Tag: rain

Graduation Book Mark

It’s that time of year again, graduation for kids of all ages. One of my daughters recently graduated from college and a niece from high school. Different circumstances, different types of gifts to be given, don’t you think?

We gave our daughter one of our winnings from the auction we went to a few weeks ago. I didn’t think to take a picture of it before giving it to her but imagine a bottle of wine and wine-related items. She was happy with it.

For my niece, I gave something a little more in line with my usual graduation gift, a bookmark, to go along with a book and a bit of cash.

Double heart bookmark with book on wandasknottythoughts
Double heart bookmark with a book of devotions

My picture has the bookmark covering a bit more of the title than I had planned, but the picture on the front helps show why I chose to tat something with hearts.

Double heart bookmark on wandasknottythoughts
Double heart bookmark on a paperclip

This is my January Heart pattern with split-ring tails joined to a large paperclip. I think this will be easier to keep in a book than a loose bookmark would be. This is not only holding a place in the book but is also holding a bit of cash. What college student can’t use that? I gave this to her at her graduation party, but she mostly got cards (probably with money) and didn’t open them at the party.

I’ve been doing some other tatting this week, but not much is coming out as planned. The last few days I’ve been tatting while watching it rain. They say it’s supposed to end tomorrow – and then the heat and humidity arrive. I guess it is the end of May, so I should expect it.

In July I’m going to Tatting Corner’s Tat Days. My husband and I will be driving out. While I’m tatting he’ll be checking out what’s to be found in the area, then joining me for the evening meals. I’ve not been to one of their Tat Days before but am looking forward to it. Who else is going?

wheat in the rain on wandasknottythoughts
Green wheat in the rain

“Potential is like a summer crop. If it don’t rain, it don’t grow.” Charles Oakley

Shuttlebirds’ challenges

I finally got the heart right for the Shuttlebird’s Weekly Challenge #12.
Nancy Tracy’s ‘Clover Drop Heart’ pattern. 
I still had the shuttles wound with Lizbeth #117 Country Side size 20 so I went ahead and made it with this – again.  This time I got the chains right!
It’s a very pretty heart. 

I had never tried making him before and I very much enjoyed the experience.  He’s quick and easy to make and looks so darn cute!  He also doesn’t take a lot of thread so I believe I’ll be making quite a few more as I need to empty shuttles.  This flight of Microdragons are made in Lizbeth #679 Lime Green, #614 Lemon Light and #695 Bright Orange, all in size 20. 
Oh, yeah, I’m adding these Microdragons to my 25 Motif challenge.  I think this is #10 in this go-round.
Water, water every where…
There has been more rain here and more is expected.  We’ve had water standing in our yard for several days now because of it. We also have to be very careful when we leave or come home due to water over the roads.  It is hard to believe it’s August. Everything is sooo green! Usually this time of year things are pretty brown and dry.  As we don’t water our lawn we usually only have to mow every couple of weeks this time of year.  This year the grass (and weeds!) have kept growing, begging for us to mow much more frequently.  The problem is the water standing in the yard.
At least the lakes, ponds and aquifers are filling back up.
“Weather is a great metaphor for life – sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and there’s nothing much you can do about it but carry an umbrella.”
Terri Guilemets

Little things

Adding tatting to buttons for brooches has really caught my imagination lately.  I pull out different threads to compare which ones look the best with the different buttons and dream about what I’m going to do with each one. 
I guess there are worse things to think about. 
This is the latest button.  On which I used another button as well as some tatting in Lizbeth Mocha Brown Dark #692 and Harvest Orange Med #694, both size 20.  It does have a pin back on it as well. Now I just need the right color blouse or dress to wear it on.  Or maybe a hat, or my purse…
I saw a neat idea over at Sew Many Ways awhile back that came to mind the other day.  I had a few of these clips handy and thought I’d give it a try.

They came out kinda cute, don’t you think?  I suppose they could be used for paper like they are intended as well.
A Soggy Tatting Tea Tuesday
It rained yesterday.  
One of the barn swallows that has made a house on the side of our house was out enjoying it.  It was raining pretty heavy and he was out taking a bath.  The post on our (decorative) hand pump is a favorite perch for the swallows all the time, even in the rain.

It rained yesterday.
This was later in the evening.

Did I mention it rained yesterday?
This is a picture the neighbor sent us looking out his front door to our back door.  Those lighter stripes there are his driveway.
No, we don’t live in the flood plain of a creek or pond or lake.  We actually live on somewhat high ground – for the neighborhood.  
We were very nervous about the water getting into the house but it didn’t. It came up to the thresh holds of the doors but didn’t come in. 
The roads flooded as well.  We had to take a detour to get home after work because of water over the roads.  We thought we might have to wait awhile for the water to go down but the road we detoured to had only about an inch running over it, so we chanced it (after walking it to verify depth and speed) and made it home okay.  This morning instead of tatting or blogging we drove around to see how much the water had gone down and if the roads were passable. They were.
We are still in a flood watch until Thursday morning though.  It rained so hard farther north that the creeks and rivers close to us could still come up in the next few days. 
Did I mention that it rained yesterday?

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.