The End of TIAS 2012, a Double Fuchsia, and a Few Orchid Photos

I see that I am still posting rather infrequently. Oh well. I don't really have much to share anyway. Besides the TIAS, I have done hardly any tatting. Sales in my shop have slowed to a crawl. I had thought I could offer free shipping, but forgot about it until yesterday. So it won't be much good to attract some Valentine's Day sales. With the lack of sales, I don't feel like working on chainmaille. I have been crocheting quite a bit lately however. I'll get some photos of that once it's/they're complete.

As I am sure most of you are aware, Jane's TIAS 2012 is complete. Here is my completed goat:

As I told Jane, he doesn't look as demonic here as he did without his front legs. I rather like him. Actually I think I just like the pattern in general. I think it's the beard. I'll have to make another one soon.

Here are finally the photos of Linda's Double Fuchsia that I tatted from the pattern she shared:

I can't really comment on it, as I don't remember much about tatting/putting it together. I guess that's what I get for waiting so long to post the photos. I do remember that I used a thicker gauge wire than what was called for. That did make it difficult to get the calyx on. It definitely looks realistic. I will have to make a full branch of leaves and flowers. Thanks again Linda for sharing the pattern. And sorry for taking so long to post the completed flower.

I will finish this post with a few orchid photos. I think these have been posted previously, but this will help me keep track of what is flowering when. Enjoy!

This is Doritaenopsis Minho Princess 'Flying'. This is one of my few named Phalaenopsis orchids. I really like this one. It's not pure white (I already have one of those). And it's not completely pink or purple. This is the first Phal. hybrid that flowered for me this year.

The next orchid that flowered is one I know many of you have seen:

It's the Mutant! For those of you who are new to my blog, this Phalaenopsis No Identification (NOID) hybrid has a genetic mutation that causes the plant to produce what looks like three lips instead of one. Two of these lips are not fully formed (these are supposed to be the petals, or sepals), but closely resemble the true lip at the bottom. This is called a Peloric Mutation. Hopefully you can see the differences in the photo. For anyone who hasn't noticed yet, I disabled the "Lightbox" display of photos. You should be able to click photos again and get the full version.

Last orchid photo of the day:

I bought this Phal as a NOID, however it looks strikingly similar to Phalaenopsis Yu Pin Pearl. A Google Image search shows this quite well. I am tempted to label the plant as such or that it resembles Yu Pin Pearl so I know which plant it is when it's not flowering. Looking at some of the other photos, there may be different versions or clones of Yu Pin Pearl so it very well could be one of them.

That's it for now. I will probably be crocheting some more this week. I'll try to get some more tatting done. I got my Palmetto Tat Day CD in the mail recently so there are a few things I'd like to tat. There will be more orchid photos in the upcoming weeks-I noticed another Phal that is producing a flower spike. That's now eight Phals either in spike or flowering. Awesome! I think I may need a few more. That's the one good thing about Valentine's Day: Lots of plants available for sale. Till next time.

TIAS 2012, Day 9

I managed to tat Day 9 last night, though I joined the last ring to the wrong set of rings. Twice! I had to fix it this morning before emailing Jane.

That is why you may see some fluffy ends near the eye. Speaking of the eye, it appears that I am tatting a Demon Goat. Since I didn't know what the beads would be used for, I though the red bead, which is Red Bamboo Coral, would work. Oh well, I'll have to tat him again with more appropriate colours once we are done. It looks like it definitely will be a goat. Can't wait to see it when it is finished. Till next time; I have to get ready for work.

More TIAS 2012

Just a quick post. I'll do a proper one soon; I've got a lot of stuff that I want to share, but no time.

Here are my Days 7 and 8 of Jane's TIAS 2012:

Like many people, I definitely thought it was going to be a dog by the end of day 7. But after day 8, it looks rather goat like. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be something completely different. In any case, our options are being narrowed down.

That's it for now. I will hopefully write up a proper post later this weekend. Till next time.

TIAS 2012 Continues

Sorry for the delay. I've been meaning to post more regularly lately, but that hasn't happened, obviously. While I'm not complaining, I've have quite a few sales lately. A couple have been custom orders from the same repeat customer, many have been from new customers. While I have been hoping some of the newer items would sell, it is nice to see the sales. Anyway, besides the TIAS (and some tatting I can't tell you about), I haven't done much tatting lately. Hopefully I will get some tatting done this weekend. Apart from a little shopping tomorrow, I don't plan on doing much tomorrow. Tomorrow is my 29th birthday. It occurred to me today that this will be my last year in my 20's, which kinda scares me for reasons I'm not going to go into here. Anyway, I'll move on to my progress on the TIAS 2012.

Here are days, 4, 5, and 6 in (hopefully) the order they were made:

I've got nothing really to say about this. I still haven't the faintest idea what this will be. I don't know if anyone has correctly guessed what we are making yet, but Jane is certainly keeping us guessing. This is great!

That's it for now. I should mention that this is my 200th post. I know many of you have probably post more than that in a year, it's pretty good for me. I had hoped to have a more substantial post, but I'll make up for it soon. I put Linda's Double Fuschia together several days ago and told her I'll post about it. I've also got some orchid photos to share. Seven of my Phalaenopsis orchids are producing flower spikes. Two of which have open flowers on them, the Mutant being one of them. Till next time.

TIAS 2012 Day 3

Just a quick post. I'll do a regular long post either later this week or early next week. I forgot to mention in the previous post but I'll try to blog my progress within a day or two of Jane releasing a pattern part.

Here is my day 3 progress (ready for harvesting!!):

As other people have observed, it's a square with a circle in it. I haven't the faintest idea what this will be. I guess we'll have to see what Jane has us do for the next day. Maybe it will give us a hint.

Nothing else to report. It's been bitterly cold for the past few days. We've been close to -40 C a few times now. Yesterday we had a windchill of nearly -50. It's supposed to warm up but then we'll probably get more snow. I'm kinda liking snow right now. Till next time.

TIAS 2012 Parts 1 and 2

As the title suggests, I started the TIAS this weekend. I'll get to it soon-it won't take long, I don't have much else to share. Haven't done any more tatting or chainmaille this weekend. I did manage to get some of the new chainmaille pieces photographed early Saturday afternoon. Which was good; it started snowing around suppertime or so. Over the course of the evening and I guess overnight we got at least four inches (10 cm) of snow. It may be closer to six inches (15 cm) but I'm not sure since it blowing a lot as well. Obviously this means I got to shovel snow probably for the first time all winter. Really. No photos, I'm afraid. I kept forgetting the camera inside every time I went out. I am a little disappointed that it snowed (and it's freezing out!), and I hope the streets aren't too bad tomorrow. One upside is that I don't have to buy any distilled water for my carnivorous plants for a while. I brought in two large Rubbermaid tubs full of packed snow that I'll let melt over the next few days. The water can then be stored  until needed.

I'll move on to the tatting. Like I said, I haven't done much. I did sit down last night and worked through the first two days of Jane's TIAS 2012. Here is the first day:

And here is the second day:

I used Lizbeth size 20 colour #658 Light Ocean Turquoise. I have no guesses as to what it could be. We'll see what the next part shall bring. Oh, and Jane, feel free to copy my photos. I'm sure I'll forget to email them to you.

That's it for now. I might try and tat something tonight. I'm doing laundry as we speak, so I gotta remember to check that regularly. It's no fun waking up in the morning and realizing the laundry is still in the washing machine. Mind you, waking up and realizing the laundry is still in the dryer when it's 30 below out isn't fun either. Trust me. Till next time.