Tag: mouse

Trying for a Dog

Thank you to all who made guesses as to what I had tatted, both here and on Facebook. I really can’t say what they were, just not what I was trying for.

I started with a mouse pattern. I used it to make a kitty. From there I thought, “why not a dog?” That’s what I was trying for, but so far I haven’t had much luck. I have made some cute critters but not a dog.

A few more of the critters that aren’t a dog.

Maybe a rat? on wandasknottythoughts
Maybe a rat?

I think this one looks kind of like a rat. I added the red bead to be the dog’s tongue. Looking at it now I see I should be careful which two beads I use as the eyes.

Maybe a bear? on wandasknottythoughts
Maybe a bear?

I think this one looks like a bear, a teddy bear. Obviously, the tail is wrong for a bear but I can fix that.

Rabbit on wandasknottythoughts
Rabbit

This one made me think of a bunny immediately, so I made a fluffy tail. The ears could be longer for a bunny, but I didn’t see the resemblance until farther along.

I have more ideas to try in the pursuit of a dog. But I really should be making snowflakes…

What do you think of the critters?

“Outside of a dog, a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of a dog it’s too dark to read.” Groucho Marx

Mouse trouble

This is Morgan Mouse.  He’s nice and quiet, stays where I put him – most of the time – and never gets in any trouble.  I wish all mice were like him.  I posted about him here.

But there are mice in my house that are nothing like Morgan.  They get into everything!  I have a cabinet they have gotten into that we can’t figure out how, but anything I pull out of it has to be washed before use.  I have a large bottle of bleach right by the sink. My hands constantly smells of it – ugh!

But what really made me mad was when I found out that they have been in my thread!!!

A brand new ball of thread – destroyed! I am not a happy tatter right now!

I was looking for thread for Jane’s TIAS just before it started and kept noticing these red bits and ends.  I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this ball of thread!   Now I’m having to clean out my thread drawer and figure a way to keep the mice out.  In fact, I’m having to check out the entire dresser.  I have many things I’d rather be doing!

It’s days like these that I wish we still had a cat.  We never had this kind of problem with a cat in the house.

On to more pleasant things, like Jane’s TIAS.  Here is mine up through Day 5.

There have been a lot of guesses as to what it will be but I don’t think any of them are correct – Jane is much too sneaky for that!  My guess has been some kind of plant, but that’s only because she’s not done one yet for a TIAS. We will have to wait to find the right answer.

Day 6 is going to be available tomorrow, January 21!  I know I’m not the only one looking forward to it.

Will Day 6 be the day it becomes more obvious what it is?  (hahahaha!)

More like Morgan

I have found mice in my house!
Such messes they leave
Everywhere that they roam,
Everywhere in my home.
From cabinet and counter
The stairs and the floor
My house is infested
My patience been tested.
I’d love to send them packing
Clear them out – good bye!
I’ve not yet found a way
That will keep them at bay.
Remember me as I fight
This army of mice.
They aren’t cuddly or cute
As they munch and they scoot.
Why can’t they be like Morgan,
Flat and well behaved?
I could live with mice then.
But these! Go away! Amen.
Wanda Salmans

TIAS and mice

Today Jane released Day 6 of her 2014 TIAS (Tat It And See). So far she’s done a great job keeping everyone guessing as to what it might be. 
This is my TIAS up through Day 6.  Days 1 through 4 is on the left, Days 5 & 6 is the small piece in the middle.  I’m sure the two pieces will eventually be joined together but I have no idea how.  Do you have any ideas?
I’m using Lizbeth #130 Island Breeze in size 20.
We were very busy this last weekend with family.  Our daughter came down from Nebraska and we all got together with our other daughter in Wichita.  By the time Sunday night rolled around my husband and I were bushed!  Needless to say very little tatting was done during this time.
Though not much tatting was done there was some thinking and planning being done. This is something I’ve been thinking about doing for a while. It’s not done yet, but when it is I’m wanting to mount this so it can be put on the wall, whether on a plaque or in a frame.
  

“I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse.”
Walt Disney
www.brainyquote.com

Photo albums

Our stay at a cabin over the Independence Day weekend inspired me to tat Jane’s Norman Rooster pattern.   Why is that, you ask?   The cabin’s designation is the “Rooster”. 
Norman was Jane’s TIAS for 2010, which I started but didn’t finish (I don’t remember why now).  I’d always planned to complete Norman and now I have.  I thought he would make a cute photo album cover of pictures from our holiday. So today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I’m putting the finishing touches on it while drinking an iced glass of Crystal Light Raspberry Green Tea .
Jane Eborall’s Norman Rooster pattern
Tatted by Wanda Salmans
Other than Christmas Red for the comb and beard I can’t remember right now the colors I used to make him though they are all Lizbeth in size 20.  I know that I wasn’t too happy with the color I chose for the tail while I was making it but finished it anyway.  I’m glad I did, it looks okay.  I thought he looked a little lonely on the cover so I added a butterfly and some flowers made while finishing off thread from a couple of shuttles.  
I had a terrible time finding paper to put him on.  I don’t have a huge selection of scrapbook paper but I have some – and it is never what I want (they all looked great at the store, though).  So I had to doctor up what I had to make it work.  I don’t know that it’s great but it works. 
Morgan Mouse on a 6-point finding
Designed and tatted by Wanda Salmans
While I was at it I went ahead and did one with a pink Morgan Mouse. All threads used are Lizbeth size 20 in various colors – again emptying shuttles. (I have a bunch of butterflies and flowers from doing this. They come in handy sometimes.)
Speaking of mice…
Last night when I got home from work I took off my shoes and sat down in my chair to watch a little TV.  Our cat was under my chair and kept reaching a paw under my feet (they were kind of tented together, not flat on the floor) and tickling me.  Of course I told her to quit and she moved around to the other side of the footstool and kept looking at my feet.  I finally noticed there was something under my feet, moved them to see what it was
and
a 
mouse ran out.
Yes, a real, live, grey mouse.
It wasn’t moving too fast and stopped on the other side of the footstool – I don’t know if I squished it a bit or whether it was just stunned by the smell of my stocking feet.  The cat watched it intently but didn’t jump on it as it was just kind of laying there and not running.  My brave, thoughtful husband picked it up by the tail and took it outside to dispose of in some manner – far away from the house I assume.  The cat was somewhat disappointed.
We live in the country right beside a wheat field – excuse me, the wheat is cut and they have planted soybeans now – so we are not unfamiliar with mice, but this is not a normal experience. 
I would have preferred Morgan Mouse under my feet.
In any color.
“Never play cat and mouse games if you’re the mouse.”
Don Addis quotes

A mouse and the moon

A few weeks ago when I posted about a new bookmark I had made the moderator at the 25 Motif Challenge made a comment about the abbreviated version of it, “Does anyone else see a mouse here?”

Another look at the picture I had taken and, sure enough, it looked like a mouse.  I hadn’t even noticed that when I took it.  Then I thought “some eyes, some whiskers, maybe a little nose – it wouldn’t take much to make a mouse.”

After a little tweeking and a few beads, it did.

Introducing Morgan Mouse!

Morgan Mouse © Wanda Salmans 2013

Morgan is made in Lizbeth #131 Vineyard Harvest and #644 Boysenberry Dk, size 20, with three 11/0 black glass beads.  The center is an 8-point finding (doodad) that is about .5 inches (1.27 cm) across.  A flat-backed “diamond” is glued to the center of the doodad.  For anyone that might be interested in the pattern it has been posted to the Pattern tab.

Any of you check out the full moon this weekend?  Did you know it was a “supermoon”?  This weekend the moon passed as close to the earth as it will ever be this year, making the moon look bigger and brighter.  It was very beautiful!

Supermoon Rises Over Chesapeake Bay Beach

People have taken some great pictures of it (not me).  Check out a few of them at http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/24/world/ireport-supermoon-creative-photos
It was so bright that, along with dry conditions, a lot of people worked into the early morning hours harvesting wheat, at least they did around here.  We saw one crew still out at midnight in a field cutting.   We just enjoyed how beautiful the night was ☺
Hickory Dickory Dock
Two mice ran up the clock
The clock struck one
The other escaped with minor injuries.
Check out more verses and alternates here