More bags

I have so enjoyed decorating bags that I have embellished a few more.

I think this one is finished.  Stepping back to look at it I find it pleasing just as it is.

This bird is out of different material than the first one I did.  I’m trying to add some white to the tree branches to make it look like touches of snow, but it hasn’t quite worked out yet. We’ll see.
I thought this one was done, but looking at the picture I think it needs just a little more work. 
This one needs a little more something.  I haven’t quite decided what yet.
All of these bags are about 6 inches square not counting the handles (which I will iron to have them look nice). I’m planning on taking these to a local craft show later this month where my sister and I have a booth. It would be great if they sell but I can think of several people I could gift these to this Christmas.  And they have just been a lot of fun working on!
Seeing the trees in their fall colors this year has been enjoyable, too. The tree colors have been pretty spectacular around here.  The trees had water when they needed it and cool temperatures without severe weather which makes for pretty leaves. 

Some of the trees on First Street in Newton, Kansas October 30, 2013.
This is looking toward the library from the courthouse in Newton, Kansas, October 30.  Quite the range of colors isn’t it?.  I had my camera with me that day and couldn’t resist taking a few pictures.  The drive to work this week has given me time to enjoy the gorgeous colors of the trees. 
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” 
George Eliot
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The birds and the – teacups

I so enjoyed decorating the small bag the other day that I have decided to do a few more.

Originally my idea was to have a shape in material as a background then decorate it with small bits of tatting and maybe a few buttons.  The idea with these was that they would be quick and easy to do.   
Sure.

I have the general idea for them, I just can’t make up my mind for the particulars!

I thought this was a cute idea, but some of the ‘snowflakes’ look more like flowers.
I’m not sure they look ‘finished’ yet.  I think I still have a little work to do. 
Autumn has finally arrived here.

Looking out my backdoor.  I love the different shades of color in the trees.

This was just over a week ago when the trees were still almost completely dark green then. You can see how dark even through the snow.

Maybe I should decorate a bag with a snowbird…
“It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds.”
Aesop
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If only my hair was longer…

The other day while searching for a box of craft items I found a whole lot more than I expected. 
 I came upon a box that has been in a cabinet for quite a while, so long ago I forgot what I put in it.  I had to laugh when I opened it.
 It was full of hair accessories that I had made (mostly tatted) back when my kids were much younger and I had long hair.   
There are a couple of head bands and a snood as well as a lot of decorated barrettes.  For some reason there were also several tatted pieces that have nothing to do with hair or even clothing accessories.  I have no idea why they were in this box.
All of these barrettes are made of a metallic thread, I think the brand name was Kreinik, or something like that. I remember these threads were a real pain to tat with but they were so pretty.  A lot of these are tatted over wire to give them their shapes.  I know that I was trying a lot of different ideas at the time, some working out better than others.  I think I wore more of these than the girls did 🙂
I guess I’ll put all of these back in the box for now.  Maybe my granddaughter will want to play dress-up or something with these some day.  
“I’m undaunted in my quest to amuse myself by constantly changing my hair.”
Hillary Clinton
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The Wedding Box and Other Gifts

Yes, there was yet another wedding I needed a gift for. If you think I’ve said that once or twice before recently you are correct – this makes four weddings this year.  This one was a small affair with the date set just a few weeks before the event.  There wasn’t much time to come up with a tatted gift, or at least one that incorporated a little tatting, but of course I had to try.
What to do when there is only a little time?  Look through things you’ve already made!
Remember about three years ago when Isdihara had a decorate-a-box-of-chocolates contest?  Well, I still have the box I decorated – not the snowflakes but the box itself and the edging around it. I started by changing out the paper cover (yes, it’s still brown but there is a sparkly decoration on it this time!) then had to put together what went inside.

Money is always good for newlyweds, isn’t it?

But instead of a gift card or check I gave them cash, taped end-to-end, folded and the ends taped to the top and bottom of the box.   When it was opened the money accordioned out, kind of like a slinky. The bride and groom got a kick out of playing with it 🙂
And then there was a little girl with a birthday.  Other than knowing she likes pinks and purples I had no idea what to do for her.  But at least being a girl I could do ‘pretty’. 
This is a 6″ by 6″ canvas bag – not counting the handles – I got from Walmart.  It’s one of those that come in a package of three, plain and unadorned, to be decorated as your heart desires.  Mine desired a pretty material heart surrounded by tatting.  I also tatted around a purple button for a little accent.  I was going to add a bit more bling but ran out of time (surprise, surprise).  I put a cute set of stationary and a pen in it, which turned out to be a great idea according to those who know.  She was at school when it was delivered so I haven’t heard if she likes it or not.
The next gift I made (actually the first of these three) was not for a birthday or wedding or anniversary or any other special day, but a just-because gift.  I saw a pretty scarf while on vacation I thought my mother would like.  I also thought that a pretty shawl pin would be nice to hold it in place. I had just the thread picked out to put on one but had to figure out how to put it together.   

As you can see I didn’t figure out how to add the tatting.  I played with wire and beads but just couldn’t see how to make it better with tatting.  I still want to try making a shawl pin with tatting on it, but this time I was happy even without it. 
“The heart of marriage is memories; and if the two of you happen to have the same ones and can savor your reruns, then your marriage is a gift from the gods.”
Bill Cosby
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Autumn tatting

Isn’t fall wonderful?  With cooler weather and spectacular colors it is one of my favorite times of year.
It would be nice if that were true here, but I guess I’ll have to wait a little longer.  We’ve finally had some days that were cooler but we’re still looking at 80º F and the trees have not yet begun to change. 
So I’ve been working a little bit with fall colors to give me a better sense of the season.
Lizbeth #136 Autumn Spice in size 20
added 10/9/13 Motif by Wanda Salmans 2013
I really like the colors in Autumn Spice, lovely colors and very nice color changes. 
And how about my new shuttle?  I know the Aerlit has been out a little while but I hadn’t bought one yet.  But during our stay in Buena Vista last month I stopped in a shop that carried them and just had to pick one up. I usually use Clovers with picks though I have a few Aeros and am familiar with this type of shuttle.  So far this one works well, though it made my thumb a bit sore when I started as I’m not used to adjusting the thread in and out with a bobbin.  But it didn’t take long to get it working well. 

The shop I got it in is called “Serendipity”.  It is a really nice shop that sells items for knitting, crochet, tatting and spinning.  They have some items already made up as well as hand-dyed threads and yarns, besides the more normal yarns and threads (including Lizbeth).  It carries gift items as well (it would have been easy to spend a lot of money here!)  The owner has classes for the different fiber arts, including tatting; a tatting class  was planned to start the first week of October.  She does both shuttle and needle tatting but prefers using needles.  I’m glad we were able to stop in. 
A still-living tree growing sideways on the trail up Mt. Princeton
One of the trips we took while in Colorado was up Mt. Princeton.  The road is very narrow all the way up, with very few wide spots to let on-coming traffic pass.  We were fortunate that we met very few people driving while going either up or down.  We did not try hiking to the top so we didn’t become 14ers, we just drove as high as possible and looked around from there.   That is still about 12,100 feet.  It has a fantastic view of Buena Vista.
As you can see by the trees in this picture there was very little color change yet.  There were some aspens that had changed on the trail but we hadn’t yet reached them. We were somewhat disappointed that we didn’t see everything in their fall colors as we had hoped, but the trees were so green it was only a small disappointment. 
There is autumn yet to be enjoyed at home.
14 Fabulous Fall Quotes: Wonderful Words for Autumn!

Small threads, vacation and TIAS

I did a little bit more with those small threads, King Tut and Perfect Quilter.  Okay, mostly to work them off my shuttles 🙂
The butterfly at the top is in Lizbeth size #20, the yellow on the right in Perfect Quilter, the smallest in King Tut.  They are tatted with the same number of stitches (though the picots may not have the same ratio to stitch size.)  The edging is also Perfect Quilter.  Making this, and the crosses I posted about last week, show that I have trouble getting the picots the right size for the size of thread.
IsDihara left a comment on last week’s post about what she found out about the quilting threads.
“Since I have a ball of size 100 thread to compare against, I can confirm that WPI (wrapas per inch) for King Tut thread matches size 100.  Perfect Quilter has more WPI than size 80 Lizbeth but less than size 100 thread.  So it seems to be in between sizes.  But that could also be an issue of different plies.  Pretty sure Perfect Quilter is not a 6-ply cotton. (Don’t know why I didn’t think to check these details before now.)  Thanks Madtatter80 for wondering!”
Thanks, IsDihara, for sharing this information.
We recently went on a vacation to Colorado, to the Buena Vista area – yes, again.  For the last several years this has been our favored vacation spot, and September our favored time of year.  We have been very blessed with seeing the Aspens change to their fall colors – until this year.   They have had so much rain all summer that, unless you were at a pretty high altitude, the aspens were only barely starting to change. 
This is the Mary Murphy Mill, not far from St. Elmo, Colorado. You can see that the Aspens have turned here, but this is at about 11,000 feet.

We stopped for lunch at a likely looking spot – there was a somewhat flat area with a convenient large rock to use as a table. The altimeter app on my phone showed we were at 11,433 feet. 
After lunch I took time to take a few stitches using our ‘table’ to sit on.  You can see it was a little cool here.
Sherry Pence, LadyShuttleMaker, is doing a TIAS, found here. Her pattern won first place at the 2013 Idaho State Fair.  This is my day four.  It doesn’t quite look like the pattern 🙁  I might have to un-tat a bit and try again.  That’s okay, it’s still fun!

“By all these lovely tokens 
September days are here, 
With summer’s best of weather 
And autumn’s best of cheer.”
Helen Hunt Jackson
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Quilting threads

I finally had a little time to try out some of the quilting thread I have recently acquired.  
The cross on the left is made with Perfect Quilter thread #085 Sunrays; the cross on the right is made with King Tut thread #922 Harem.  The crosses are similar but not quite the same – the Sunrays cross has slightly longer arms.  But the King Tut is definitely a bit smaller than the Perfect Quilter.  Both tatted very nicely but I like the Perfect Quilter better.  I made a mistake in both crosses and had to open a couple of rings in each.  The King Tut thread broke while trying to open the rings but I was able to open the rings of the Perfect Quilter without breaking it.  I also had to work with both threads while there was plenty of light because of the size of the threads.  Not surprising but it does limit when I can work with them. And probably what patterns I would try with them.  
I’m happy enough with both brands that I do plan on finding places to use them. I still have several colors that I haven’t worked with yet but still want to try out.
This has been a great experiment.

A couple of weeks ago I showed an edging I was working on.  I actually made two edgings to go on a garter for my niece who was married last Saturday.  (I got it done in time!)  If I had found Gina’s garter pattern before I started I would have used it instead, but I found it only after I’d started and had a plan.  I did use part of her idea for joining the top and bottom, but not quite like she did.  The reason the top and the bottom are not the same is because I ran out of time and had to come up with something a bit simpler.  I think it came out pretty well anyway.  The bride liked it 🙂
“Design is a plan for arranging elements in such a way as best to accomplish a particular purpose.”
Charles Eames
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I changed my mind

Back in July I made several motifs that I planned to put on my denim purse.

I changed my mind. 

I decided to put them on a heart instead.

Lizbeth #662 Turquoise Light size 20
This wooden heart is about 3 inches across.  I have a frame I want to put it in but I haven’t found just the right background to put it on. I’m calling this #11 of this round of my 25 Motif Challenge (I finally remembered to count it!)
So why did I change my mind?
Because I could 🙂
I’m playing with my new threads now, but I don’t have anything to show just yet.  So far I’m enjoying them a lot, which kind of surprises me as I’ve never really liked tatting with this small of thread.  Thanks Fox and IsDihara for introducing me to them!
“To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.”
Winston Churchill
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Tat and chat


Back in June I taught the basics in a tatting class to a couple of ladies from Wichita.  I’m very pleased that both have kept up with it and are enjoying it a lot.  We’ve communicated by email several times and thought it would be fun to get together again.  The timing finally worked and we met at Cheryl’s house last week.
Me, Cheryl and Erica

Cheryl has made several lovely bookmarks and is working on another; Erica is working on a gift for a friend.   I’m impressed with their tatting, they are both doing a great job!  We talked patterns, threads, techniques, and shuttles.  They each had a list of questions to ask, which I hope I was able to answer satisfactorily for them.  It was a fun visit which I’m hoping we’ll be able to do again sometime.

I hate to say it but the above photo is the only one I took (!).  I was going to take one of some of their work but got side-tracked by the conversation.  Time seemed to go by much to quickly!

Can you believe it?  I still haven’t touched any more of my new thread yet. I have yet another project with a deadline that I am hurrying to meet.  If I hadn’t gotten sick last weekend, and had a different schedule all week, I would have been able to proceed in a more relaxed manner.  But now I’m in a rush again.  And of course I couldn’t just choose an existing pattern, mine or someone else’s – no, I had to go and try something new. Again!  You’d think I’d learn, especially when there’s a deadline, but I do this to myself time and time again.  I guess I like taking the chance that it will all work out.  And in time!

Lizbeth #149 Peacock Blues size 20.

Thank you to all who wished me health this last week.  I do feel a lot better, though now it seems to have morphed into really bad allergies with just a reminder now and then that colds hang on awhile.

“I fear the boredom that comes with not learning and not taking chances.”
Robert Fulghum
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This weekend I drank tea

 Do you remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned I had bought several colors of Perfect Quilter thread?
Isdihara mentioned that she had some King Tut quilting thread and wondered if I would be interested in a thread exchange.  I thought it was a great idea!
Just a couple of days later I got her King Tut thread in the mail, in time for the Labor Day weekend.  A three day weekend and seven new threads to try – wow!  Thank you, Isdihara!
Would you like to see everything I got done?
This is a little piece I made with the “Baja” Perfect Quilter thread, just to see how it worked up.  It was easy to work with and amazingly I didn’t have trouble with it tangling or knotting.  It tatted great!
And then…..
Yes, that was it.
I had a lot of time to tat this weekend but instead I sat around feeling miserable!  I had body aches, sore throat, and a terrible stuffy head. I had no motivation to do anything but sit around and drink hot green tea with honey.  Two days of a nasty cold.
I had such plans for the weekend – several tatting projects, some cleaning (I know, but sometimes it has to be done!) and maybe have dinner with our neighbors.  But none of that came to pass.  In fact, I haven’t been able to try out any more of the threads yet!

It is September and the sunflowers are in full bloom.  These sunflowers – between seven and eight foot tall – are in my backyard. For all that they can be a pain when they are done blooming I love to see them every year.

They are so bright and, well, sunny!  

They didn’t raise my spirits this weekend but now that I’m feeling a bit better they are.

“Tea! The panacea for everything from weariness to a cold to a murder
Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea”
Henry Fielding