Christmas Spiders - 2012

Do you know the "Legend of the Christmas Spider"?

While I was looking for information to share with you about it, I found this page which shows that there are a few different versions of the Christmas Spider poem, but the idea is relatively the same.

In case you haven't heard of it (or choose not to visit the spiderwisdom.com page) here is one we like:

****************
CHRISTMAS SPIDER


(A folk legend from Germany and the Ukraine)

Once upon a time, long ago, a gentle mother was busily cleaning the house for the most wonderful day of the year.... The day on which the Christ child came to bless the house. Not a speck of dust was left. Even the spiders had been banished from their cozy corner in the ceiling to avoid the housewife's busy cleaning. They finally fled to the farthest corner of the attic.

T'was the Christmas eve at last! The tree was decorated and waiting for the children to see it. But the poor spiders were frantic, for they could not see the tree, nor be present for the Christ child's visit. But the oldest and wisest spider suggested that perhaps they could peep through the crack in the door to see him. Silently they crept out of their attic, down the stairs, and across the floor to wait in the crack in the threshold. Suddenly, the door opened a wee bit and quickly the spiders scurried into the room. They must see the tree closely, since their eyes weren't accustomed to the brightness of the room... so the crept all over the tree, up and down, over every branch and twig and saw every one of the pretty things. At last they satisfied themselves completely of the Christmas tree beauty.

But alas!! Everywhere they went they had left their webs, and when the little Christ child came to bless the house he was dismayed. He loved the little spiders, for they were God's creatures too, but he knew the mother, who had trimmed the tree for the little children, wouldn't feel the same, so He touched the webs and they all turned to sparkling, shimmering, silver and gold!

Ever since that time, we have hung tinsel on our Christmas trees, and according to the legend, it has been a custom to include a spider among the decorations on the tree.

****************

It took a bit of coaxing to convince Matilda that we could create Christmas Spiders that our friends wouldn't be afraid of.  After she saw how cute they were, she was excited to play with them until one by one they went to spend Christmas in Christmas trees at their new homes.

We wish you and your family A Very Merry Christmas!!

~Matilda and Bonnie

A Creative Life

ginger at bearbits recently did a post entitled to live a creative life  It is about her daughter's creativity. 

It starts with this ....

That saying is me right now! 

I'm sure I interpreted it differently than what some others will, but this is how it relates to me. 

For more than a year I have been an active part of a campaign to save our county ran nursing facility (you can see me here towards the bottom of the page at one of our many rallys - as of today the photo is still there. )  That being said when I am home I am exhausted .... and for the most part worried and unhappy.

I haven't tatted more than a few minutes here or there in months. And now I find myself intimidated by it. I look at my patterns and HDTs and wonder if it is worth even starting something?

I got some new HDT  from Jess at Tatilicious hoping it would jump start my creativity again.  (I know I said I wouldn't get more until I'd used up some of what I had, but I was desperate - so I won't beat myself up over it *smile*)  But even that didn't help.

Somehow I must lose the fear of  "what if I spend my limited time tatting and it ends up being a waste".

You know .... what if it ends up being the wrong pattern and I don't enjoy it so it doesn't get completed, or I use the wrong color for the pattern, or the thread size is wrong for the pattern, or ... well you get it.

I must lose the fear of being wrong in order to become creative again.

I greatly enjoy being creative, it is part of what makes me ME  :-)

Happy Creating - or whatever it is that you do that makes you YOU.

Blue Heart - 2012 UIU Project

On Wednesday my friend, Rose retired.  I wanted to tat her something special to go inside her Congratulations card. 

The pattern is Romantic Heart - with Directions by Beelizabeth.  I recently learned about this pattern via the InTatters website.  Specifically this series of posts.  If you are not a member of InTatters, I encourage you to check it out.  It is an interactive website for tatters of skill levels. 
 

The pattern can be found here.

It was made using HDT thread I already had wrapped onto a yarn daisy.  I can't tell you the thread size or name or who the dyer was because, of course, I didn't have any thread info attached to it.  

The lovely Matilda showing you my HDT version of Birgit's Romantic Heart.

'Knot Tonight Josephine' Exchange

Awhile ago I told you about Fringe Tatters and their "Knot Tonight Josephine" exchange?
Here is what I sent to my partner, Heather ... wait I can't find a picture.  I know I took some, with Matilda, I know I did.  Shoot.  Oh well. 

So I'll just go right to showing you what I received from my partner, Ruth.

Her sun catcher is so very pretty. I did put it up in the window,
but not sure if I will let it remain there because I don't
want the sun to bleach it out, but for now that's where it is.

Ruth said the lilacs on the window card are made
with two different size threads. 
They are very pretty, but look way to complicated for me to tat. 



Ruth also told me that she's been tatting about 40 years and that she doesn't have a favorite size thread to work with that she likes them all.  I'm still not sure how people tat with size 80 or 100, my eyes will not allow it.





It still upsets me that I can't find the umbrella (from Martha Ess' Holiday's on the Block) that I tatted for my partner.  Shoot.  Checked cellphone, checked digital camera, checked all thru the computer.  Oh well. 

WAIT, one more pass threw the computer and I found the pictures.

I made the blue handle and the yellow rim of the umbrella to be the Josephine Knots that I needed for the challenge.

I greatly enjoy working with HDT so we sent a skein to Heather too.

Since both the yellow and the blue are threads I had (and we gifted a skein of HTD, which although I didn't use it - it is no longer in my possession) this definitely counts towards The 2012 UIU Project.  



It's Raining Men.......???

... no not Men, but tatted Butterflies.

When Isdihara wrote this post that in part featured Jane Eborall's Very Small Butterfly, I knew it was a pattern I could memorize and be able to use when there's just that little bit of thread left on a shuttle that I can't bear to waste.  (bear - no pun intended... sorry that made me giggle)



It's Raining Butterflies


Matilda and I got busy emptying shuttles making Jane's butterflies.  My original intention was to get pictures with Matilda and the people we give the butterflies to, but I get excited to share them and I forget to take pictures.  So rather than stress about not doing it, we decided to just show you some of the ones we had before we gave these ones away too.

I get to count these towards The 2012 UIU Project, because I was able to empty 2 shuttles making these.

Oh and to explain today's post title:

Matilda said these pictures make it look like it's raining butterflies on her, which she's right .... but when she said that it made me think of the song ....  It's Raining Men.  (Which again gave me a giggle.)

The Story Of Matilda

I hope after my last post you took the time to go to ginger's blog - bearbits - to see how she created Matilda *just for me*  :-)  

While there you got to see ginger's post about Matilda, now it's my turn.



how can a box be so exciting?



I have been a follower of ginger's for quite some time, her bears are beautiful and some what mischievous at times.  Her friend Sebastian is quite the adventurer, so it's fun to read the posts to see what everyone is up to over there.  Sometimes Sebastian even gets in on the blogging and shares his own posts.  

(note after I had finished the writing of this, I found it to be quite lengthy, and maybe not as interesting to you as it is to me, so I condensed it down and added the pictures thoughout the post so you'll see them along the way.)



Out of the Box



When I started communicating with ginger I asked if she would be interested in creating a friend for me to be my tatting (and Temari ... but I've never told you I create them as well) spokesperson/bear.  To my excitement she agreed.  She asked if I would be interested in making some tatted collars for her bears.  Of course!!  I love to share tatting, so I made some samples and sent them off, which ginger showed you in her post.

I gave her a few ideas of what I envisioned my bear to look like, such as I wanted a girl, I would like her to have light colored fur, what size I hoped her to be and I asked if she could be jointed.  However mostly I didn't want to put a hold on ginger's creative freedom, I wanted my bear to be fun for her to make.  I was happy to hear that she creates her bears jointed, not a problem.



Air Intake Tube



While ginger was doing her thing, and I was working on the tatted collars I was also thinking about naming my bear.  One morning I spent going threw baby name sites on the internet, I know I know silly right, but I did and it was fun. 

At this point let me say, I know that due in part to the internet - tatting is making a strong come back, but to me I will always always call it an old school art.  

For that reason, and because I love the "old" names, I wanted my bear to have a lovely name from my grandmother's era, you know like Agnes, Ella or Opal, all wonderfully beautiful names. 

Anyone who knows me knows I don't make these important decisions well, so I asked ginger her thoughts on my names and if she had any suggestions.  One of her idea's was Matilda.  I like it!! and since ginger brought her to life it was great that ginger had named her as well.

A short period of time later (but it seemed like ages as I waited *patiently*) Matilda arrived on my door step.  Litterly.  I knew she was coming and had left the door to the garage unlocked, but for some reason the postman left the box outside, which he NEVER does.  And let me tell you I was glad I got home when I did because within 15 minutes of getting her box inside it pour rain on and off for 2 hours, and I do mean poured! 





Thankfully ginger had lovingly packaged Matilda for her trip to me.  Even if she would have gotten stuck in that heavy rain she would have been ok. 



Here she is, Matilda, with one of the collars I had sent ginger.  You will see her often, because she will become a vital part of my blogging process.  She will help me to show you what I have been creating.  

 

Matilda at home



Let me end with a couple question for you.  My blog's name is "Bonnie's Tatting Blog".  But with Matilda, and me now creating Temari as well, how would you feel if I moved to a new blog with a better suited name?  Would you follow?  Or is it better for me to stay here where I am established with all of you?  Would you mind if I included some of my other ventures on this, a tatting blog?  Although I have done it in the past, I've never felt quite comfortable showing you my other crafts unless they involved tatting, such as my fabric postcards, here and here and here.  The reason being you may be here to just to see tatting, not other crafts or even to hear of my life experiences.

Please do take a minute to answer as you are important to me and I wouldn't want to loose any of you, due to a name change.

Thank you,

Bonnie

The Big Reveal

Thank you to everyone who sent me encouraging words regarding my new job, both in the comment section of that post and those that emailed me.  Indeed Life Is Good.

On that post entitled:  "Personal Post - Not Tatting Related"  I ended it by saying ........ 

"Thank you for listening, and I promise next time to have something exciting to share with you. Or maybe I should say ...... I promise it will be tatting related ........ but it is exciting, or at least to me it is. :-)"

Go here to see what it is all about, then check back this weekend and I'll tell you all about ......  Gadzooks I almost gave it away.......

Personal Post - Not Tatting Related

If you have read my blog for very long you know that my work life has not always been easy. (I talked about it some here.) But I enjoyed what I did, so I trugged threw it.

For the last 11+ years I have worked for the Department of Social Services (DSS) and due to the very important work we do for our community, I wanted to remain a part of that dept.

Earlier this year, my supervisor retired, which created a promotional position to open up in my unit.  It was a position that I qualified for, but sadly I didn't get.

However after some movement within the Dept and a promtional job opened in a different unit that I qualified for and was interested in. After weeks of waiting, going threw the interview process, then more waiting ......  I was offered and accepted the position. 

I still work within DSS, so I feel like ultimately I still help the community I live in.  And the new position is in the same building as my previous one so I know alot of the people who work in this unit and know it to be a good work environment.  I am thrilled with this new challenge. 

There is one draw back though.  I am paidly hourly and I went from 40 hours a week job to 35 hours, so even though it was a promotional position, I bring home less money because I work less hours. When I first expressed an interest in the job, I spoke to my husband about this and he was all for it. He said "How can you not, it's a promotion".  I am very grateful for his positive outlook on this. ...........  So we'll change our way of life, no more buying frivilous things, such as tatting shuttles that are just to gaze at not to use, or HDT until the skeins I have are exhausted (which I'm not sure can possibly happen in this life time) *sigh*, you get the idea.

Of all of the postions I qualify for, if I could pick one of them to do daily, it would be this one! God watched out for me once again.

Thank you for listening, and I promise next time to have something exciting to share with you.  Or maybe I should say ......  I promise it will be tatting related ........  but it is exciting, or at least to me it is.  :-)

Have a great day, Everyone!! 

Let Us Remember

My Fellow Americans,

Please join me in remembering

those who served our country

and gave the ultimate sacrifice.

God Bless Their Families

A Note Card's Embellishment

Recently I sent some tatting to an online friend, and I wanted to include a note card.  You know me, it couldn't be just any note card,  I had to embellish one.  Here's how it turned out.  (this is separate from the tatting I sent her, but more on that later...........)

The butterfly was made from Mary's Butterfly's pattern, using Yarnplayer's size 50 nicobar pigeon HDT.  The flower was made from Lizabeth thread size 20 Latte Foam.

In reference to my 2012 UIU Project (use it up project) both threads were a part of my stash, so this will be counted as project # 8.  (#7 was the Hearts I sent to the Fringe Element Tatters, but I forgot to list them as #7.)

Have a good day!!

Hearts

When I was at Finger Lakes Tatting Conference I met some really great people, most of them are tatters but some were there to help with food and things of that nature.  Thank goodness to everyone because I had a great time.

One of the tatters I met was Ruth M., who is a member of  the Fringe Element Tatters.  When we got home she emailed me information about the group. 

Since I wanted to join, I had to pay the membership fee of one tatted heart. The website says "Because these membership hearts are handed out at local events to promote tatting, we suggest that you keep them small and simple." I used Ruth Perry's Fringe Heart,which I found on the Fringe Element Tatter's website.  Since I'd filled my shuttle I made as many as I had thread for.  Here they are.

They were made with size 20 Lizabeth thread. 

I also signed up for their most recent exchange entitled 'Knot Tonight Josephine', which you may have already guessed is to tat something that incorporates Josephine Knots.  (seriously what was I thinking!!)  Any tips or good patterns would be appreciated :-)

If you are interested in being a part of the Fringe Tatter's group, check it out and be sure to tell Ruth, Bonnie sent you.

Funny

On my way to Finger Lakes Tatting Conference this past weekend, I came across this.

It tickled my funny bone, so on the way home I had to stop and take a picture of it to share with you. I'm sure it's probably a working machine, but at this point it looks like it's a stationary sign advertising the business.

More of Finger Lakes later, don't get to excited, I didn't get many, if any, good pictures but I'll see if there's enough there to put a post together.

Finger Lakes

It's for real, I'm going!!

Tomorrow is the big day. It's about 3.5 hours away according to Mapquest, so I'll leave home about 5 AM to get there in time for some chatting before the first class.

I wish all of my blogging buddies could be there, however I'm excited to get to spend time with those of you that are lucky and get to attend with me.

I've got a bit of nerves going on, I'm always a bit nervous about anything new, but I stand up in front of people and talk often, so I know I can do this. Besides the excitement out weighs the nervousness, right?!

Happy International Tatting Day

No it's not an April fool's day joke. It's real April 1st is International Tatting Day. It is a day of tatting, talking about tatting, and eating chocolate. I know, I know, it's like some one made a day especially for me.

In order to celebrate today I did alot of eating of chocolate, so I figured I'd spend this evening doing some tatting.

It's Jane's Flying Pig (that link will take you to her's on her blog page), but the pattern can be found here. Mine is made using size 20 Lizabeth pink and white thread. It is #6 of The 2012 UIU Project.

My friend Linda's very good friend, Jody, passed away recently. I'm not sure of the story but I know that Jody liked flying pigs, so when I saw Jane's pattern I had to make one for Linda.

Thanks for another fun pattern, Jane.

I hope everyone had a great ITD!

Student's Tatting

Previously I'd mentioned that I was helping my friend, Peg learn to tat. This week something really good happened for me (more on that later), and Peg gave me a congratulations card with some of her tatting on it. I asked permission to show it to you, and she agreed. Although I may have done it anyway if she'd have said no, because I'm very proud of her.




I'm not sure of the pattern, but it is pink on a cream card. I couldn't get the card to scan nicely, so I cropped the heart out of the picture to show you.

A heart made in size 80 thread, are you kidding me, Peg? Size 80! That's awesome. Way to go, Girlfriend, I'm super proud of you.

Have a great day everyone.

Until next time,

Bonnie

P.S.I was folding laundry and thought oh I've got to go back to my poswt and add that to my it, 10 minutes later I have no idea what it was.... hummm.

P.S.S. about a hour later, I remembered. Okay so when I add tatting to the front of a card I sew it on using the same color thread and knot the ends together. Peg sewed hers on but tied it in a bow on the back for easy removal which I think is a great idea so I had to share it.

#5 of The 2012 UIU Project

My next installment of my self proclaimed UIU Project is a pattern that I found at Be-Stitched.com it is called Tatted Rose Heart.

It was made using the thread I had on my shuttles from my last post "Not a UIU Project", size 30 Peaches 'n Onions from Yarnplayer. Since I'd already confessed to purchasing this new thread and I used it once already, I figured I can now count that thread towards The 2012 Use It Up Project.

Oh I almost forgot to mention that at the bottom you can see a Josephine Ring, it was made using Jane's alternative way.

Tat On,

Bonnie

Blogger Comments

It's been months since I've left comments on other people's blog posts. The frustration of writing a comment and having it lost to the world of nothingness when I submitted it was maddening. However I am happy to say that the last couple of days I've been able to leave comments on a handful of posts. I hope that means the problem has been corrected and I will be able to leave comments again.

Not a UIU Project

I had this post ready to go live for Valentine's Day, but out of respect for Gina, I felt it needed to wait. It's been a week, and still it doesn't seem real that she's gone. Alot of us are still blogging about how much we miss her, I do too.

Original Valentine's post:

Okay so I broke down I bought a new HDT, even though I am trying hard to do The 2012 Use It Up Project. Really I'd be ashamed for anyone to see the stash I already have, but regardless I ordered more.

In order to entice my friend Peg to pick tatting back up, after her marathon of stained glass Christmas projects, I got us each a size 30 HDT from Yarnplayer called Peaches 'n Onions. I figured since it was close to Valentine's Day I needed something new to tat a heart with.

Here is Jon's Heart 'o Daisies. I sewed it onto a blank notepad someone made for me. I will be sending it to a friend. Sometimes I lack inspiration of things to do with my finished pieces. But this turned out pretty cute.

Tat On,

Bonnie

By the way, it worked and Peg is making the Butterfly Heart I blogged about here using her new HDT.

Missing A Friend

On Monday 2/13/12 we lost our dear friend, Gina of Threads of a Tatting Goddess.

There is so much I would like to say, but to be quite honest since I found out of her passing I've had a hard time controling my emotions. However I would like to share this with you:

When I was new to the tatting world, about 4 years ago, I couldn't understand the art of hiding ends, I just didn't get it. So Gina made me videos and posted them on youtube. They can be found here. Because of her kindness to me, her voice and her guideance will forever be there to help new tatters.

Because she was a big part of my tatting life, dare I say most if not all of our community's tatting life, I would also like to share with you part of an email she sent me on 3/28/11.

" Sometimes I think the tatting community is a great escape for one's troubles. You can immerse yourself in creativity and basically forget everything else. We all need that now and then and it's certainly better than numbing oneself with drink or drug. " .......... " :-) Gina "

We, her online tatting community, were her friends and it is obvious that we are all grieving also. This sympathy card doesn't show up well, but when I was looking for one to send to her family I realized we are all grieving the loss of our friend, so I got a card for all of you too. It says

Where memories lead our hearts will follow

Hoping that your memories will bring you to a place of peace in your heart.

Gina, Thank you for being one of my tatting mentors, but mostly thank you for being a friend. I miss you.

Bonnie

#4 of The 2012 UIU Project

This is Irene Woo's Butterfly Heart, the pattern can be found here using the wayback machine. It was made using Yarnplayer's Garden Afternoon, size 30 HDT.

I messed up the bottom and gave it an extra picot on the left, so I had to try it again. The blocking on this one isn't as good, but still it turned out nice.

One of them I sent to my sister, Nancy in Montana, the other I added to the front of a card to make a thank you note for my friend, Mary.

Lovely Pattern, Thank you, Irene.

#3 of the 2012 UIU Project

Here is my #3 of the UIU (use it up) 2012 project.

Sorry for the bad picture, as usual I forgot to scan it before I left home, so had to take a picture with my cellphone.

The close up picture is better. I found the pattern on Jane's blog a few years ago, but recently was reminded of it by Michelle at Tela Magistrae. The original pattern is from Anna Burda magazine, May 1984, page L14, but Jane in South Africa converted it to use split rings. The pattern can be found at Jane in South Africa's bookmark.

In the spirit of my UTU project it was made using size 30 (which is my favorite thread size) HDT, Roses, dyed by yarnplayer.

I forgot to mention the tail, I took a close up picture of it, but it was to blurry to share. Wendy at UMI & TSURU sometimes makes her bookmark tails like that so I had to get some charms to try it also. I love the creative freedom it gives. (yes, I had to purchase the charms because I didn't have any but the thread I had, so this still counts for UIU, right?)

I'm still on track for my UIU project since it's been just about 2 weeks since my last post. So far so good :-)

See you in 2 weeks if not before.

Bonnie

#2 of the 2012 UIU project

The pattern for #2 of my 2012 UIU project is coincidental Jon Yusoff's Two-by-Two Bookmark.



It is made using size 20 Lizbeth thread from Handy Hands, Spring Garden and Leaf Green Med.

Recently my sister, Nancy was here visiting from Montana. A little less than 2 years ago I was able to visit her and my brother in law at their home. At some point in her past, someone had helped her learn the flip of tatting, so when I was there we spend some time refreshing her tatting skills.

When she was here this time she asked again for some tatting time to refresh her skills. Because our tatting time was limited I wanted to have some samples ready for her to see, so I sent a few evenings doing Jon's pattern in pieces. First I did a small middle section, then I did another and added the beginning of the outside section to it (which is what you see here). I think it helped her to see what it was going to suppose look like.

When she left me she was not quite half way thru the outer section. But I believe she completed the piece when she returned home.

I would recommend this pattern for someone learning to tat. The only thing I would have done differently was to start her off with a different color in each of the shuttles used to make the middle section. That would have helped her to see where the thread from each shuttle ended up when the work was reversed.

Tat On!

Bonnie

#1 of the UIU Project

This is the first post of the 2012 UIU project. (UIU - use it up)

Okay so there isn't anything like waiting to the last minute on my FIRST UIU project.

It is a pattern from Kersti and is her Floral bookmark which can be found here. The thread Lizbeth from Handy Hands. The first and third ones are done using Tropical Punch size 40 and the middle one is Sea Island Citrus again in size 40.

I've done this pattern before, but I wasn't pleased with the result. I am a member of In Tatters and someone there was talking about how the pattern is actually written from the bottom up. I thought that may help me, which for the most part it did, except the first section, I just couldn't figure it out, so I kind of gerry rigged it at the bottom here, which you can see.

It did work out okay because it reinforced the beginning where I added the tails to the bookmarks. Anyone who's able to figure out the beginning please let me know what I've done wrong.

Until the next time.

Bonnie

The 2012 UIU Project

Recently I was visiting Jenny over at Crash Test Dummies. Specifically her Crafty New Year's Resolution for 2012... etc post. When I started to comment on it, it turned into a paragraph and I felt I needed to copy it here and expound on it alittle.

This is what I wrote in her comment section. Start:

Those are great crafting goals.

I'm alot like you in the way that I save my precious stuff for just the right project. My thought is what if I use it now and the "just the right project" comes along later? But recently I've started to think what if I'm not around for that "just the right project" (or what if this is just the right time and project and I let it slip away) and my family has to deal with all of my precious stuff. I doubt they would think in it's current state it is precious, but if they had things I'd made with it, they may think "my wife made this" or "my mother made this" or they'd give my creations away to people who thought "my friend made this".

For me the year 2012 is going to be known as the year of use it up.

:End

Lately I've been thinking of the burden my "precious stuff" would put on my family if something happened to me.

I think ....... what if I'm not around some day and my family has to deal with all of my precious stuff, it will be a burden on them for sure. I can hear my daughter say "Mom, thought all of this stuff was so great, but it's nothing if she's not here to create with it." In fact it wouldn't surprise me at all if my husband's thought was "now I have to make a couple of trips to the dump" (gasp!). But if I've created something with it that they can hold in their hands or pass on to others who cared about me, or maybe even pass onto my future grandchildren, then maybe just maybe all of my precious stuff will still be precious when I'm gone.

So my goal is to break out the special shuttles (those who once they enter my display case never get touched again) and all of my wonderful HDTs (most still setting in their original sad skein form) and start using them up.

My 2012 tatting goal is to show you something I've tatted at least every 2 weeks, using up the HDT threads I have while using the special shuttles I have accumlated. In 2011 I blogged 19 times, some of which didn't show any tatting at all, so every 2 weeks is 26 posts for 2012. That seems like a reasonable goal, right? Yeah that's what I thought too. I was going to add pressure to myself of a different HDT and different pattern each time, but that seems like setting myself up to fail, so if I do yeah, if not it's still okay.

2012 - the year of use it up - The 2012 UIU Project

Wish me luck, and to you and your family I wish a Happy, Healthy, Safe 2012.

Happy Tatting and God Bless!,

Bonnie

See you in no more than 2 weeks - by 1/16/2012 (in fact to stay on track I think I need to post today... I better get started)