Wedding gift done!

Can you believe it?  I actually got the wedding gift done in time!  
I’ve been planning this gift, a decorated photo album, for months.  To do it I had I to order the correct color threads, get Sherry’s new book, Branching Encapsulation and learn the techniques, dream up and then actually tat the design. The wedding was almost 550 miles away – do you want to guess what I was doing on the drive??  
The wedding colors were a green, on the lime side, and a bright orange.  I found that I haven’t ordered much thread  in these shades (I find I order threads in colors I like) so that was one of the first things I had to do.  After perusing the Handy Hands Lizbeth (on-line) catalog I chose Lime Green #679 and Bright Orange #695.  Reviewing my vision in my head I needed more colors so ordered Autumn Orange Medium #696, Lemon Light #614, and Leaf Green Dark #676, all in size 20.

While waiting on the threads to arrive I practiced the patterns in Sherry’s book, learning the different techniques of branching encapsulation.  As I learned them and looked forward to what was to come, I dreamed of what I wanted to do for the wedding gift. It’s amazing that my original vision for the gift resembled branching encapsulation even before I saw Sherry’s book, even if I didn’t know how I was going to accomplish it!  The closest pattern in the book to what I was dreaming of were the trees at the end of the book, so I worked hard to reach the end.

I never actually made any “trees”, I practiced on “flowers” instead.

It was quite interesting working with five different shuttles. I took the advice in the book and used a ziplock baggie to keep them all from tangling.  It was still quite a challenge, especially while traveling.  The color order of the flowers was not quite random, but pretty close.  If I had more practice time I would have made a few more leaves along the flowers and done some inter-weaving of the branches.  Whatever my “woulda, shoulda, coulda” I’m happy with how it turned out.  I think I’ll call this #2 in my current 25 Motif Challenge.

I added one of Jon’s dragonflies to the top of the album, using the Lime Green and some green seed beads.  I made a second dragonfly in the same colors to add to the gift bag. I glued it to one of those little gripper clips you put in your hair. I could kick myself – I didn’t even think to take a picture of it!  It really set off the bag, which was white and off-white with white tissue paper.  The clip was added to the handle – a little bit of color peaking out.

The wedding was in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, and as previously mentioned, about 550 miles from where we live.  We rented a van so one of our daughters and her children, ages three and one, could go with us.  Our daughter, who travels quite a bit with her children, has one of those travel DVD players with two screens so both of the children can watch comfortably.  This is a real lifesaver if you are traveling a long distance.  But I do recommend to take more than one movie with you, for the sanity of the adults on the trip.  Children seem to be quite happy watching the same one over, and over, and over, and over…  My daughter thought I was bringing the movies with me and I thought she was bringing the movies, so we ended up with just the one in the player – Puss In Boots.  (We bought another movie in Scotts Bluff for on the way home – The Princess and the Frog.)

My grandson is a big fan of Puss in Boots.

And for those who would like to know the original story, check it out here.

“Cats know how to obtain food without labor, shelter without confinement, and love without penalties.”
W.L. George

Read more athttp://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/cats_2.html#lvYUfwVmgTEyCzil.99

Faux Tatting

A short while ago we were in a furniture store looking around, not really in the market for anything just passing time, waiting for a friend to meet us outside.  Of course, we found several things we added to our wish list….  While walking around I noticed a doily under an old-looking picture and had to take a closer look.  Both doily and picture were only there as “window dressing“, to give the place a homey look. 
This is a bit fuzzy as I took it in low light with my cell phone, but you can see why it caught my eye. 
A little bit of plastic ‘tatting’.
I wish I would have moved the frame off of it and taken a picture of the whole thing.  Plastic or not, it is a pretty pattern.  It would be interesting to try creating a “real” doily with nothing to go on but this, wouldn’t it?

My Not-So-Purple Grapes

I’m still working through Sherry’s new book, Branching Encapsulation.The next pattern to try      
was the grapes.   Again I just used the thread that was already on my shuttles so they aren’t grape-colored grapes, but they look like grapes 🙂

“Grapevine Edging” Sherry Pence © 2012

The pink and green are unknown colors in Lizbeth size 20 and Cebelia ecru in size 30.  They make for slightly odd-looking grapes, but the idea was to learn how to do them.   I only made this much of the edging but I’m pretty comfortable with the technique, even if there is room for improvement.

I’m not sure I’ll be getting the tatting done I planned on for the wedding gift.  It’s fast approaching and I still haven’t even started it yet!  They may get it as a belated gift.  They’ll have lots to open right away, maybe they’d appreciate another one a little late? You think?

“I dreamed of a wedding of elaborate elegance, a church filled with family and friends.  I asked him what kind of wedding he wished for, he said one that would make me his wife.”

from thinkexist.com

Barefoot Sandals

For the last several weeks I’ve been working on a birthday present for my daughter.  I’ve seen barefoot sandals on several blogs, including Nancy’s over at “New to Me”, and knew both my daughter’s would like them so I thought I’d give them a try.  I did it! I even finished them before her birthday(even more surprising!).
These are made with DMC thread, size 10 in dark blue with lots of pink and clear glass beads.  I started with the center of one of my snowflakes (this one) and actually, made the center like I was trying to make the heart – with a few more additions.  Then I added the toe loop and the ties. 
There is a beaded ring at the end of the ties.
I don’t usually use all that many beads when I tat so this was quite a change for me. It took almost the entire tube of beads to make up these sandals. And now I see that, in small letters on the tube, “color not permanent”. Great – not! Well, she’s my guinea pig, on orders to let me know her likes and dis-likes with these, or any suggestions she has to make the sandals better.  I’ll know next time to choose my beads more carefully.  So far she likes them a lot – I gave then to her Sunday afternoon and she wore them the rest of the day *grin*. I’m calling this #1 of my next 25 Motif Challenge.
More Encapsulation
I’ve done the next pattern in Sherry’s book Branching Encapsulation, the “Wisteria Necklace”.  I didn’t have the kind of bead stringing wire that she used for the necklace, so I used some wire I had on hand –  not the same thing at all.
It came out pretty well, though maybe not to wear.  It’s made with #684 Leaf Green Med size 20 and Cebelia size 30 pink #3326, as I still had those colors on the shuttles. 
It came out pretty well, though maybe not to wear.  It’s made with #684 Leaf Green Med in size 20 and Cebelia size 30 pink #3326, as I still had those colors on the shuttles. 
I’m now ready to start the next pattern, “Grapevine Edging”. This pattern takes five shuttles.  As most (all?) of my shuttles seem to have thread on them I thought I’d just use what I have already wound, which will help empty them.  It  will, of course, make the grapes look a bit strange, though. Sorry, Sherry, I need to get to the end of the book, and need to empty a few shuttles to use for my next project (Trees!).  Still have to do the “Bleeding Heart” pattern after the grapes before I get there.  Each pattern has been fun, and I can see me using these techniques in the future.  I’m definitely going to use Sherry’s tip of using a small ziplock baggy to keep the shuttles from tangling while making the grapes!
My next project is for a wedding but after that is a birthday present for my other daughter.  She has indicated that barefoot sandals would be quite acceptable.  I wonder if one of the techniques I’m learning from Sherry’s book would work on those?  Hmm… I’ll think on this as I sip a little tea today for Tatting Tea Tuesday.
“Your birthday is a special time to celebrate the gift of ‘you’ to the world”
p.s. – Blogger has been a real pain today.  Hopefully today’s post is readable!

Encapsulated!

“Thicket of Flowers” © Sherry Pence 2012
Check this out! I did it!  Woo hoo!
I was one of those people who pre-ordered Sherry’s new book “Branching Encapsulation” back in March and which arrived in the beginning of April.  Lets’ see, that’s April, May, June – wow, three months ago! And I just now had time (made time, took time) to try it out.  Sherry, you would be so proud of me – I read through the directions first, several times even, before starting AND started at the front of the book instead of jumping to the end and trying out what I really want to try.  Okay, I want to try everything in the book, I just have plans for the patterns/ideas at the end :-)Encapsulation does take some concentration to do – it’s definitely not something to do while watching TV.  I really had to pay attention to what I was doing, but I’m very happy with the results. This is my very first attempt!  If this was a little closer picture you would be able to make out the slight discoloration of the white thread because I didn’t make sure my hands were clean after eating lunch, but other than that I think it has gone very well.  I’m using Lizbeth threads in size 20 #601 White (because it was already on a shuttle), #684 Leaf Green Med and Cebelia size 30 pink #3326.  I’m going to continue a bit more to make sure I have a good grasp of this technique, then on to the next pattern!  I don’t have anything planned for this thicket of flowers except to learn how, but I have in mind to decorate a wedding gift with some of those last patterns in the book, so I have to get with it.  I only have three weeks to get it done!  Wish me progress.

This Tatting Tea Tuesday I’m enjoying a glass of cold, sweet tea while I steal a few minutes of another busy day to tat a bit. I haven’t had a lot of time to tat lately, and what I have been tatting has been for a purpose, either to learn a technique or to make something specific.  Unfortunately, none of those things needed to be red, white and blue, so I don’t have anything patriotic tatted up. The date kind of snuck up on me.

Date?

Tomorrow is July fourth, our Independence Day.  It will be celebrated throughout the country with picnics and bar-b-ques, get-togethers and fireworks.  And probably a bit too much to drink by a lot of people, hopefully not the ones lighting the fireworks!  Hopefully, too, at least a little thought will go into what exactly we’re celebrating, what it took to get it, and what it takes to maintain it.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July everyone!

“July Fourth means a lot to me as an American,…It is a patriotic day. It is not particularly about WWII or any war.  It just shows a patriotic way of life we really should celebrate not just on Independence Day but every day.”
Robert Davies

Gift from umintsuru

Tatted by umintsuru
Aren’t these earrings gorgeous?  The picture doesn’t do them justice at all!  Wendy has a much better picture over on her blog. 
These are my gift from Wendy for her Pay It Forward giveaway.  They are made with Lizbeth “Spring Fling” in size 80.   When I opened the envelope there were a lot of “oohs” and “awes” as we looked these over.  Thank you very much, Wendy, I love them!
Looking back over my blog posts I realized I hadn’t posted what I gave for my PIF, inspired by Wendy’s post last fall.  Medictabs,Robert and Suztats were the first three people to leave a message on my blogpost and were the winners.  When I decided to do it I didn’t have even a small clue of what I was going to send them, so it took a little while to get them done.  But they finally were sent off.

I’ve always wanted to do some Crazy Quilting – but I don’t quilt and rarely embroider, so it hasn’t happened yet 🙂  Instead I did a little “CQing” on Altoid tins for their gifts.

I added a few things on the inside.  Each was different inside and outside, but similar.

 The pink heart is a needle threader. The “match book” is a needleholder.  Each one also got a decorated shuttle that coordinated with their thin, and a ball of J &  P Coats size 80 tatting thread – it all fit inside the tin.

This was a lot of fun to do.  And really nice to win Wendy’s PIF.  Thanks again, Wendy 🙂

“Act as if what you do makes a difference. It does.”  William James

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_motivational.html

Technical Difficulties

My Tatting Tea Tuesday post has been postponed (again!) due to technical difficulties.  
[It’s rather scary how much I miss my computer:(  ]
“A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.”
Emo Phillips
http://www.brainyquotes.com

Reflections on things I’ve learned

I was at my mother’s house the other day and noticed a gift I had given her years ago.  It’s been sitting out for all these years but I just happened to ‘see’ it again. It’s a picture of my children and my sister’s children when they were much younger in a decorated frame with a little tatting.  
The frame is an inexpensive one without glass and the wooden hearts were painted to coordinate with the material I used to cover the backing.  Where the ribbon is tied around the flowers the tatting is gathered up, giving the impression they are wrapped in the lace.
For whatever reason, this day I also noticed all the imperfections of this gift.  The backing I’m sure is cardboard, not a bad thing but probably, no, certainly, not acid free.  I noticed the hole I cut for the picture is not quite square and whatever I used to glue the tatting down stained the material.  For all that the material, ribbon and flowers are about the same color, one or another should probably have been a contrasting color to show off the others better.
Back when I did this I didn’t know anything about using acid free paper/cardboard.  With the surge of interest in scrap-booking now almost anyone can know about acid free paper just by reading the packaging of scrap booking paper at the store.  There are now a lot of templates easily available for different shapes to make a finished project look, well, finished. There were probably other glues I could have used that would have worked better than whatever it is I used, but I was pretty ignorant of such things back then. 

I remember this piece of tatting – made entirely of plain rings and chains it was supposed to be a round motif that I put too many stitches/too many repeats in, making it ruffle a lot. By gathering it up around the flowers it allowed the rest of it to lay flat.  It was a good way to use what might have been a mistake.  This wasn’t my first attempt at designing my own patterns but everything I knew about tatting had been gleaned just by the experience of doing it.  The only person I knew that even knew what tatting was, was my grandmother and she didn’t do much at all.  There was no Internet to see other people’s tatting, so my exposure to patterns were in whatever books and magazines I could lay my hands on.  The library didn’t have many books on it and magazines with tatting were few and far between.  Yes, Workbasket was out there with a pattern or two a month, but that’s almost nothing compared to what we have available now.  I had taken to coming up with my own patterns a lot of the time, simple though they were. I was following unknowingly in the footsteps of designers everywhere – trial and error: keep what you like, throw away what you don’t, but most importantly, keep trying!

As I look at the gift now I see all of it’s flaws, but also what went into it: the effort, the imagination, the skill, the courage to do something out of my comfort zone.  And mostly the desire to give my mother something special that she would like and, hopefully, treasure. I must have succeeded as it still sits out in her living room, visible to all who enter her house.



“Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try!”

Dr. Seuss

Garage sale find

I don’t go to many garage sales, but my mother does. She goes garage saling almost every weekend.  You never know what you’re going to find at them – sometimes nothing worth bringing home, other times treasure!
(This picture was supposed to be landscape, but Blogger decided otherwise!)

My mother found the white shuttle in a box that was given away at the end of a sale because they didn’t want to have to take it back in the house.  They may not have even known what it was.  
I put it beside a clover shuttle to show the size.  I should have put it next to a Boye shuttle (found one in my stash after I took the picture) as it’s similar in shape and only about 1/4 inch shorter than a Boye. It’s smooth and light. As you can see it is extremely over loaded with thread, which looks to be size 80 in a variegated white/pink. The tips are together at both ends, so the over-loading has not damaged it yet. I tatted a quick ring with it and found it to tat quite nicely.  There are no markings on it to indicate a brand.  I also don’t think it is an antique.  But it is a really nice find! 
Thanks, Mom!
“A house is just a place to keep your stuff while you go out and get more stuff.”  George Carlin

Harvest Time Tatting

Memorial Day, a day to remember those in the military who gave their lives for their country.  It’s celebrated  every year on the last Monday in May. As it’s a federal holiday all government offices, banks and some private businesses are closed, making it a three day weekend for a lot of people.
Unfortunately, not for me or my husband. Not because we weren’t supposed to have a three day weekend –  our company has Memorial Day as a paid holiday. But this year they have a lot of orders that need to be filled an not much time to do it, so everybody had to work Saturday.  And I, and a few (un)lucky others, had to work Sunday as well.  That left Memorial Day alone as my only day off.
The day was beautiful! The sky was blue, the breeze was mild, the temperature on the way to hot without being oppressive.  And I didn’t even have to go anywhere for entertainment, of a sort.
Watching the harvest from the front yard on wandasknottythoughts.com
 Memorial Day, 2012, a beautiful day in Kansas and
the start of harvest around my neighborhood.  This is the view from my front yard.

Front row seat to harvest on wandasknottythoughts.com

This was my front row seat to the harvesting of the wheat in the field next to our house. An iced drink, a nice chair, a great view and a bit of tatting.  Who could ask for more?
My tatting for the day was reviewing the pattern for this cross, checking it for mistakes before sharing it, by tatting it following said pattern.  (I did find a couple of mistakes which I had to correct)
Split Ring Cross found on wandasknottythoughts.com
Split Ring Cross © Wanda Salmans
I made this cross with Lizbeth #601 Snow White in size 20.  I designed this cross several years ago and wrote down the pattern but just finished diagramming it. I have shared it on the Pages tab.
We did make it to a few of the local cemeteries yesterday towards evening.  Even though Memorial Day is specifically to honor fallen military personnel it has traditionally expanded to remember all family and friends who have passed on as well.  We visited all the graves, those of our friends and family, whether military or not.  The cemeteries always look beautiful with all the flowers and flags on this day. Most military graves are decorated with an American flag, put out by volunteers and other veterans.  It’s also interesting to see the dates on all the headstones, they can tell quite a story.  Even though it is a solemn occasion in many ways, it’s  also a day of remembering the the sacrifices made as well as good times with those no longer with us.
“In many respects across this nation Memorial Day has become a time when families have a little quality time together. And I don’t think those who died to defend this nation would begrudge families that quality time.  But Memorial Day is for the purpose of honoring those who died in service to the nation, so a moment of silence give us all an opportunity to remember them and what they stood (for) and what they died for.”
Togo West

Insulated cup – finally!

I finally finished the insulated cup I was working on.
 I thought it turned out well.  The kitty is from Nancy Tracy at Be-Stitched which I actually made some time ago. I found it in a stack of miscellaneous tatting while looking for other things.  This solves my problem of the one that ran away.  I cannot remember what thread I did it in but I’m guessing it’s size 20.  The birds, butterfly and flowers are all things made while emptying shuttles in a variety of colors but mostly size 20 – I think the blue/white bird is size 40.  The only thing I actually tatted specifically for this cup is the grass. 
I didn’t spend nearly as much time looking for background paper on this cup as I did the other one. I thought green would work well, but again, I didn’t want it to be “flat”.  But I had a solution this time – a green stamp pad and a wadded up piece of newspaper.  
I gave the finished cup to my grandson this weekend.  I think he liked it, but there was so much going on that I think it kind of got lost in the shuffle.  That’s okay.  I enjoyed making and giving it.  Once things settle down he might notice it more.

I also gave my granddaughter the clothes to which I added tatting – and didn’t get a good picture of her showing any of them off.  This is not to say I didn’t get some cute pictures of her, just none with a good shot of the tatting.  As I mentioned, there was a lot going on.  Maybe I can get her momma to take a couple of pictures for me.

I actually had a cup of tea this morning, but it wasn’t while relaxing or tatting, it was while getting ready to go to Hobby Lobby.  My sister, mother and I had a girls day out – a little shopping, a little lunch and a whole lot of talking – an almost perfect day.  It just needed a little tatting in it.  Well, maybe I’ll get a little of that done tomorrow.

“The ideal of calm exists in a sitting cat.”
Jules Renard
from thinkexist.com

I had a really nice lunch this weekend at the Spaghetti Works.  They have a gluten free menu☺