Seeing the light

Or at least that is the plan.
Every year my sister and I try to do one craft show together; she with sewing and hand embroidery and I (of course) with tatting.  We get two booths together at the local Christmas craft show and spend a day seeing the cool things other people make, visiting and – hopefully – selling a few items.  There are only a few booths that have electricity available and they cost a few dollars more, which we’d rather not pay, so I’ve been thinking of ways to bring light to our booths without the cords.  We’ve done the battery powered Christmas lights the last several years, which is great, but there should be other, inexpensive ways to bring more light to the booths if we can just think of them.
A light bulb â˜¼ came on for me about a month ago – the battery powered lights that are advertised for closets and under counters might just work. 

I bought a package of these push-on lights, and sure enough, they give off quite a bit of light even in a lighted room, especially if they are aimed at something not too far away. 
Then I thought that it would be a little more aesthetic to have shades over the lights instead of them being bare, so I picked up enough little shades for the lights I’d purchased.  The shades were very plain and had to be dressed up a bit – besides, people would be able to see these easily from a distance and be drawn over to our booth, right?  Which was the point in the first place.
I made an edging long enough to go around the bottom of a shade in DMC ecru size 30 as I had two shuttles already wound with it. I put it on a shade (without glue) to see how it looked, then placed it over one of the puck lights.
Oops.  The harp of the light shade hung down so low it hit the puck light, so the light shade sat crooked.
I had to come up with a way to hold the shade up high enough the harp was clear of the light.  I thought and I thought, and I played and I fiddled until I finally came up with something that works.   I’m sure there are better ways but craft sticks, buttons and beads are what I ended up with.  These are for the display only, not for sale anyway, right?  They just had to hold up the shade.
But the whole thing did sit kind of low on the table.  Maybe I needed something to make them taller?
That’s when I thought of the tin can. It had to be decorated, too, of course.
I sure am putting a lot of work into the display this year, especially as I’m not sure just how much light will be seen from these in a lighted room – but it’s such a kick to decorate those lamp shades!
“In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.”
Fancis Bacon
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Three pigs and a flower


I finally got all the pigs done as well as a flower.  The lady who asked for them was very vague about what she wanted exactly,  I  had nothing to go on except “flower” so I made one with threads I had on shuttles already.  If nothing else she can tell me what she likes about it and what she doesn’t.
I’m very pleased with all the pieces except the purple pig, which I think looks a little off.  Maybe I should redo it. 
Yes, I think I should. 
Apologies to Gelett Burgess

‘I never saw a purple pig, 
I never hope to see one; 
But if you’ve ever had a swig, 
You might just swear you’ve seen one.’


“Purple Cow” by Gelett Burgess

Side tracked

I have a whole list of things I need to be doing:
finish the pigs
make another pig for a friend of mine
tat several edgings for table runners
tat snowflakes
tat earrings
tat more snowflakes
For the last two days, instead of getting any tatting done at all, I was side tracked into putting together a themed basket for an auction.
In our community we have a retirement village that is in part sponsored by most of the area churches.  All of these sponsoring churches were asked to donate a themed basket to be auctioned off at a yearly fundraiser that is later this week.  This basket was brought up at our congregational meeting this last Sunday – and the basket has to be turned in today (Tuesday.)  As no-one else was inclined to do it, I volunteered.  So, for the last two days I’ve been hustling to find items for the basket and get it put together.
The theme: “Tea”
Yesterday I went shopping for the items I wanted in the basket.  The church gave me a set amount of money to spend and I had to come up with enough tea related items to fill a large basket, enough to make it worth bidding on, within that budget.  I am the only one that made the decisions on what would go in it *hehehehe*
I started out at Prairie Harvest, a local store that is a kind of a health food store but also carries loose teas.  I also bought some of their homemade peppernuts and some colorful candies to put in.  (I bought some wheat free peppernuts for me while I was there – yummy!)  I went next door to Kitchen Corner for a tea infuser and tea bag rest.  Then down the street to an antique and flea market to look for tea cups.  I found a set of two cups and saucers with pink roses on them that I liked, as well as a hanky that I thought would look good in the basket.  Then to a secondhand store where I found a basket I thought would work.  Then to the Dollar Tree where I picked up the filler paper, flowers and cellophane to wrap the basket.  Then to Wal-mart for a few more choices of cookies.
[I was not compensated in any way by any of these stores.  I just went to the ones that I thought would have the items I needed]

Whew! That was a lot of shopping in just a couple of hours.
Then home to start trying to put it together.
This morning I made the tag with the church’s name, theme and contents and finished putting everything in the basket. And, of course, it had  be decorated a bit, too.  And then it had to be delivered.
I did include a little bit of tatting.  I found a bookmark I had made a while ago in Lizbeth Pink Cocoa that fit right in with the pink in the cups and hanky.  I also put a tatted butterfly on the front of the tag and a couple of simple tatted flowers on the back.

 This is the back before I added the flowers or included the bookmark to the list.  I added a little tea bag to bring in the basket’s theme to the tag.

The tea cups that I found.
The filled basket before I added the cellophane.

The completed, wrapped basket.  I couldn’t find a cellophane bag to put it in that didn’t have all kinds of decorations on it so I had to buy a roll of cellophane instead.  It was fun putting it around the basket – okay, not really.
I thought it came out well.  I don’t know that I will ever find out who will eventually get the winning bid on it, but that’s okay.  I had fun putting it together and it’s for a good cause. 
Now I need to get back on track with my tatting.  Where did I lay those shuttles down??
“Even if you’re on the right track you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
Will Rogers

Earring patterns added

I’ve added the patterns for Small DragonFly Earrings and Leaf with DragonFly Earrings to my Patterns tab.
Thank you Stephanie for test tatting the for me.

Edited: 10/18/14 6:40 PM CST Made a slight correction in the pattern. I think it’s right now!  ðŸ™‚

A tale of two piggies

Well, three actually, but one isn’t done yet.
My sister was telling a friend of hers some of the things I’ve tatted, including a horse, a lion, dragons, that sort of thing, and the friend asked if I could make a pink pig.
Sure, no problem.  How big?  Three inches?  Well…
Flying Pig © Jane Eborall
So I went hunting for pig patterns.  You know, I found there aren’t that many pig patterns out there.  But Jane E. has lots of animal patterns so the first stop was there and it’s where I returned later.  
The first little piggy was made in Lizbeth #617, Magenta Med is size 20.  As you can see, it’s not very big.  My sister thought it was a cute baby pig. 
I decided I would try one in size 10 thread to show her the difference, but I don’t have any pink in size 10.  I do, however, have a purple in Cébélia size 10.  This little piggy was a little bit bigger than the other (of course) but still not three inches.  I sent my sister a picture of both so her friend could see what I had.
The friend said she’d like both.  And another small pink pig facing the other way.  And a flower. 
I don’t know how big a flower, or if it should have a stem or leaves or anything, but I’ll work on it.  And the third pig.
You might have noticed the pattern name is “Flying Pig” but it doesn’t have wings.  I was going to make wings but the lady doesn’t want flying pigs, just pigs.
If you’ve made Jane’s pig before you might also notice that the center is not per the pattern.  I tried multiple times to do the onion rings and every time I got all four done but couldn’t close that last one without breaking the thread.  Yes, I know, she has a pig pattern without the onion rings, but this is what I had printed out so it’s what I had to work with.  So I made three rings then changed to the chains.  I was going to do the final pig a little differently – either do a better job on the onion rings or do the no onion ring version – but the lady likes them the way they are, so I’ll do the third little piggy just like the first. 
And now I have the nursery rhyme stuck in my head.
This little piggy went to market
This little piggy stayed home
This little piggy had some roast beef
This little piggy had none
And this little piggy went “whee, whee, whee” all the way home.

Wooly Boy Bookmark


I saw this cute idea over on Batty Tatter‘s blog and just had to make one myself.  This one is made in Lizbeth #142 Turquoise Twist size 20 I think.  I know it’s Lizbeth size 20 but the color I’m not real sure about.  I had two shuttles wound in it and thought the bookmark would look good in it, but I’m not sure where the ball is, so I’m guessing.  Whatever the color, he turned out well, don’t you think?

I’ve been tatting a bit and working on patterns a bit but nothing I’m ready to share quite yet.  I’m trying to get motivated to start my Christmas tatting as I know time is getting short for making things for it, but I keep getting sidetracked.  I was asked a couple of days ago if I could tat a pink pig, so it looks like I’ll be tatting in pink for a little while instead of white.

While on vacation we saw a lot of live critters.

We saw this little chipmunk at the lookout just past Lake Irene in Rocky Mountain National Park

This big elk was watching over his harem in Estes Park City Park.  Yes, he was only a few feet away from us.

We came upon this moose while on a pontoon boat on the Colorado River as it comes into Lake Granby.  He was trying to catch up to a cow moose that didn’t seem to interested.

While on vacation we enjoyed the easy pace of the days, not in any hurry to go anywhere or do anything.  Now we’re back in the ‘real’ world where we have to meet deadlines and constantly keep an eye on the clock.  But while I tat life slows down just a bit, so I’ll just have to enjoy my mini vacations as much as I can.

“Time, as is well known, sometimes flies like a bird and sometimes crawls like a worm, but human beings are generally particularly happy when they don’t notice whether it’s passing quickly or slowly.”
Ivan Turgenev
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Dragonfly earrings

On our vacation to Colorado a few weeks ago I never got into a large project, just several small ones.  After the zipper pulls it was earrings.  I had picked up these cute dragonfly beads somewhere and had thought to bring them along, just in case.  The Autumn Spice thread that I used for the zipper pulls just wasn’t working for earrings as they were a bit too small for the colorway – when a pair was done they didn’t look like they went together if you weren’t careful about where you started.  So I switched to Victorian Red.
Dragonfly earrings Lizbeth #670 Victorian Red size 20
I had brought a variety of things with me, hooks, jump rings, beads.  I brought silver beads, silver jump rings – and copper earring hooks.  Oh, well, they are for me so I used them anyway.
After we got home I tried out another idea with the dragonfly beads.  I think these came out pretty good, too.  But even at home I couldn’t find the silver earring wires.
Leaf and Dragonfly earrings Lizbeth #684 Leaf Green Medium size 20
I’m sill looking through all the pictures we took on our trip (we took a lot of them).  Here’s several from an excursion to find Stillwater pass.  It is so insignificant a pass we can’t find it on the map, but there is a ‘Stillwater Pass Area’ and it was beautiful while we were there.

View of Granby Lake

We stayed at Mountain Lakes Lodge, which is between Lake Granby and Grand Lake.  The cabin had three bedrooms, each with their own theme.  Ours bedroom’s theme was birds/birdhouses.  

I didn’t get a good picture of it, but there was a picket fence all around the room.

The Lodge is not on any of the lakes but on the canal that goes between Lake Granby and Shadow Mountain Lake.  They – the locals and the proprietors – say there is usually good fishing in the canal but there wasn’t while we were there.  In fact, there weren’t very many people catching anything that week, but we didn’t go there just for the fishing so it wasn’t too much of a problem.  We just found other things to do, like admire the trees and watch for wildlife.

“Keep close to Nature’s heart… and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.  Wash your spirit clean.”
John Muir
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Vacation tatting

We just got back from a wonderful vacation to Colorado.  This year we went to the Granby area instead of the Buean Vista area where we have gone for the last several years. 
It was wonderful!  And the trees were absolutely gorgeous while we were there!
I, of course, took tatting with me.  I didn’t have a tatting plan when we left home so I took a variety of threads with me, including Lizbeth #136, Autumn Spice in size 20.  I thought it was a perfect choice for making zipper pulls for my purse.  I lost the last original pull on my purse just after we got there, so it was a needful project. I had also taken split rings and hooks, which came in very handy.
The pull on the right is the first one I made, the others are similar but with a few differences.  I thought they came out well, and look great on my purse.

I actually made four pulls, all in the same colorway.  This one went to a friend who needed a pull for a light jacket.  This one is the only duplicate I made, I guess because it was the easiest and I liked it the best. 

My husband snapped a picture of me tatting by the shore of Grand Lake, where he was fishing.  We had just finished hiking to Adams Falls and were enjoying the beautiful area.  There were picnic tables available to sit at but they were in the sun.  It was much warmer there than usual, so sitting in the shade was much more preferable.
The hike to Adams Falls is very easy and beautiful. The following pictures are from our hike there. There are not that many aspens here, having more pines than anything, so the colors from the aspens really stand out.  If you are in the area I highly recommend this hike.

“In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.”
Aristotle
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Framed for Flying

I finally got the dragon framed.  I tried it in four different frames before I settled on this one – it was not too dark or too bright for the tatting.  And it doesn’t leave the dragon lost in a too-big frame, either.  I finally came up with a background I like, too.  It looks pretty yellow here though it’s not, it’s more of a green/blue with a bit of a pattern in it.  Even in this smaller frame it kind of looked bare there all by itself. To fill it up a bit I printed ‘How To Fly’, a short excerpt from Hitchhiker’s Guide To the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, on the background paper.  The print is a light blue so it’s just barely there.  Black print overwhelmed the tatting.
It came out pretty well, didn’t it?
It’s all boxed up and ready to be sent – a birthday gift ready to fly to its new home. 
It’s only a couple of weeks late.
“The time to worry about flying is when you’re on the ground.  When you’re up in the air, it’s too late.  No point in worrying about it then.”
Denzel Washington
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Oops

Cross in Lizbeth  #605 and Manuela #019, both in size 20
This is all I’ve accomplished in the last two weeks.  I’d finished it off and then noticed that I’d made a very noticeable boo-boo, making a ring in the wrong place.  I’m thinking I’ll give it a try to tuck in the ends and touch it up with glue then keep it for myself, a reminder to PAY ATTENTION!  If it still comes out awful I suppose I could cut back both threads to the mistake and redo that last arm.  I’m not sure I like the rings on the chains anyway, so maybe it’s just the way it is.
I’ve been working 10 to 12 hours days for the last week on a different shift than normal, so there hasn’t been time or energy to do very much of anything.  I’m finally back to the usual hours but have a lot of things going on at the house so I’m not sure how much tatting will get done any time soon.  This is why it’s carried with me at all times, to grab a moment here and there when free moments present themselves.  Here’s hoping to many free moments!
“If you don’t want to work you have to work to earn enough money so that you won’t have to work.”
Ogden Nash
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