Yellow tangle

We took a family vacation over the Memorial Day weekend; my husband and I, our kids, and their families.  It was a lot of fun! While on vacation I did very little tatting, even on the long drive to and from our destination.  I took my tatting with me (of course!) and sorta, kinda, had an idea of what I wanted to work on.  I had shuttles wound with  Perfect Quilter 085 ready to go.

Why I thought I could tat anything on vacation with such tiny thread when I usually use size 20 baffles me.  Using thread I’m not used to in the car while traveling or when likely to get interrupted by the grandkids was  a mistake waiting to happen.
This is the extent of what I accomplished while on vacation.

The one time I actually got a little tatting done ended abruptly when I was needed due to some minor emergency, which I can’t even remember.  I only know I was finally putting in a little tatting time when I had to put it down in a hurry then came back to such a tangled mess I put it away.

Over the next two weeks I picked up my yellow tangle and tried to work on it several times.  I think it is a lost cause.  I have made stitch count mistakes, broken the thread, and kept making a bigger mess.  I think it is time to retire this piece all together.

The little yellow piece after two weeks of messing with it.
I might try making this in a larger thread if I ever sit down with it and write down the stitch counts. We’ll see.

I thought I would have another pattern ready for today but I’m still fighting with my computer.  We had gotten it working better but today while trying to touch up the pattern a bit it just froze up.   It’s becoming quite annoying.


“One of the most feared expressions in modern times is ‘The computer is down.'”
Norman Ralph Augustine
www.brainyquote.com

Cleaning?

I have a confession to make.
I hate cleaning. 
I would rather watch tatting dry than clean the house.
And I’m not a neat person, making my house somewhat cluttered.  
So when I do clean house it takes a lot of time.  (I keep telling myself I’m going to do better, pick up things more often – but it hasn’t happened yet.) We don’t have people over often  – we would probably keep the house up better if we did – so when we plan to have company we have a lot to do.  Then it comes down to the wire and I start putting my clutter in boxes so I can stash them out of the way in a hurry, thinking, of course, that I’ll go back soon and take care of all of it when the company is gone.  
What usually happens is most of it stays in the boxes and I start the clutter all over again.  Those things I thought I was using/needing are replaced by other things.
Yesterday I was going through a box of such things when I came across a couple of pattern books I knew I had but couldn’t find.  Yea!
The “Tatted Animals” book by Inga Madsen I had purposely purchased to have patterns suitable for boys – what boy doesn’t like animals of some sort?  I have already started a project out of it, though it’s not for one of the boys, it’s for a niece ☺
Also in the box were these note cards I made probably twenty years ago, possibly more.  They are large, unlined index cards – 5″ by 8″? – folded in half.  The thread used is DMC size 8 in various colors, the only thread I could find at the time that came in so many colors.  I wasn’t much of an artist with these, but I was guaranteed that the recipient wouldn’t be getting cards like these from anyone else.  And they would know who it was from.

There were a lot of other things in the box that I had been looking for.  I kick myself sometimes for how unorganized I am.  I really, really need to start putting things away better.
I also need to start spending less time on social media and the Internet in general.  I get sucked in and spend more time there than I plan to.  But, the other day while on Facebook there was a suggested article, you know, one of those that pops in that are chosen for you based on what you’ve read or searched for, from Ancestry.com, which I found interesting. And it mentions tatting by name!
Celina Anzalone, 2264 First Ave. making lace for Cappallino's factory near by. (Library of Congress)
Picture from Ancestry.com
11 Skills Your Great-Grandparents Had That You Don’t
That’s only 10 skills for us tatters!
For myself, better housekeeping should probably be on this list of skills I don’t have.
“Housekeeping is like being caught in a revolving door.”
Marcelene Cox
www.brainyquote.com

I’m a winner!

Linda, over at “A Swap For All Seasons” had a drawing the other day and I won!
I have recently started following Linda’s blog of decorated cards and tags to be inspired and get ideas for more uses of tatting. I have not actually made any cards or tags yet, but I hope to.  When she had her drawing I thought it couldn’t hurt to enter and I got lucky!
Look at all the goodies she sent!
There is the ‘fly’ card and ‘Dad’ tag she made recently, dimensional stickers, washi tape, string, ribbon, lace, buttons, blank tags, background paper, a stamp and material, all in shades of black and grey.  Even the tissue paper they were all wrapped in! This is so cool!  Thank you, Linda!
We were on a family vacation when the package arrived though I had been told I’d won and knew it was coming.  It was nice to have such wonderful mail waiting for me when I got home!  
Now I’m imagining how I can incorporate some tatting into decorating one of those tags she sent!
“You can’t do it unless you can imagine it.”
George Lucas
www.brainyquote.com

A pretty teacup

This was supposed to be posted yesterday for Tatting Tea Tuesday but I have lost my photo editor on my computer. I tried re-installing it but I can’t find the disk.  So instead of several pictures I have one.
I was in a local antique store/flea market a couple of weeks ago and saw this pretty teacup.  It has no markings on the bottom to indicate maker or anything else but I thought it was pretty and so elegant looking.  So I brought it home.  I think I should dress up and wear a hat to drink tea out of this, don’t you?
Lizbeth size 20 in #617 Magenta Med and #644 Boysenberry Dk
I was inspired to make a doily to go along with the teacup.  I think I chose the colors at night with bad lighting as they don’t match the cup like I thought they did.  Oops.
The first seven rounds of this doily went pretty smoothly but the last two took forever!  I just couldn’t get it to do what I wanted it to. I kept changing my mind on those last two rounds, which probably took as long to tat as all the others put together. And I think I should have reduced the stitch count on the last round.  The doily ended up being just over seven inches across when finally finished.  It had to be blocked a lot before it would stay flat, due, I’m sure, to those last two rounds of (mostly) chains.  I’m thinking of doing it again in different colors and changing the stitch count in a couple of places. And maybe the dark thread at the center.
The shuttle is made of horn.  I haven’t tatted much with it as it’s pretty slick, I keep dropping it.  It is marred on both sides though I’m not sure how that happened.  It is still a pretty shuttle.  
There hasn’t been much tatting in the last week and I’m not sure there will be much in the next week.  There are a lot of family things going on and it’s hard to tat with a lap full of children.  I’m not complaining.  I’ll just smile and sip my tea.
“When in doubt drink tea”

Computer trouble

I’m having trouble with my computer.  During some updating/repair my photo program was disabled or deleted or something.  The pictures are there but I can’t edit them. I’m working on the problem but it’s still a work in progress.  Hopefully I’ll be able to get something going soon.

Mother’s Day Tatting

Did everyone have a nice Mother’s Day?
I did. We visited with my mother, my husband’s mother and a couple of special aunts. They were very nice visits.  We gave my MIL and aunts flowers but my mother got a hat pin.
This is made with a large button, Lizbeth #670 Victorian Red thread size 20, and gold beads.  It measures almost three inches across. 
For all this is just simple chains I had quite the time with it, making mistakes in counts, cutting a picot, getting the shuttle threads tangled.  You can see at the bottom where things just didn’t go quite right.  But overall it didn’t turn out too bad.  In person, stepping back a bit, the boo boo isn’t all that noticeable.  I also had such trouble with it I didn’t want to chance trying to fix it :-p.  I thought about trying to put a ribbon or flower or something over it to hide it but decided it was just going to have to be good enough. 
Mom liked it, so all is good.
After all the visits we went home and I spent most the afternoon and evening tatting *smile*. 
I had recently come across the bookmark I had made when I was in Branson, Missouri a few years ago and was inspired to tat it again. 
This is made with Lizbeth Twirlz #404 Mermaid Lagoon size 20.
This is the first time I’ve tried the Twirlz thread.  It tatted up very nicely and held up well when I was retro tatting.  I hadn’t been sure I was going to like it, and I might not like it for every pattern, but I do like it for this. 
I’ve added this pattern to My Patterns tab as Branson Bookmark.
The weatherman predicted there would be severe weather Sunday night and there was, but it missed us by a few miles.  We spent a lot of the evening keeping an eye on the weather and worrying about family and people we know in areas that were getting it worse than we did. We did get over an inch of rain out the storms, so it wasn’t all bad.
It was a good day, imperfections and all.
“Yes, Mother.  I can see you are flawed.  You have not hidden it.  That is your greatest gift to me.”
Alice Walker
http://www.brainyquote.com

Ramblings on Tatting Tea Tuesday

Believe it or not, I’ve actually finished the cross bookmark pattern.  For once everything went smoothly while I diagrammed it, and it was even finished a few days ago.  I’ve added the pattern to My Patterns page. Look for “April’s Cross Bookmark”.  
I’ve started a couple of new projects this week but neither are to a point I want to share them yet.  This is becoming a very busy month with several birthdays, Mother’s Day, and graduations to find gifts for.  I actually found the cross bookmarks I had lost – I’d put them in a safer place, where I could find them. Sure.  But they are found so I don’t have to rush so much for the graduations.  The birthdays are something else.  Not sure how those are going to go. 
This morning while I drank my tea (Twinnings of London’s Pure Peppermint Herbal Tea) I was sitting in the front yard enjoying the day before it gets really hot and watching the barn swallows try to get me to leave.  They have a nest on the side of the house and were trying to distract me from it. I wish I could have gotten a picture of them but they fly and dart around pretty fast.  Also sharing my front yard today was a rather large turtle.  He was going through the tall grass (we need to mow) and I almost didn’t see him.  He was at least 12 inches long – around here, that’s a pretty big turtle.  What he was doing so close to the house I don’t know. I went back a little later and he had moseyed on to where ever he was going. Hopefully out of the yard, as my husband is supposed to mow tonight.
As I don’t have much tatting done this week I thought I’d share with you an edging I did a long time ago from thread my got from my grandmother.  She had some crocheting left on the ball, which will remain forever unfinished.  But I made a tatted edging for a napkin with it, which will always make me think of her.  She gave me the teapot when I was a little girl.  It presided over many tea parties over the years.  One day I hope to use it at a tea party with my granddaughter.
Tea parties with grandmother – happy memories in a teapot.

A good idea

It has been a very busy week and I’ve not gotten much tatting done.  Between being busy and all the things going on in the weeks before I’ve lost some of my motivation and my plans for future projects.
And somewhere in the last couple of weeks I’ve also lost the bookmarks I usually have on hand to give away as gifts.  So I thought it would be a good idea to start my stash again and an excellent way to start getting back into the swing of things. 

Cross bookmark made with Lizbeth #184 Rainbow splash size 20.
The shuttle is a Moonlit, about 2.75″ without the hook.
Cross bookmark made with Lizbeth color #658 Ocean Turquoise Lt. size 20.
The shuttle is a Boye, about 2.75″ long.
The top arm is different than the first cross because I was distracted and made the turn a little early.  I didn’t want to unpick anything so I kept going. I think it was a good idea.
Another good idea would be to put up my feet, sip a little tea, and tat a bit, perhaps another cross…
An itty bitty tatted doily is size 70 thread and an itty bitty tea set.

Oh, look! It’s a puppy!

The other day we happened by a yarn shop in Wichita called “twist”.  Some yarn shops have a few things that are of interest to tatters like me that don’t knit or crochet so I stopped in.  They didn’t have any shuttles though they did carry several shades of Nazli Gelin Garden 10 thread, the brand I am making my vest out of. But sometimes you can find some interesting things with the accessories – the stitch markers, tip guards, that type of thing.
And look what I found – a puppy!
A tiny pair of snip scissors shaped like a puppy.  They had these in kitty shape also, but they were down to green puppies and orange kitties and orange is way down on my list of favorite colors.  It was suggested that I make sure it works okay before I bought it as sometimes they don’t cut well.  A few snips on a scrap piece of yarn proved I had a good one and it was mine.

This is a regular-sized Clover shuttle beside it so you can see that it’s a pretty small pair of snips.  Just the right size to carry in a tatting kit. I’m pretty sure most airlines wouldn’t have a problem with these.
We had a wonderful Easter this year.  The weather was wonderful and most of the family was able to get together.  On one side of the family we had dinner and an Easter egg hunt on Saturday, then Sunday after church we had lunch with the other side of the family.  
A few weeks ago I mentioned I had an idea for all the Rainbow Splash Easter eggs I was making.  Believe it or not I was able to put it together just in time for the weekend. My version of an egg tree, except mine had bunny faces and baskets on it, too. 

I found it a bit difficult to take a picture of it, though.  Far enough away to get the whole thing in was almost too far away to see what was on it.  It actually looked pretty good as decoration.  
Then I decided to share with family. I took the tatted pieces off the tree and glued them to wood shapes then put magnets on the back.  At each of the dinners I let the women of the family have a choice of one.  (The kids were busy with Easter egg treats and the guys were – guys)
The magnets were well received. At least no-one turned then down 🙂

Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I’m enjoying a cup of Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Green Tea in a cup decorated with cherry blossoms.  It has a very “spring” feel to it, with all the blossoms.  The cup and saucer are edged in a light green that just matches the green in one of my tatted doilies. 

I can’t remember where I got this set, from my mother or at an antique shop (most antique shops around here carry a lot of things that aren’t strictly speaking antiques). It’s Rosina bone china from England, though it doesn’t specify the design.   It is adding a bright, spring accent to my tea today. 
“Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.”
Chaim Potok
www.dumb.com

Teacups on the side

Happy Tatting Tea Tuesday! What kind of tea are you drinking today?  Maybe in a pretty cup?

Today I sipped coffee instead of tea and checked out a few blogs instead of actually tatting (but the day isn’t quite over) but I did some planning on my projects – that counts, doesn’t it?
A couple of weeks ago my mother asked if I would decorate two bags for her, like the ones I did at Christmas (here and here).  One was to be for an aunt of mine and one for herself (I did give Mom one for Christmas but she liked it enough she wants another one ☺),  I had several projects going already but how could I say no?
The bag body is about six inches square (without the handles).  The request was to do something with tea cups.
This is the first one I decorated.  I looked on-line for a teacup shape that I liked then made it a size I thought would work for the bag. Then what to do with it?
I thought something to show it was a tea cup instead of a coffee cup and maybe some flowers.
The second one I did mostly the same, just different colors and arranged things a little differently.
I tried something different for the material of the cup shape than I did before.  For the ones I did at Christmas I coated the back of the material with fabric glue and let it dry so I was able to work with it without it fraying while I cut it out.  This time I went looking in the sewing aisle, thinking I was going to get some kind of fusible webbing.  Then I saw this Peel n Stick fabric fuse.  As I don’t expect the bags to be put into the washing machine I thought this would work well.  And it did.  I still have several sheets left so I can make more 🙂
I had already been looking at these books for some ideas on other projects, which came in handy for coming up with flower ideas for the bags.

Now the requested mice are done and the bags are finished I can get back to my other projects – something about Easter eggs….

Did anyone stay up to see the Blood Moon last night? It was a pretty awesome sight! I went out just after 1:00 AM (local time) when it had just started and a few times from then until 3:00 AM, about the middle of the eclipse. I didn’t get any pictures of it 🙁 but it was great to be able to see it.

The moon, the stars, and a cup of tea
Let’s sit and sip and watch the night go by
Side by side, just you and me.