Special Order

Be careful of what you ask for, or what you agree to.

I had most of my bookmarks on a board for display at the craft show a few weeks ago.  A lady looked them over and requested two of the same pattern, one in Oklahoma State colors and one in Bethel College colors.  She wasn’t in a big rush but would like them before Christmas.  I said “sure, no problem!”

Bethel College is a local college whose colors are maroon and grey.  I’m thinking that shouldn’t be much of a problem.  I didn’t have a clue what the colors are for Oklahoma State University until the buyer told me but I didn’t think it should be that hard to find them.  For Bethel I planned on going to the school store and checking out the colors; for OSU I thought I’d check on-line or maybe a sports store.

On-line I found that OSU’s colors are orange, light orange, silver and black.  No, that’s OSU orange, OSU light orange, OSU silver and black.  On their website they tell you specifically the colors and how to achieve them when printing. Oh. My. 

Surprisingly, Lizbeth #695 Bright Orange comes pretty close to OSU orange – at least as far as my uneducated eye can see.  So I made one bookmark in Black and Bright Orange.  We’ll find out if the buyer thinks it is close or not.

Bookmark in Fall Colors © Wanda Salmans 1999, 2014
The bookmark pattern is mine.  I originally called it “Bookmark in Fall Colors” because it was made in – wait for it – fall colors.  I didn’t have anyone to share it with back then so the name was an identifier just for me.  I posted about it here and included a written out version of the pattern.  Someday I hope to diagram it and post it a little more formally.
Update – pattern added to My Patterns tab 1/6/15
I thought the maroon and grey of Bethel College would be easier to match but I was wrong.  I didn’t have anything that really worked for maroon in my thread stash and I couldn’t find any thread locally that would work, either.  I did find sewing thread in maroon – actually labeled ‘maroon’ – that was a match to the school colors but I did not want to work in thread that small!  
So I made an order to Handy Hands for several shades of thread that I didn’t have that I thought might come close.  Such hardship to have to order thread but I forced myself â˜ș.  I bought three new balls of thread, #672 Burgundy, #673 Terra Cotta and #674 Garnet Dk, all in size 20.

The Burgundy turned out to be the closest of the colors.  The hat is from the school store so it must be the accepted color, right?  The spool of thread is the maroon I found at the store, regular sewing thread, and the ball is the Burgundy.  It is still a little bright but as close as I’m going to find any time soon I think.  I have started the bookmark in Burgundy and silver – okay, it should be grey but I think it will work.

I took a special order without asking enough questions and agreed without knowing enough!  And now I’m worried that I should have done the bookmarks in one color instead of two – the one at the show was one color.  I guess I should call the buyer and ask.  Or maybe make one of each in two colors and one of each in a single color and let the buyer choose????

I sure hope they like them!


“The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B.”
James Yorke




I am not affiliated with either OSU or Bethel, I was given no compensation for mentioning them or linking to them.  

Snowflakes

Let it snow!
I’ve been doing a lot of snowflakes lately.  I did quite a few that I knew I was taking to the craft show a couple of weeks ago, but now the show is over I’ve started making them for family and friends.  
A few of the snowflakes I made for the craft show
Some of these are patterns from previous years but seven (?) were made up this year, usually while
watching TV. Sometimes there was a plan when I started tatting, other times the shuttle went where it wanted.  Some started out going one way but took off on a tangent and ended up differently than planned (the one with four points, lower left corner, as an example). There are some that are not, strictly speaking, snowflakes, as they do not have six points, but done in white and hanging from a tree they give the impression of snowflakes.  Or at least look pretty.  
Every year I try to make one snowflake that will go in the Christmas cards.  This year there are a couple of versions of the same basic pattern.
The original version of this year’s snowflake, Sydney

The second version, with a slightly different pattern and different center
It’s amazing how small changes can make such a difference, isn’t it?
I’ve added the pattern for Sydney on my patterns page.
Snowflakes sold well at the craft show; I had quite a few and they were displayed well on the tree.  I didn’t put out any of my tatted earrings.  I didn’t have very many made up even though most are pretty simple patterns.  As there weren’t many and I was running out of setup time I didn’t worry about putting them out.  But I did wear a pair.  One lady was at our booth early without buying anything but came back later to talk tatting and other things.  She had noticed my earrings and asked if I had any for sale so I pulled out what I had and she found a pair she liked.  It’s not often I sell something I don’t even have out at a show!
Snowflakes and earrings: sometimes things unplanned turn out well â˜ș
“I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” Jimmy Dean
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Craft show

The craft show was a success!
I was very happy with how the craft show turned out. A lot of people came to the show, many willing to spend money (at least at our booth!) I’m always happy when I sell enough to cover the cost of the booth at a show, and Saturday was much better 🙂

My booth a little before the start of the show.  I did a little rearranging and straightening before it started.
I displayed snowflakes and spool ornaments on a small tree. It drew a lot of attention; the picture doesn’t do it justice.
A view of the gym after things slowed down a bit.
Usually during a craft show I keep a small tatting project handy to work on during slow times, which also has a tendency to draw people over to see what you are doing.  This show I never had a chance to even get it out of my purse. I wasn’t always selling something – I spoke to a lot of people about who they knew/know that tats and the possibility of them someday learning themselves, even a few that actually tat.  I lost track of how many business cards I handed out to prospective students. ***happy dance***
This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the United States.  We’ll be having family over to our house on Thursday when we’ll be having roast beef, but we’re cooking the turkey for another big family dinner on Saturday.  I’m looking forward to seeing family as well as all the food 🙂
While going through some of my old tatting papers looking for patterns the other day I found a small photo album that I used to keep small samples of my tatting in many years ago.  I found this turkey doodle with a date of 1992.  It’s cute, quick, and timely so I made a few for the holiday.  I think I’ll put a pin back on these and give them to a few of my family.  Or maybe use them for table decorations as place markers or something.  They are made with size 20 Lizbeth thread and are less than an inch tall.
May you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.
“Not what we say about our blessings but how we use them, is the true measure of our Thanksgiving.”
W.T. Purkiser

Wooden spools

I was at a thrift shop the other day and noticed in their notions area a handful of wooden spools with a variety of threads on them.  I love wooden spools – I like their look, they are fun to play with, and they remind me of time spent at my grandmothers house.  At 25 cents a spool, how could I not bring them home with me?
Usually when I do something like this the items end up in a drawer or box somewhere because, though I couldn’t leave them at the store, I don’t really have a use or place for them.  But not this time!  I had a sudden idea and ran with it.
I thought they would make cute Christmas tree decorations.  I added a bit of tatting that I already had, strung a string through the center and, presto! tree ornaments!
Yes, they are hanging on a Christmas tree.  No, I don’t have my Christmas decorations up yet. I’m going to have this tree at the craft show this next weekend, using it as a display for my tatted snowflakes.
I’ve been tatting a lot recently to get ready for this craft show.  I don’t feel like I have enough items for it, but I could be wrong. I’ve been getting everything together today so I can plan out the layout of the tables but ran into a snag when I found one of my tables was broken. My wonderful husband has done some repairs on it but I can’t use it until tomorrow.  Then I’ll find out just what I have and how I want it laid out for the show.  I’m hoping to have it pretty much together by tomorrow night.  Wouldn’t that be a surprise?
“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”
Thomas A. Edison
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Once again

Yes, another lamp shade.
Tatted decorated lamp shade in Lizbeth black, size 20
I have had such fun decorating these lamp shades and the cans they sit on.  The tatting seemed to go quickly and easily, probably due to how excited I was to see them completed; even decorating the cans went quickly.  You see the cans as decorated very simply, which is true, but I have a tendency to over think things like this, but this time I didn’t.  I just went with the ideas as they came to me, keeping them simple instead if getting elaborate as I tend to do. 
I’ve been getting a lot of tatting done, mostly making edgings for cloth runners.  I’m using size 10 thread, which seems huge after using size 20 almost exclusively lately. I ordered several rolls from Handy Hands a few weeks ago specifically for the runners but had to order again yesterday.  I forgot that as size 10 is so much bigger the balls don’t go as far as I expect them to.  I have only completed one runner so far but am working on the edgings for a third.  The hardest thing doing edgings for me is it’s not really done until it’s stitched to the material.   
It’s a sunny day today, but cold and blustery.  Yesterday afternoon it was over 70Âș F but dropped 40Âș in less than three hours.  We’re actually pretty lucky here, there were only a few snow flurries, not like the snow they got farther north.  I’ve gotten rather spoiled with the mild weather we’ve had so far this autumn.  It is November so I should expect colder temperatures – just not temperatures we usually see in January!
Today in America we celebrate Veteran’s Day.  One of my daughters put together a poster for work to recognize and thank veterans for their service.  As I helped her collect pictures of family and friends who served I realized how many in our family have been in the military.  I want to thank them and all veterans and active duty military for their service.  Their service and sacrifices are recognized and appreciated.
Thank you!
“For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.  It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.  It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.  It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives that protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag.”
Former Georgia Senator and Governor Zell Miller

A little shade

Here is another lamp shade I decorated.  I’m not as happy with it as the Ecru one – the tatting didn’t go quite as I envisioned it (and I think I glued it down crooked
.)
This one is in Lizbeth size 20 black.  Even though it didn’t come out quite as planned I felt it was still usable, I just hid part of the disappointing part under a bow 🙂
The flat-backed gems are from my in-laws’ 60th wedding anniversary party a few years ago.  We sprinkled each table with these “diamonds” and I could not throw all of them away when we cleaned up.  Plus I had purchased a bit more than we ended up using (okay, way more), so now I have a lot of these left.  I haven’t used many of them yet but thought they added a bit of sparkle to this little lamp.
Dressing up the cans to go with these shades has been fun.  I’ve been cleaning up a few cans to keep for crafting purposes for a while but hadn’t gotten around to dressing any of them up until I did these lamp shades.  So far they’ve come together quickly and I’ve been happy with all of them.  Reusing tin cans, using up bits and pieces of craft-y stuff, easy and comes together pretty quick – Family beware!  They will probably  be showing up in gifts for all occasions soon!
“But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.”
Thomas Jefferson
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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 ☌ 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