#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