Martha Doily

Martha Doily © Wanda Salmans 2010

I made this doily almost five years ago (five years?!) while on vacation to Washington, D.C.  I got to thinking about it the other day while working on Queen’s Crown Edging, wondering how it would look in two colors.  Why would this doily come to mind while working on an edging?  Because both have a lot of switching shuttles and changing directions. 

So I took a break from edgings and tried Martha in two colors. 

Martha Doily © Wanda Salmans 2010

This one is made with Lizbeth #658 Ocean Turquoise Light and #657 Ocean Turquoise Dark, both in size 20.  It is seven inches across from point to point.  The original was made in DMC size 30 ecru and ended up being six inches across from point to point.

 Martha Doily © Wanda Salmans 2010

Here’s a comparison of the two doilies side-by-side.

Does anyone see the mistake in the ecru doily?  Obviously the judges at the county fair in 2010 didn’t see it, either, because it won a blue ribbon that year.  I only found it now because I was going through it trying to jot down the stitch counts to write out the pattern.  I had to laugh about it – I’d never seen it myself.  An obvious but very well hidden oopsie.

Isn’t it amazing how different a pattern looks when done in different colors?  It can change the look and feel of a piece a lot.  I noticed this last week when I tested the pattern for QCE and again with this doily.   To see another version of the QCE done in two colors but differently, check out Jane McLellan’s version of it on her blog.

When I made the original doily it was in July and very hot.  This second one was done in February with cold temperatures though very little snow here.  If we lived just a few miles west we would have had a lot more snow.  Today is mild with temperatures in the 30s and low 40s F but the forecast is for much colder weather and snow.   Quite the contrast, just like the doilies.

“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy.”
Anton Chekhov
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Queen’s Crown Edging

Queen’s Crown Edging © Wanda Salmans 2015
I’m going to be adding edgings to several table runners soon.  As usual, I seem to need to make up new patterns instead of using already existing ones.  I started this one day on the way to work (as the passenger!) with something else entirely in mind, but it just came off the shuttles like it was meant to be.  I had very few places I even had to change stitch counts to make it work.  I had one edging done in a couple of days. Made in size 10 Lizbeth #693 Linen Medium five repeats are about 11 1/2 inches long.  I asked my daughters for suggestions on the name; Queen’s Crown was quickly agreed upon by both of them and my husband, so there you have it.

I thought drawing out the pattern would be harder than it turned out.  It was a little more difficult writing out the directions than drawing it. At least I think so. Most of it isn’t that hard but there is a lot of switching shuttles involved.  The one tricky part is a picot that is on a turn where you change directions and shuttles at the same time.  It seems to work best with a lock stitch, and it comes out looking like the other side where there is a join to an existing picot.

Test tatting my pattern I used two shades of blue, Lizbeth #658 Ocean Turquoise Light and #657 Ocean Turquoise Dark (I think, I lost the label) in size 20.

Queen’s Crown Edging © Wanda Salmans 2015
I really like how this turned out!  For any that are interested, I’ve added it to my patterns page.
Here the two edgings are together for a comparison of the two sizes of threads.

Queen’s Crown Edging © Wanda Salmans 2015
Now I just need to buckle down and get a few more edgings done.  And then the hard part – attaching them to the material!
Today is Fat Tuesday (mardi gras), or Shrove Tuesday, which is the last day before the Lenten season begins.  Traditionally some people celebrate it by eating pancakes before restraining from eating rich foods for Lent.  I even remembered to make pancakes today!  I had to improvise a little bit – the recipe called for milk and I don’t have any.  I used more butter, an extra egg and water instead and they came out mighty tasty.
I just realized that today is a fitting day to introduce the Queen’s Crown Edging as there are many places that choose Mardi Gras royalty.  And they wear some fancy crowns!  
“A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in.”
Frederick the Great

Edging for a bag

I’ve been wanting to add tatting to one of these bags for myself for quite some time but never took the time to do it.  As you can see, I finally did it! 
The bag is a planetE by Eco-Stream from Wal-mart, brown with ecru lines, 17 inches wide by 14 inches tall (not counting the handles). The tatting is a size 10 thread in turquoise but unfortunately the label disappeared a long time ago and I don’t remember the brand. The beads are from a container of mixed pink beads.  I used Fabric Fusion from Aleene’s to glue the edging to the bag. I don’t know how well it will hold but as this is for me I’ll use the bag and find out just how good it is. 
The edging is a simple one I came up with, one that wasn’t complicated and wouldn’t take long to make.  I thought I had measured it to fit the top of the bag but miscalculated a bit.  I had to bow it down a bit to fit.  I see I didn’t do a good job keeping it even when I glued it down.  I guess I’ll just have to live with it that way.  Unless it comes off, then I guess I’ll try to do better next time. 
After having little snow and mostly warm weather all winter – with temperatures around 50 and 60º F – we were hit with two major winter storms in less than a week.  At our house we got about a foot of snow last Thursday.  A lot of businesses as well as schools and church functions were cancelled, including the plant where I work.  Then Monday we had blizzard conditions with very wet, heavy snow and a forecast of another seven to twelve inches.  I wasn’t looking forward to driving in it and ended up not having to – they cancelled work again.   Because it was right about 32º F the snow actually was melting almost as fast as it came down, so we didn’t get as much measurable snow as predicted but we still got several inches that drifted.  
This picture is looking out my backdoor to the neighbor’s yard Monday afternoon.  Pretty if you don’t have to go out in it.  You have to understand, in this area we’re lucky to get three or four inches of snow at a time, maybe all winter.  To get one storm with a foot of snow is pretty unusual – to get two within a few days of each other is very rare indeed.  We certainly can use the moisture, but oh, my, this much snow at once is ridiculous!   

FACT: Between the two storms Wichita, KS broke its record for the most snow in any month since records have been kept – since 1888 – with 21 inches, 14.2″ in the first storm and 6.8″ in the second storm.

I did get some tatting done yesterday afternoon while I was home but no pictures yet.  I didn’t get as much done as I was hoping to, but more than if I had gone to work.  And I actually finished something!

“When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels.”