Online Scavenger Hunt

Heather at tatted treasures is doing an online scavenger hunt.  This is her list for week 1:
Here are your first scavenger hunt challenges: (do as many as you like)
1.Photograph your shuttles making a face.

2.Find a reference to tatting in literature or a popular publication and quote or photograph it.

3.Tat a motif that uses a technique you’ve never tried before.

4.Photograph a coin dated the year you learned how to tat.

5.Poll 15 strangers and ask them if they have ever seen tatting before. Record the results.

I haven't done anything from her list yet but I think its pretty funny.  Tonight I'm going to make a face with my shuttles.  I know that Robin D. Owens makes a reference to tatting in one of her books.  I can't remember which one.
Unfortunately I've blocked my teenage years from my brain (its all one big boring blur) and cannot remember when I learned to tat. That makes number 4 impossible.   

Onion rings




Front view of heart...can you tell the difference?

  I made a mistake by showing the wrong side of the heart in the last post.   You guys were correct in saying the onion ring join (ORJ) was on the right.   From the front it looks the same but from the back it looks different than a Catherine Wheel join.
 The ORJ isn't meant for chains, its really meant for patterns where the rings are concentric.  Basically you join the outside ring to the inner ring to hold it in place and ends up looking like a slice of onion.  Hence the name onion ring join.  It has its own little foibles so I leave it up to you whether or not to use it. 


Picture from http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2002/onion/onion.html

I found a couple links for anyone interested in the join.  http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39226.asp
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2002/onion/onion.html

Catherine Wheel terror?

 Fox over at tat-ology is currently working towards Catherine Wheel perfection.  I think she's just addicted to making this little heart by Frivole.  I can see why, its a very fun pattern.    To tell you the truth I don't do the Catherine Wheel often.  Instead I cheat and make an onion ring join.   One of the joins in the picture is an onion ring join and the others are Catherine wheel join.  From the front I don't think you can tell the difference. 

I intended to show more pictures but blogger isn't cooperating.  Since the last update I've found it harder to move the pictures around.  Also, I don't understand why they only give us a little window to see what we're writing?  That last part isn't new but it's always bothered me.

I was able to upload one more picture and not accidentally delete it.  I did a few more candy arrangements with my friend Sal.  She took them to Mosque to be auctioned after prayers.  The money raised goes to the Mosque.  We made 4 and they went for about $20 each.  Some of them were Ferrero Rocher arrangements where we stuck the chocolates on tooth picks or bamboo sticks.

ps  I forgot to mention that I added a bunny bookmark to the right side. 



Tatting Demonstration

I did a tatting demonstration/ class at Watson's Mill in Manotick on Monday.  Watson's Mill is a local historical site. I've never done a demonstration and Cam at Watson's Mill wasn't sure about what the turnout would be but we had 88 people come through the door!  There was an exhibit about Mr. Eaton (founded Eaton's Department Store) and different children's activities as well as some neat historical children's crafts.   I was surprised at how excited some people were to try to tat and one man actually thanked me for finding a new hobby for his wife!  I told him that if they had any questions to call/email me.  I made sure to tell them about all the awesome You-tube demos and websites on the Internet.  I have to confess that I sent a lot of people to Sharon Brigg's website.  I love her demos and the practice patterns she gives. 
I hadn't really prepared very much because Cam wasn't sure if anyone would come.  Next time I will have a sheet to hand out of tatting resources.  On Monday I was just scribbling names on scrap pieces of paper.

On a side note, the big box of nothing is now being used as a chalk board!



Obligatory photo:  This reminds me of an old lady with big thick rimmed glasses.

Sharon's website can be found at:  http://www.rsbriggs.com/slb/index.html

A big box of nothing...

It turns out that the major consumers of the bubble gum tree was adults.  The kids just wanted to look at it.  There's nothing funnier than someone's grandma trying to sneak the jube jube hearts out of the vase without anyone noticing.  
Ayan was very happy with his big box of nothing. His cousin Alim kept crawling inside which made it a big box of Alim.  Ayan was a little too wired to unwrap everything so he doesn't know that his Aunt Pat brought him a beautifully wrapped small box of nothing.  I can't wait to hear what he does when he unwraps it.

Birthday boy was playing with my camera and this is one of his pictures.  We spent a few minutes twisting the branches in different directions.  It was actually his uncle Rahim that started to take stuff off the tree.  Rahim's asked me to make a chocolate tree for his son Noah to get at Easter. 

Big box of nothing

more of nothing.  I was successful in the dumpster diving at startbucks and pulled out a really great box.  I told Ayan that I had to wrestle it from the dumpster troll.  

I used chalkboard paint last night to cover the outside.  Its supposed to cure for 24 hours but it was okay this morning when I wrote all over it.  You can't see but I wrote on the other side 100% something free.

Birthday boy taking pictures.  I have alot of really blurry photos but this one unfortunately turned out.

In the lower right corner is the candy theiving Grandma.  She came all the way from Toronto.  This is the first time she's been in Canada for Ayan's birthday.  It was a great day. 

A Bubble Gum Tree and a Big Box of Nothing

Ayan (my friend's son) turned 4 on February 14th and his party is tomorrow. This kid has lots of everything so Ayan's mom (my friend Sal) told him to say nothing whenever anyone asked him what him wanted for his birthday. When asked Ayan did what his mom told him but figured he didn't need to be happy about it.

When I asked him last week what he wanted for his birthday he looked at his Mom for a second and then answered "nothing" in a very sad voice. 
So I asked "really all you want is nothing?"
Ayan looked at his mom again
sighed
then said "nothing" 
Clearly he didn't want nothing and I asked him again:
"You want nothing?  A big box of nothing?"
Ayan got really excited about the big box of nothing
"Yes I big box of nothing!"  and he laughed.
So that's what he wants....and a bubble gum tree.  You really have to watch out how literal kids are when you're talking to them.  Sarcasm really doesn't mean much when you're 4.

The big box of nothing is harder than you think.  In about 10 minutes I'm going dumpster diving at the Starbucks in Carleton Place (best servers/barista's always).  They warned me that there might be a man living in there but otherwise I'm welcome to try to find a box.

Ayan already has scripted out what he wants to happen when he opens the box. 

The bubble gum tree is another challenge.  I've managed to make one but can't get a good photo.  Here's pictures of the process.

I have a clear flower pot that I put jube-jube hearts in and a  wire tree frame.  Later I ended up cutting the base down a bit because the tree was tilting

I wrapped saran wrap around the tree to add bulk.  I'm not sure I needed to do this.  I then started to add the bark (Gummy Belts but I thing fruit roll ups would work too).  I used icing sugar and water as the glue to hold the ends and used a small piece of wrap to hold the gummy belt until the icing sugar and water mix dried.

Tree with most of the bark.  I also twisted the branches to make them more realistic

I twisted and tucked in the ends.  I put the gum into saran wrap and used fish line to tie them to the tree.  I also helped to hold the bark in place.

Finished tree.  It was hard to get a good picture.

Wrapping is really important since it makes it look special.   He's going to be one wired up kid...I'm not responsible for the sugar induced mayhem that may ensue.

In memory- Narcissus

Narcissus by Gina Brummett and published in Flowers of Lace put a Smile on Your Face.

  When my sister-in-law passed last February my brother had daffodils on her coffin.  Linda wasn't a roses kinda girl.  Since then this has been one of my favorite patterns.  The flower reminds me of Linda- now it is a reminder of Gina as well.