Ring out the old year ring in the new!

Happy New Year to all out there!

A Quick Up Date.

I hope all have had a happy and safe Holidays. I and my husband have been out of town and so I have no pics to post just yet. We plan to return in 4 days from our adventures in Alaska. Weather here has been cold, but mild and the scenery is to die for. Have enjoyed time with my daughter and miss my other children.
I hope you all have a safe and wonderful New Year! Until then have fun tatting!

Anniversary, Lighthouse Lacers and Snowflakes!

Last Saturday was not only my 31st wedding anniversary, but my first meeting with the Lighthouse Lacers! A couple of weeks ago Marilee (aka Yarnplayer) had invited me to come. My husband came with me since the meeting was at a library( his home away from home) and we went for a nice drive and tasty cheeseburger later.
The ladies at the meeting where just wonderful and so many of them do so many other kinds of lace other than tatting. I wish I could say I have all their names memorized, but I don't! It takes me a couple of weeks to get all my kids on my bus right. lol. One new member was bobbin lace making and it was more fun to watch her than my own tatting. There were some lovely bookmarks made by one of the ladies there and I can see I have a ways to go on perfecting my techniques.

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"Celeste' by Yarnplayer.

The necklace (sorry for bad picture) was my anniversary present that I picked out. It is a lovely blue (I think 'Aqua Bay' ) with beautiful blue beads. Those of you who saw this in Marilee's Etsy shop will remember it.  I'll try for a better picture. 

"Janus' from 'Tatted Flurries'



This is 'Janus' made with Yarnplayer ' Med Aqua' . Pattern from Sharon Brigg's new book  'Tatted Flurries'  you can get to her blog here. Ordering information and

and cost are available there as well as it is available as a PDF form.

I would like to say that I am reasonable intelligent but as I was doing this pattern ( and almost done) I was re-reading it and it was talking about the second row. I thought second row? Then I realized I had tatted it in complete one row and didn't need to make a split ring to go into the next round. I think I'll try it again and this time actually follow the directions. lol. Oh well what can I say. Until next time and sorry Marilee about my bad picture of your lovely necklace!

Earring pics as promised.

These are one of the pair of earrings I bought at the Loominosity Show last Saturday. They are made by Marilee Rockley aka Yarnplayer . Her etsy shop is here. The thread is her own hand dyed 'Snowflake' and some very pretty blue beads with a cute pearl bead in the center.

I also got these lovely bear earrings made by one of the ladies from Loose Bead Society. They are pink quartz with crystals. I love quartz and think it it prettier than more expensive gem stones. Also this my attempt at Jane Eborall's flurry snowflake found at her pattern page here.  I made it in Yarnplayer's 'Sugar Maple' size 10 with size 8 glass beads. This was fun to do and I learned a new way to do SCMR.
Well fall is in full swing and as the leaves fall it is the feeling Winter is not far away. I love Winter except for the sub zero temperatures. Snow is lovely and all the Christmas lights are nice. But it makes me realize it is also a hectic time to get all things done. So many snowflakes to make so little time! So with that said time to go back to work!
Please remember some of our dear tatting friends in your prayers like Sherry Pence(LadyShuttleMaker) that all goes well with her delivery and Tatting Chic who has a job lose coming up. I know there are others, and I know they appreciate our prayers in their behalf. TaTa for now.

Ah Ha! Got it to work!

Marilee and me in front of one of the booths of lovely jewelry for sale. Marilee was wearing jewelry she tatted that had real gold in it. Simply gorgeous. She gave me one of her "Treasure" pendant piece and I bought a couple of earrings- one was hers and another was a cute pair of pink quartz bears. I post those another time.

Meeting Marilee...I Can't Believe It Has Been SOOO Long!

This is to let you know:
1. I did not die in spite of what you may have heard.
2. I have done some tatting.
3. And I meet one of the nicest ladies of tatting!

Last Saturday I had the opportunity to go to the Loominosity show in New Berlin, Wis. Marilee Rockley aka Yarnplayer was there. I can't tell you how excited I was to finally get to meet Marilee. At first she must of thought I was a stalker until she remembered my name. I don't think I was that over zealous, but lets face it it was the high light of my day! She is as beautiful and gracious in person as she is on her blog. Yarnplayer (click on Yarnplayer to go to her blog).  There are some wonderful  pictures of some of the beautiful things at the exhibition and a great picture of Marilee and a bad picture of me! lol. ( stupid computer is NOT letting me down load picture I took to my blog. They improved it.Hahaha) So I will try later to see if I can get it to work.

A tatting we will, a tatting we will go high ho...

Celtic Knot Earrings done in 'Celery' hdt by Yarnplyer Celtic Knot done in 'Aqua Bay' also by hdt by Yarnplayer.

The three 'trial and errors'. Two not finished yet.

Where does the time go! May has slipped away and June is here! Yeah last day of school tomorrow! Of course next year does not sound promising. But hey, I at least still have a job!

On another note, Becki has packed, moved and is job hunting. That seems to be the theme everywhere though. It is scary when you realize the economic distress US is feeling is being felt everywhere. Thank goodness for tatting! No matter what the language you speak you can understand tatting across the globe. And though things are 'tight' everywhere there is a sense of well being when you can create something of beauty with thread. It warms the heart,cheers the soul and makes on feel like YES! LOOK WHAT I DID!

I have been following several people far more talented and creative than I and always enjoy their blogs and views on life. Everyone that tats seems to able to find the silver lining in the darkest cloud. Even when health has prevented them from enjoying life, they take to the shuttle and create such things of beauty. I can think of several tatters that have had their own private battles and who are always sunny. And though I haven't had as many challenge as some of my fellow tatters, I enjoy the sense of well being I can get from knotting some thread.I think for me it is therapy and sometimes some form of torcher.

The 3rd picture is proving to be the latter. How hard can it be to follow a pattern? Especially when it is written out and diagrammed?! Obviously for me hard. The pattern is 'Folded Bookmark' by Jon Yusoff at http://tatsaway-patterns.blogspot.com/ . The sample are as follows: 'Garden Afternoon' size 50, 'Brilliant Sunset' size 20, and 'Aqua Bay' size 10.( working with size 10 thread felt like working with rope after working with size 20 for so long.) All three threads are Yarnplayer's HDT (http://yarnplayer.etsy.com/ ) All three bookmarks have a mistake in them. This was not on purpose, they just happened. Too few stitches on a chain and short a picot or two. I thought by the third time through I would not make mistakes- I was wrong. Oh well what are you going to do. Who ever get these will never know I can't follow directions. lol.

I also made some earrings( 1st and 2nd pictures) for a friend at work using 'Aqua Bay' size 20 and 'Celery' size 20(also HDT from Yarnplayer) for earrings and size 10 for pendant. The pattern for the Celtic knot is found in Rozella Linden's "Celtic Tatting Knots and Patterns" found at Handy Hands(http://www.handyhandstatting.com/ ). The blue earrings were shuttle tatted, the green set was needle tatted. It is straight forward ds stitches with following the diagram on how to do the Celtic knot Ruth Perry style. It goes quickly (once you get the knotting technique) and is fun to do. Add a nice bead and you have a masterpiece!

I seem to be stuck in bookmarker mode time to start something BIG. I would like to enter Lake County Fair with a piece of tatting. It is in July, maybe if I start now I can get it done in time since work starts up again June 8th.( Summer school for my little guys) I will have a 3 hour break Monday through Thursday so I can walk for 45 minutes and tat for and hour and a half. We will see how far I get on both plans.(Congrats to Tatting Chic on her diet and her sucess. I know how hard it is to loose weight. I've lost and found the same 100 + pounds for years! Good luck in keeping it off!) I plan to stick to the plan and will keep the tatting world informed. Also working on a pattern. We will see who it all works out! Well time to put this 'novel' to bed. I hope all are well and keeping those shuttles flying! TaTa for now.

Long time has past! Happy Mother's Day!

(Click on pic for a closer look)

It has been a LONG time since last post. That is not out of neglect just life getting in the way. I took the challenge for Internation Tat Day of designing a fish and sorry to say it is still being 'tweeked ' and not ready to share. Jane Eborall has been kind enough to help me with it and as soon as I get the bugs out of it (and Jane says it works) you will see it. Meanwhile you will just have to settle with my attempts at Jane's Butterfly bookmark found at http://www.e.n.e.btinternet.co.uk/ .

The first picture is really the second one I made in 'Tutti Fruity' Lizbeth thread size 20. The second is also a new color which escapes me now, but it is Lizbeth and size 20 and my first attempt. The tail for the second is lock stitch(or a poor attempt at it) and the tail for the first is something that I'm not sure what stitch it turned out to be. The fun of tatting! you can learn and create things all the time!

My little tatting group is going well and it is fun to work with someone who wants to learn. I don't consider myself an expert tatter but I know enough to get someone started on the right path. My three ladies are working on rings, chains, joining and following a pattern. One of my friends is actually working on dimple rings and doing a very good job. Lindsey was taught when she was 6 originally by her GGrand Mother but hadn't touched it for many years. She is really the more advanced and is having a great time. My other two ladies are knitters and crocheters so getting them to get the flip was a challenge. But they are determained!

It is Mother's day and I am enjoying lovely flowers my children sent to me. I am also getting over a very nasty reaction to a bee string I had several days ago. I ended up in the ER on IV for it. And now have to carry an EPI Pen with me along with Benadryl. I have been stung many time from bees(we raise them) this was the first time I ever had that kind of reaction. My GrandMother was allergic to bees so there is a predisposition there. My daughter swells from stings so she should be careful that later in life it could happen to her.

Becki has come and gone and will be home sometime in June to get her car. She resigned from her job as they didn't renew her contract so she is going through the nerve racking process of job hunting. She is hoping to go to Anchorage. Only because there are more job possiblities and it is the largest city in Alaska with a real town and everything! It still sits near the water, but you can get from one place to another by car! Not just by Ferry. Weather is like Northern Illinois so they have snow(still in April) and it gets colder than were she is now, but unlike Illinois there isn't the humidiy and 100+ degree temps in the summer. Actually weather here is more severe than most of Alaska. And I live in Illinois why?lol.

I would like to say that life has been good ,and in many ways it has. But because of how the State is treating schools and not paying them there has been many challenges for schools to make it all work. This effects my job next year in that since I am an 'At Will' employee they can cut our pay(again) and there is really nothing we can do about it. It means that because how pension funds are set up I will be looking for a different kind of job in 4 years so as not to have a dramatic drop in my pension payout. Trouble is I like what I do and being marketable at 60 is really hard. To old to start over, too young to retire. What are you going to do. Well I hope everyone has a great week and enjoy Spring! Just think how it makes you want to get out and tat! Happy tatting to all! :)

The Post Man Cometh.

And he brought me 'presents'! This long awaited book came today. It is Sherry Pence's( aka LadyShuttleMaker) new butterfly book. It is full of fun butterflies and can't wait to tat a few!

Last fall I joined 'Ring Of Tatters' and got my renewal form some time ago. With the form was a form to order these next two books. I opened this first book and there are names of people I had several books from, who contributed to it. There is a wealth of knowledge, techniques and comments from such poeple as Mary Konoir and Pam Palmer. I will treasure these two books for along time. It is nice to read the history of ROT and see all the lovely lace that has been made.

On another note, there are 24 days left till the Becki cometh! (I'm NOT excited-much!) Happy Tatting to all and to all go night! :)

An 'Enchanter' Valentine's Day!

A happy Valentine's Day to all. Here is Jon Yusoff's latest pattern 'Enchanter' done in size 20 Lizbeth thread in 'Western Sunset' # 102. Jon's lovely pattern is at her web site http://tatsaway.blogspot.com/ . I saw the pattern and didn't know how big it would tat in 20 thread. ( It is about 1 -1/2" by 1 -3/4" perfect earring size) And when I finished one I said I have to make another.
The pattern tats up beautifully and quickly. I think I would like to make some more and add beads. This design lends itself easily to beads. A few seed beads in the picots and a little dagger bead at the tip maybe.
The hardest part is tying a bow! My fingers don't work like that any more. lol.
They are in time to wear for church on Valentine's Day. Nice addition to my earring collection.
The count down has begun for Becki sighting- 26 days and she will be here! :)

I finally have to face it. I'm addicted to... Thread!

The first color picture her is LadyShuttleMaker's Victorian Valentine and Marina in size 20 6 strand cotton.

This is Yarnplayers 'Stardate' in size 20 and 40.

I have several skeins of this one. It is Yarnplayer's 'Nectarine' showing size 20 and 80.

Yes! I finally found a copy of Mary Konior's "Tatting Patterns" that wasn't an 'arm and leg' price. This brings my collection to 3 of her books. The tatting world will forever be indebted to her for all her contributions. As many have heard Mary passed on earlier this month. My prayers are with her family.

Here is 'Norman' done! I had so much fun with Jane Erborall's TIAS . Learned alot and have to make 'Norman' over with bigger bead for eye and no picots between split rings!( I didn't try for picots they just appeared-got to work on that!) Norm is done in size 20 thread and measures about4 inches tall. He would make a nice book marker by pearl tatting were you join a length and finish off with a 'chick' at the end. Pattern for Norman and his family are at Jane Erborall"s website. http:// janeeborall.blogspot.com/ can direct to the right spot.

And yes it is sad but true! I'm addicted to hdt thread. No matter how hard I resist Yarnplayer and LadyShuttle Maker have to go and bring out their brushes and the next thing I know I'm confirming purchases!LOL. Is there a cure for this "disease"? I hope not! I know there is SO much hdt out there and there isn't enough free money to have it all. I have plans for mine and right now am happy I have it. My new goals for me will let me indulge in my passion for tatting and get healthy too. I'll let you know how it works.

Day 5 and all is well....

Here is my day 5 of Jane E.'s TIAS. Since it looks like the picture I 'm thinking I did it right!

Here is my second guess. I have been to South Australia, but never saw one of these in the wild. I saw Kangaroos and other Aussie animals in the wild, but missed this. If you don't think this how about picture #3?!

OK so it is a strange looking snowman, but it could work right?! Well this is just too fun and I really have enjoyed alot of the other people's guesses. :)

Days 1-4 TIAS together

Becki chicken in one of her fav colors for Halloween back at her college days with her friend 'Bunny'. Maybe she is Jane E's inspiration for her TIAS?! What you think.

Days 1-4 together. If you flip the pic I think it being to look like.....

It has been great seeing all the different colors people are using. I personally picked my daughters fav colors (green and orange) to do this as I think I'll mail it to her when done! I think she will at least like the colors.Lol. :)

Monday Monday....

Happy Monday! For those of you who like giveaways if you haven't stopped by LadySuttleMaker's blog do not delay she is having a giveaway! At http://ladyshuttlemaker.blogspot.com/ .

The above pic is my day 3 TIAS. It is done in hdt thread size 20? and is a burnt orange color. Not sure were I go this but I think I used it for crocheting a giant butterfly.

Well I hope all is well and that the rest of the week is good for you! :)

Happy Snow Day and day 2 TIAS!

Happy 9 " of snow! And I did my day 2 of Jane's TIAS! Pic is of it and I couldn't tell you what it is even if my life depended on it because I have no clue. Had a great day tatting and spending time with my Sweetie. Have a safe and great weekend! :)

New HDT and Day 1 TIAS Done!

Yes I got some lovely hdt from Marilee. I picked it up from the post today. It is Yarnplayer's new color 'Celery' and I got several skeins.

You can see it tats like a dream in this picture. I had one of those 'ah ha' moments( actually I re-read the directions) and it actually worked!lol. Funny how just reading how you are suppose to do something it just turns out that way.

This last pic was my first attempt at Jane Eborall (http://janeeborall.blogspot.com/ ) new TIAS. Visit her blog and there is a link to instructions and TIAS pattern. For those who don't know what a TIAS is = Tat It And See. You get a piece of the total pattern and then see if you can figure of what it is. But Jane doesn't want you to spoil it by telling everyone. Just tell her. A link to her email is there also so you can share, ask questions and guess. The middle pic is my day 1 done in 'Celery' size 20. I liked how the 'Celery' POPS out at you better than the original one done in Lizbeth thread 'Angel Love' size 20.

I had fun with this so far and see lots of room for improvement.I appreciate talented people who can come up with such fun ideas. I can see them in strange colors, but don't have much more of an imagination to invent. I'll have to get more comfortable with it. I'd like to do a whole bird themed idea. There are patterns for Parrots, but none that I found for the smallest member of the Snell Parrot group- Budgies(also know as parakeets). Maybe someday.... Well have a great week, me I'm personally doing a 'Snow Day' dance because I really hate driving a school bus when there is alot of snow falling. Illinois there is a joke about snow removal, they wait until it stops snowing to plow! Yes it is as fun to drive in as it sounds-not! :)

A few pics of Wrangell Alaska.

The second pic is Rainbow falls in Wrangell where the stairs that tried to take out Becki is. This was the cliff she tried to go over. She has a bruise. The first pic is a tree root at Petroglyph Beach in Wrangell. Wrangell has about 3 state parks in the area, and has a well known glacier.

The next pic is downtown Wrangell. Looks alot like downtown Antioch! Except we don't have any mountains or an Ocean near us. And we have alot more snow!lol.

This is Becki hiding in a tree root at Rainbow Falls Park. All these pics are courtesy of the Bec and her friend Tasha.

Well doesn't that just make you want to take your next vacation to Alaska? With the scenery Becki has I don't think she will ever come back to boring Illinois. And who could blame her! Just a side note Metlakatla Alaska is 40 degrees at this writing, Antioch Illinois is 8 degrees. It is true, Northern Illinois weather is more server than parts of Alaska. Why do people live here again?

Hope you enjoyed the pic I know I did. :)

Happy New Year!

SCMR Snowflake pattern by Sally Magill of 'The Ring Of Tatters' done in size 20 htd 'Night Wind' by Yarnplayer(aka Marilee Rockely).

It is a brand new year and a time to reflect how to make this a better year. First, I need to remember the things that are truly important in my life-like family and friends. Then take more time to let them know and less time complaining. Second, I need to hone my tatting skills and work on more challenging things so I learn to be better. I need to do this for me and the small group of people who want to learn to tat from me. And one of the things I am working on today was SCMR.

I was given one of these scmr snowflakes from Sharon Fawns for my thread exchange.(It now hangs on my tree). And though I understood how scmr are done I hadn't tried them in a pattern before. When I got Sharon's lovely gift, I knew I had to try it and the above picture is my first attempt. I will make more because they go quickly and are fun to do.

On a different theme- Becki has been having fun visiting her friend in Wrangle Alaska and seeing the sights. She had to mention slipping on the steps at Rainbow Falls and have her feet dangling over a cliff. She thought it was funny,(I wouldn't have classified it that way-but hey I'm just her mom) and had a good laugh. She said it felt weird having her legs dangle in mid air. OK so maybe I said thank you Lord for NOT letting her get killed as she told me that. All in all she has had a wonderful time and seen so awesome scenery. I'll see if Bec will let use some of her pics to share with you all.

I have been battling a sinus infection this break so my tatting adventures have been very few. Wednesday evening I spent about 2 hours working with a friend who wants to learn to tat, on doing the ds. She finally got the 'flip' and wanted to jump for joy when she made her first ring. It was exciting and next Wednesday we are going to learn the picot and try joining rings together. I left her with homework, we will see how she does. She was very excited to learn and I have another person who tats already so maybe we can have our own little group. It amazes me how many people think of tatting as a dying art. First I'm not dead and neither is tatting! I'll keep tatting wherever I go hope it sparks interest!

I hope this new year is prosperous for everyone and may you and yous be safe.