The Waiting .........

The waiting is killing me. I still haven't met with anyone yet. However, both people I'm supposed to meet with have been away for the last three day. So, hopefully next week. Thanks for all the kind words, by the way. They definitely help.

Anyway I'm still tatting Windmills motifs for my doily. I have two days off now, so I hope to keep working on the doily. I want to see how many motifs I can make with a ball of thread. I need to buy more thread (I think I said that back in March, but I recently found another ball of thread). I don't want to buy too much of the thread. I know some of you will disagree, but I far prefer Lizbeth to DMC Cordonnet now. I hope to switch all my white thread to Lizbeth as soon as all the DMC stuff is gone. Well, the sizes that Lizbeth comes in. Depending on how far I get, I may post a progress picture sometime next week.

Before I go, I've been noticing a lot of people mentioning a new editor in Blogger. What new editor? The one I have looks exactly the same as the one I had when I first started my blog. I have noticed that lately it starts in "Edit HTML" but it's easy to switch back to "Compose". Is it something they are still rolling out?

That's it for now. Not sure when I'll post again; I am aiming for Tuesday or Wednesday, but anything can happen to delay posting. Till next time.

Not Much Goin' On

Really. I haven't felt like doing much of anything lately. I guess I've been lost in thought since my last post. Unfortunately, it's work related again. Though, this time it's different. An opportunity within my department has become available. I spent the weekend thinking about whether or not I wanted to apply for it. I did apply for the position yesterday. Now, I'm a nervous wreck waiting to meet with Human Resources and a manager. So, I haven't managed to tat much. Though I did get a little done.

I started working on the third round of my Windmills doily, see here. I made one motif Sunday and Monday evening. I started a second one yesterday. With any luck, I'll have the second one done tonight. I'll then have only 16 more to go. Actually, more than 16. I have decided (time allowing, of course) to expand the doily into an oval once the third round is complete. I'm not sure how many motifs will be needed, and quite honestly, I don't want to think about it right now; I've got enough on my mind right now. Before I go, here's a tatting action shot:

This is the second Windmills motif that I was working on earlier this evening.

That's it for now. We'll see if I get anything else done. I'll keep you updated on the work thing, too, if anyone is interested. Till next time.

Ring A Ring O' Roses

I was hoping to post yesterday, but I ended up having freezer issues last night. This cut into my tatting time, and subsequent motif blocking time. I was really looking forward to the first Tatting Beer Tuesday. I did have a Guinness while tatting yesterday evening. Maybe next week. Anyway, here is what I had hoped to show you last night.

I'm sure by now you have seen Fox's two renditions of Mary Konior's Ring A Ring O' Roses snowflake, from Tatting With Visual Patterns. Check out her blog if you haven't. I was inspired to try the snowflake again. I started tatting one using some thread I got from the Thread Exchange. Here it is, in all its glory:

Kinda. Apparently, this snowflake require more than 12 yards/metres of thread. The thread is Coron size 40, #156-7B, from Umintsuru. This is a really nice thread to tat with. I too wonder if there is a North American supplier of the thread. Probably not, since Google wasn't much help. Anyway, I decided to leave the snowflake unfinished until I am able to get more to finish it. Not satisfied with leaving the snowflake as a UFO, I started again with some good ol' Lizbeth. Here is the result:

This is Lizbeth 20, colour # 147 Red Burst. It may just be me, but I like how the variegated threads work with this pattern. I have to admit, I didn't find the pattern to be particularly difficult to tat. It just takes a while. There are really no fancy techniques. The difficult looking 'triple ring' is a single ring with two chains surrounding them. There are a lot of thrown off rings, but they aren't difficult either. While its not mentioned in the pattern, I found it necessary to switch shuttles regularly to get the thread in the proper position. This isn't a problem, it just slows the tatting process down. It is still a nice snowflake, and one I'd definitely tat again.

That's it for now. I picked up my ring order Monday and have worked on a few projects. My Etsy Showcase on Monday wasn't as successful as I'd hoped, but the increased exposure may help. A number of items got favorited, which could become sales later on. I'm going to leave the free shipping active until the end of the week. Till next time.

Tatted Seahorse

Just a quick post here. I figured that since I managed to tat something, I might as well show it instead of waiting till later.

When I first saw the pattern for the motif I am going to show you, I fell in love with it right away.

It's a really cool pattern, and was pretty easy to tat. And no ends to hide! They all end up as part of the fringe on the back. The pattern is by Susan Cuss and can be found here. I used Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour #688 Dark Seagreen. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with him. He wants to go into a coaster. I said he won't fit. He insists he's pregnant. I don't think that's the problem. He retorted back that I shouldn't talk. What I meant was he's too long, but before I could tell him, he ran off with the mermaid, who herself still isn't sure she wants to go in a coaster yet. Anyhow, I plan on tatting another seahorse again soon. In a smaller thread size. So it's shorter. Nothing else!

That's it for now. My order of jump rings isn't ready to be picked up yet, so it'll be next week before I get them. So I will try to get a bunch of tatting done this weekend. And if anyone's interested (and in case I don't post Sunday), I will be in Etsy's Jewelry showcase starting midnight Monday Sept. 13, and running all day until 11:59 PM Monday. I will probably offer free shipping (Canada, US, & reduced International) again, probably Sunday, Monday and maybe Tuesday. Till next time.

Dragon Wing Doily and New Books

Yeah. I know I said I'd post again in a few days, but, um, yeah. I guess I haven't felt like tatting. Again. I decided last weekend to purchase another Showcase spot on Etsy. Because of that, I then decided I should add some new items to my shop. Which is what I have been working on instead of tatting. You can see a few of the new items in my shop. More items will be added over the next week. A few of the new items even incorporate beads as part of the chainmaille. Anyway, let's move on to the tatting.

I started working on Anne B's Dragon Wing Doily last Saturday (or maybe Friday). Managed to get about halfway through when an idea hit (see above). So, the doily has been set aside throughout the week. I finally sat down last night and didn't stop tatting till it was done. It's not blocked yet, and there are a couple ends to hide, but it is done. And here it is:


It would look better if I had blocked it. Despite my slowness at tatting it, I really like this design. I was able to memorize the pattern pretty quickly (still remembered it after a week!) so I could almost go into autopilot while tatting it. I will do it again. Thanks Anne! Thread stats: Lizbeth size 20 in colour #656 Dark Wedgewood blue. Love this colour! And it's still all mine!

Finally, since I don't have much else tatting related to show, I'll show you a couple of books that I recently got. The first is one you have probably seen a lot of lately. It is, of course, Martha Ess' new book More Critters on the Block.


I can't wait to try some of these designs. This is my first book from Martha. I like what I see; I may have to get her other books. And thanks Martha for signing the book.

The second book is one that is pretty hard to find, I guess. It is, Patti Duff's Minitats: 60 Petite Motifs.


While looking for the book, I found that DS9Designs had a few copies of the book. I also learned through InTatters that Gale of Tat's All also had a few copies of the book. I ended up going through DS9Designs since I wanted, nay, needed more Lizbeth thread. Of course as luck would have it, the size 80 Lizbeth came out less than a week after my order shipped. Mind you I haven't heard of anyone mention that they got some of the size 80 Lizbeth yet. I believe a few people got a sneak peek at the thread, but I still want to wait. Then again, how often do I use size 80 thread? Anyway, I can see why so many tatters like Patti's book. There are plenty of quick patterns that could easily empty partial shuttles. Hopefully I'll try a few motifs from this book also.

That's it for now. I'm going to watch a movie, drink some nice cold Kokanee, and get some tatting done. I have an order of rings coming, and I'm sure once I get them, I won't be tatting. Till next time.



PS: I want to mention again that a couple of errors were found in my Sine Wave Bookmark pattern. Please redownload the file to get the corrections. See link at the top to the left sidebar.