To Starch or Not To Starch Your Tatting

Many moons ago, someone sent me a beautiful tatted cross. Evidently, they used a very stiff starch on it that mad the cross like a board. I washed it the other day, and to my dismay, the starch caused the beautiful cross to turn colors in places, and ruined the threads.  In all the years that I have been tatting, I’ve never starched any of my tatting, except for Christmas ornaments that were tatted in white.  I do not know how, to get the starch out.  I soaked it for 3 days and it still dried like a board.

Gods Creations

This butterfly is black and the underwings glisten blue.

I was in my meditation garden and came upon two beautiful sights.
Do you know what kind of butterfly this is?  I never saw one like it. 

Saved The Frog

I was walking through my meditation garden when I came upon this site.  Who do you think I saved, surely not the snake but the frog.  I walked briskly back to the garage to get the shovel, and chopped up the snake in four pieces.

Comments

I just heard from several people that they could not post any comments to my blog, I am sorry about that, I had the settings incorrect for comments.

Blue Bird Heaven

 Here is the new bird feeder I bought for the blue birds and smaller birds. The worms cannot fall to the ground like the dish feeder.  It took 4 months for the blue birds to get acclimated to using this type of feeder.  Now that they are use to it, I can't wait for them to bring the babies here to feed.

 

Spring Has Truly Sprung in SC

  While you’ve been inside tatting away, I’ve been busy planting my veggie garden, and feeding the birds. I have blue birds nesting in one of my birdhouses and a nut thatch in the other; all are having babies and enjoy the mealworms I put out for them.


Oh, Yes! There is also my inspiration garden/prayer garden that I’ve been feverishly working on for the spring burst of colors. The garden is fertilized, weeded and watered. Hopefully, things will be calmer tomorrow so I can finish planting my veggie garden. I have tomatoes, squash, string beans, corn, spinach, carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, sweet banana peppers, bell peppers, cantaloupes, and eggplants.

Look What Arrived Today

 My new tatting book arrived today.  I’m not sure what to tat first the peacock or a simple edging. First, I’m translating some of the words from German to English for a better grasp of the directions. That is definitely a Mary thing. 

  

Mary's Traveling Book

Mary's traveling book arrived yesterday afternoon. 

My winnings from Piney Woods Tatter Arrived

My winnings from Rachel Colvin Jackson from Piney Woods Tatter arrived yesterday.
I was delighted to see my chicks arrived safe and sound along with the catholic prayer books Rachel was collecting. 

The Winners of My Giveaway

Congratulations   

JB you are the winner of

 

 

 

and

 Sharon D you are the winner of

Decorated Shuttle Giveaway

I decided to have a giveaway of 2 of my decorated shuttles.  They will be two that you all have not created.  I will hold off showing which ones you get until the winners are announced.

Rules:

1. You must have an active blog that I can view. If your blog is not visible to me, your entry will be disqualified. I will not accept just an email address;
2. List your favorite color;
3. The drawing will be held on April 3rd.

Good Luck

A Blast From The Past

I was going through some old photos and found two door hangers I made in the tatting exchanges I use to run.  I thought you would enjoy a blast from the past.  These were some elaborate hangers if you ask me....LOL

Something Different for A Change

The yellow rose is from Angie Evans Penny Flowers, the daisy is from Punch Bunch punches.  The leaves are also a Punch Bunch Punch.  The tiny flower is a punch from Tina Neudorf from one of our card exchanges.

The corsage design is one of my own creations based on a real flower corsage only I made these from Paper

This is the cover of one of the 5 gift boxes I made for each of the 5 corsages.

I was commissioned to make 5 corsages for the up coming SCCCW and decided to make a box for each corsage too.

A Dear Friend

Its' still hard to believe that Gina is gone.  I will always cherish her as a dear friend.  When John died she was there for me and sent me a very long comforting letter, she was a good friend.  There are two treasures from Gina that I received from her in the tatting exchanges that I held, one was a bag made from a dinner napkin that had my initials on it, the other treasure is a pin cushion that Gina made from a serving spoon.  The tatting around the pincushion is a metal metalic thread. 

I treated myself to Marilee Rockley's Up and Tat 'Em book for my birthday.  What a great surprise to find one of her hand dyed yarns included with the book called  snow flake in size 20.  Looks like I will be enjoying my birthday Monday evening by tatting my night away.

I now own all of Marilee Rockly's tatting books, all I need to do is find time to tat. 

Well it seems like it was only yesterday when I started tatting Scotty's doily, but its finally finished.  I used Lizbeth threads in size 40



I managed to tat up a few angels and cross but forgot to take pictures of all of them.  I only got pictures of two.  The rest I gave out as Christmas presents. 

Nativitey Sets From Around the World and Country

Last week I took a trip to Mepkin Abbey in Monks Corner, South Carolina with members of St Joseph's Church to view the 93 Nativity Sets from around the World and Country.

Here is just a few of the 94 that are on display at the Abbey.  Every year there are different creches.  It was well worth the trip and a must see for everyone.

St. Martins, Iladro porcelain, 2008 bob and Mary Kopchains Collection.

Lisbon, ceramic, 2001 bob and Mary Kopchains Collection.

New Mexico, wood by Sabinita Ortiz (noted Santos carver from Sante Fe NM) 1999 Frances Anderson Collection.

Peru, clay, 1996 Frances Anderson Collection

Spain, Iladro porcelain, 2004 John and Norma Palms Collection.

Mayan (Guatemala) woven fabric, 1995 Frances Anderson Collection

Bolivia, plaster, 2004 Frances Anderson Collection

Mexico, carved wood, 2011 gift to the Mepkin Collection by Nicki Barnes.

Guatemala, knit and woven textiles, 2009 Frances anderson Collection.

Bellagio, Italy, sculptured glass, 2000, Mary Ellen Way collection.

Nigeria, Africa, wood, 2910 gift to the Mepkin collection by Sr. Colleen Watermon.

What a Trip

I am back from my religious retreat.  It was awesome and rejuvenated my soul and my body.  I feel like a new woman.  I tatted the whole trip.  I made tatted butterflies and flowers for everyone on the ride to Alabama.  It was so refreshing to sit there and just tat for 6 hours without interruption.....Yeah right!...LOL  There were several people that want to learn to tat.

A lot has been happening since I got home from my trip. My computer crashed and my printer finally died and went some where.  So I now have a whole bunch of gigs and a laser printer that I have been longing for.  I should be good now for another 15 years I hope, it beat buying a new computer, plus I had staples tune up my PC, it was only running at 88% and now its running at 100%.  They found a bunch of registry errors.  I thought I got rid of them, but I guess not....LOL  Then I started having a hidden compile error in word and excel, so they worked their magic on that too.  It was worth the $30.  So now back to tatting.

I received Marilee's new book today from Annie's Attic called Tatted Jewelry.  Marilee you did an awesome job with the layout and pictures.  Now I just have to find time to tat something.  I have another busy day tomorrow and Mass tomorrow night for the all Souls Day and a reception afterwards.  I doubt I will see home before 10:00 p.m.  I am looking forward to rest and relaxation on Thursday and Friday.

Well thats' all I have to say for now, I think I will finish the cross I was tatting from Martha Ess' new book, "Playing With Picots" 

Tatting Projects completed on Sunday

I went to tat some of the projects in Martha Ess' new book "Playing with Picots" and I realized I did not have one empty shuttle, so I decided to use what was on my shuttles to tat up some of Martha's designs.

The first was Little Sister Angel  tatted in size 40 Lizbeth thread. It measures 1 5/8" long x
1 1/8" wide.










Then I figured a good pattern to empty my shuttle of  Falling Leaves and yellow Lizbeth thread was Sunrise, Sunset Bookmark  I only had enough thread on the shuttle to make the bookmark 3"s long instead of 5 1/2"s long, this did not include the tassel.  this length worked out quite well for a prayer book size.


Well I have to go pack my bags, I am off to Birmingham, AL for 3 days with my church group 1st thing tomorrow morning.  I am looking forward to getting away for 3 days and making new friends on the trip.  There will be 25 of us going.  I will be taking my tatting, knitting and crocheting along since it is a 6 hr. ride each way.  I know I will get a lot done if I don't fall asleep on the way....LOL

Tatting Tatting Tatting

I have a lot to catch up on, after 8 mos. of not tatting. Its been a struggle, but I made it through.  I received Martha Ess' book for Meagan yesterday.  Its' one of Meagan's Christmas presents, but by the looks of it it may be late getting to her since I now have to tat everything in the book....LOL  I see Marilee's book is out and I ordered that too through Annie's Attic and not only that I decided to finish my tatters across times phase I.  Looks like no house work will be getting done this week.

SC State Fair Awards Posted

 My Tatted necklace got 2nd place.

I am happy to announce that my Paper Flower Wreath received 1st place.

My Crocheted Hat got 1st place.

My Entries to the SC State Fair

I did not get all my entries done this year for the state fair because of other commitments.  But next year, I will have 12 entries to the State fair, I have one almost done now for next year. 

 This is my wreath made of paper flowers from various paper punches.  Each petal on the flowers were individually molded into shape and joined together to form the flower.  Some were just punched out and layered on top of each other.

 This is my tatted necklace designed by me 2 years ago.  I just now got to writing the pattern out though I tatted it up originally in a variegated size 20 thread.  This necklace was tatted in a size 40 Lizbeth thread in the color burgundy, size 11 delica beads were used.  There was a motif imbedded in an antique pattern that looked like a heart.  I took that portion and created the rest of the heart to complete it into a necklace.

This is a flapper style crocheted cloche. 

Shuttle from Diane Arrived

I was totally delighted today to receive my shuttle from Diane along with two DMC size 80 thread to match the colors in my shuttle.  The thread was a welcome surprise.

Thank you Diane for a lovely gift.

Test Tatters

I have 3 test tatters for my necklace which is awesome.

I will need your email address Sunela.

I will be ready for test tatting in a few weeks, I have a couple of bugs to work out 1st.

Two Test Tatters needed.

I am working on a necklace design and in the next few weeks would like to have two test tatters to test out my pattern.

If you are interested, please let me know.

Eight Days Left

I'm still here frantically working on my entries to the SC state fair.  I only have 2 entries done, I have spent 2 sleepless nights working on one of them.  I only had to do that one over three times.  Every year I say, self we need to start on our state fair projects in January. With good intentions, I land up starting off that way and figure 1 full week per project in some instances, but as you know that never works out.  Right now I am working on on my oval entry, I am not going to say what it is just yet, it measures 10 x 11 is the suspense killing you?  Its killing me because I want to get it finished....LOL Oh! just in-case you are wondering, it is NOT a picture frame...LOL Well back to work, with good music and a pot of coffee I should be done by tomorrow on this one. And just maybe I will be able to get entry 4 completed.

I can hardly wait to see what my granddaughter Meggie made for her entries, I am sure they will be awesome as usual because she is so awesome.  What a legacy I have given her in tatting. 

A New Hat in Town

Meagan was delighted with her birthday present of a new hat I made for her in her favorite color black.
The pattern is by Mary Jane Hall called Peek-a-Boo Flower Hat  I used size J hook and crocheted 10 rows  for Meagan and 11 rows for an adult.  

My Prayer Garden

I tried to take some good pictures of my garden. I tried getting the whole garden in the picture but it is just too big to get in one shot and see all the elements.  It measures 24 ft.x 42 ft.  Well I am done with everything except buying my rocking chairs for the porch.  I will do that next month.  I  need to get my benches for the garden but they will have to wait until I plant the last 4 plants.  I am waiting for them to arrive. I need to rest now.  So its a shower and relaxation until tomorrow.