Tag: cross

Trying new thread

Odd Balls Yarn Shop is now carrying Oren Bayan Koton Perle size 8 thread.  My sister brought me a ball of it in a brown-to-tan variegated, color #187 (I think) to try.

I quickly tatted up this cross bookmark to try it out.  It’s soft wound – as expected – so you don’t want to make too many mistakes, but otherwise very nice to tat with, very easy on the hands. 
I stopped by the store later to check out the colors.  They have about a dozen right now but I understand it comes in 71 colors and they can get all of them, you just have to tell them.  The colors they have on the shelf are very pretty, very enticing!  Oooo, pretty thread right here within arms reach any time I come in – this could be dangerous (to my pocketbook!)
Is anyone else out there ready for spring to really be here?  We’ve had nice weather, then bad weather, cold weather – lots of cold weather – all since spring supposedly arrived.  Monday (April 22) we had heavy rain and wind, Tuesday we had snow.  Snow!  This broke the record in Wichita, KS for the latest measurable snowfall (measurable = at least .1 inch) with .2 inches.  The record was .1″  on April 20, 1889.  
 
I WANT A LITTLE WARMER WEATHER!
This year I am actually planning on planting flowers but the weather hasn’t exactly been right for it. We did start a garden by putting in onions and potatoes, and the onions are up. It’s been too muddy for me to go check on the potatoes, the onions we can see from a distance. This is the first time in about 20 years that we’ve attempted a garden of any sort, and we’re not off to a good start. 
“Sometimes I wish that I was the weather, you’d bring me up in conversation forever.  And when it rained, I’d be the talk of the day.”
John Mayer
http://thinkexist.com

What a week!

Oh, wait, it’s been two weeks!
No, I didn’t forget to post – life got in the way.
I have gotten some tatting done but haven’t found much time for picture taking.  Finally this morning I just took the time to take a few.
 Lizbeth size 20 #122 Caribbean
I usually keep several bookmarks handy for those times a small gift is needed unexpectedly but my supply of these has dwindled to nothing. I started restocking with this cross that has a finding – ‘doodad’ – in the middle.  
I’ve also be playing with the motif idea I had a couple of weeks ago.  The one on the left is the original, the one on the right the next try.  I think I like the second one better.  Both are made in size 10 turquoise. 

It has been a very busy two weeks, lots of things happening, little of it planned.  I’ve spent a lot of time at the hospital with my mother who fell and broke her hip and femur. As breaks go they aren’t bad but there was still surgery, hospital stay and now rehab.  
I did get to spend a beautiful day with one of my grandsons in the middle of all this.  My son-in-laws’ family also had a medical emergency and a babysitter was needed for a few hours.  It happened to be on the most gorgeous day – 80° F, sunny, very little wind – so we went to the park.  Three parks actually.  He didn’t want to go home at all! It was a great day. 
I have to admit that there is something else that has kept me from tatting as much as I’d planned – a new book.  I found out last week that my favorite author, Lois McMaster Bujold, had a new book in the Vorkosigan saga out last November(!)  The first six chapters are free to read on-line – which I did, but it leaves you hanging (of course).  Then I tried something I’d been putting off – I bought the ebook to read on my tablet.   I instantly had the entire book to read (heheheheheh), no waiting to go to the library or book store.   This has proved to be dangerous – it’s just too easy to buy new books.  If I’m not careful I’ll never get anything else done!
“I am simply a ‘book drunkard.’ Books have the same irresistible temptation for me that liquor has for its devotee.  I cannot withstand them.”
L.M. Montgomery

Birthday gift

I made this cross bookmark for one of my Sunday School students who’s birthday was this week.  I had planned on making it several weeks ago but that was while I was getting ready for the craft show, so it got put off.  Then there was the week before Thanksgiving trying to get some neglected cleaning done before our daughter’s family arrived for the weekend.  Then there was Thanksgiving and all the get-togethers and dinners.  Sunday morning arrived and it wasn’t done yet!
Luckily I woke early, even before the grandchildren, and was able to get started on it.  I kept making mistakes on stitch counts and joins, and then the kids got up.  Just a few more distractions while I hurried to finish it before church.  Amazingly, I did it.
This is made with Lizbeth size 20 in #641 Lilac Dark for the rings and #633 Dark Purple for the chains.  The pictures, at least on my computer, come out looking like shades of blue, but trust me, they’re purple! I’m pretty sure she’ll like it as purple is her favorite color.  
I say pretty sure because after all that hurrying to get it done, her family was out of town for the holidays so she hasn’t seen it yet. Oh, well, it’s done.  Much better to have it done and her not there that the other way around!
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with several dinners and lots of family. We don’t see much of some of the families that much anymore, which is sad.  Fortunately we still try to get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas and most are able to make one or the other, and if we are lucky, both.  Hopefully some that couldn’t make it for Thanksgiving will be able to come for Christmas.
Now things have settled down a bit, at least for a few days, and I can think what I still need to make and do for Christmas.  Unlike Diane I haven’t been getting any snowflakes made.  She has made some beautiful ones this year.  I need to get motivated and make some myself.
“A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer.”
Lucius Annaeus Seneca
http://www.brainyquote.com

Graduation Cross Bookmark

I visited my daughter and her children this last weekend.  It was a lot of fun to spend time with them, but small children make tatting just a little hard.  They like to sit on laps and “help” with whatever you are doing.   In fact, my grandson wanted to know what I was doing with my “boat” 🙂 So, though I did get a small amount of tatting done it’s not ready to share yet.

Graduation Cross Bookmark  based on an old pattern

Something that I have been working on at home is writing up some of my patterns.  This is another cross bookmark I made up a few years ago in the normal way that I come up with most patterns: I needed something for – you guessed it – a graduation gift.

I made this one with Lizbeth #115 “Springtime” size 20. It measures 3 inches long by 2 inches wide.  The center has one split ring then climbs out with a false picot and another split ring, the rest is just rings and chains.  If someone couldn’t do split rings it would be easy enough to make the center as a separate piece then do the outside.  The basics of this cross I know is one of those patterns that most of us stumble to on our own, but I haven’t seen a center done quite like this so I’ve added it to the pattern page.
(It will be up later)

I’m hoping to have something more to show next week.  So far I’ve had to un-do, re-tat, cut off, and start over several times. I’ve got the idea in my head, just having a little trouble translating it to thread.

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me…Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” 
Shel Silverstein

http://thinkexist.com

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