#20 of 25 Motif Challenge

Early this year Jane did a TIAS ("tat it and see"... the pattern is dished out pieces at a time and you tat it as the pieces come out not knowing what it is until the end), which I started but life got busy so I didn't take the time to finish it. What it ended up being was a hippopotamus. I'm not sure who it was but someone in our tatting world had mentioned the hippo in relationship to the song "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas, only a hippopotamus will do........" etc. I thought that was a hillarious idea.

I make my Christmas cards every year and last year I made them all as fabric postcards, each one being different. (I've been kicking myself ever since because I didn't take a photo of one of them!)

Earlier in the year, when I went on a business trip one of the ladies asked me if I was going to do fabric postcards this year for our Christmas card. I laughed and said no way, never again, it was WAY to much work. Then I told her about the hippopotamus and his Christmas song, but that it would be even more work to make 35 of them, so it was unrealistic. Gary, the only male in our group that trip, instantly started harrassing me about hippos and it's been an on going thing all year long. When we went on our trip in September I'd printed out the words and lovingly sang him the whole song ( he was in a confinded space and couldn't get away but still........ LOL ). Another trip he was pretty sick so I found a very small hippo to "cheer" him up with.

As you can see it's an ongoing joke for us.

Here's where the tatting comes in.

I've been working on tatting Jane's hippo for a week or so now. And I completed it on Tuesday. Last night I put the finishing touches on making it into a fabric post card. It is going to go out to my friend, Gary today. (I do hope that the Christmas Hippo song gets stuck in his head like the Disney World's "It's A Small World" song is.... insert evil laugh.)

I almost forgot he is tatted in Sherry's size 20 Coffee and Cream.

I did have a blast making him and I know that Gary is going to laugh for many days over this. So it was worth all the time it took. But honestly I had so much fun that I have to make another one and send it to our daughter, Holly, she will get a big kick out of it too.

Merry Christmas, Gary! :-)

#18 & #19 of 25 Motif Challenge

In September and October Aileen blogged about one of her favorite bookmark patterns. It is Tabatha by Kersti Anear. Unfortunately this pattern isn't available on Kersti's new website so Aileen emailed me a copy of it. (Thank you, Aileen and Kersti.) I thought I'd give it a try as the 2nd bookmark for the Winter 2008 Tatting Round Robin Bookmark Exchange.

I did fine on the first half but part way thru the second half I realized I had been making mistakes since I started that half. With it being size 80 thread there were only 2 things I could do, leave it (never, it would have drove me crazy to send it out that way) or cut it out and restart that whole side, which I did. Thankfully I was able to do it without any disasters.

Here is Kersti's Tabatha bookmark in DMC size 80 red thread. It is going to my second round robin partner, Cathy. Because of the redo I am not going to meet the deadline of mailing it today, as I want to make one of the flower paperclips to send also.

Sorry I couldn't get a the bookmark to lay straighter, I tried twice and although it is my error of placement on the scanner, it is really resisting doing it's job any more. So this is what I am stuck with.

Thankfully the #3 bookmark for this challenge was the first one I completed, so it's done and ready to meet the mailing deadline.

When I made the error on the bookmark I had to give myself a break from size 80 thread for awhile, so I worked on Mike's snowflake. (Thank you, Mike!)

It is far from perfect but is was a fun pattern to do. I've only stiffened one tatted piece in the past, however I am going to try to do this one. I've got something called Aleene's Fabric Stiffener. It was the only thing I could find in my small town. Is anyone willing to give me suggestions on what works for you? And is there a good way to apply this? I assume put it on a paper towel and spray away.....?

quick update

A quick update on our Friend's health. After many tests and 2 visits, she is doing well. Because of the lymp nodes that were taken out the remaining ones have had to reroute themselves. In the process one of them burst. That was what the intense pain was. Her dr said it was a rare thing to happen and the chance of it happening again are slim. There is nothing she can do to prevent it or to make the possibilities of it happening again greater. A fluke basically.

She looks great, way to thin in my unasked for opinion, but great, her beautiful self. She says she is feeling much better and in fact has returned to work.

Thank you to everyone who kept her, her family and us as her friends in your thoughts and prayers!

Oh Happy Day.

Now back to our Christmas cards.

Bonnie

None Tatting Just Blowing Off Steam

Because I'm waiting for the phone to ring and I'm home alone I need a place to release some emotions ...... so here I am.

Ever looked forward to something so much then realized so much of it was a mistake.

Anniversary Cruise..... booked flights on our own because it was so much cheaper than thru the cruise line. US Airways. Booked way early, May. Now the price is $157 each cheaper and there is a $150 charge to change anything but they would gladly give us the $7 difference as a credit voucher towards future flights. Stupid! It is the EXACT same flight! Well not exact because they changed the times but they of course can do that. Stupid, thinking I could get us and our friends a better deal if I did it directly.

So I call our couple friends to tell them that I cost us an extra $157 a ticket because I bought them so early thinking with the price of gas they would go up. Only to find out that they have worse news than that.

The female half of our couple friends had a bad health scare a few months ago. Now it seems that the remaining lymp nodes are not working properly. She is in horrible pain (a 9 out of 10, worse then she's felt thru this whole process according to her husband) and can not get into the cancer specialist until Monday. The husband talked to the specialist's assistant today and was told that it may take radiation to correct this and can take from 1 day to 4 weeks to feel any relief. She is taking pain pills which just make her sick. I kid you not when I say she is a too thin already, actually she was before the surgeries, then lost weight that wasn't there to lose. I am very concerned about her VERY! I can't even see to type the tears are flowing so hard.

My call just came in, I am going to go there at 6:30 in the AM to help w/ their young kids while the father goes to work and stay until her mother comes later on in the morning.

She has remainded so upbeat and has used the cruise as something to look forward too. Now this. I won't want to go if she doesn't go! We've planned this as couples for over 2 years now.

I wonder what God is thinking..............

#17 of 25 Motif Challenge

For my 1st Winter 2008 Tatting Round Robin Bookmark Exchange partner, Lynn, I made Kersti's Jessica Bookmark in yellow, which was her requested color, size 80 DMC thread.

I'm happy that I finished it in time to meet tomorrow's mailing deadline. I am including one of the flower paperclips that I like so much. I am also including the printed patterns for both.

Now I have successfully completed 2 size 80 projects, Yu Hoo! I hope I don't become addicted to size 80, I have very little HDT in that size, most of it is in size 20 and 30.

Happy Life and Happy Tatting everyone,

Bonnie

#16 of My 25 Motif Challenge

With everything else going on in my life I decided to join the Winter 2008 Tatting Round Robin Bookmark Exchange. I know I know, I thought the same thing "What was I thinking!" I actually was hoping it would force me to make time to tat.

I started right away trying to get a jump start on the exchange. I took it with me when I went to Long Island, NY for a conference. People were very interested in what I was doing not only at the conference but people on the planes and at the airports. It was fun to hear people make comments such as - was I really tatting - they hadn't seen anyone do it in a number of years -they didn't think anyone did it any more, things like that. I was wishing I'd have brought some of the Flower Paperclips I like to make, it would have been fun to give them away to people.

Anyway, I was determined to bring home a completed piece. I tatting every spare minute I had the entire weekend and I did complete the piece, I was very excited. However to my surprise when I got home there was an email saying that since it's a bookmark it should be done in size 80 thread and be at least 6" in length. My Oh My, size 80?!?!? I hadn't successfully completed any of the size 80 projects I'd ever started...........but a deal is a deal. So I picked up my thread, wound my shuttles and off I went. The results are here and since both are the same pattern just one is bigger (to met the 6" length requirement for the size 80 thread) I am considering them both as #16 of my 25 Motif Challenge.



On July 20, 2008 Gina, Tatting Goddess, posted this Spiral Bookmark pattern. The purple is the original piece I did when I was at the conference. It is done in Lola and Lavender size 30 HDT-s, from Marilee, Yarnplayer.

I truly thought I was going to have a panic attack using size 80 thread but it turned out much better than I had hoped. I got the blue thread from the lady who taught me to tat, it is DMC thread.

The purple piece will go to my friend Shirley. She went to the conference with me and mentioned many times how she really likes purple and currently folds the corners of her books. (much to this book lover's horror!) The blue one will go to one of my exchange partners who favored blue. My first exchange partner, Lynn, favors yellow, so I have been working on a different pattern for a few days and should have it completed this weekend in order to meet the deadline of Tuesday, Nov 25th. I'll post it when I have it completed.

Happy Life and Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Miss Me? And Blogger Land

There really is so many cool things out there in blogger land. Sadly my time is so limited right now that the time I should be tatting has been spent online. I'm still all about the HDT though. I continue to be consumed with it and must say that I doubt I'll ever be able to use up what I have, but I MUST have it. And I print out all of the patterns I can find. The majority of online time is spent reading blogs. I used to read just tatting blogs but there is so many good blogs that I have found my tastes spilling into many other areas. It's a great deal of fun. Time consuming but fun. With that I encourage you to check out Decore to Adore, she is celebrating her 100th post with a great blog give away.

Lastly Lace-lovin'Librarian, Diane inspired me to make a candle mat called Spinning Wheel. I started one and was very unhappy w/ the thread so started another in HDT. I started it weeks ago, really weeks. The only excuse I have for it not being completed is that I've just been that busy. I worked on it last night while we watched the Buffalo Sabres (Hockey YEAH!) kick butt last night, but I'm still am only about 2/3 done. It's a fun easy pattern though and that I really like it. However I'm itching to get it done so I can move onward!

I currently hold a full time Mon-Fri job. I've picked up 2 different Sat jobs and am currently on my 2nd Sat of a 4 Sat run. The 5th Sat I will be out of town and when I return it will start all over again. It is hard to only have 1 day off a week, but the extra $ is for our Anni cruise so it's worth it. I also hold a volunteer Secretary position for a very busy union office. So I kid you not when I say I am so busy that I don't have time for my crafts. Sad really........

.......... But don't forget me, I'll be back. I promise!!!

Off to get ready for work. I'm with the youth bureau kids today, and we'll be working outside all day, community service time. I really enjoy this job. I always pray that some of the things we talk about and the way we treat them will encourage them to be better kids. For the most part they are pretty good kids they just have some problems.

One simple post took me forever now I MUST run!

Happy Life and Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

#14 and #15 of 25 Motif Challenge

Okay here we go it's 6:25 AM the day I leave for Washington, DC my bags are packed (although still open if I decide to throw something in last minute) and basically I am ready to go. So before my ride comes to get me I'll spend a few minutes blogging about the items I am sending to GUF as a thank you for the lovely handmade shuttles he sent me.

I am sending the 2 Aladdin snowflakes I talked about here, and 2 more again using patterns from Jon's Snowflake Collection.

First for your viewing pleasure allow me to present Sweet Rose. It was made using Marilee, AKA Yarnplayer's, size 50 Snowflake HDT.

Next is Spring Blossom, also made using Marilee's HDT. The thread is size 30 and is made using 2 different threads, both from the same dye batch. The middle section and the outside section are Peace and the one in between is Peach.

Although I enjoy working with all of my HDT-s Peace was one of my favorite color combinations.

Another thing while I'm on a roll. Before I found the world of HDT-s I had purchased a few large spools of tatting thread size 30. Awhile ago my husband and I were making the same road trip every weekend for I think it was 5 weeks. So I started a fairly easy, but big for me, project using some of the original thread. Nightmare. About 3/4 of the way thru I found out that there was no opening those rings! I finally cut away the error and tried to connect new thread to it, but it was very frustrating. So it's gone into the UFO pile and I'm going to try to make using a HDT.

I have about a half hour until my ride arrives to take me to the airport and I just realized that I forgot to water plants yesterday so I guess my time is up.

Oh and before I forget it looks like you are all enjoying Sherry's TIAS. I don't have time to do it right now, but have had fun watching you work on it (and make guesses, because I'm sure I know what it is .... :-)

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Surprise!

Where does my time go? I've found that over the last few weeks I've been so busy that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. It is the time of year when my volunteer work really heats up and I get so worried about it that it consumes my every thought. One night last week I woke up at 2 AM and worked on it until I had to prepare for work. Sad.

Before I talk about my surprise I want to take just a minute to talk about my sister's 2 foster children, BigE and BabE. They are brothers aged 2 and 6 months. I'm drawn to BigE and can't get enough of him. He and I have a great time. We pray constantly for their birth family but after just 6 weeks I can't help but pray they become ours permantly. BigE loves me, it's the best.

Okay back to the business at hand. A month or so ago I recieved a package from my Great Uncle Francis and Aunt Myrtle. When I opened it I cried, this is what was inside.......



I've also included a portion of GUF's handwritten note talking about making the shuttles. I hope it works and you can read it. He talks about making them some 8 years ago out of Mesquite Wood. I feel so honored that he would share them with me! (I hope you can click on it to enlarge it to read what he wrote.)

I must leave to get ready for work now. If I get a chance I'll try to blog later tonight to show you a couple of tatting pieces I've made to send GUF as a thank you for his lovely shuttle gifts. I leave for Washington, DC for a business trip tomorrow morning and will be gone for a week. I'm so sick right now that the thought of leaving home to work today is almost more than I can bear, so the idea of being gone from home for a week is overwhelming. It's just a cold but it's sure got me down. Enough of my woe is me........

Happy Tatting All.

Bonnie BTW don't hold your breath for another post today, but I'll try my best.

Blog Award

Marilee awarded me the "I love your blog" award.

I am acknowledging the award but I am not going to participate in the nominating of other blogs. It is to stressful for me to pick as there are so many I enjoy reading. Secretly I think she nominated me as it's been so long since I blogged she was hoping it would entice me to get motivated again :-) Whatever the reason, Thank you, Marilee.

Another Motif Revisited

I revisited #12 of my 25 Motif Challenge, so this doesn't count, but I'll show it to you anyway.

My Dear Friend, Nicole, is having a surgery done on Friday, which will put her out of commission for a few weeks. I loaded her up with books by one of my favorite authors, Judy Picoult. I haven't read all of her books yet, but the ones I have I've really enjoyed, especially My Sister's Keeper, which was the first one I read, and I would recommend to everyone. Anyway, I wanted to make Nicole a bookmark, but didn't have much time. Between work, the gym and all of my other commitments my time was limited, so I decided to revisit Julie Patterson's Hearts and Flower Cross Bookmark pattern.



I did put a tassel on this one. It is made using Marilee aka Yarnplayer's size 30 Lavender, from her "Lola" batch.

I so wanted to get this completed tonight but in doing so I am now almost 2 hours past my bedtime, I'll pay for this at work tomorrow and struggle to make myself go to the gym tomorrow evening (a promise to myself). Why oh why does work (and the stupid gym) have to interfere with the fun parts of my life LOL.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Aladdian Revisited

A couple of weeks ago I some how bruised the back of my right hand between my thumb and my wrist. Although the bruise is gone the spot still remains very tender. I am constantly bumping it against something. That being said, as I am right handed it has been very painful to hold a shuttle and tat. A couple of days ago I decided to give it a try again. It's taken a few different tatting sessions to complete but here is my second attempt at Aladdian from Jon's Snowflake Collection.

I originally posted it here in Sherry's, aka LadyShuttleMaker's size 20 "Spring Poppy" HDT. It seemed to colorful to be a snowflake so I made it again using Marilee's, aka Yarnplayer, size 50 "Snowflake" HDT. In addition to the difference in size, the real difference is how it goes from "motif" like to being a "snowflake".

Off to get ready for work.

Happy Friday all!

Bonnie

#13s of 25 Motif Challenge

So far I have made 3 snowflakes from Jon's Snowflake Collection.

They are in the order I made them and are as follows:

Sunburst, made from Marilee's, aka Yarnplayer, size 50 "Snowflake" HDT

The Twirly, made from Marilee's, aka Yarnplayer, size 30 "Peace" HDT

Aladdian, made from Sherry's, aka LadyShuttleMaker, size 20 "Spring Poppy" HDT

I would recommend Jon's book to anyone who is interested. They were alot of fun to make. Because my tatting time is so limited, they took me the better part of 2 weeks to make. But seriously each one takes no time at all to make. I am considering these as one Motif as they are all snowflakes.

**TEASER*** This week I will try to make the time to do a blog post showing you something very special that I recieved in the mail last week.

That's all for today.

Happy Tatting!

Bonnie

#12 of 25 Motif Challenge

For my mother's birthday......

It is Julie Patterson's Hearts and Flower Cross Bookmark pattern.

I used Marilee, Yarnplayer 's, size 30 "Roses" HTD (hand dyed thread).

I'm undecided about putting a tassel on it. I think it would look nice, but there isn't a good place to join one to.

HAPPY 70th BIRTHDAY, Mommasetta! From my heart to yours, I love you!!

Help Needed

Good Morning Everyone.

I'm looking for some help from all of you in tat-land. I hope I can describe my question correctly.

I am working on a pattern here is the start of it:

R 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 - 3 cl ( 7 tiny joining picots)
CH 4 - 8 - 4 + (join to nearest picot from centre ring closure)

Now my question. There is nothing about reverse work so I figured I had to join in to the most recent picot, so the tops of my ds - s will remain on the outside of my work. Here's the part that's giving me problems .......... which tread does it want me to use to join? It can't be the working thread because then it makes a little ...... I guess I'd call it divit in the flow of the work, although using the core thread doesn't seem right either. Which is it? I must be making this harder than it is, right??

The last time I had this come up during a project I used the core thread and it didn't seem right, this time I used the working thread. I guess this seems like the better way to do it, although it still seems off to me. Unless truly the tops of the ds are suppose to face towards the work already completed ...... I just see no other way around this ......

What am I doing wrong?

Thank you,

Bonnie

#11 of 25 Motif Challenge

First off I believe I owe YOU a huge

"I'm "

I haven't blogged in over a month. I haven't done anything exciting, tatting wise, although I had some fun making fabric postcard. I have been very busy but sadly not with new tatting. I did finished some tatting UFOs, and have recreated some previous works, but nothing worth blogging about.

Here is the only exciting tatting I've done in weeks.

It is the Heart Frame from Tatting Hearts by Teri Dusenbury. I did find one error in the pattern and had to start the piece over, I didn't have enough of the original thread to cut out and redo, so I had to start the piece from the beginning, using a different thread. It is a repetitive pattern, so by the time I restarted it I had the pattern pretty much down pat. I made it using a dark red HDT, size 30, hand dyed by Yarnplayer (Marilee), "A solid from the "Roses" colorway."

Our daughter asked me to make her the Heart Catcher from the same book. I'm not sure how to do the "stacked butterfly" so I'm working on that first, wish me luck. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Speaking of wish me luck........... Lace Lovin' Librarian - Diane and I are doing the T.A.T. Program, apprentice level, together. We both decided there is no pressure to hurry thru it, but doing it with a friend we should be able to keep each other motivated thru out the process. We have finished the first piece and are working on descriptions to go with it. We have a goal of working on the second project by the end of August, maybe even have it finished. See what I mean, no hurry :-), there are to many other fun things we want to do also.

Hopefully it doesn't take a month for you to see my work again :-)

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Tagged!

I was wondering when it would happen to me and I see my Friend Lace-lovin' Librarian, Diane finally did it. I've been tagged.

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 6 unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag 4 people at the end of your entry.

Six unimportant things about me...

1. I don't know how to cook. My husband is a wonderful cook and he feeds me. Yep that's right everyone feel free to be jealous of me :-)

2. I am originally from ND but have lived in NY almost as long as I did ND.

3. I may be more addicted to the "add ons" of my crafts then the craft itself. For instance I have numerous different rulers for my quilting and haven't used half of them. Also I have every color of tole paint known to the craft store. And those are only a couple of the crafts I'd done. 8 months into my tatting I can already see it happening with this craft too. :-)

4. I don't hate going to the gym, shhhh don't tell my husband! I do however greatly resent the time it takes out of my week.

5. It takes me hours to write up a couple paragraph blog post because I reread and scrutinize them to death, does that sound stupid? This also applies to comments I want to leave on other people's blogs. Most of the time I don't comment at all, because what I want to say has been said by others. I try to write my comment before I read what others have said, but I usually delete it and just write something like "beautiful" or I write nothing at all. Sad, really really SAD.

6. I have to read to fall asleep. I have so much racing thru my mind that I have to read until I am exhausted and my eyes can not focus on the words, then I can finally fall asleep. If I wake up during the night and have one conscious thought my mind starts racing again and I have to start the reading process over in order to fall back to sleep.

And a bonus #7 unimportant thing about me...... It took me almost 2 hours to write up this post because I reread it to death. LOL

I doubt I can find 4 people to tag who haven't already done this at least once before.

So how about my sister Meek, The Jerks and Me

And the three newest additions to our "The Tatted Ring of Bloggers"

Joy In Tatting

Steph's (tat) Stuff

Teresa's Crafting Stuff

If you've done this a dozen and one times before please don't feel you HAVE to do it again, Nothing bad will happen to you if you don't :-)

#10 of 25 Motif Challenge

JAB is finally Done!

"Triangle Motif Doily"

After weeks of working on this (just because there hasn't been any time) I finally have it finished. It is from a Workbasket magazine that my neighbor shared with me, from the June '74 issue to be exact. She had quite a few that she let me look thru; I did get some really cool patterns. To bad there isn't a magazine like that any more. (There is no author listed to give credit to.)

This is done using Marilee, Yarnplayer's size 30 HTD, called "Blue Green Pastel". Because I had so many issues with it, I used a whole skein of thread. There is no way it should have taken that much thread! It is 4 1/2" across.

It truly was a painful process to create, but only because my mind has been on so many personal issues that I kept making mistakes. It really was such a super easy fun pattern to do. In fact yesterday my husband and I had to go on a road trip, so I took size 80 thread along and started it again. Wait until you guys see it in size 80, it is going to be georgous!!!

Off to get ready for work.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Just A Bit - JAB

I enjoy when fellow bloggers show me just a bit - jab- of what they are currently working on. So here is my jab.

It will be the most time consuming piece I've done to date, and I'll explain why ...... I mean it is by no means something huge, like Clyde's heriloom piece (check out his progress, I'm in awe) but it has taken up all of my "spare time" for about 2 weeks. Of course that's not saying much since the gym litterly takes up 2+ hours of my free time each time I go, but I figure if my dh wants me to waste my precious time going to the gym then let the house work pile up :-)

Anyway back to what this is really about, tatting and why this will be my most time consuming piece...........

So I decided I would test tat part of this in plain white thread before I trusted myself to use my good HDT. I found I was able to understand the pattern and the test portion came out perfectly. Okay good onto the fun thread. Well wouldn't you know after a couple days of tatting, I found I messed up the pattern ....... at the beginning! Now this wasn't a cut out and try to salvage days of work type of mess up, it was consistantly doing it wrong mess up. I was so mad at myself that I ended up just throwing the piece away. I tried to calm myself and started the piece over. A couple of days later I became concerned that I may not have enough of this particular HDT left and what if I ran out????, so I took it out of the grabage (thankfully it was in my craft room garbage and no food or anything like that goes in there) and reverse tatted (sounds better than untatted, right?) as much as I could in order to be able to reuse the thread. Now how stupid is that?!?!? I know I know it was a ton of work to reverse tat it all, but the thread is sooo beautiful I hated to waste it!!

Oh and did you see that Handy Hands Tatting is having 15% off any order placed now thru Monday May 28th, Memorial Day? The coupon code is 528. If you're one of their newsletter subscribers be sure to use the free shipping code also. I thought the shipping coupon could only be used once and of course I used it right away, so I'd trashed that info. However Barb was nice enough to send it to me again. Thank you, Barb! I won't include the free shipping code here because it's not fair, but by all means use that 15% off. I'm all about books for this order. I've got to get Tatting Patterns by Lyn Morton and Tatting With Visual Patterns By Mary Konior. I'm also thinking about getting Tatting The GR-8 Self Closing Mock Ring by The Shuttle Brothers. Is there any other ones that you recommend?

Okay enough babbling for now.

Happy Tatting!

Bonnie

#9 of 25 Motif Challenge

So much to blog about today.

Thank You to everyone who commented in my previous blog where I asked is the join the first half of the ds, how to hid new threads added during a project and hiding the tails. I want to make sure I am doing everything exactly right and sometimes I second guess myself. So again Thank You to everyone.

Yesterday my sister, Anita, showed me Google Reader. I have been checking people's blogs 2 or 3 times a day (I'm not a stalker I promise, :-), I'm just afraid of missing something!) What Google Reader does is it lets me know when a new post has been added to everyone's blogs. It is going to save me hours at the computer, :-) . Seriously if you aren't familiar with this or a program like it I highly recommend it.

Also yesterday I spent a large portion of the day making jam. It was a rainy day here in Western NY, so standing over the stove wasn't so bad. I got alot accomplished though, I made a batch each of Strawberry and Raspberry Rhubarb jams. Today I will finish up the jam for this year and make a batch of Cherry Rhubarb. We could NEVER eat that much jam, so I really make it all with the intentions of giving most of it away. Although it never fails that before next Rhubarb season I will have given so much away that we go quite a while with out any until I can make more.

Anyway, I didn't get a chance to start Jane's TIAS3 yesterday. But I will do it today.

Lastly here is #9 of my 25 Motif Challenge.


This pattern is called "Heart's Desire" by Susan K. Fuller. The pattern can be found here. I made this for my friend Rose's birthday and tacked it onto the front of a blank card to use as her birthday card. I thought it only fitting to use Yarnplayer's size 30 "Roses" HDT. I first saw this motif on TattingChic's blog.

I would like to continue to invite everyone to comment on my previous blog "Tatting Question". I am very interested to hear how YOU tat.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Tatting Question

Fellow Tatters, I have a question. Do you consider the join as the first half of your ds? Last night I started a rather large project and I do consider the join as the first half. Suddenly it occurred to me that maybe I was taught incorrectly and it shouldn't be. Will some one please let me know if I am doing it correctly?

I just went to see what I could find out on youtube and I came upon this very informative video provided by Tattyhead, Linda Davies. She explains how to put a bead on and how to make the last join without getting a twisted picot. Both of these techniques are sooo much easier than what I have been doing. I also believe she says that her join is considered as the first half of the ds, which would mean I have been doing it correctly all of this time.

To all of the youtube tatters, I would really enjoy seeing a video on how you join a new thread when you are in the middle of a project, as well as how you hide your tails. Last night when I was cutting off, tieing and hiding tails, I wondered if I was doing that right......... So I join the end to the beginning, cut, tie a knot (a knot should that be??) and weave back and front, back and front thru the work a couple of times with each tail individually, then cut off the extra thread.

As for joining thread in the middle of the project I had to do that last night too. Oh the horror of it all! I'm thinking I did it okay, probably not correctly. It was right before a ring, so I wove the thread under the short previous chain and once or twice thru the previous ring. I'm sure I'm not doing it correctly but can't grasp how else to do it. I've tried adding using the floss trick but I can't figure out how to tat over top of it.

I guess my one question turned into a couple here.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

#8 of 25 Motif Challenge

Gina has revealed her May Mystery Motif so I can show my attempt at it.

It was good practice for me to not have a pattern which included a picture to work off of. I must admit that I had to start it a second time because I did not pay attention to the pattern and only put in 12 picots instead of 13. However after that I watched the pattern pretty good and didn't have a problem again.

I am considering this to be #8 of 25 Motif Challenge.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Happy Mother's Day (not Tatting related)

Happy Mother's Day!

To date, I have been a mother for 23 Mother's Days. By all means it has been the best thing I've ever done!!!! Thank you God for our Holly!

To Holly I'd like to say:

I am very proud of the beautiful, responsible adult you have become, Babes. Thank you for being the reason I celebrate Mother's Day as a Mom.

And to my mother:

I love you, Mommasetta!, Happy Mother's Day!

To the rest of you mothers I want to pass along a heart-felt "Happy Mother's Day" and a wish that you have a great day.

And to each and every one of you in blogger land I wish you a Happy Sunday!

The Official Naming of The Shuttles

In my last posting I asked Sherry to name the 2 shuttles I received from her. As I said I believe they are works of art and should have official names from their creator. This is her reply to my request.

"Shuttle #1 "Patchwork Fields" because this reminds me of an aerial view of farmers colorful rolling fields, like those that can be found in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho.

Shuttle #2 "Honeysuckle Pond", no explanation needed."

Shuttle #1 being my first shuttle and Shuttle #2 being my second - the pic shuttle, see my previous post for pictures.

Thank you for taking the time to do that, Sherry, you did a great job, both names are very appropriate.

Also I will use this time to tell all my blogger friends that I will be gone April 19 thur April 26. Our daughter, Holly, and I are going to North Dakota to visit my/our family. I look forward to visiting all of your blogs when I return.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

#7 of 25 Motif Challenge

To the right is the finished bookmark I showed a teaser of when I blogged on April 2nd about my new shuttle I received from Sherry. I must tell you it is a dream to work with!

The pattern is from Kersit, and is called Floral. I used Marilee's size 30 Deep Ocean HDT. I had a hard time getting this piece to photograph well and I'm still not happy with it, but hopefully you get the idea. And I had to include the shuttle for anyone who may have missed it the first time around.

And now .............................

introducing my second Sherry shuttle purchase. This time it is a pic shuttle.

I used it to make this bookmark. The pattern is called Heart of the Butterfly by Irene Woo. (again I must repeat what I originally wrote, "Although I made it from a picture and didn't have her pattern, so I'm sure the the stitches probably aren't the exact same as Irene's") This was made using Marilee's size 30 Peace HDT . I have done this motif many times in the past and really enjoy it. I made one for my sister Anita for her birthday, and wanted to make one for our other sister, Nancy, for her bday as well. Actually both of these pieces will go to her. Nancy's bday is April 19th, and since I live in NY and she lives in Boise ID, I better get these in the mail on Monday.

These 2 shuttles are great works of art. I enjoy using them. I do feel that as with all great works of art they should have names, though. I hesitate to put more pressure on you right now, Sherry, but would you do the honors of naming my shuttles at some point in the future? Days, weeks, months from now I don't care when. I just feel that works of art should be named by their creator. Thank you.

I am not considering this second piece as another motif for the 25 Motif Challenge, as I have made it a number of times before.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Diane's Tulip, #6 of 25 Motif Challenge

Greetings,

I don't have alot of time today but I wanted to share with you the tulip I made from Diane's Tat It & See. I made it a couple of weeks ago, but forgot to post it.

Thank you, Diane, for sharing your pattern with me.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

I forgot to say this ...... It was made with LadyShuttleMaker's size 20 Spring Poppies (one of my personal favorites, and sadly I am almost out of it) and a Flora green from Handy Hands, Inc.

Almost Missed International Tatting Day

Although I didn't know about it until late in the day, yesterday was International Tatting Day.

I looked it up at Holiday Insights and this is what I found out.

I-T-D it is always on April 1st and it has been celebrated internationally for over 4 years now. I have no way of knowing how old that post is to know how long ago it was considered "over 4 years".

I also found out something very important about I-T-D ...............

"On this day, "tatters" around the world have different activities, mostly educational, to celebrate their hobby, and introduce it to others. Often, they celebrate by eating chocolates and making tatted lace."

Did you hear that, EATING CHOCOLATES!! (I knew there had to be a reason why I was so drawn to tatting to begin with!) Sadly because I wasn't aware of this special day, I wasn't prepared to celebrate by the traditional means of eating chocolates :-( Truth be told, I'm quite glad about that part, because that's less time I have to be at the dreaded gym to work it off!

However I did work on making some tatted lace.............

*suspense building silence*

using my new LadyShuttleMaker shuttle!!!

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

#5 of 25 Motif Challenge and Tatting Round Robin

These are my flowers for Stephanie for the Tatting Round Robin. I really had a hard time finding flowers where I could make the stems green as she has requested.

I tried many different patterns, but I haven't learned to use 3 shuttles of thread yet so when the flowers had chains I had to do the shoelace trick to keep the green out of the flower. It just didn't look right. So I adapted a pattern from Kersti (I can not get this site to come up right now so I can't show you the exact pattern), I ended up making 2 seperate pieces and tied them together in the back. They were kind of obsessive though and I have started a few more which I will use to dress up the front of plain note cards.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

PS I waited a couple of hours before I posted this to see if I could get the pattern site to come up but I am still unable to access it. Once I get it I will update this specific post.

Introducing My GUF & Other Important Family Members

Last week I received a very nice note from my GUF (Great Uncle Francis) and his wife GA Myrtle (GAM). In my Jan 13th post I spoke about GUF and how he is the person primarily responsible for my tatting obsession. He is 94 years old and still actively tats! I have been sending them pieces of my work as well as pictures of some of the others. I was happy to get this picture so I could introduce them to you .

Standing from left to right is my Mother, GAM, and my Father. Seated is GUF. GAM is my Maternal Grandmother's sister.

This second picture is of my GU Leonard (GUL) with his sister, GAM. GUL is my maternal Grandmother's brother. My parents and GUL live in ND and GUF and GAM live in OK. These pictures were taken when my parents took GUL to visit his sister and brother-in-law for his 84th birthday last October.

#4 for 25 Motif Challenge and Tatting Round Robin

Happy March Everyone,

I'm just now getting over the sickness I had. According to the dr it was a form of the flu although it seemed like a cold. For the last 3 weeks I've been exhausted by the time I got home from my daily commitments so I haven't done much tatting.

Before I got sick I had started Jane's Flowery SCMR Bookmark in order to learn the SR and the SCMR. I made it in size 20 Flora thread. It was for the my first part of our Tatting Round Robin, which had to be in the mail by Feb 25th. (I sent to Connie.) I was hoping to get the 8 sections done like in Jane's pattern, but I could tell I was running out of time, so I stopped at 6 sections and added the green leaf part. I will definately make this one again.

Because I was unsure of the SR, I didn't participate in Jane's Tat it and See, but when I had it down I started her Hippopotamus. Because I have the whole pattern I haven't been doing it in day sections as most of you did, but I am currently on the Day 8 part, the neck sections. Hopefully I will have that done for next week's blog post.

I should explain the Tatting Round Robin. We each made our first piece and sent it along with what type of motif we were looking to get back from the others in our group. In the end we will receive our original piece back and an item from each of the other individuals in our group. Friday I received Stephanie's Tatting Round Robin. She made these beautiful purple flowers with green leaves and long green stems. I wish I could figure out how she made it, it's so pretty I'd like to give it a try.

She asked for flowers to put on a hat or bandana. So I am searching threw a friend's old Workbasket magazines looking for flowers. Can anyone help me find a beginner's flower pattern?

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

SR and SCMR & There Goes My Tatting Time

I did this post last Sunday but because I had a non-tatting related item in it, I debated over if I should actually post it. Then I decided I was going to revamp it and never did. Since I have a horrible cold and I didn't do much tatting this week, I'm going to post last week's in it's original form. I hope it makes you smile.

Happy Tatting and Stay Well!

Bonnie

Originally written Sunday, February, 10, 2008

Greetings,

It really didn't take me long to figure out the SR (split ring) but it took considerable time to learn the SCMR (self closing mock ring.) What happened was I was trying to actually make a ring rather than have the second shuttle be the core of the SCMR.

Once I realized SCMR isn't a ring but a mock ring it was quite easy. I hope to have it finished in time to post next week.

Non-Tatting related, but a funny story.

My avid body building - every day gym going husband called me at work last week to tell me he got me a present. A present, yeah!, what is it? "A gym membership." How thoughtful! *sigh* Okay so I say "I'm game to a trial membership." To which he replied "I got you a year membership, we have alot to do and a little time to do it in."

"WE" ?!?!?! Wonder who "we" is!

(January 2009 we will celebrate our 25th Anni. For almost 2 years now we have been planning a cruise for Jan 09 with our very good friends, Kris and Nicole, who will celebrate their 10th Anni around the same time. )

Isn't he the greatest? Now mind you I was furious at the time, hung up on him in fact, but I know he loves me and since he isn't very romantic, this is his way of saying that he wants me to be healthy and grow old with him.

And I know that I need to do this for myself, so I started a week ago today. 4 times a week, just cardio for now, a hour and a half a day. Today was the first day of week #2, weigh in day, the first day of the new week, I lost 5 lbs! I rush to tell DH "5 lbs!" to which he replys "I told you the first few would come right off, don't get over confident." Feel the love?? :-)

Does anyone know if it's possible to tat while on a treadmill?

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

#3 for 25 Motif Challenge

True to my word, I worked on a project using my HDT. The pattern is "Celtic Flower" from Celtic Tatting by Rozella F Linden.

The HDT is from Marilee's "Peace" HDT batch. It is done in size 30. I used a small portion of a skein of "Peace" and since I had to redo the second round (the long peach colored spikes in the middle) I used almost all of a skein of "Peach". Also I didn't leave the beginning picots on round one (the multi color) long enough, which then meant the final rows of that round weren't .......... I guess I'll say .... high enough, so I had to slightly modify the third/final round (the final peach.) I felt the directions were lacking for that final round, I had to untat in order to get the over/under celtic weave working. It didn't explain that in the directions, although it was reflected in the picture, which I missed because I was to busy reading the directions, go figure. LOL. Regardless I think it turned out pretty good.

I feel bad that I missed out on Jane's Tat It And See. I started it but got worried when I came to the first split ring (SR). I know what a SR is but haven't practiced it enough to put it into a project. I didn't want to start off with messing up the project right off the bat. So this week I am going to spend practicing the SR and the SCMR (self closing mock ring.) I hope to have that down by the end of the week. I'm sure the Tat It And See was alot of work, but I hope Jane does another one. It looks like everyone had alot of fun and I'd like to be in on it. As your aware I haven't been tatting long, but I can already tell how much time Jane spends helping out the tatting world, just check out her pattern page. Thank you, Jane.

Please allow me to say unless something wonderful happens in my tatting world during the week, I am only going to update my blog on the weekends.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

#2 for 25 Motif Challenge - Flower Paperclips

My friend, Marty, asked me how long I'd been tatting, I told her since Sept. But once I started to think about it, I realized that was when I was placed on my teacher's waiting list for class. I checked my calendar and found my first lesson was on November 1, 2007.

That being said, this is Mary Smith's Flower Paperclip pattern that I found on the Internet shortly after I began tatting. I've given at least one to everyone who has shown an interest in my work. Of course I didn't take a picture of a single one before I gave them away, so yesterday when I realized I have no pictures to post this week, I "quickly" made up these two.

In the nature of using my HDT-s the one on the left is Sherry's size 20 "Spring Poppies" and the one on the right is Marilee's size 30 "Roses". (Now do you see why I am addicted to their HDT-s!!) I wanted you to see the original pattern which is the "Spring Poppies". However, in the "Roses" clip, I added the seed beads. I also altered the pattern to include an extra ring at the end which I then wove the other rings around. I'm sorry the extra ring doesn't show up very well in this picture but it does give it a little something extra in the middle.

I am going to count these as #2 of the 25 Motif Challenge.

Happy Tatting,


Bonnie

H.D.T.A.

With a sense of relief, I learned there is a name for my condition. It is H.D.T.A. (Hand Dyed Thread Addicts.) Cylde (AKA The Mad Tatter) explained the condition quite well in his Sat, Jan 19, 2008 and Sun, Jan 13, 2008 posts. I am totally addicted. I rush home from work every day to see what Marilee and Sherry may have listed on Etsy while I was at work. I'd hate to miss out on anything!

I just read Sapna's blog and wow did it hit home. I too am a collector of HDT-s, she wrote..... "I must admit though that I have been saving them for God knows what! I think its time I used them… for only then I can do more justice and buy more." It was like a "dah" moment for me. What good are they if I just gaze at them? I need to create with them and only then can I justify to myself getting more. So I'm making a promise to myself to use at least one of my HDT-s this week.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Request for Help

Greetings fellow Tatters. I am looking for some help. I want to start larger projects but with smaller thread and I'd like advice on the correct way to hide threads, both starting and stopping a project, as well as adding. Do you weave the ends in the finished piece with a needle. What is your preference? Is there a special trick? I was taught to tie off and seal with fray check, but I really don't think that can be the proper way. I wonder if I am tatting to tight, on my size 30 and below tread I'm unable to weave the ends in without problems.

Thank You and Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Hand Dyed Thread - #1 Motif

I am addicted to them, now that I have some I am afraid to use them .... my fear is a couple fold.

First, as Gina suggested in her blog dated Thursday Jan 17, 2008, the color choice can make or break a piece. I do not have enough tatting experience to have mastered the right or wrong of color yet.

Next I fear I will have picked out a pattern that is to advanced for me and I will waste "My Good Thread" which is hand dyed thread from Marilee (Yarnplayer) and Sherry (Lady Shuttlemaker) 's Etsy shops. I can tell they each must use a wonderful base thread as it is a dream to work with. (If you haven't treated yourself to at least one of their skeins please do so.) I discovered Etsy about a month ago and since then every day I come home from work and check to see what lovely threads the ladies may have listed while I was at work. I'd hate to miss out on anything! Now to find patterns worthy of My Good Thread.

For my first couple of tatting pieces I did the first one a plan white to make sure I could do it and see how it would look before I ventured into the variegated threads which are my favorite. However then I realized that it is alot of work to do it in white AND do it again in color.

After the bookmark I made for a friend this is the next completed piece I made. As you can see I made the first one in white as a practice piece, it is a size 20 thread. The other one was made using Marilee's Deep Ocean size 30 thread. And I might add that it is the first piece I made where I didn't have to cut and restart the thread.

I did make a variegated teal one to send to my GUF so he could see what I've been up to. It is my pattern of choice right now. It is fun to make and I've really learned to make my picots consitant size. I think I've made 4 or 5 of them now. Everyone I know is going to end up with one.

Sadly I do not know who to give credit to for the pattern as Betty (my teacher) gave me a picture of a finished piece which I looked at it and made my own version of. ****Monday, Jan 21, 2008, Thank you to Sharon for letting me know this pattern is called "Heart of the Butterfly by Irene Woo which was printed in the Official Tat_Chat Pattern Book edited by Georgia Seitz" Although I made it from a picture and didn't have her pattern (so I'm sure the the stitches probably aren't the exact same as Irene's) I'm very pleased to be able to give her credit for a beautiful pattern.****

Even though there is 2 here, I will count this as my first motif for the 25 Motif Challenge.

Happy Tatting,


Bonnie

GUFrancis' Tatted Cross Bookmark

My first experience with tatting was when I went to visit my parents many years ago........... oh at least 15 years ago, and saw one of my Great Uncle Francis' (GUF) tatted cross bookmarks. GUF is 94 as of June 2007, and he still actively tats.

If GUF and I wouldn't have lived so many states apart I would have greatly enjoyed learning to tat from a relative. But it couldn't happen so when I got home, I knew I had to try to teach myself this lovely art form. Sadly I was was unsuccessful at the time. (This was way before I became involved in the Internet, probably 15 years ago, as I wrote that it made me I wonder what I did with the shuttle and other information I had at that time........... hummmm)

In our 2007 Christmas card my mother included this cross bookmark, one of GUF's works of art. My understanding is that it is his favorite pattern. What lovely work he does. I hope that when I am 94 I am still tatting.

Although I am sure GUF will never see my blog, I wanted to show his work and acknowledging him as the primary person responsible for my original interest in tatting.

Thank you GU Francis!

In my next post I will post a picture of my second completed work. (I gave the first as a Christmas present to a friend and didn't think to take a picture of it.)

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

First Blog Ever

I went and did it, I created a tatting blog. Actually the first blog I've been a part of, so please bear with me as I try to learn my way around here.

My name is Bonnie. I am originally from Minot, ND but moved to Cassadaga, NY in 1988. I married my husband, Mark, 24 years ago, actually next week we will celebrate our 24th Anni. We have a daughter, Holly, who lives about a hour away. One of my greatest passions is to become a grandmother some day :-) (No pressure, Holly.)

That's a bit about me now on to tatting..........

I started taking tatting lessons in late September 2007. My teacher's name was Betty. When I went to her for my second lesson she said I was as advanced as people usually are in their 4th lesson. I think I had 5 lessons with her, and on the final lesson I really felt that I had learned everything she could teach me, her true passions are spinning and weaving. That's it I am HOOKED! I have really taken to tatting and because of the internet and alot of bloggers, I have learned alot more than just the basics. Currently I only shuttle tat, but will take have a class with Betty tomorrow where she will show me the basics of needle tatting. I am not sure I care to learn needle tatting but I would like to see what it's about.

I am hoping that in addition to sharing my tatting experience with others, I can become a part of a tatting community.

I am actively searching for patterns that are more "exciting" then doilies and snowflakes. Now, please don't get me wrong here, my first completed project was a doily and I purchased a book with snowflake patterns, but I'd really like to make jewelry or flowers or things like that. I would gladly welcome any book names/patterns that you can suggest that feature these fun items.

I have made a few small pieces which I hope to share here, but as of yet I haven't taken any pictures. It looks pretty self explanatory on how to post a picture here so I hope to have at least one up in the next few days. Please stay tuned for that.

I would really like to form relationships with many of you experienced tatters who's blogs I have been visiting for months now.

Sincerely,


Bonnie