Motif #8 & Tatting Tea Tuesday

Wow! The past week is pretty much a blurrrrr. House guests arrived on Wed knowing they wouldn't be able to make it for Christmas day if they didn't get on the roads then. It began snowing Wed night, & we were snowed in until Sun. Out of town guests couldn't leave for home until Sun because of snow drifted roads between Lincoln & the towns they lived in. I made a trip out on Christmas day to get my step-son, then a return trip to take him home (inside the city.) That was the last trip out for 48 hours as the streets weren't being cleared. Wed thru Sun is a blurr of cooking, serving up food, cleaning up, etc.

Well, that's all passed now. I finally got the out of town gifts to the PO today!! Sheesh!!

Tatting Tea Tuesday has been a most appreciated, blessedly quiet day! I finished the edging for the hanky last night, & I sewed it on today. My first hanky with tatted edging! This evening, I'll choose thread for the next hanky. The edging is a generic clover leaf pattern that I tweaked a bit. The thread is Lizbeth size 40 in Caribbean.

Motif #7 of 25 - Christmas Tatting

Here is the only Christmas ornament I tatted. The first branch & the trunk are a wee wonky. I'll do another one, since that was the first time I worked the pattern. It's going to my sister, who I know didn't set up a tree this year. Everyone needs a Christmas tree on Christmas!! The pattern is from Be-stitched.com

More Goodies from the HBT Thread Exchange

I'm sorry I don't have any tatting to show this week. I did something to my wrist/thumb carrying a laundry basket, so I haven't been able to tat all week. Waaaaaaaaah!

Instead of tatting, I've decided to share with you what I've been receiving from my Thread Exchange partners. This is turning out to be one of the best exchanges I've participated in. I do feel a little bad, though. You see most of my partners have sent letters along with their goodies sharing about themselves & their lives. All I sent was an eentsy note saying thanks for participating & happy holidays. I'm realising what on opportunity I let slip by to let them know something about me personally.

OK, well it's my first thread exchange, so I guess I can go easy on myself. LOL!

Here's what I received from Robert, who it turns out, is my next door neighbor in the state of Iowa. As you can see from the pic, he doesn't just tat. He's been a quilter for many years as well. Isn't that the sweetest little pieced stocking. I wish you could see it up close, because it is perfection. Each piece is cut & sewn together with such precision! He sent a really wonderful letter & some Valdani thread. Valdani thread is made in Romania. I've used it for punch needle embroidery. It's lovely to work with there, so I"m hoping it will tat up nicely, too. There's also a lovely post card of the nativity which is now gracing my coffee table.

If you have never experienced a thread exchange, I hope these posts will encourage you to sign up for the next one you hear about. You won't be disappointed!

HBT Thread Exchange

Ohboyohboy! I received 2 more packages from the thread exchange. From Sunela a very pretty card & 2 thread samples. One matches the card - cute! The other is a sample of Lizbeth #20. Both very pretty threads.

From Mary a lovely handcrafted card, a snowflake & glow in the dark thread. The snowflake glows in the dark!! Now that's coooooooooool! LOL!

While searching for ideas for sending my threads to my partners, I decided on one of my HDT's. It's #8 Fairy Sky. I dyed matching solids, also. I  found instructions for these very cute origami envelopes, so I sent the threads in those.

HBT Thread Exchange

I'm in the HereBETatters thread exchange. My threads will go out to my 6 partners on either Sat or Mon. I received one of my exchange packages yesterday! It's always so exciting to get packages. This one came from Anna in Memphis, TN. Here's a pic of what was in this package. I'm really going to love trying this thread, & Anna sent me the cutest shuttle bag made from a vintage print fabric. I LOVE it! The green thread has a gold metalic thread in it. The little cardboard shuttle has a white size 150 thread! There's a postcard of Memphis & a very sweet note on Santa stationary. Isn't that the cutest shuttle bag ever?!

Tatting Tuesday a Day Late

Well, Tatting Tea Tuesday breezed right past me without me even noticing. I did post on Tues, though.

The city is at a standstill. Road crews have cleared only the main streets. Downtown hasn't been cleared & the news is saying don't bother going there - it's dangerous.

I have my faithful Jeep, so I forged my way out of our side street onto a cleared snow route. I decided to come to work today & not waste a vacation day. I work at the local PBS station in Engineering & our Chief Engineer couldn't make it into town, & most everyone else is taking the day off. We had some problems yesterday with servers, so I'm here making sure they're all working properly, making sure the operators are keeping snow out of the satellite dishes, etc.

I'd rather be home with my shuttles, but jobs are hard to keep now days with the economy.

Tatting - I decided I didn't like my Crinoline Lady in size 20 thread, so I started over with size 40. It's looking so much more delicate. I don't have any size 40 thread in white, so there won't be any white ruffles at the hem of her dress, but that's ok. I'm going to need a solid size 40 for her bonnet, though. Oh darn! That means ordering thread! tee hee!

Secret Santa Exchange Package

Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! What a day! It's been blizzarding all day. I had to work, & when I got off work, I had to clean all that snow off my vehicle. The drive home was just plain scarey, so you can imagine how happy I was to find my Secret Santa Exchange package in the mailbox. Thank you postman for braving the elements to deliver it!

It came all the way from Winnepeg Canada! There's a beautiful red bookmark tatted in very fine thread, a package of seed beads, an Aero type shuttle with 2 bobbins, an eentsy lovely tatted angel (who's dancing in the branches of the tree), a package of charms, a ball of green tatting thread & a cute card with a puppy on it. All these fun goodies came to me from Monica Smith. I'm in heaven!! Thank you Monica!

ladyshuttlemaker Shuttle

I finally have pics of my ladyshuttlemaker ceramic shuttle. I chose it for the teal color & the beautiful tatting imprint. I'm very proud to add it to my growing shuttle collection!
You can see more of these ceramic shuttles here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/LadyShuttleMaker?section_id=5052044

Waiting for Santa

Merry Christmas to All

Christmas Tatting

It's very quiet & peaceful as I sip my Starbucks this a.m. My husband left for a week-end hunt with the guys. So, I have an entire, glorious week-end to craft. We put up the tree before he left last night, & it has yielded the Christmas spirit. I have one tatted snowflake - my first ever. I didn't know when I tatted it, that it would be so huge. It's from Jon Yusoff's Quantiesque pattern done in Lizbeth sz 20 Jelly Bean. Here it is as a small doily under a collectable Finton glass tree. I'll need to tat up snowflakes for the tree one of these days before Christmas.

I've started my first tatted Christmas present. This is the Crinoline Lady from Tatting Treats Two by Pam Palmer. I'm tatting this little lady for my sis. The pattern calls for sz 40 thread, but I'm using Lizbeth sz 20 in Christmas Delight & the bonnet is Christmas Red. It's a bit larger than the pattern, but I'm thinking my sis can use it on a quilt block since she quilts. The plan is to send her a Crinoline Lady on each holidy in 2010, so  she can make herself a holiday quilt. This is an easy pattern, & the instructions & diagram are so easy to follow!! Here's the bonnet & the bottom of the sleeve & the pic from the book.

 

Motifs #5 & #6

Finally, I'm finding time to blog! Yesterday, I was wearing my newest tatted Sweetheart, when my co-worker said, "Nice tatting!" I was amazed that he (not a she) knew what tatting was at a quick glance. I had to ask how He (now held in much higher esteem than previously) knew what tatting was when most females can't ID it. His sister-in-law tats, & He & his wife have her tatting hung on their walls as "wall art". Now, is that amazing or is that amazing?!

OK, here's the latest Sweetheart in one of my own HDT. This is DMC instead of Lizbeth sz 20. I have to say, I like the Lizbeth much better - it seems to have a sheen in comparison to the DMC. From now on, my HDT will done with Lizbeth.

I had to make one of Yarnplayer's little rings to go with my other Sweetheart. It's a fun & easy pattern! You can find it here:  http://tinyurl.com/y9b57q7

Here are the older Clovers from my sister & 2 new balls of Lizbeth in size 40. I tatted the newest Sweetheart with one of the new old Clovers. I'll tat her a snowflake to include with her Christmas card - tatted with one of the shuttles.

Scrappy Mini Lunchbox

During my mini-vaca in CO, my niece & I made our annual day after Thanksgiving shopping trip. We only shop for yarn & scrapbooking suppplies. She had found another yarn shop for us to visit. It was behind a huge mansion, along a stone walk-way & inside a carriage house! It's was soooooooooooo awesome! I found a skein of handdyed yarn for a woven scarf to-be.

We next made our way to the scrapbooking store we always go to when I visit. Wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllll, they had these mini lunchboxes. IknowIknow. Yet another tatting box!!???? Remember, though, I gave my other tins away as gifts. Well, here were these mini lunchboxes all scrapbooked up, & I'm telling you, they were CUTE!!! I'd like to be able to say I snubbed my nose & just walked away from them. I'd like to say I was tough on myself & didn't buy. I'd like to say I didn't, but I can't!!! I had to. OK, so there was the box, & this paper that would be so cute on it, & the little jewel stickies, the wee, round letters & the lace butterfly edging... IhadtoIhadto, so I did! I had a great time scrapbooking my mini-lunch box tatting tin!!!

Now, I swear there was purple in that paper when I was choosing the lining. It's more than obvious I need to use my Ott light in the basement at night. There's NO purple in the paper, it's BROWN! So, this box will get a new lining of pink & green. Anywho, I'm loving it!!

Tatting Tea Tues - Late

I'm a day late with my Tatting Tea Tuesday post. I just returned from Thanksgiving in CO where my sister lives. We had a wonderful & fun Thanksgiving, but I'm way behind on everything!! I have several pics I want to post, but they'll have to wait til later in the week.

I tatted another of the Sweet Hearts. This one is done in one of the new Lizbeth colors. I can't remember the name of it - nothing new about my lack of good memory.

I didn't find any tatting threads, but my sister did root around her sewing room looking for shuttles. She's sure she has what may be a bone shuttle, but couldn't find it. She did find an unopened package of the older Clover tortoise shell colored shuttles. They are my favorite Clovers, too! Isn't that a funny coincidence? Now that I know she once wanted to learn to tat, I know any tatted pieces I gift her with will be loved!

Unfortunately, my sister has very poor hand/eye coordination from having rhumatic fever as a child. She had to learn to walk, talk, etc 3 different times until she was 9 years old. All of the fiber crafts I love doing, she just can't, so I want to share as many of my finished pieces as I can with her. She's very limited where crafts are concerned, but the one she can do & has become a master at is sewing. She's a master quilt-maker & seemstress! She has an amazing ability to love unconditionally, too. She can always find somethng good in even the rottenest people! Our mom died in a car accident when I was 9, & my sister Joyce took me in. She's been my mom, my big sister & my best friend.

Raising my cup to Big Sisters!!