Canadian Maple Leaf and a Few Other Pictures

As many of you may know, Canada Day was last Tuesday. I meant to post this sooner, but I had to work a lot last week. On top of that I went away for a five day holiday (nothing special); more on that later. Last year I created a simplistic tatted maple leaf for a project I have been meaning to do.

I wrote up the pattern earlier this evening in case anyone wants to make it. For the record, I have not seen anything like this, but, as always, someone else may have a similar design. If so let me know.

Start CTM (Continuous thread method) with red, or desired colour thread.

R: 6---3-3 Cl RW
CH: 3-3 RW
R: 5+7---1----1---3-5 Cl
R: 5+6---1----1---6-5 Cl
R: 5+3---1----1---7-5 Cl RW
Ch: 3+3 RW
R: 3+3---6 Cl

While holding both threads to the back of the work, join to the same

picot that the second chain joins to.

Ch: 8 or until desired length. Cut, tie and hide.

Abbreviations

R -> Ring
Ch -> Chain
- -> regular size picot
--- -> long picot
---- -> extra long picot
RW -> reverse work

If there is something that isn't clear, just leave me a comment, and I'll fix it.

I have been working on my final motif for the 25 Motif Challenge. It is one I made before but forgot to photograph. I'm not sure when I'll be done, I have four out of six yellow petals complete, and then I have a couple blue petals and a calyx to make. As with many other people, I am participating in the Here Be Tatters yahoo! group summer exchange. I'll show what I made when my partner gets it.

As I mentioned earlier, I went on a five day holiday this past weekend. It wasn't anything special, I just went to my parents house. I can report that my mom loved the bracelets I made. I also made her a pair of Yarnplayer's Carnival earrings. I didn't get a picture of the completed earrings (surprise, surprise) but here is a progress pic;

I used some Altin Basak thread (colour 3005 I believe) and some blue Czech seed beads. Instead of a pearl in the centre, I used a bead made of Turquoise Howlite (AKA Faux Turquoise). If I do say so myself, they looked good. I made a slight modification to the pattern. Because my mom prefers earrings that are shorter in length, I eliminated the spiral chain and shortened the beads that dangle from the centre picot. The shuttle, is, of course, one of LadyShuttlemaker's ceramic shuttles.

While at my parent's house, I took some pictures of the Prairie Lilies that grow wild throughout Saskatchewan (and probably elsewhere as well).

The Prairie Lily AKA Western Red Lily (Lilium philadelphicum) is the provincial flower of Saskatchewan. They can be seen growing alongside roads and in forests throughout the province. There are also over twenty species of native orchids that grow in Saskatchewan as well, but I haven't seen them in person. Well, I don't think I have seen them, I'm sure I may have but didn't know it.

Finally, I had a surprise when I got home on Monday. I had purchased a Hibiscus over a month ago. I have always wanted one and finally found one. I researched the proper care for them and gave it a quick prune to make it look nice. The plant started growing well, and produced several buds. Yes, buds. I guess that means I'm doing something right. One of the buds opened while I was gone.

My hand is right behind the flower. I couldn't believe how big the flower is. It's a good thing I took some pictures of the flower, as it was closed when I got home this afternoon. Not a problem though; there are another half a dozen or so buds just waiting to open. Here is another picture from a different perspective.

That's all for now. I'll try to post again soon (now where have I heard that before?).