works.
I’ve been spending a lot of time getting ready for the craft show this coming weekend, sewing in ends, coming up with prices, and planning the booth layout.  I’m feeling pretty good about it right now.  We’ll see how I feel come Friday night. :-0
“A poet’s work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep.”
Salman Rushdie

Table Runner with Queen’s Crown Edging

Do you remember way back in February I made the edging Queens Crown Edging?
Well, I finally got it attached to the material! Yay!
http://www.wandasknottythoughts.com/2015/02/queens-crown-edging/
Queen’s Crown Edging © Wanda Salmans

I like making edgings and seeing the tatting on the material, but I really don’t like sewing the tatting to the material.  This part of the process is a necessary evil to finishing a table runner.

The finished table runner is 11 1/2 inches wide and 46 inches long, including the tatted edging which is Lizbeth #693 Linen Medium size 10.  I think it turned out well.

I have several other edgings already tatted and ready to go on material.  My sister is very sweet and offered to sew the material for me as her sewing machine is always out.  I cut the material for several runners then she sewed them.  I will turn them right-side out, stitch up the hole left for that and sew the edgings on.  I feel it takes me forever to do the hand stitching but it is worth it.  I’ll be sharing more table runners in the next few weeks.

My sister and I are going to be in a local craft show next week.  We usually participate in this one every year because it is local, making it much easier for both of us to go.  Going to craft shows much farther away can get complicated with our jobs.  Sometimes we do well, other times not so well, but we both enjoy participating in the show because of the festive atmosphere, the customers and the other crafters contributing to an enjoyable day.  Last year I did well with table runners and I’m hoping to do so again this year.

Something funny about this edging: I made this one and two others and put them in a drawer when they were finished, planning on putting them on runners when the material was sewn.  In the course of tatting other things and life happening I forgot about them until I was looking for something else. I also changed my mind on what material all three edgings were going to go on. But they all look really good finished.Yay!
“Of course I talk to myself when I tat. Sometimes I need expert advice.”

Many-tailed Tatted Paperclip Bookmark

A favorite aunt of mine had a birthday recently.  I always try to make something for her as I know she really appreciates handmade items.  I also know she doesn’t need more things sitting around her house, so gift ideas are for things that can be worn or used.  For this year I made her a paperclip bookmark.
Many-tailed tatted Paperclip bookmark with a button on wandas knotty thoughts
Many-tailed Tatted Paperclip Bookmark
This bookmark is specifically made for my aunt to use at church.  Lutherans use a hymnal that has a liturgy in the front and hymns in the back and during a service you go back and forth between the liturgy and the different hymns.  I’ve been thinking of making a bookmark like this for a while, one where you can mark several pages at a time. This bookmark actually has more tails than are usually needed for a normal service but it looked cool with the different colors hanging from the clip.
Many-tailed tatted Paperclip bookmark on a pretty button on wandas knotty thoughts
Many-tailed Tatted Paperclip Bookmark with a button
Isn’t that button pretty?  I hope you can see it.  This is one I picked up just this week from a fabric shop that sadly is closing.  The good news about that is that everything is on sale.  I didn’t pick up a lot of buttons but I did pick up a lot of material. There’ll be more about that later.
My aunt really liked the tatted paperclip bookmark.  I think it worked out well.
‘If you love to read, you know there are three kinds of book-markers: the dog-ear-er, the any old flat object that will hold my spot-er and the beautiful “I even spent money on a bookmark”-er.  Of course, if you read an e-reader you totally miss the point, but that is neither here nor there.  I fall into the “I even spent money on a bookmark” category.  To me, a bookmark is a friendly “hello! we’re glad you’re back!” statements as I immerse myself back into the text to tackle paragraph after paragraph.’
Being Geek Chic, beinggeekchic.com

Apples for Auction

I volunteered again this year to work on the basket from our church to be auctioned off at a fundraiser for a local retirement village.  This year I had more than two days notice to get it ready, I had almost a whole month.  The baskets are also wanted much earlier so they can promote them better prior to the auction.  I did the basket from last year all by myself, and I thought that was going to be the case again this year, but I ended up with help.  I asked one of the other ladies from church if she’d like to help and she agreed.
I didn’t have a definite theme in mind and neither did Susan so we began our shopping at an antique/flea market to get ideas.  I had a lot of luck here last year and thought it would be a great place to start.  We wondered up and down the aisles, looking for inspiration. Several items caught our eye but we kept looking for more things that would bring a theme together.  The theme we finally settled on was Apples.
We found a cute small-ish bushel style basket and a set of four cups and saucers with apples on them.  At different stores we found dried apple slices, apple juice in cute bottles, caramel apple coffee, apple dip mix, apple pie spice, a cinnamon apple scented candle, and a hot pad with apples on it.  We couldn’t find any towels with apples so we bought two red hand towels to line the basket with.
Apples Themed Auction basket from wandasknottythoughts 2015-10-27

Can you believe I forgot to take pictures of our prizes until after I had it wrapped???  So this is the best picture I have.  I also found some decorative green apples at the Dollar Store.  I spray painted them red, which turned out great as they looked more real this way.  I added them to the basket, too.

The bushel basket and apple theme came about by what we found at the flea market but it worked out well for another item as well.  It happens that Susan has published several books, the latest being “Bushels of Nostalgia” with a bushel basket of apples on the front cover.  She was kind enough to donate a signed copy of her book to put in the auction basket.
Apples for Auction with Bushels of Nostalgia book and tatted apple bookmark from wandasknottythoughts 2015-10-27

I didn’t get a picture of the book by itself, I was trying to get an interesting picture of the bookmark.

 From the beginning I planned to put something tatted in the basket but was waiting to determine the theme and color.  Now I started looking for patterns with apples.  I found a couple but not quite what I had in mind so came up with my own.
Apples for Auction tatted apple bookmark from wandasknottythoughts 2015-10-27

Apple Bookmark © Wanda Salmans 2015

I’ve never tried layering rings like this before.  I’ve seen it several places on the Internet but I’m not finding the sites now – of course. I didn’t quite get the shape I was going for but with the leaves I think it still looks like an apple.

 

I was very happy with the basket we came up with.  The auction was last week but I have no idea who won our basket or how much it went for.  It doesn’t really matter – whatever it went for and whoever got it – it was all for a good cause.  I’m hoping that the winner is enjoying all their apples.

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”
George Bernard Shaw

Tatting Class

Back in July I mentioned that I was going to have a tatting class.  The tatting class consisted of three local ladies, two whom I have known since our children were young.  I was pretty excited to have people interested in a class and that they were local.
We had our first session in July, then had to have a bit longer of a break before our next lesson than any of us wanted due to personal obligations for all of us.  But we finally had another class and then another.  Then we decided we would just try to meet up at least once a month to get together and tat.
How cool is that?
 New tatters! on wandasknottythoughts@gmail.com
Tatting class in July
Carla, Becky, and Sherry

 

New tatters learning the double stitch on wandasknottythoughts@gmail.com
Tatting class in August
It is so fun getting together with these ladies.  We are laughing almost the entire time.  A couple of them have started the same project of a simple heart pattern.  Each are progressing at a different pace but are making progress, they just need to keep practicing. As they learn and practice tatting I’m learning and practicing how better to pass on my tatting knowledge.  We’re all having a great time learning.
Next month we’ll be meeting at my house.  At the last meeting we started talking about coming up with a name for our tatting group.  Any suggestions?
“It is not knowledge, but the act of learning, not possession but the act of getting there, which grants the greatest enjoyment.”
Carl Friedrich Gauss
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Mail from Fox and Others

Have you been following Fox’s adventures in Armenian Lace?  She entertained us with her undertakings with this different type of knotting for several weeks.  For all that it enticed her into trying it she decided it just wasn’t something she wanted to continue, so she called it done, over, not for her.  She even put her newly acquired books up for sale.
And I bought them.
When I saw her trying Armenian lace I looked it up on YouTube and thought it looked interesting.  And when she put her books up for sale I thought it must be a sign.  Fox put the books in the mail right away and surprise, surprise, they came in the mail the same week!
Priscilla Armenian Lace book from Fox wandasknottythoughts
Mediterranean Knotted Lace book from Fox wandasknottythoughts
Tatting by Fox
And look what else she included in the package – a lovely tatted motif and a piece of Armenian lace she made.  And a needle to start it with.  Thank you, Fox, for gifts!
Tatting and Armenian Lace from Fox wandasknottythoughts
Tatting and Armenian lace by Fox
I’m glad the books got here so quickly but I have no idea when I’m going to have a chance to try it.  I have a lot of things I’m working on right now and once in a while I still have to do things like wash dishes and clothes and cook and go to work – you know, the not-so-fun but essential things in life.
I’ll get to it eventually.
A couple of weeks ago when I posted about my tatted bag Bernice from Knot Vortex asked how big it was. Well, Bernice, it had this ball of Omega thread inside to fill it out so I could get a good picture of it.  I should have put a ball of Lizbeth thread beside it to give some perspective (as I know a lot of people use Lizbeth but I’m not sure how many use Omega) but the Clover shuttle should give you an idea of size.
Tatted hand bag with ball of Omega thread and shuttle to show size wandasknottythoughts
Tatted bag by Wanda Salmans

 Tatted hand bag with ball of Omega size 50 thread and shuttle to show size wandasknottythoughtsTatted bag by Wanda Salmans

 I’m still trying to decide how to make the lining/insides of the bag though I haven’t spent a lot of time on it.  Besides, letting ideas percolate for awhile helps me come up with solutions that usually work pretty well. Putting it on a back burner for a little bit doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about it.

I’m busy making things for a craft show right now.  I just bought some beautiful material at Jo-Ann’s that I want to make into runners for the show, which will need edgings, and I need to work on gifts for Christmas.  Of course I don’t have the right colors or enough of the right colors for what I want to do so I had to place an order for thread which meant more mail!

Don’t you just love getting packages in the mail?

“What a wonderful thing is the mail, capable of conveying across continents a warm human hand-clasp.”
Author Unknown

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Two Crosses

I’ve mentioned before that my go-to gift for some special occasions are cross bookmarks.  Recently I had two such occasions, one sad, one happy.
I made a cross for my sister-in-law when they recently lost their son.  I couldn’t make up my mind which one to tat so I made up one.  I’m not sure I like it that much, but it looks okay. I’ve tried coming up with a name for it, but they are all sad – “Sorrowful Cross,” “Funeral Cross,” that type of thing.  I’ll come up with something sometime.
"Two Crosses" tatted lace cross made as a gift for a funeral. On wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com
© Wanda Salmans September 2015
The other occasion was much happier.  We just installed a new pastor at our church, and what better gift to give him than a bookmark for his Bible?  This is a traditional pattern that I’ve made several times.  It tats up quickly and is a nice size for a Bible.

"Two Crosses" tatted lace cross bookmark from a traditional pattern. On wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com

Both bookmarks were made in Lizbeth size 20 thread, in, I think,  #652 Royal Blue.  After making the first I still had plenty of thread for the second one.  It is a suitable color for men or women, don’t you think?
I’ve been doing a lot of tatting lately and still feel I don’t have enough time to do all that I would like.  The holidays are fast approaching as well as several birthdays and a craft show in November.  I just can’t tat fast enough.  Isn’t that the way it goes – when you’re busy you keep finding other things to do as well?  I’m thinking I should be making a few more cross bookmarks so I have a few handy when needed.
Oh! another something I want to be doing.
“People give one another things that can’t be gift wrapped.”
Nadine Gordimer
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Tatted Bag Trial and Error

In July I started a Round Robin Doily through Craftree.  I tatted several of the centers for my doily trying to come up with one I was happy with.  The last sample that I made before I did one ‘for real’ is almost the same as the final except it has several places where I changed stitch counts which I didn’t go back and change.  It was a trial.  But it still looked pretty good.
So I thought I’d use it for another sample. I thought this center would look good as the bottom of a tatted bag.  At least as the bottom of a trial tatted bag.
Tatted Lace bag from Round Robin Doily Center, trying out some ideas for a tatted lace bag on wandasknottythoughts
Round Robin Doily center as the bottom of the bag.
The first few rounds went very close to my vision except for a few changes in stitch count.  As this is a trial and the stitch count change very minimal I didn’t go back and change them, just left it as tatted.
Tatted Lace bag from Round Robin Doily Center standing up, trying out several ideas for a tatted lace bag on wandasknottythoughts
Tatted bag sides
For whatever reason I made the split ring round a bit too big.  I had even started with smaller rings and changed my mind – I’m not sure what I was thinking.  I like the idea, but definitely need to change the counts there.
The bare thread sections at the top are a little too long, Well, they might not be when I finally get a material lining made.  That is material around a larger ball of thread inside the bag, filling it out so I can see what works and what doesn’t.  If it was the actual lining I suppose the tatting would be stitched to it and it would work/look better.
I had a lot of fun making this.  I’m not sure when I’ll get back to it to finish all the details and make a lining for it as there are a lot of other things waiting to be done.  But when I do I will already know a few places I need to change.  It should go faster and easier then.
“Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely.”
Henry Ford

I’ve been to the fair

"Martha" tatted lace doily Kansas State Fair Blue Ribbon Winner 2015 wandasknottythoughtthoughts.blogspot,com
“Martha” doily © Wanda Salmans
Tatted by Wanda Salmans
I almost didn’t enter anything into the Kansas State Fair this year but at the last minute – the first day you had to pay a late entry fee –  I decided to.  I didn’t have time to make more than one item but I found two places I could enter tatting.  There is only one tatting class and then there is a class for holiday decorations in any fiber medium.  For the tatting class I entered the Martha doily I made back in February. I am excited that I got first place but very disappointed in how very few entries there were.  A grand total of three.
Judging is done against a standard as well as against other entries, so they do not have to give out ribbons if the items do not meet those standards – finished nicely, clean, even stitches (though the judge might not know tatting they probably know knitting and crochet or other lace-making techniques.) It is subjective to a point.  But the judge still liked mine enough to give a blue. That makes me happy.
My pumpkin holiday decoration came in third.  Considering there were more entries and they were in different mediums I’m pretty happy with the result.
"Autumn Pumpkin" tatted lace design by Mark Meyers tatted by Wanda Salmans, 3rd place in Holiday Decoration 2015 Kansas State Fair wandasknottythoughts
“Autumn Pumpkin” © Mark Meyers
Wall hanging by Wanda Salmans
Here is a picture of the other holiday entries. I’m not sure where the blue ribbon – 1st place – item is, I didn’t see one with anything.  Maybe they got a best of class or show and was put in a different place. (My granddaughter wouldn’t get out of the way for me to take a picture but wouldn’t hold still either.
2015 Kansas State Fair Holiday Decorations all entries as seen on wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com
Holiday Decorations at the Kansas State Fair 2015
My granddaughter did like the second place entry, a crow holding a basket with a watermelon theme.  There was another similar crow with a sunflower theme but I couldn’t tell if they were supposed to be together or if someone else had a similar entry.  They were both cute.
Holiday Decorations from 2015 Kansas State Fair as seen on wandasknottythoughts
Overall I was disappointed in how few entries there were throughout the domestic arts categories.  The last time I was there I seem to remember quite a few more of about everything – quilts, crochet, knitting, all of that.  I have told myself that I must enter more things in the fair next year.  I did go to another building that had categories that I think I could find a way to enter with tatting – I’ll have to give it some thought over the year.
“It is nice to have valid competition; it pushes you to do better.”
Gianni Versace
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