Tag: barefoot sandals

Another pair of Barefoot Sandles

Lacey’s barefoot sandals
I had made a pair of barefoot sandals for one daughter for her birthday and the other daughter really liked them and wanted a pair, too.  As her birthday was coming up I decided a pair would be a good present for her as well so I got started.  Well, not really quite that fast.  There was that wedding present I had to get done, and the new techniques to learn from Sherry’s book so it didn’t really get started that right away. 
Actually, it took several weeks to start on another pair.  The first pair took a long time to make – has something to do with not sure where I was going with it and using lots of beads, which I don’t do much of.  I had a thought that if I started with something in the middle I could tat around it and it wouldn’t take as long.  Then the trick was finding something to put in the middle.  I also wanted to make them with size 10 thread and I don’t seem to have much of that in my stash anymore.  
Not quite two weeks ago I went up to Omaha to visit this daughter and while there we did a little shopping, both at Hobby Lobby and at a place called Mengelsens, a large local crafty-type shop.  At Mengelsens I found some flower doodads that I thought would look great as a center but I didn’t find any beads there that I liked.  But at Hobby Lobby I got lucky – they had beads for 50% off!  So I bought four bags of glass beads for the price of two – whoo hoo!
These are made with DMC #310 black thread in size 10 and 6/0 glass seed beads, an Amethyst mix. 
I did have to start over a couple of times when things didn’t turn out the way I had in mind.  I’ve been told that designing on paper or the computer can save a lot of time and thread but I haven’t gotten there yet, I still do best with thread and shuttle in my hands. After a couple of false starts I came up with something I’m happy with.  I’m not sure just how long they took to make – I keep forgetting to check the time! – but much faster than the first pair.  The only reason this matters it that I’ve been asked if I would make some more…
These are #4 of this round of the 25 Motif Challenge.
Today is a great Tatting Tea Tuesday – it’s raining!!!!  And it’s only 65 degrees F, almost cool.  It feels great outside!  They say we’ll only get a little rain out of this but any rain is welcome.  It’s been so dry here that everything is brown unless you water, which we don’t except for the flowers and a couple of young trees.  Walking in my yard is like walking through straw, it both looks and feels like straw.  It’s so wonderful to have the rain!
“Raindrops

Raindrops are such funny things.
They haven’t feet or haven’t wings.
Yet they sail through the air,
With the greatest of ease,
And dance on the street,
Wherever they please.”

Anon.

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!