Victats

Finger Lakes Tatting Convention

2012-01-26T16:13:00.000-08:00

They sent the registration package out yesterday for the Finger Lakes Tatting Convention. It used to be called the Hector Tatting Seminar but since its moved to a new location in Lodi they've used a new name. The fire hall in Lodi is a little bigger and a little better laid out. Plus its closer to the outlet mall!
Its on the 14th and 15th of April which is a Saturday, Sunday combination. If you're never been its a great experience and the food is really good! (food is very important to me)

I'm excited to be teaching again this year. My project is a bracelet with dimpled hearts and beads. Its a great opportunity to try out using the Balanced Double Stitch (BDS) and see the difference between a BDS and a ds. The bracelet length is easily shortened for smaller wrists and was approved by my 6 year old niece Julia. Since she is very particular about her jewelry I thought it was a good sign. Each year I have a really hard time trying to figure out what class to take. Teaching makes it so I can only take the long classes but I'm still having a hard time deciding.
To make it easier for anyone planning to attend I've provided pictures of my project The Hearty Bracelet.

Hearty Bracelet laid out flat.

Close up on my wrist

Catching up

2012-01-23T09:13:00.000-08:00

Its so annoying that its been 3 weeks since my last post. I never seem to have everything to together at the right times. I've also been busy trying to catch up to everything that happened over the holidays and we've had some big projects at the clinic to finish.   We're trying to get ahead of the game.
The coolest thing happened on New Year's eve. I went with my friends Salima and Hafeez to the Congress Center for the New Year's Eve Gala. The evening was dinner, live band and door prizes.   The prizes were  LCBO baskets (booze),  a suite at the next Toronto- Ottawa Hockey game with all beverages and food included and  a trip for 2 to the Iberostar Bravura in Punta Cana Dominican Republic!   The other people at the table were laughing at us as we negotiated what to do if we win. We never win these things but its fun to imagine winning.
Since we never win we were not really paying attention to what we won when our number came up. I gave the ticket to Hafeez to go pick up the prize. He`s big hockey fan and was so disappointed when he realised it wasn`t the hockey tickets that he didn`t listen when they told him what we won. He had no clue! Everyone kept congratulating us so we sent back to find out what the prize was and it was the trip! Seriously.
So we`re shutting down the clinic on March 24th-31st and going on a trip.  Salima didn`t want to go without Hafeez and her son Ayan so we`ve purchase a few extra tickets. This way we can all go and it`ll be a half price trip!
That`s why we`re all trying really hard to get everything done in January that we usually take 3 months to do!

Welcome to 2012!!!!

2012-01-01T10:26:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

May 2012 bring you lots of happiness, love, family prosperity and unity.

My morning and some pictures

2011-12-21T09:31:00.000-08:00

On the way into work this morning I realised that I had not brushed my teeth. So I ran to the drug store before going to the clinic. I felt much better once my teeth were clean and thought I would share some Christmas pictures with you.

My decorated Christmas tree. I must have been hungry because most of the ornaments are deserts of some type!

Cake send to Mosque for a bake sale.

My Secret Santa package that I sent out. I haven't taken a picture of the one I received yet.

Pink snowflakes I made for my sister and mom to give as gifts. I put them together in different shapes to see how they joined together. Kinda like playing with wooden blocks

18 Tatting days till Christmas???????

2011-12-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

What? I read somewhere that there are only 18 more days until Christmas. Time is running out. I still have to finish a few snowflakes and some tulle tutus for my sister. Otherwise I'm pretty much set or as good as it gets until the last minute. There's always last minute stuff.
On a happier note I have a pattern to share. I wrote it a couple of years ago but never had a good picture to go with it. I hate trying to tat a pattern with no pictures. Also, a big thanks to Sherong who told me how to make pdf documents.

Holly Jolly X-mas Tree

Click on tittle for link

Still Dancing

2011-12-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

Guess where I was Saturday night? At the PRINCE concert...Squeeeeeeeeeee! And it was so fabulous, better than imagined. That man that needed no opening act to warm up the crowd- he just came out and played. It was everthing you expect from Prince, his band and his singers. Better in concert than on the radio.
In case you're wondering what Prince has to do with tatting I used my thread money for this ticket. No new threads for me.

Found!

2011-11-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

My siblings and I are always having a "Who's most like Grandma" contest. Don't get us wrong, we love her but she has some definite habits. I think I've just won!
Almost a year ago I drove to my Mom's house and took along a pattern I was working on. I was using a lovely hand dyed thread that inspired the pattern. Some time during that weekend I lost the doily and have been looking for it ever since! I looked in my house, in my mom's house and in my car. No dice. In fact, when my mom's basement flooded this fall I took the opportunity to look for it again.
Well, I finally found it in a bag of flannel in a drawer. I was going to use the flannel to make a receiving blanket but never did. Grandma always bought material with the intention of making something and she always shoved things into bags. When ever she sent something home it was in a bag, in a bag and in a bag (3 bags). So there's the doily in a random bag, shoved into a bag. Hmmm.

missing doily pinned flat after a year spent rolled up in a ball.

National Button Day

2011-11-16T08:57:00.000-08:00

According to some this is National Button Day. So in celebration of the thing that keeps our pants from falling off I'm posting this button snowflake pattern. The link is on the right.

This fabulous blue button was purchased at the Baptist Church in Campbellford, Ontario. Every Friday and Saturday in the summer they have a yard sale in the small barn at the corner of their parking lot. I'm not ashamed to say that I've gotten quite a few neat things from there including this blue button. Actually I got a box of several hundred blue buttons for $1. A bag of 100 buttons went to my mom and 100 went to my 4 year old niece. My brother claimed she didn't need them but really she did. Buttons make everyone happy. I still have LOTS of blue buttons.

I've been trying to make a blue button angel but things aren't quite working out. The proportions are wonky. The one on the left has wings that are too big and a skirt that's too small. The one on the right has wings that are kinda stubby. I think the head needs to be bigger as well. I like the blue outline. I worked on those in the summer then got a headache and set them aside. It'll come to me eventually.

Shoe stuff

2011-11-14T09:25:00.000-08:00

Balloon Patch- makes room for toes that hit the top of the shoe. I cut off the original material and sewed on a stretchier material using a special sewing machine.

I took off the outsole and cut a line through the shoe to stick in some extra material. This widens the sole if you have feet that are different sizes or have a really wide foot in one area

The blue plug looking thing is called and excavation. The blue material is really soft so you can cushion a sore area under the foot.

We took off the outsole and added more height to the shoe which helps people who have one leg longer than the other. Its pretty neat, we just glue EVA (rubber) to the shoe and then use a grinder to take off excess. You always add more than you need and then grind off the extra.

Added Velcro straps. I got to use another type of sewing machine.

I didn't share pictures from my shoe adventures yet. Shoe modifications involve a few basic skills- cut and paste, sewing and finally grinding (sanding). Its really important to make friends with the grinder. This also helped me to understand why glue doesn't always stick. Its really important to rough up a surface before gluing and to let the glue set a bit before adhering things together.
Good news, I passed the course.

I will never buy another...

2011-11-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

I will never buy another pillow with tassels! The picture on the left is the pillow full of tassels and the picture on the right is the pile of thread that came off that pillow this week alone. It looks pretty but what a mess. The tassels are getting shaved off!

Halloween is done, now onto Christmas... unless you're American then its onto Thanksgiving

2011-11-02T16:51:00.000-07:00

I had a great Halloween! I love giving out the candy and my neighbours really get into it. Mark and Melissa gave out whole chocolate bars and changed their backyard into a spooky witches haven. I'm a little less imaginative and just gave lots of candy. Everyone likes candy!

Well, onto the next season! I was at the Dollarama and they are just getting their Christmas stock. Every year there's some new and really neat stuff. I found this star and silver snowflake. I changed the crystal on the snowflake to pink and used pink organza for the loop hanger for my sister's Christmas tree. She's been doing a pink and silver theme for the last few years. It looks pretty cool. The star I didn't alter but I was really happy on how nice it looked once I got it home. You never know at the dollar store if something is junk or nice until you get it home.

My sister saw these tulle skirts at a craft booth and asked me to make a few. It's a no-sew project which makes it really easy. This one is for my friend's daughter. I thought it needed to be super pretty so I added the crystals and pearls by hand. If you are thinking about making a skirt, make your life easy by buying the tulle on the rolls. That way you have the width you want. I bought years of tulle and then had to spend time cutting. Fortunately I have a rotary cutter and mat so I was able to cut 2 inch strips pretty quick... but it was still a pain in the butt.

Just a quick note that I've added the snail pattern from the Hector Tatting Seminar this sring to the side bar. The butterfly still needs some corrections. I also added a leaf pattern that I added to keep and share last fall but never linked to this blog? Weird. In case you were wondering the peep pattern by Karey Solomon I showed in the spring it is from the Tatting Times Volume 19, Issue 1, February. Be careful- its very addictive.

Teddybear Pumpkin Zipper Pull

2011-10-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

I meant to put this up in September but time got away from me. The teddy bear bead used for the center can be found at Dollarstores or bead stores. Its a very common bead but you can use a 6mm bead instead. Really its just what you have handy. I used DMC thread because I have a crap load of it but I think that size 20 tatting thread is a good substitue. I made the pattern last year so I can't remember what other threads I tried at the time.

Teddy Bear Pumpkin Zipper Pull

Vicki Clarke 2010 victats@gmail.com

Materials
2 yards DMC size 8 orange thread
Bear Bead ( or substitute a 6 mm bead)
Wind 1/2 yard on shuttle CTM with ball
Split ring finding (if making a necklace or zipper pul)
Green sequin (optional or substitute a green bead)
LS- lock stitch
lj- lock join

Instructions:
Pull thread through bear bead from bottom to top and hold loop using paperclip

Round 1
Ch1 LS 3 p 4 p 4 p 4 lj (to space held by paperclip) 4 p 4 p 4 p 4 lj (to beginning just under the lock stitch)

Round 2
Ch2 6
R 3+ (1st p of ch1) 3
Ch3 10
R 3+ (2nd p of ch1) 3
Ch4 8
R 3+ (3rd p of ch1) 3
Ch5 12 lj (to space above 1st lj on ch1)/ ball join to sequin and split ring finding (when pulling up the thread leave it slightly loose so the split ring can turn easily)
Ch6 12
R 3+ (4th p of ch1) 3
Ch7 8
R 3+ (5th p of ch1) 3
Ch8 10
R 3+ (6th p of ch1) 3
Ch9 6 join back to beginning. Cut and hide ends

Guess what I got to do this morning!

2011-10-19T11:42:00.000-07:00

I got to make shoes! Okay, not actually a shoe from scratch but I got to tear apart a shoe and start adding stuff to it...kinda like remodelling a house. I'm taking a course on foot wear and one of the things we get to do is modify a shoe. So today I got to sew a sew, rip the bottom off a pair of shoes and glue...lots of glue. I go in on Saturday and will take my camera with me so I can take a few pictures.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-06T11:25:00.000-07:00

All 3 together

I keep seeing altered pumpkins when checking out the early Halloween decorators. I've kinda grown attached to those crazy pumpkins and decided to try tatting an altered pumpkin brooch using beads. I guess its kinda interpretational but I like what I turned out. I find its challenging to take pictures of tatting when there's crystals involved. I find I get one aspect really good and compromise another. Either the beads or the tatting, rarely both at once.

You can't see the stone very well but the tatting really shows up

The stone and crystals show up but not so much the stitching

All 3 again but the black ones don't show up very well. I thought the black looked better than the orange.

Busy weekend

2011-10-04T15:42:00.000-07:00

I had a busy weekend. Me and a few other suckers..oops I mean leaders took a bunch of Brownies and Sparks camping. We went to Camp Woolsey which is close to Ottawa. It rocked! Even though the weather was cold and a little windy the girls all cooked their own hot dogs and s'mores over the fire. Pretty exciting for a 5-8 year old! I'm not sure who suffered more- the leaders in the cabin with the girls waiting to cook their lunch or the ones outside in the wind. I guess its a draw.

The girls did the clean up afterwards and had duties that they had to do after each meal. As a reward they got this wonderful duty roster pin for on their hats! Isn't it great?

You know the best part about this camp? We all shared the planning. All of the groups in the area pooled resources and we got together to plan the weekend. A few people picked up the groceries and a few did the crafts. BEST CAMP EVER!

Until I locked my keys in the cabin and had to commit a felony in order to drive home.

Waiting for pictures...

2011-09-26T15:44:00.000-07:00

Every time there's a tatting seminar I look for pictures. While I feel a bit like a stalker looking for the pictures I want the 2nd hand experience the pictures provide. Last weekend there were 2 great events going on so I'm looking forward to hearing about the mayhem. Its sad to miss out on a gathering of tatters. What do you call a group of tatters?

I made up for missing out on tatting by attending the Annual Gem and Mineral show here in Ottawa. I got a great deal on some beads but regretted not buying more. When there's a big selection I always feel like I bought the wrong stuff no matter what I buy. The same happens when buying threads during a seminar. I get home and wonder what I was thinking and why didn't I buy the other colors! I could solve that problem by having an unlimited amount of money so I could buy everything...but unfortunately that's not reality.

I felt much better about my choices once I started to make stuff. I ended up finally making a bracelet I've had in my head for awhile. I had the clasp ready and waiting I've just never had the right time and right stones. Although I didn't use a pattern I think that both Kaye Judt and Yarnplayer Marilee Rockley sell a pattern very similar. The picture really isn't great and it doesn't show up the shades of white-grey-black in the stones. The amulet on the left I made with the center stone in the tatting and then sewed moonstones on afterwards. The picture is crappy but its pretty.

Going to go check the blogs for more projects and pictures from the weekend....

busy summer?

2011-09-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is the longest I've ever gone without posting. I've started a few posts but haven' finished any. Its been a very busy year...I'm not sure where the time has gone. I think I've completely missed summer.

Well, I kinda know. At the beginning of September in 2010 a Chiropractor in Stittsville hurt her wrist and asked for an emergency replacement to see her patients. A few of us pitched in to help and I ended up working alot of extra hours. Unfortunately it turns out she really blew out her wrist and it wasn't a common injury. In health care you want to have a common injury otherwise no-one really knows what to do...so it was a wait and see game for a long time. I had no idea how long she would be injured and when she started working again she had to do it gradually. Chiropractors can't work without their hands. Finally in the last week of August she went back to full time work. So now I'll have a little more time.

Last night I almost had a catastrophe when I accidentally send ALL of my photos into the trash. I'm not sure how I did it and it took me awhile to figure out what I did. Maybe I should back up my pictures and files eh?

This is a picture of some of the stuff I've been working on. Hopefully a kit for the snowflake with the button is winging its way to SC right now. I sent out a package through USPS on Sept 4th and it hasn't arrived yet. I'm screwed because I didn't keep the receipt so I don't have a tracking number. The lady at USPS customer service assures me that there is no way for them to find that number. I can't believe that I'm the only person in history that has lost a receipt and this hasn't come up before. Since the lady on the phone couldn't help me I'm just waiting to see what happens...

Finished projects from Finger Lakes

2011-04-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

I have been working on finishing projects from the Finger Lakes weekend. One of which is a garden newt which I didn't take as a class but I couldn't resist tatting the pattern. I haven't had a chance to do the garden spider but its next.

As mentioned in my last post I'm addicted to making peeps. There was a copy of The Tatting Times which is published by Karey Solomon in the grab bag. I love her patterns and this one is lots of fun! This is one of many. I've done a few where the center flower is in a contrasting color. I purchased more thread when I was at the Finger Lakes seminar so I have plenty of choices. I did something annoying and didn't check the sizes so I ended up with 3 balls of size 40 Lizbeth instead of size 20. Fortunately the colors match and I'll still be able to use the thread. Still, I'm irritated with myself.

Great time at the Finger Lakes tatting seminar!

2011-04-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to the organizers of the seminar. I had a great time and can't wait for the next one. You really have to appreciate the people that put these events together. Its nice to be around people who understand what that string thing is and don't consider it a personality flaw.

Unfortunately, I'm not one for taking pictures but check out crunchybanana for some fun pictures of projects. I've completed a few things and will share them when I find my camera. I made a garden next, earings and a peep! The peep had nothing to do with the event but was from a copy of Tatting Times was in the grab bags. I started to laugh when I saw the pattern because a week before I was thinking how cool a tatted peep would be. So I had to make it ASAP. Its awfully cute!

I have an evil plan to make the garden spider this weekend!

Love my Kindle

2011-03-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

As indicated in the title I purchased a kindle (e-reader) and absolutely love it! Its so much easier to read and I never would have believed it until I tried it. Unfortunately I hit a glitch when I found out its the only e-reader that's not compatible with e-books our local library carries. So I'm very sad- that's the main reason I got it. I talked to a few people and there's a way around this issue. Basically I have to download to my computer first and then convert the books. So I'm going to try a few things.

I was also told that many books are available for free if you find the right site. I'm not talking about the ones that are in the public domain either. Apparently new books can be found. I'm not comfortable with doing that, I expect to get paid when I work and I think that writers and publishers should get paid for their work. Project Gutenberg is a site that shares books that are in the public domain. So there's lots of opportunity for free reading without hurting modern day writers.

The other thing I really like about the kindle is that books aren't taking up space in my house. Its all in one little container and available anywhere I take my kindle. No commitments to reading just one book!

Just one question though, will this be the end of the bookmark?

Happy St. Patty's day

2011-03-17T14:45:00.000-07:00

Happy St Patty's Day!!

As you can see I've had some fun making Shamrocks. The ones in the back are Tatting Goddess's and the from Sharen Morgan. Thanks to you both for sharing the patterns, they were just right for the day. I threw the shamrocks into my pocket for no particular reason. My friend Salima took Sharen's shamrock and pinned it to her shirt. She got lots of compliments.

Roses are red...

2011-03-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

Ever since I got my own laptop I've been lazy about posts. You would think that it would be easier to use my own computer instead of the one at work. The catch is that I don't own a scanner and I'm an indifferent photographer. I end up with no photos to go with the posts and you can't see what I'm talking about. Of course I can just randomly write whatever is on my mind but I like photos.

So today I looked for stuff to share that you haven't already seen and found this picture on my laptop. I meant to post it in February and ask what that did they look like to you? I was trying for roses but wasn't sure if I was delusional. In addition, I was trying to figure out a way to make the roses into a doily without losing the rose in the pattern. I don't think I needed to be so concerned...Pier One Imports wasn't worried about losing the rose in the design when they did their rose placemat.

The roses really show off Yarnplayer's hand dyed thread and the color changes. The one on the right is done using Olde Rose and the smaller rose is done using Pizazz. I've yet to try the pattern with a solid color so I guess that's the next step. I have a vague picture in my head for a doily but I don't have the right colors in Lizbeth thread right now. That means its on the shelf until I go on a purchasing spree for greens and rose like colors at the Finger Lakes Tatting Group seminar. I have to start compiling a list of needs now so I won't miss anything.

Finally A Head!

2011-03-11T16:23:00.000-08:00

Poor dragon lost his head and
has to hide until it regenerates!

I've been tatting Anne Bruvold's Norwegian Dragon pattern for the last 2 weeks. It met with early disaster when I missed a ring and then horrors of horrors ran out of thread doing the head. Poor dragon had his head cut off for a week!

finally finished!

I persevered and finally found him a head. I was really tempted at one time to pretend it was a side profile and skip the other wing. During the process I learned I never have to worry about SSSRs coming undone, they are pretty hard to cut apart. I'm thinking in a regular pattern that ends with a ring you could substitute a SSSR and just cut the thread where it comes out. I used Yarnplayer's Pizazz thread and I love the vivid colors. I think I might try doing Anne's Sea Horse Dragon next. You find this pattern and a bunch of others at: http://nuperelle.net/Sammensatt/HjerterEng.htm.

Rainy Day

2011-03-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

There's so much rain comming down in Ottawa that a rain warning is in effect. Anyone with half a brain is at home worrying about their basements flooding. I'm not because I'm having a case of house phobia. All my friends are too busy to come out and play but I'm bored. Normally I can find lots to keep myself occupied at home but today I'm reluctant to hang at the house. No reason, just feeling confined. The cleaning that desparately needs to be done might be playing into my phobia. I also need to do the laundry. You would be amazed at how much laundry one person can generate or at least the amount I produce.
So far I've ate lunch out with friends, gone to the wool shop, bead store and a very noisy Starbucks. Since anymore shopping therapy will require a stop at the mall I'm thinking that I'll just go home and clean.

Stats

2011-02-25T10:34:00.000-08:00

You need to clean the kitty litter...

Why haven't you cleaned the kitty litter? !

Just to let everyone know that I've posted the dagger heart pattern at the side. Click on the picture at the side to get the pattern. Lace Loving Librarian pointed out the new feature on blogger that allows you to see the number of visits to you page. I'm not sure if its all that accurate because it has Threads of a Tatting Goddess as the number one source of all visits. I've contaminated that count because I use Tatting Goddess's blog list for finding blogs and often use it to find my own. So I suspect that most of those visits are actually me.

Completely Missed Valentine's Day

2011-02-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

I completely missed Valentine's Day. It wasn't on purpose, I truly love any day that allows you to wear pink and red together. Sadly, I was informed in 6th grade by the fashion police that they don't match. That might be true but sometimes pink and red do go together!
Cameras and taking pictures is the bane of my blogging. I have a few pictures to share but they're at home in my camera and not on my computer. I wanted to share the dagger heart pattern but I don't have a good picture of the heart in progress. I think pictures will help make the directions clearer.
I always read the comments on blogs. Its interesting to see what people say. Yarnplayer's blog has 161 comments/entries for her latest give-away so far today. Which means that there's alot of people who are usually quiet. I have to confess that I've been too lazy to leave any comments lately. Sometimes its more trouble than its worth but I'm going to get back in the habit. I like comments because its nice to know that someone visits your blog. I made the mistake of not putting a visitor counter when I started blogging so I have no clue how many people actually visit.

Housekeeping

2011-02-03T14:22:00.000-08:00

Sunday was a day of cleaning up and finishing stuff. I cleared out a bunch of pictures from the photo gallery on my computer. To get one decent picture you take quite a few and there were lots of redundant photos on my computer. So I erased ones I don't need and hope that I don't regret erasing them. I also fiddled around a bit and made a few more snails. Its interesting how different color combinations can completely change a pattern. I think the snail with the blue body is better than the brown I used in the last post. I plan on adding another twist to the pattern but haven't tried it out yet.

I've also spent the last few weeks obsessed with a particular motif in tatting. In my head I call it a dagger because its made of a series of rings and chains that get smaller until it comes to a point. I was working on a pattern before Christmas that involved this motif but lost the doily and thread somewhere between Ottawa and Campbellford. I worry that it fell out of my car. Last weekend I started playing with it again and ended up with these hearts and a square doily that's slowly forming. The heart at the top is done in Tat's Kool's mango chocolate. I love the shading in this thread from brown to yellow, unfortunately that doesn't show up in the picture. The 2 a the bottom and the square doily are done in Lady Shuttlemaker's (Sherry Pence) silk thread. I lucked out this week because Sherry sent some thread as a Thank-you for some thing I sent for Picadilly. Sherry was too generous and I feel like I should send a thank-you for the thank-you.

I'm going to use Sherry's thread to continue a few more rounds. I've had to stop and take a break because I was getting stiff but the doily is currently 61/2 inches. The nice thing about silk thread is its ability to slide which means decreased friction while tatting. You don't notice this until you go back to a cotton thread and then you feel the drag. I can tat more with the silk thread before my hands start to stiffen from overuse.

Hector Tatting Seminar

2011-01-20T12:36:00.000-08:00

Its an exciting time of year with all the Spring Tatting Seminars being posted. The seminar closest to me (relative term since its a 4-5 hour drive) is the Hector Tatting Seminar. The drive is sooo worth it! Its fun to get together with other tatters and hang out, take a few classes, eat great food and get a few tatting supplies.

If you're in the area the seminar is on April 2-3/2011 for more information you can email Karey Solomon at threads@empacc.net. There's some great classes being taught including one taught by me called Garden Critters! Its hard to pick what classes to take from the description so I thought I would help by posting a picture of the snail and butterfly I'm teaching. The fun part is that you should be able to finish the butterfly in class then start same pattern again with a few twists to create the snail and a more slightly more blinged butterfly. So you get a chance to add a little complexity to the pattern. If you haven't done 2 shuttle work this is an easy start.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-18T13:48:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone! I know I'm a little late in my New Year's wishes but I've been in mood of quiet contemplation. Okay...not really. I've been reading instead of tatting. At least once a year I spend a week or 2 in a glut of reading. Not that I'm reading anything too impressive, just a bunch of trashy novels (but only the best trashy novels).

The funniest thing happened the other morning. I came downstairs and my 2nd cat couldn't be found. For a second I thought she had died because she's always at the bottom of the stairs 1st thing in the morning. After looking around for her I finally found her. You can't tell from the photo but she's sitting on top of my satellite receiver. It puts out more heat than you realise and when I left it on over night she discovered a nice, warm perch!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-25T07:00:00.000-08:00

This morning I'm hanging out with family, opening presents and eating waffles. I wanted to take a moment and wish all of you a Merry Christmas. I hope its a day filled with love, laughter and lots of food.

Christmas Stars

2010-12-16T13:43:00.000-08:00

I got so many compliments on the stars I decided to share the pattern. The only down side is that I don't know where you'll find the plastic crystals but any bead around the same size will do. They work really well as Christmas Tree ornaments as well as sun catchers.

Christmas Stars by Vicki Clarke

Supplies
Thread- size 10 red or green wound CTM with ball
2 paperclips
Crochet hook
Beads as used in picture-
Center- 15mm hexagon plastic crystal
15 4x4 Miyuki cubes
15 Size 10 seed beads added onto the ball thread
Comment: This is a pretty forgiving pattern. You can change thread size or beads without much problem. For example, you can also use size 20 thread with a 13mm center and 6/0 Miyuki beads. I have also added beads to some of the lock joins to add more bling.

Short Terms
Ls- lock stitch, 1st half unflipped 2nd half flipped
Lj- lock join, use shuttle thread to pull up loop and put shuttle through loop
3b- pull up three beads from the ball thread to make a beaded picot

Start: pull loop through crystal and hold using paperclip ls

Round 1
*Pull loop of shuttle thread through cube and hold with paperclip
Ch 8 lj to space held by paper clip* repeat 4X
Once you’ve added 5 beads then lj to space held by 1st paperclip (loop through crystal)
Repeat from * to * 5 X lj to space below 1st ls

Round 2
* Ch 8
pull loop of shuttle thread through cube and hold with paperclip
Ch 4 3b 4 lj to space held by paperclip
Ch 8 lj to space between 2nd and 3rd cubes on round 1* (make this lock join around both threads, not just the ball thread)
Repeat 4x, each joining to the space between every other cube i.e. 4&5, 6&7, 8 & 9, 10 & 1 to give you 5 points. Tie and cut

Like a little Christmas elf

2010-12-10T10:29:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks I've been working away like a little elf making Christmas themed sun catchers for my sister and mom to give their co-workers for Christmas. I'm done and that's off my plate. If I finish a couple of bookmarks then I've got tatting time to waste! I'm going to waste it with the gingerbread thread I ordered from Tatskool. No idea what to do. But I guess I'll be going with the theme of the thread!

The last thread I ordered was from was from Krystledawn. I have rarely used up a whole skein up hand dyed thread but I used up all of her love potion #9! It was a fun mixture of greys and purples which became the center of a doily and butterflies...lots of butterflies. You can't see in the picture but I used grey delica beads that match the grey in the thread. I was really inspired by this thread and grey is my current favorite color.

Love Potion # 9 thread by Krystledawne, pattern by me!

Chocolate mmmmm....

2010-11-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

I almost missed the deadline for Ambitatterous's contest! I thought that tomorrow was the last day of November Gasp! Fortunately I realised that today was in fact the last day to enter.

In order to decorate a box of chocolates I had to think of a story. I went through a few scenarios in my head but this is the one that stuck.The chocolates in this box are crafted in a secret laboratory somewhere in Belgium. Special ingredients are compiled from mystical plantations deep in the Americas and carried under armed guard across the ocean. Specially trained monks mix the chocolate in silence to create the richest chocolate in the world. Rich and creamy chocolate deserves a rich exterior so these chocolates come sealed by a Sapphire pendant that protects the chocolates from contamination. The pendant is embedded in a flower found only in the depths of the rain forest. This flower helps to preserve the natural flavors of the chocolates and brings good luck to all that hold it. No need for any labels because anyone who receives the box knows what's inside.

The Sapphire

One Last Look

Its in the air

2010-11-25T16:13:00.000-08:00

I can smell the turkey cooking from up here! Just a quick note to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

In case you've hit a roadblock on thankful things here's a 101 things to be thankful for:
(list by Craig Jones and published on Ezine articles)

A beautiful song
A comfortable chair
A cool breeze
A drink of cool water
A full moon
A gentle rain
A glass of cold milk
A good book to read
A good coat
A good husband
A good pillow
A good wife
A scenic drive
Air conditioning
Banana splits
Beaches in the morning
Beautiful women
Birds singing
Blue jeans
Brothers
Butterflies
Butterfly kisses
Ceiling fans
Children laughing
Christmas morning
Clothes that fit well
Comfortable shoes
Compliments
Computers that work
Cooing Babies
Cream Brule
Dark Chocolate
Dishwashers
Diversity
Dried pineapple slices
Fairness
Crackling fire in a fireplace
Flowers
Freedom of religion
Freedom of speech
Fresh ideas
Friendly dogs
Good conversation
Good eyesight
Good friends
Good health
Good movies
Good teachers
Good tires
Grace
Grandchildren
Grandma
Grandpa
Hair spray
High-speed Internet access
Holding hands
Homemade ice cream
Honest people
Hugs
Ice cubes
Indoor plumbing
Kind men
Kittens
Laughter
Live Christmas trees
Morning coffee
Parking spaces near the front
Peanut butter
Plenty of closet space
Polyester
Polite drivers
Porch swings
Pregnant women
Puppies
Quiet mornings
Rainbows
Remote Controls
Roasted peanuts
Shade trees
Silk pajamas
Sisters
Smiles
Snow covered mountains
Snowflakes
Soft toilet paper
Sunrises
Sunsets
Thanksgiving dinner
That I wasn't in the obituaries today
The color of autumn leaves
The ocean
The smell of a Sunday roast cooking
The smell of homemade bread
The words "I love you"
Tire swings
True friends
Uninterrupted dinners
Warm kisses
Warm showers
Whipped cream
White puffy clouds
Wrinkle-free clothes
Tatting

In case you were wondering...

2010-11-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

If you're wondering where all the angst about facebook has come from you can blame continuing education. Last weekend I was at a conference and one of the speakers used a podcast from http://www.ted.com/ to explain social connectivity, leadership and social media (pretty smart guy named Seth Godin). The idea was tribal cultures and how people of like interests connect through tools like the Internet. How someone from England can connect to someone in Canada through social media to create tribes of people with similar interests.

So in the middle of this conference am I thinking of connecting to other Chiropractors? No, I'm wondering who was the first tatter to trespass into this brave new world? In 2001 or 2002 I had a monumental brain storm to search for tatting on the Internet. At that time there was already a flourishing community of tatting websites based on tatting. Georgia Seitz was already up and running with her online class. Chat rooms had been running. There were lots of free patterns available on the Internet and I spent lots of time printing off patterns and techniques I had never seen before. Now there's even tatters twittering...

I was just curious if anyone remembers when they first started looking on the Internet and when it became a community (or a tribe as Seth would call it)?

the workings of facebook...

2010-11-16T14:57:00.000-08:00

...are a mystery to me. This may seem strange but I'm seriously afraid of facebook. It just didn't seem that interesting until I realised that I could stalk people! And by stalk I mean look up old friends. I have to confess that it was fun to look up someone and see what they are doing. Since most people have closed pages I only got to peak at them. What isn't closed is their friends and who they've been in contact with. It reminded me of people I totally forgot or whose name I would never remember. Its kinda like taking a walk at night and looking in your neighbor's window! Oh yes, I do that! I grew up in a small town where everyone new each other's business. Its a defense mechanism. You have to be prepared to blackmail the person threatening to tell all your secrets! lol!

I'm a little embarrassed that I only have one picture. Most of my friends have lots. For some reason I'm afraid that some crazy is going to see my picture on facebook then hunt me down and kill me. Too much Criminal Minds and NCIS! lol! Or it maybe my Mom that's given me these crazy thoughts.

I mean the gig is up. I've been doing a blog for a couple years and it only takes 2 seconds to google me. What comes up is not surprise- I'm a Chiropractor and I tat. In fact, once someone looks me up they've got my whole life in front of them. Maybe I should be working harder to control their first impression?

This was brought to my attention the other day in a bar. Salima and I went to Baton Rouge and the only seats were at the bar which is always fun. A gentleman who took the seat next to us had an iPhone and we asked a whole bunch of questions about the difference between and iPhone and a blackberry (he was hot and we were bored). Well, in 5 minutes he had everything just from telling him our website address.

So if everything about my life is floating in cyberspace some where why am I so nervous?

The people that keep us safe...

2010-11-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

I went with friends and family to the Remembrance Day ceremonies in Manotick today. My friend's son Ayan (almost 3yrs) asked his mom (Sal) what we were doing. Sal told him that we are thanking all the people that keep us safe. That struck me as the perfect way to explain Remembrance day to an infant.

Trick or Treat!!!!!

2010-10-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!!

tatting on Craft Gossip

2010-10-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

Two Shuttles threatened to bring out her Christmas trees and that reminded me- I have a black Christmas Tree! I still have time to pull it out before Halloween and ghost it up. After Sunday I can redecorate it and leave it out until January! If you make anything to give as presents you have to start so early that you need a little inspiration to get you going. How early is to early?

I don't know if you've seen tatting on this site before but Craft Gossip showed Rozella Linden's Celtic pumpkin tatted by pieknits. If you go to her site look through the older posts you'll see what Pieknit did with Martha Ess's skull pattern. Heather's new 3 hole shuttles made it onto Craft gossip too. Its always fun to see tatting somewhere you haven't seen it before.

Ambitatterous posted a NOT TO BE MISSED challenge last Friday. It's taken me this long to say in a calm and kind manner-

OH IT'S ON!!!!! TIME TO PUT ON YOUR BIG GIRL PANTIES AND START TATTING!!!!

See? Nice and calm....there's a lot I would do for 25 balls of thread. A little smack talk and intimidation is nothing. She's given us one month to come up with something...no pressure...

I'd like to leave this post with an appropriate quote from a movie:

Forrest Gump: My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Unbelievably crabby

2010-10-17T15:19:00.000-07:00

Its a beautiful fall day- sun is shinning and the wind is reasonable. What's not reasonable is me! I'm unbelievably crabby!

This is me!

Yep! I'm the one with the stink eye for everyone. Really is it so hard just to get a regular tea at the damn starbucks? You know the stuff that's in every restaurant in North America (why is everything so complicated?) Do I want black tea or herbal tea? There's Earl Grey (box was empty) and some other stupid concoction....I guess I'll just have to go home and yell at my cats.

Oh, but I can't because I want to use the free Wi-Fi so I'll order the zillionth coffee of the day. That's really going to help...

To make up for the vast amount of evil mental thoughts I'm sending out to the world today I'm sharing this very appropriate pattern that's pictured above. It'll be on keep and share in a couple of days but right now I don't have the patience to handle it. If there's any mistakes please let me know and watch out because there's a lot of turns in this pattern. (I guess that kinda matches my mood)

Sugar Skull by Vicki Clarke 2010

Sugar Skulls are often colourful so feel free to add more embellishment. Don’t feel you need to stick to white as the base color. You can also use pearly white beads for the teeth in which case you’ll need 14 white beads. Another option is to make the inside round a different color and the outside white.

Materials
White thread CTM with ball (in picture I used size 20)
1 yards variegated thread (in picture I used size 20)
2 beads

CWJ- Catherine wheel join
lp- long picot
slt- shoe lace trick
vsp- very small picot
Sugar Skull Base
R1 8 lp 8
Ch1 8 - 8
R2 8 + (to lp) 8
Ch2 8 - 8 (optional to add beads here: 2b2b2b2bb2b2b2b2)
R3 8 + (to lp) 8
Ch3 8 - 8
R4 8 + (to lp) 8
turn work from right to left

Ch4 slt 12 lj (to p Ch 3)
Ch5 22 CWJ (to p of Ch2) 22 lj (to p Ch 1)
Ch 6 12 join to base of ring 1
Ch7 2-1-1-1-1-1-1-1- 2 (total of 7 picots) joint to base of ring 4
Turn work from right to left
Ch8 slt 8 turn work from right to left
Ch9 slt 3-1-1-1-1-1-1-3 turn work
Ch10 slt 8 tie into beginning.

Eyes and nose

R 3-1-1-1-3 vsp 3-1-1-1-3
Dimpled R 3ds 3(1st half stitch) 3(2nd half stitch) 3ds
R 3-1-1-1-3 vsp 3-1-1-1-3

Attach eyes and nose to skull:

1. Bring thread through the center picot of the base.
2. Add bead to thread
3. Bring thread up through vsp on eye and then down through the picot on ch 1 of the base
4. Bring thread back through bead and tie to middle
5. Go to other side and repeat step 2 to 4
6. Secure nose if needed
7. Tie and cut.

Baby arrived

2010-10-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

I though I posted this last week but here it is a week late:

Baby Olivia made an appearance yesterday morning at about 8lbs and 19inches. In what is typical Jessica fashion she drove us nuts all through her pregnancy and then pops the baby out with minimal fuss. Gets us all excited then boom its over. Her water broke at 9pm, she went into labour at 1am, headed for the hospital at 5am, was fully dilated when she arrived and baby was out by the time they called me at 8am. So that's pretty quick. Baby and mom are doing fine. Mom tried to bribe the midwife to tell Jessica it was a boy but the midwife declined. (Jessica has already bought enough girl clothes for the next 2 years)

I get to see Olivia this weekend because its Thanksgiving here in Canada. So its been a great week for our family!
Comment:
I had a great thanksgiving and Olivia is very cute. She's been so calm and easy that my brother in law is now wondering what's the big deal? He figures its pretty easy to take care of a baby. Ever hear of the saying "don't tempt the fates?"

A little distracted

2010-10-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

So I've fallen behind with converting my files to Keep and Share. I will get back to it soon but I've been a little busy. Between me and the other Chiropractor in our clinic (Salima) we are covering another chiropractor in the city that hurt her wrist. She works by herself and had no-one to help when she hurt her wrist. Since this isn't a common injury we are all waiting to see what's going on. That means I'm working an extra 18 hours a week. That's not a whole lot in other professions but in mine that's straight physical labour! So I'm exhausted! Between falling out of bed and working the extra hours I'm a little sore. So I haven't been doing much other than sleeping when I get home.

I'm also waiting for my sister to go into labour. She was due on September 30th but so far not signs of baby Olivia. I guess she's going to take after my father and keep everyone waiting for her.

Friday Morning

2010-09-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Friday morning at 6am I fell out of bed. Yep, wasn't doing anything fun just turning off my alarm clock. You see I have an antique bed that takes a 3/4 mattress but I use a double mattress. So the mattress hangs over the edge on each side when you've just placed it but shifts to the whatever side you get out of bed. So when I rolled to turn off my alarm clock I slide right off the bed. I have a huge bruise on my right arm where I hit my nightstand, my butt hurts and my wrist is achy. I suspect it would have felt worse today except I got adjusted and had a 20 minute massage on Friday pm. Both really helped but I can't wait until tomorrow when I'll repeat the treatment. I'm also taking Traumeel which is a homeopathic anti-inflammatory.
Bad timing since I'm helping another Chiropractor whose been injured. She hurt her wrist so Salima (chiropractor I work with) and I are filling in while she heals. This means I working twice as many hours as usual. Being a Chiropractor is physical work and you often break a sweat. So I'm already a little tired and sore already.
Apparently you can have a mattress custom made and its not too expensive. I think that after this I'm going to be looking into getting a mattress that fits. I don't want to slide out of bed again.

Finally found it!

2010-09-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go into a bead or fabric store I always look for a brooch base. Its easy to find them on-line but I never see them in stores. I finally found some at McNare Beads here in Ottawa and bought a bunch. Basically you use glue to add stuff to the base. I'm hoping that this style will sit better on a shirt. I hate it when they tilt forward, the brooch looks like its trying to jump off your chest!

I realised burlap was truely in when I saw it at Starbucks

2010-09-19T14:05:00.001-07:00

You may not have noticed but burlap is pretty trendy right now. This was confirmed last week during a trip to Starbucks where I noticed that one of the wraps in the travel mugs was burlap. This was definitely a sign. It would be a great time to share how to make burlap angels but alas, a trip to Micheal's is needed for that particular craft. Sometime before Christmas I'll share it. My Mom and I made over 30 burlap angels 4 years ago for friends and coworkers at Christmas. We made another 20 the next year because my sister changed jobs and had new people to gift them to.

Instead I made a trip to Canadian Tire and purchased a pack of garden burlap. Some styrofoam balls and a few ribbons later I made this Potion Sac. I had to let it sit for a week before I decided to put on the felt label with the witch hat. It took me awhile to realise it needed more color, Burlap can be so dull. Tonight I'm making a bunch with different labels. One of the patterns I'm going to use is Ellen Lai's Owl and one of the skulls from Martha Ess's Halloween Bling Bracelet. The Styrofoam balls are white and can see through the burlap so I improvised using the black scoop poop bags I had from the dollar store!

This second idea didn't turn out quite as nice as I hoped. Last year I made a few of these ornament covers and put it on a clear ornament with spiders in the bottom. I hung the ornaments on an arrangement of dead branches. This year I thought that the burlap might show of the colors more so I wrapped another Styrofoam ball and slipped on the cover but I think its too bulky and drab. I guess I'll pull out the clear balls. You probably have already guessed that Yarnplayer inspired the ornament covers with her experiments to get a stained glass effect.

Big plans tonight finishing my fall decor. I try not to get too morbid too early so I'm using a lot of leaves. Lots of time for more grotesque stuff as Halloween gets closer.

I love this idea!

2010-09-16T07:48:00.001-07:00

Once again I was following the link trail from blog to blog just wasting time. I do that from time to time to check out all the neat ideas out there. I came across this blog where she shows how to make envelopes using paper doilies. I thought this is a must have idea for anyone who makes lace. You can send all your creations in appropriately Lacy envelopes. Now where can you find paper doilies that come in a square? The ones I've seen are usually round.

Not what I planned...

2010-09-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

I had planed to post something different today but I didn't have the essential material needed to complete my mad inspiration. So a visit to Michael's is needed before I share my idea. This is unfortunate since I've already spent all my buttons on beads. Pretty, pretty beads that I thought I desperately needed...can't have too many Delicas can I?
Its okay but it spawned another idea that I can't complete since I don't have that material either. Fortunately, I think a visit to Canadian Tire may produce the burlap needed and the dollar store is a good source for Styrofoam balls.
It's all worked out because I realised that I didn't share something I had planned on sharing earlier. You know those flat, round shell disks that you often see in the dollar store? Well, I found a seasonal use for them- leaves (Leaf on a Shell Bead). You can substitute another bead or just skip the bead entirely by changing Ch1 to R 4-4-4-4-8-4-4-4-4 or a mock ring with the same count.

I also thought that the motif looks like a Chinese lantern (the plant).

Trial Run

2010-09-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

I finally have discovered the magic of Keep and Share. This program allows me to create a link to my patterns online. This means that you get them in a nicer form- a word document. On the right hand side of the screen is a link to the Bear Heart Pattern. Just click to download the file. I will be gradually changing over all the patterns posted on the right hand side of this screen. Let me know how this works for you.

Last week I had a quick (20 minutes) tutorial from a 16 year old about everything I needed to know on my computer. Adil is not only a smart kid but he's able to communicate. A trait not often found in exceptionally smart people and one I value. So Adil set me straight on a bunch of things and hopefully I remember about 10% of the useful stuff.

Paw Prints

2010-08-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

So now you've heard a bit about my sister. If you meet her feel free to introduce yourself as one of "my people". It'll be funny to see what she does.

Despite the "My People" teasing she has an appreciation for both craftiness and seniors (runs a retirement home). Jessica is also able to poke fun at herself. She's 9 months pregnant and in the last month Mom started crocheting baby stuff at an astronomical speed. Jessica is now referring to Mom as her " personal baby clothes sweat shop". A comment more aimed at making fun of Jessica's greed for baby clothes than my Mom.

Unfortunately Jessica had to put her dog down 2 weeks ago. She's very upset since Magic has been with our family for over 15 years. Magic showed up at our house one day and never left.

I've decided to make her something to put on her key chain and there's only one pattern that fits- Paw Prints on My Heart by Heather. So I went to Etsy and purchased the pattern. I found the pattern easy to follow and made a few paw prints the other night. Color isn't showing up very well in this picture but I used Lady Shuttlemaker's Middle Earth in silk. It looks yellow in the picture but is actually shades of brown. I'm sure she's going to love it! I think I'll make a few to sew onto a onsie (onesie?). Thanks Heather for the great pattern.

MY PEOPLE!!!!

2010-08-27T07:40:00.000-07:00

You can't know this but I often start posts about the quirks in my family and then never actually post them. Mostly because you may not find it as funny as I do or you may think that I'm being mean. But this time I sitting here in another office downtown giggling to myself and I've really got to share this story.

There's a certain amount of teasing and torture that goes on between family members- especially sisters. Also crafters in general have a certain reputation. When you mention being a crafter there's an image that immediately comes to people's mind that gets worse when you mention that you do lace.

Playing on this particular Stereotype my sister has starting referring to tatters as "My People". When I go to a seminar I'm visiting "My People", if someone is driving slow (usually a senior) on the way to these seminars then they are "One of My People". She has gone so far has to start picking out people on the street and referring them to as "One of Your(my) People".

Let me tell you that's she's not picking anyone that remotely resembles any tatter that I know and most look like they've escaped from the Royal Ottawa (Mental health Institute) or the local Nursing Home! Somehow she knows it hits that mark and I cringe silently inside each time she does it. Sisters just know these things.

So there you are- a story about sisters, stereotypes and a little benign torture on the family scale. That's whats making me laugh all by myself in this big office.

****Sisters have not been named in this post for their protection****

Still Whinning

2010-08-24T14:27:00.001-07:00

Since I've spent most of the last couple posts whining I thought "why ruin the trend?" I have located my camera, camera cord and a tatting needle (under my deck) so what else could be going wrong?

I've lost my very important and special crochet hook that fits through seed beads. I broke my smallest crochet hook a couple of months ago and now I've lost the next size up! Once again I'm sure its in a very safe place but I'm be *#!* if I know where that is.

Most of the time I add beads as I go along using a crochet hook. Do you have any idea how tedious it is to add beads without a crochet hook? Very slow. So no beads on my tatting until I either find my beloved crochet hook OR purchase another. Lets not talk about the tatting I've lost along with the crochet hook.

I'm proof that organization doesn't always help!

Thread size note about the bear heart

2010-08-17T13:11:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note that I remade the bear heart with size 20 thread (a couple different brands) and everything worked out just fine. So you don't have to use the DMC thread. I've added size 20 thread as a possibility on the pattern. Also, Lady Picot was able to use a different bead and everything turned out just fine, so don't feel you need to use a bear bead just something similar in size.

So sketchy...

2010-08-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

My posting has been sketchy I admit it. I would like to blame someone else but its my fault. I keep leaving my stuff all over the place. Just as I realise that I have a slot for my photo card on my laptop and don't need my camera cord (lost but found) I misplace my camera. After 2 weeks of searching the house I finally find it at the clinic... in the last place I looked. You know how I feel about posts with no pictures so I've been immobilized too afraid to post without a picture!

So good news I have a picture and a pattern to post. Its a pattern based around a bead so you'll need to stick pretty close to the original thread size. I used DMC size 8 thread which is ridiculously easy to find and comes in a lot of colors (my sister bought a crap load at a bizarre). I'm thinking you can probably use size 20 tatting thread.

Bear Heart
Vicki Clarke 2010 victats@gmail.com
(click on title for hyperlink to word document)

Materials

bear bead (you can buy this bead by the 100's at a dollar store)
DMC size 8 thread wound CTM with 1 yard on shuttle. Size 20 tatting thread will work as well
ls- lock stitch
lj- lock join
DNRW- do not reverse work

Instructions
Start by pulling thread from top to bottom through bear bead and hold loop using a paperclip.

Ch1 ls 3-4-4-4 lj (to space held by paperclip) 4-4-4-4 lj (to beginning just under the lock stitch)

Round 2
Ch 8
R 3 + (to 1st p of Ch1) 3
Ch 12
R 3 + (to 2nd p of Ch1) 3
Ch 6
R 3 + (to 3rd p of Ch 1) 3 DNRW
Ch 8
R 3 - 3
Ch 8 DNRW
R 3 + (to 4th p of Ch1) 3
Ch 6
R 3 + (to 5th p of Ch1) 3
Ch 12
R 3 + (to 6th p of Ch1) 3
Ch 8 join back to beginning, cut and tie

If you have any questions or feedback about the pattern please let me know at victats@gmail.com. I'm working on making friends with Adobe so I can give you patterns in a better format but I'm computer dumb. It may take awhile.

I've been busy...

2010-07-20T11:54:00.000-07:00

I lost the cord that allows me to download pictures from my camera to my computer. I've looked everywhere and I think its probably at my friend's house. That's where I last had it in my hands. Since I hate to post without photos I haven't had much to share in the last week.
Yesterday I realised that my computer has a slot for photo cards and I'm back in business! I've been working on things and I'm just waiting for a moment to write out a few patterns.
I've also been working on another project that involves spray paint and calligraphy pens. Here's a picture of all my red flowers which I'm pretending are mums. I've also written what I think are witty sayings on each of the flowers. Even if they aren't that witty everyone will have to humour me. I think I'm funny (in the HA HA way not the padded room way)

I used my cache of plastic crystal to make a leaf sun catcher that I'm sending down south to the Palmetto Tatdays for the silent auction table. This is one of the patterns I want to write out and share. If you flip it upside down it can double as a Christmas tree. I truly admire those who are able to write out patterns clearly. Half the time I don't even remember what I've done!

Mint has grown in abundance in my garden this year and I'm adding it to everything. My breath had better smell good! Ths cup has fresh mint tea but don't let the rest fool you. The strawberries and shortcakes are Christmas ornaments. I salivated over the shortcakes before Christmas dithered about buying them but found then dirt cheap after Christmas. I was really happy when I bought them for 90% off the original price. I'm not sure if you can see it but there's a beautiful green doily underneath the vase. It was a gift for the teachers at the Palmetto Tat Days last year. I'm sorry I can't remember off hand who made it but it is lovely. Her name will come to me later.
At the last Tat days Georgia Seitz started an ambitious project to create a crazy quilt with tatted embellishments. Each participant took a quilt block to decorate and when finished sends it in to be made into one large quilt. Today I opened my email to find the link to the finished quilt. Check out http://www.tatdaysscholarship.info/ to see what they've done. An added bonus of visiting the site is that you can buy tickets on-line for the auction. Each ticket is $5 and the money goes to the Palmetto Tat Days Scholarship fund. Just think, for a lousy $5 you can have a one of a kind work of art...how cool is that?

I've done something to my blogger acount...

2010-07-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

Don't you hate it when you innocently brush something on the keyboard and the computer goes haywire? Somehow I've magnified my screen in blogger beyond what my computer keeps telling me is my optimal resolution. Since I have no idea how I did this amazing thing I have no idea how to fix it. As I'm typing the letters and spacing are distorted and its kinda giving me a headache.

On Sunday I started to teach my neighbor how to tat. It was a little difficult because she wanted to know all the details first like how to make a picot and do a join but I just wanted her to learn the knot. I figure if she gets the knot and flip the rest is easy. I sent her home with a shuttle, thread and the Complete Book of Tatting by Rebecca Jones. She's going to practice her knot. I have every confidence that she can pick it up because she HAND SEWS. Yep, no sewing machine in her house and she makes lovely dresses by hand. So if she can do that she can definitely tat.

When I tat I often use beads and make a lot of beaded joins so I am really interested in Jon's latest post. She shows a way to make the bead sit on top of a join. I think its really smart but it also made me that I should share the way that I added some of the beads on my sun catchers. I'll take some pictures tonight and post tomorrow. Stay Tuned.
(picture included so you'll read the post! lol!)

Happy Canada Day!

2010-07-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day here in Ottawa, and there's going to be a lot of citizens with sunburns tomorrow! This is a busy day in Ottawa and there's always a big crowd downtown at the Parliament Buildings. If you are ever in Ottawa for Canada Day you should spend some time downtown. This year even the Queen's in town!

I have finally gotten my act together to give you a few photos of my recent fun! This is my crazy quilt block that I decorated for the Palmetto tat days fundraiser. I actually finished it awhile ago but took forever to get it in the mail. I used Lady Shuttlemaker's hand dyed silk thread and did mostly chain work for the edgings. The one exception is a modification of Mary Konior's curds and whey. The butterfly is her pattern as well.

As mentioned in my last post I found plastic beads that look like crystals. They really reflect the light so I've been using them to make sun catchers. The ones to the left were made with size 10 Anchor Freccia thread. These did not need to be stiffened to hold their shape. The others that I made using DMC crochet cotton were a little more floppy but I'm not sure if that's the thread or the different design. The star shape is a little more chancy. I've done it in both DMC crochet cotton and Lizbeth thread which I find a stiffer thread. The stars hold their shape about the same so I think its the design. I haven't decided yet if I will stiffen the stars. When I first made the stars it for ornaments on my sister's pink and black themed Christmas tree. The butterfly is for the tree as well. The blue beads with brown Lizbeth thread is for my house.

Enforced quiet time

2010-06-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Although I have no pictures to share of my tatting I have been busy. In fact, over the weekend I managed to tat enough to have a burning feeling in my elbows. The source of the problem is in fact a small store called McBead Creations. Its a wonderful place full of lots of fun things. They have these wonderful and cheap plastic crystal beads similar to what they put on fake chandeliers. They look lovely and come in all colors. So I've been making lots and lots of stuff with them that can either be Christmas ornaments or sun catchers.

Despite trying to garden and do other stuff the call of the crystals has been too much for me to resist. I kept pulling out new colors. The burning in my elbows forced be to drastic action to stop tatting. I emptied my purse, organized my junk and still was drawn to the thread. So I was forced to do my nails! lol

I pulled out my french manicure kit and started polishing. If you've never done your own you don't know how easy it is. My big mistake is that I fuss too much and eventually there's a nail or 2 that gets overdone. You know what? It doesn't look that different from the experts and it lasts about the same time. Drying is the tricky part and I'm often too impatient to let each coat dry. Last night I let everything dry really well between coats. When you are really sure the polish is dry then rub your nails together and if they don't stick or feel gross they are dry. Do stuff before they are completely dry the polish will flake off the next day. So that's how I forced myself to stop. I definitely didn't want nail polish on the thread.

Most of the muscles that move your fingers and wrists come from your elbow. Which is why I got into trouble. Rest helped but I also used ice, truameel (inflammation modulator) and got adjusted. So I will be back at it shortly. If you ask me what I did wrong I could tell you easy- too much tatting too intensively and not enough breaks. Totally my fault and totally avoidable.

Dropped out of sight

2010-06-22T12:37:00.000-07:00

I feel like I've dropped out of sight the last few weeks. I haven't posted because I didn't have any photos to share. I don't read blogs with no pictures so I always try to include some sort of picture on mine. Yes, that means that if you don't post a picture I won't read what you post. I'm ashamed of my shallowness but what can you do? Instead of pictures I'm sharing a few thoughts worthy or not about what other people are posting.

Fox has posted a good idea and followed it up with some action over http://www.tat-ology.com/. She's put together a way to exchange thread informally over the distance through this blog http://thethreadexchange.blogspot.com/. The beauty of this exchange is that you know who's making the exchange with you. If the thread doesn't arrive you can contact your exchange partner directly to resolve the issue. I've been doing exchanges long enough to get burned a few times. Its no fun to wait for a package that never arrives. I have great sympathy for those who are brave enough to organize an exchange. Herding a bunch of tatters is probably like herding a bunch of cats!

One of these days Totusmel (http://totusmel.blogspot.com/) is going to give me a kick in the head because I keep giving my 2 cents worth about her designs. I am amazed by the way she uses tatting. She's just finished a really neat flaming mask. So much different than what I could even imagine.

I've decided that cruelty must be a chief characteristic of test tatters (you know who you are). Why else do they flaunt patterns not yet published and taunt us with their blocky goodness? I've been seeing a lot of Martha Ess's newest block critters on different blogs. Her newest book is due out in August just in time for the Palmetto Tat Days.

Just so you all know I'm going to steal Jane's earrings the next chance I get...probably won't get the opportunity for a couple years. I'll post you when it happens. http://janeeborall.blogspot.com/ (so you can see pictures of the earrings)

I was going into withdrawls when Tatting Goddess stopped her regular posts. She's back at it if you haven't noticed. However, I didn't read her post today because there wasn't any pictures! (kidding)

Did I mention that Sherry ( http:/ladyshuttlemaker.blogspot.com) is severely knocked up? So is my sister and they are due around the same time. A few other people I know are pregnant and due in the fall. I don't usually know so many fecund women... Even though there's a 1/12 chance of being due at the same time I've decided all these pregnant woman are a sign the stars are aligning. For what I don't know! By the way, I mean Sherry as in the shuttlemaker and not Sherry as in the celtic dreamweaver (http://celticdreamweave.blogspot.com/).

Finally I lied and found a few pictures I haven't shared. They are both Mary Konior's patterns and tatted in Sherry's hand dyed threads. I love single shuttle patterns!

In Classes

2010-05-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

I was in class over the weekend to earn Continuing Education credits. I always bring tatting to these things just to keep my hands busy. For some reason thrown off rings (TOR) was the name of the game on the weekend. I just kept going for as long as possible with this theme. I thought that I would end up with a doily but looking at a picture of it I realise that there's a heart in there too. I can now either mirror the bottom for a doily OR curve around the top to make a heart. If I make a heart then I have to retro tat to remove that big ring on the left (which would stupid on the heart but is my branching point to the next round on the doily). I'm likely to just go ahead and mirror the bottom. I feel some SCMR (which I almost never do) coming on to finish an outside round. Do you think that TOR are awkward on an outside round? Is it okay to have rings just sticking out there, hanging in space?

Not sure how...

2010-05-18T11:05:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how I can have so much time and never get anything done. There's a saying that if you want something done ask a busy person. I believe that's true. I've got lots of time and I never get anything done.

I spent the last few weeks getting ready for a Sparks (girl guides) Mommy and Me camp. This takes more time then you realise and I tend to obsess over details. I was a little worried because this was my first camp with the Moms. Everyone was great and things went smoothly. The weather was wonderful! I was so wound up the days before the camp that I crashed afterwards and pretty much slept away Sunday and Monday.

Now I just have to get all the crap I pulled out for the camp put away! An added bonus is that this is the last week for Sparks until September. I'll miss the girls but this will give me time to catch up.

Once the camp crap is away then I can spend all my time tatting. Oh no! The weeds are getting out of control...I guess I have to finally cut the lawn!

Totally addicted

2010-05-04T11:09:00.001-07:00

I have a confession to make....I'm totally addicted to tutorials! Tutorials on pretty much anything but they need to have lots and lots of pictures. Something about a good picture that makes things look so much more special than the reality. I love to know how to do things. So I thought I would share a few sites that I check out on a regular basis.

http://totallytutorials.blogspot.com Totally Tutorials
http://www.oneprettything.com/ One Pretty Thing
http://belladia.typepad.com/crafty_crow/ The Crafty Crow
http://dollarstorecrafts.com/ Dollar Store Crafts

I'm not sure why I'm fixated on tutorials.

Tax time

2010-04-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

In Canada taxes are due at the end of April and I'm currently working on finishing up my taxes. So its tax time not tat time.

This year I'm left wondering where the money went. Not that I've made a lot but just that I made more than it felt like at the time. I'm a fairly frugal person, I don't have a drug or alcohol problem and I didn't consider my purchases excessive in 2009. I did a lot of work on my house and most of my purchases have been for household stuff... and I might have spent SOME money on tatting stuff (why isn't tatting a tax write off?). I feel like there should be more money at the end of the year. I guess my money tree didn't grow this year...this spring I'll plant another loonie (Canadian dollar coin) and see what happens.

Update: Good news/bad news...I didn't waste as much money as I thought, I just missed a line. Bad news is that this line changed my income dramatically and I made less money in 2009 than 2008 (not surprising considering the economy). I feel much better about the way I handle my money but not so good about my income.

Home again

2010-04-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

I had a great time at the Hector Tat Days. The new location at the Lodi Fire Hall worked out really well. The lighting was much better, there was more space and the bathrooms had more than one toilet! As usual the food was great and so were the classes. I took Ginny's Shirley Angel Class. I'm ashamed to tell you that poor Shirley's head did not turn out... I managed to make it inside out. I lost some steam after that and didn't finish it but I'm going to take some time this weekend and try again. Every year its hard to decide what classes to take and this year there were great choices. I'm hoping to work through the booklet and make all the angels. I'm not very good at following directions, fortunately I have the option of only sharing successful attempts.

The speaker we had on Saturday night was very good and I enjoyed her talk. Unfortunately I can't remember her name but she was very gracious. While she was speaking Ginny and I goofed around drawing out a pattern for a sugar skull. Yes, Ginny I have something to send you. I'm actually very excited about my descent into morbid designing. Its been fun. I've been entertaining myself with names for the collection like Hallow'tats, Lace of the Living Dead or the Tatful Dead. There's a large doily in all this I just know it.

In case you are shocked by this dark line of tatting I'd like to point out that Martha started it with her Pearl Tatted Skeleton, Halloween Bling (skull bracelet) and the brains (links provided below). I sound like a 5 year old defending why she's drawing on the wall. All I can say is that Martha Started It!
http://my.att.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=87&subpageid=302737&ck=
http://my.att.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=87&subpageid=326841&ck=
http://my.att.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=87&subpageid=326841&ck=

See you at Hector

2010-04-08T13:18:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I'm getting into my car and driving to the finger lakes area for the Hector Tatting Days. Hopefully the border guard will let me through and won't get confused about Tatting. Last year it took me awhile to convince him that I wasn't going to a tattoo convention. In fact, he was right suspicious of me and I thought that he might search my car.

Am I ready? Well, to tell the truth...no!
There's a whole lot of things that I meant to do but for the life of me I can't remember what they were. Isn't that annoying? I know I have to pack but what I'm not sure. The weather has been so changeable lately.

I also haven't spent anytime making a list of wants and needs in tatting supplies. I know I want Ginny's new book and definitely a few more from Karey. I would also like to pick up one of Iris Niebach's books. Although I have lots of clover shuttles I never seem to have an empty one so I will purchase another 5 pack. Lastly, I will be purchasing some thread probably in the Altin Basak. I have to figure out a way to keep track of what I've already purchased so I think that tonight will involve cutting thread samples so I don't get duplicate colors. I might get so Lizbeth thread just because the colors are so spectacular but I really don't need to start another collection of threads.

If you are coming pop over and say Hi.

Give away winner and pendant exchange

2010-04-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

Its time to announce the winner of the necklace giveaway. I know I said Saturday but events conspired for it to be otherwise. This morning I got our massage therapist to draw a name from the pile and sewmuchfun4 won the draw. I've sent her an email and hopefully the package will be in the mail by the end of the week.

On a similar note I finished my exchange pendant for intatters about a week ago. Its had its highest level of approval- my sister liked it. Unfortunately time caught up with me and I didn't get it sent out before today. I never have a problem getting an exchange package ready but I seem to have an issue actually getting it in the mail. Today is the day and it's being sent out as we speak!

Happy International Tatting Day!

2010-04-01T12:37:00.000-07:00

Its a beautiful day here in Ottawa to sit in the sun and tat. Unfortunately I'm stuck in the office but I hope to catch a few moments to tat later. As you may know the traditional activities for the day are the following:

1. Eat all the chocolate you desire.
2. Wear a little tatting and tell everyone you meet about it.
3. tat only for yourself, only what you want to tat
4. remember those that came before you and have contributed to the art.

Instead of showing what I'm tatting today I'm sharing a picture of the coasters I made last fall. The pattern is from Mary Konoir's book Tatting with Visual Patterns done in size 10 navy thread. I made 4 coasters but the 4th one is currently MIA. As you can tell, my sewing abilities are limited.
Just for fun and to honor International tatting day I'm doing a give-away. Its simple, just leave a comment and your name. I will do the draw on Saturday. The prize is this tatted necklace.
I wish everyone a great day!

Flowers Tic Tac Toe

2010-03-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

I like those tic tac toe boards you sometimes see in boutiques where instead of x's and o's they have different playing pieces like flowers or frogs. I figure this is a great gift because everyone plays tic tac toe. This project is no-sew because I was too lazy to get out my sewing machine and well, sewing never turns out quite the way I expect. For anyone who is good with a sewing machine this would be a great 1 hour sew project to use up left over pieces (Ric rack would make great divider lines).

Supplies

10 - flowers in 2 colors (5 of each color)

2 pieces felt- color of choice but I suggest something that contrasts with the flower colors

glue

scissors

Step 1- make flowers and stiffen them (see previous post for pattern). I use modge podge that I water down in about a 2:1 ratio of water to glue. The stiffened flowers are the playing pieces for tic tac toe.

Step 2- Cut a piece of felt about 41/2 inches square. Felt is very forgiving so don't worry if its not exactly square.

Step 3- Cut strips of felt about 1/4 inch wide and 41/2 inches long. Glue strips to main piece of felt to in the tic tac toe grid pattern.

Step 4 Find an opponent and start playing.

That's basically the pattern and the idea. I was lazy last night so I didn't sew a little pocket to hold the flower playing pieces but that would be a good idea. I put the flowers and the board into a large organza bag from the dollar store. A simple tatted edging would be lovely around the outside of the board or as lines of the grid.

Flower Sachet/Pin Cushion

2010-03-22T10:57:00.000-07:00

Some things are in the eye of the beholder and I realised as I wrote up this project that it could be done a different way. The idea here is that you can make the flowers at any old time and then assemble the rest of the project later. There are times when easy, repetitive and portable tatting is good and single shuttle projects fit the bill. The flowers also use up thread bits and you can make these flowers with just a little thread. So while it may seem like I've created more ends then necessary there's a method to my madness!Supplies
felt in color of choice
2- 6 ring flower (a pattern can be found here: http://victats.blogspot.com/2010/03/commitment-to-6-ring-flower.html)
1 inch picot gauge
green thread
beads are optional (as on pink sample)
lavender if making a sachet and stuffing if making a pin cushion

Step 1: Make 2 flowers and hide ends.

Step 2: Using CTM wind a foot of green thread on shuttle.
lp= long picot
lj= lock join
Start by joining at any outside picot of the flower:
Ch 5 lp (use 1 inch picot gauge) 5 lj (next picot on flower) repeat around flower, cut and tie. Hide ends. You should end up with something like below. Make 2.
(On a side note this looks like a snowflake to me. A little stiffener and pinning of the picots would make a really simple snowflake.)

Step 3: Make the sachet/cushion.

Using a coffee cup as a template, trace a circle onto a piece of felt then cut it out. Make a running stitch around the outside edge and gather the material. As you gather up the felt it'll make a pouch that you can fill either lavender or stuffing.

Step 4
The outside round attaches the motifs by joining at the long picots. Halfway around the motif insert the felt sachet. If you want to have beads on your sachet then load 30 beads onto the ball thread before you start and everywhere you see p add a bead. (I put a few extra beads on the thread just in case) You may also want to put beads onto the long picots. You can use any size of bead but use a consistent number of beads on each of the long picots. I recommend that you use paperclips on a few of the picots to hold the sides together, especially if you are into front side/backside tatting. All joins on this round are lock joins made through a long picot from both motifs at once. So to be really clear you are making one join to 2 picots.

Wind 1 yard onto a shuttle CTM.

Start by making a single join through a long picot from each motif.

Ch 10p2p2p2p2p10 lj (through both long picots at once) 4 times
insert the sachet
Ch 10p2p2p2p2p10 lj (through both long picots at once) 2 times, the last time joining back to where you started. Cut and tie.
If you want a loop then load about 4 inches of beads and tie back to the base of the loop. Hide ends. The yellow sachet at the top has no beads and the pink one has beads so you can see the difference.

Voila! A sachet/pin cushion.

In the toilet...

2010-03-15T12:58:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not referring to my life but to a funny thing that happened last night. I was at a Starbucks doing yesterday's post. As usual the coffee had an effect and I needed to visit the little girls room. Somehow in the course of the usual events my necklace came undone and ended up in the toilet. I really couldn't leave it behind so my soggy mess got rinsed, wrapped in a paper towel and shoved in my purse. The wonderful thing about tatting is that it can be washed and reshaped. The moral of this story is that when you use a ribbon to hold a pendant you really need to use a double knot.

Flower power bookmarks

2010-03-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Whenever I'm at Chapters (Barnes and Nobles for Americans) it really burns my britches to watch someone pay $6-20 for a bookmark that's mass manufactured.

This thought is what brought me to the next project. Almost everyone could use a bookmark and its a great gift. However, they may not appreciate the time and effort that goes into making a truly exceptional bookmark. Today's use of the 6 ring flower is perfect since its not going to take you hours to make but the result is lovely. I've had people overlook better pieces for this one. (I was a little insulted at the time)

Materials

Metal bookmark hook (picture right)

6 or 5 ring flower (see previous post for pattern)

3 mm or larger bead in color of choice

12-24 inches green thread wound on shuttle

seed beads are optional

Step 1. Using the green thread make the following ring with either large picots or beaded picots:
R 1-1-1-1-1 vsp 1-1-1-1-1 close ring

Step 2. So now you have a green ring and a flower (you can hide the ends on the flower I was just lazy when this picture was taken). Attach the green ring to the flower with the green thread by joining between rings on the flower and snugging up

Step 3. Unwind shuttle, add large bead onto thread and join to vsp on green ring. Pull green thread to the back which should put you between rings 3 and 4 on the flower. If it feels unsteady then you can also do a join to the thread between flower rings 3 & 4.

Step 4: Attach the flower to the crook. The way I do it is by going through the hole in the center of the crook then bringing the thread around the side of the crook and tying between the flower and crook. I do this a bunch of times on each side of the crook. I find that keeps the flower from being floppy. Glue doesn't hurt either

I used green and yellow thread in this case but when I want to be wintry I use white or blue thread with a crystal in the middle. I often put beads on the large picots of the center ring as in the red and white flower at the top. Feel free to fray the picots instead of adding beads. Finally, if you don't have or can't find a metal hook then sew the flower onto a ribbon or cord.

Needle Minder

2010-03-09T10:16:00.000-08:00

This is the needle minder project. My sample has beads the picots because the flowers were left over from wine charms I made for my sister to give her staff for Christmas. As you can see there's no worries about the needle falling off and the safety pin doesn't show.

Supplies

2- 6 ring flowers with 3-6 inches of thread left (see previous post if you don't have a pattern)

2- 6mm magnetic hematite beads (find these at a bead shop, the dollar store or a craft store) These beads do come in color but I am convinced that the magnet isn't as strong
1 safety pin (in green if you can find them)

1 yard green thread

crochet hook

Step 1 Add magnetic bead to flower by pulling excess thread through bead and joining to base of ring 4. Hide end but make sure to keep the bead hole open. Make 2 0r 3.

Step 2 Wrap/encapsulate the non open end of the safety pin. Jon at http://tatsaway.blogspot.com/ has both needle tatting and shuttle tatting tutorials on how to cover a cabone ring. Its the same idea on the safety pin.
Using the green thread make 4 double stitches.

Step 3 Add 1st flower onto the green thread. Sorry, this means that shuttle tatters will have to unwind their thread. Snug up the flower then make 2 more ds. Add 2nd flower the same way.

Step 4 Finish by adding ds until the closed side of the pin is covered. I also went about the coil with the green but you don't need to. If your safety pin is longer then add another flower, if its shorter then only add one flower. Likewise you can vary the ds to fit. Hide the thread.

Here's a picture of the finished project and pictures of me wearing the needle minder. The magnetic beads work really well and the needle stays on even when I clean.

A commitment to the 6 ring flower

2010-03-08T13:01:00.000-08:00

Isn't it funny how you can always find time for the things you want to do? No time for cleaning but lots of time for tatting. Lots of time for tatting but no time for writing things down. I want to do a tutorial because I have a great idea for a magnetic needle minder. However, I can't seem to find the time to do the nitty-gritty details...like taking pictures. Originally the idea was that the needle minder would be part of a series about the 6 ring flower (classic pattern). Since you haven't seen any such series you can get my point about finding time. Witnesses tend to diminish my crimes of avoidance and procrastination so here is my statement of commitment:

The next few posts will involve projects that use the famous 6 (or 5 if you prefer) ring flower. If you have thread to use up these are great projects. Feel free to add beaded picots, graduated picots, and double picots. A basic pattern for the flower is:

R 4-4-4-4
R 4+ (3rd picot of previous ring) 4-4-4 repeat 4 times
R 4+ (3rd picot of previous ring) 4-4+ (1st picot of 1st ring) leave a 6 inch tail.

You get the idea! So watch out for the next post which will be a needle minder.

Balmy day

2010-03-06T11:33:00.000-08:00

Spring feels like its here but I know its just a March trick! The temperature here is Ottawa is almost into the double digits and it feels quite balmy. I'm anxiously waiting for a shipment of silks from Sherry Pence. I've been saving my pennies for awhile.
I love working with silk. Keep in mind that I also love Coats Opera (damn them for having limited colors and then discontinuing the line) and Altin Basik thread. I'm good with soft threads.

Suggestions Please

2010-03-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

I am frustrated by the lack of materials available to make brooches. I can only find the standard sew on or glue on pin that has the turn and pin mechanism. The problem with that style is that the brooch will almost always tip. This isn't a new problem for me and I've asked a lot of experts but have gotten nowhere. Does anyone have any ideas?
I want to make this dragonfly into a brooch. When I've attached the standard style pin backing then the dragonfly tips and looks sloppy. Right now it works well as a necklace but I think its meant to be a brooch.

Any suggestions?

The online tatting class...

2010-03-02T13:59:00.000-08:00

This post may also have been called: everything I needed to know I learned from Georgia (and a few others)

If you are a tatter then a must see site on the web is the online tatting class run by Georgia Seitz. I found this site when I was still in school in Minneapolis and spent many hours reading the content. I also printed off many of the lessons. Since my graduation I have continued to follow the lessons. I graduated in 2003 and its now 2010, so 7 years of learning. I am positive that many techniques that seem everyday tatting knowledge to me I learned on that site. I have never participated in the class but it is a mainstay of my tatting reading (along with many blogs but we'll discuss that another day).

I am also guilty of lurking but only at the best places. So a big thanks today to Georgia Seitz (http://www.georgiaseitz.com/) and the other pioneers who placed tatting on the world wide web.

...yes in case you're wondering I have donated to the site- about time eh? (see Canadians do use EH)

update: Tattingchic asked about the photos. To tell you the truth I posted them because I like to have pictures and they were the ones on hand. They also work as an example of what I am able to do now vs then.

Found it! Finally

2010-02-28T18:31:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I warned about the dangers of cleaning/organizing. In that post I mentioned losing black beads and crystals needed to finish a necklace. Good news everybody! In a frenzy of cleaning (in honor of a weekend visit from my mother) I finally found the beads and crystals.

Now I don't want you to think that I never clean or that I haven't cleaned my house since November. Its just that I try never to look at anything tax related until March/April. As part of my cleaning I looked through my receipts box and found my beads! I can now finish the necklace. Also found was the cheque book for my Sparks unit (girl guides). I can now pay for our cookies.

Despite the way it sounds I am an organized person and my Sparks unit is quite financially sound. I just have a different filing system...and tend to panic when my sister (clean freak) comes to visit.

In defense of my disorganization my house regularly gets turned upside down when family comes to fix up my poor house. Thank God for Family but not so thankful for the mess each construction adventure brings. For example I'm not sure if I'll be able to get dressed tomorrow because we built a closet this weekend. (by WE I actually mean my Mom and Dad) Some of my clothes are in the front bedroom and some are in the back bedroom. No laundry was done this weekend because of the construction efforts. Don't worry, I have lots of clothes and I'll find something. I also have a lovely new closet to fill once I get all the sawdust cleaned up.

My adventures with my house makes me really appreciate handy people/men. As they say on the Red Green Show- "If the women don't find you handsome they should at least find you handy".

Pretty ribbon frames

2010-02-23T14:33:00.000-08:00

I'm addicted to a blog called dollar store crafts. I love it because everything is around my price point and amazing things are made cheap. One woman made a mirror for under $20 based on an inspiration mirror sold at Anthropologie (not sure if I've got the name right) for over $100. Many ideas involve taking apart stuff to make something new. Ever since I've visited this blog I've looked at the dollar store differently and that's the inspiration for the rest of this post.

A couple weekends ago I made a Valentine's wreath based loosely on instructions I found on the Valentine's linky party. Not bad for a cloths hanger, ribbon and glue eh? This put me in the mode of using up ribbon I have at home. The next part is a little back story but keep in mind that I've been visiting the dollar store craft blog a lot. The Dollarama (Canadian dollar store) sells a framed tile that looks just like the hand painted tiles that you can buy at gift shops. The frame is crappy looking but the tiles are great. I bought a few to hang in my front porch last year. At Christmas the Dollarama gets in a crap load of decorations and for the last 5 years they've had pretty much the same stuff. This year they had new stuff and it rocked! Despite my resistance and weekly viewings of Hoarders (inspires me not to buy junk), Dollarama managed to get a lot of my money this Christmas $1 and $2 at a time . One of the great things they had were holiday versions of the tiles. Once again the frame were blah but the tiles rocked. I had nowhere to hang these tiles but I bought some anyways (partly because I hadn't seen them at any other Dollarama). Once I got home I realised I could remove the frame, stick some felt pads on the bottom and have a lovely Christmas trivet. Everyone in my family got a Christmas trivet and I ended up with a bunch of square frames which I kept (despite watching hoarders) thinking I could use them for something else. The other thing I kept was last year's Calendar featuring paintings of birds. That's the end of the back story.

So the ribbon heart wreath turns out rocking, looks great on my front door and I'm in a ribbon mood. The glue gun is out and hot so I start fiddling with pink ribbon and getting the usual glue gun burns. Using one of the previously mentioned frames I fold the ribbon loosely then glue it to the frame. I fluff the ribbon to take out any creases. After gluing and fluffing for 10 minutes I end up with a pretty frame that I need to fill. This is where last year's bird calendar comes in handy. I pick a picture that coordinated and trace around my tile/trivet (mentioned earlier) to get the right size for the frame, cut out the picture and stuck it in the frame. That day I made three of these ribbon frames with birdie pictures. As many of you know when you make something it can be either a hit or a miss but I am definitely happy with my frames. They look great in my kitchen!

Right now you may be wondering what's the point of the story? None really, I just wanted to post something and these were the pictures I had. Plus I'm feeling pretty smart about my crafting skills.

A big thanks

2010-02-18T14:55:00.001-08:00

A package arrived today for me. I signed up for the tatting goddess valentine's exchange so I was expecting a package. It was from Martha Ess and contained a few goodies as well as 2 tatted hearts. One is Teri Dusenbery's Acorn Heart and the other is Karey Solomon's Peaceable Heart. It took me a couple of minutes to see the acorn. They are lovely and patterns I hadn't seen before. Thanks Martha!

Love on a Stick and Hearty Butterfly

2010-02-12T15:29:00.000-08:00

Love on a Stick

Size 10 thread CTM with 2 yards on each shuttle

p- picot

lp- large picot

vlp- very large picot

vsp- very small picot

R 9 p 1 lp 1vl p 4 vsp 4 vlp 1 lp 1 p 1 9

Ch 30 lj (to vsp) 30 lj to base of ring

SR 10/10

SR 8/8

SR 6/6

SR 4/4

SR 2/2 tie and cut.

Hearty Butterfly

2 shuttles CTM

Seta- 3 1st half stitches

Setb- 3 2nd half stitches

vsp- very small picot

lj-lock join

Shuttle 1:R1 10 vsp 7 vsp 7 vsp 10

Ch 15
R2 4+ (1st p R1) 4

Ch 15 lj (2nd p R2) 15

R3 4 + (3rd p R1) 4

Ch 15 lj to base of R1

Ch 15

R4 7 seta setb 7 (the next ring is an onion ring but there’s no joins, just make sure that R4 sits in R5)

R5 30

Ch 18 switch shuttles

Shuttle 2 R6 6 vlp 6 (cut vlp to make antennas) switch shuttles

Ch 3 join back to base of R1 tie and cut.

Hearts in our Heads

2010-02-12T01:54:00.000-08:00

Its getting closer to Valentine's day and every tatter is thinking about hearts. What could be more appropriate for Valentine's gifts than hand made lace? Gina (http://threadsofatattinggoddess.blogspot.com/) has been making her favorite hearts, most of which are classic designs. Some are ones I've made a lot and some I haven't seen before.

Betsy Evan's rainbow heart bookmark is one of my favorites. I'm too lazy to make six hearts so I only make one heart for a bookmark. My mom and I (mostly my mom)once made over 300 of these hearts. She gave them as a gift at a Special Ladies dinner for the widowed wives of Shriner's. Thankfully, this pattern is still available at: http://www.frontiernet.net/~TammyRodgers/rainbow_heart_bookmark.html.

Just a note to those avid collectors of heart patterns that Jon over at http://tatsaway.blogspot.com/ has shared a new pattern that is very pretty. Its a very unique pattern. In the line of unique hearts, I really like Tattycat's Victorian Heart at http://www.freewebs.com/laurasmuse/heartpatterns.htm. I have to confess that I've never done the pattern but I love the way it looks.

I have been thinking of hearts and since I can never decide on one pattern I just fiddled around. Do you ever wonder why we tend to start at the top when making hearts? I have 2 attempts that turned out so I thought I would share them here. They are relatively simple patterns- I only ask you to do split rings and onion rings.

Love on a Stick
Size 10 thread CTM with 2 yards on each shuttle
p- picot
lp- large picot
vlp- very large picot
vsp- very small picot
R 9 p 1 lp 1vl p 4 vsp 4 vlp 1 lp 1 p 1 9
Ch 30 lj (to vsp) 30 lj to base of ring
SR 10/10
SR 8/8
SR 6/6
SR 4/4
SR 2/2 tie and cut.
Hearty Butterfly

2 shuttles CTM
Seta- 3 1st half stitches
Setb- 3 2nd half stitches
vsp- very small picot
lj-lock join
Shuttle 1:
R1 10 vsp 7 vsp 7 vsp 10
Ch 15
R2 4+ (1st p R1) 4
Ch 15 lj (2nd p R2) 15
R3 4 + (3rd p R1) 4
Ch 15 lj to base of R1
Ch 15
R4 7 seta setb 7 (the next ring is an onion ring but there’s no joins, just make sure that R4 sits in R5)
R5 30
Ch 18 switch shuttles
Shuttle 2 R6 6 vlp 6 cut vlp to make antennas switch shuttles
Ch 3 join back to base of R1 tie and cut.

If you are a huge butterfly person then you're in luck because Sherry has her new book of butterflies hot off the press at http://ladyshuttlemaker.blogspot.com/.

Valentine's party

2010-02-03T09:00:00.000-08:00

I love Valentine's and have decided to join Craftaholic's Valentines day linky party. You can find out about this at: http://diaryofacraftaholic.blogspot.com/2010/01/surprise-valentines-day-linky-party.html.
For the linky party I thought I would share the message ornaments I made. They are very simple and the tatting is basic.
This is an absolutely beginner pattern. For those of you who don't know how to tat I highly recommend this site to learn: http://www.gagechek.com/slb/demo/media/index.html. You will be able to do this pattern after watching the tutorial. I've written out the pattern in long form for people who've never tatted before. Even if you think its not working don't worry you are gluing the tatting to a heart anyways.

Materials
size 10 thread 2 yards
paperclip
foam hearts (or wooden ones)

marker
ribbon
glue

Short terms:

p-picot (made by leaving extra thread between the double stitches which forms a loop when you snug up the stitches)

lp- large picot (leave more thread)

lj- 1st half stitch unflipped, 2nd half flipped (if this is your first time tatting then just make a square knot)

Start Chain as in tutorial (http://www.gagechek.com/slb/demo/media/index.html.)

Chain 10 p 1 lp 1 p 10 p 1 lp 1 p 10 p 1 lp 1 p 10 lj 10 p 1 lp 1 p 10 p 1 lp 1 p 10 p 1 lp 1 p 10 tie back to beginning

At this point you have what looks like a big sloppy mess- don't panic just tie back into the starting point. You then shape the chain into a heart. The square knot (lj) is the bottom of the heart and where you started and ended is the top. Don't worry if the ending knot is messy because you are going to cut really close to the knot when you glue the tatting to the foam hearts.

Write messages on foam hearts using a marker. Glue the tatting to the heart, shaping as you go.
Make a loop by sandwiching ribbon between 2 hearts. When everything dries you have a pretty lacy heart ornament to hang.

How simple was that?

Hector Tatting Seminar (not in Hector anymore!)

2010-01-26T12:52:00.000-08:00

The information for the Finger Lakes Tatting group's International Tatting Seminar is out! You can find information about the seminar at www.georgiaseitz.com/ioli/hector2010.html. If you live in the area or want an excuse to travel take a look at the information and a few of the pictures provided. The theme this year is Angels Among Us. The classes all look so great and its always a tough decision which class to take.
Since I'm teaching a class I thought I'd better give those attending some idea of what we're going to do. Please, more pictures are coming but this is the one I have right now. It promises to be lots of fun!

Just some pics...

2010-01-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

I spent the weekend cleaning and reorganizing...really I'm not lying. Even though I ended up with a bigger mess I did most of my laundry and a lot of reorganizing. I also managed to start and finish a few items along the way. The picture on the left is what I made from some hearts, plastic beads, and yarn. I started making a garland, quickly got irritated and made a bunch of these instead. I think that the white yarn looks like wings so it's kinda a winged heart. Not really sure but I like the way they look.

I saw a pretty picture of wreath made from cupcake papers and a foam ring on tatertotsandje llo@blogspot.com. My dollar store didn't have foam rings but they did have mirrors with a wide wreath-like edge for $2. So $2 more on cupcake papers and $1 on glue sticks got me this. The pink ribbon I had around the house and the gold wreath in the middle was from Christmas but also from the dollar store and I paid $2 for it at the time. The grand total of the mirror wreath was $7. Sweet!

Finally, I did some tatting. I made one of Tatbit's turtles from a patterns she generously shared on her blog: http://teritatbitdusenbury.blogspot.com/. I don't have any pictures of the turtle but I was very pleased. I really enjoyed the pattern.

My friend Pat is great lady and her birthday was on Tuesday. Pat celebrates her birthday all month long but I was lucky enough to have her booked for lunch on her actual birthday! She is a member of the Red Hat Society so I thought I should make her a bookmark in that theme. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the pattern I know is somewhere on the Internet so I made one up! This is more or less the finished bookmark, the only thing missing is the tassel. As you can see I was is a bead mood after Teri's turtle. I made another version as well but didn't like how I attached it to the metal hook.

I had so much fun with the flower on Pat's bookmark that I started fiddling with some flowers on hand. I stuck some on this hairband and on a few other things as well.

This Tuesday I heard sad news that Mary Konior has passed away. The legacy that she leaves behind is immense.

Pointsetta Earings

2010-01-14T15:01:00.000-08:00

Pointsetta Earings or some other flower since I didn't have the sense to post this before Christmas???

This pattern is based on the same concept as dimple hearts, only instead of moving forwards and then backwards in the line of tatting you move back first. So the sequence is 3-2nd 1/2 stitch (set b) first then 3-1st 1/2 stitch (set a). This moves the stitch behind the line of tatting to create the point.

seta- 3 1st 1/2 stitch
setb- 3 2nd 1/2 stitch

Red Flowers
wind 1 yard of red thread on shuttle (I used size 20)

R 4 setb vsp seta 4 cl ring 5X
tie last ring to 1st ring and cut leaving 12 inches of thread to work with during assembly

Green Leaves
green thread about 1 yard

R 4 setb vsp seta 4 cl ring 5X
tie last ring to 1st ring and cut leaving 12 inches of thread to work with during assembly

Stamen: 20 inches yellow thread all picots are very large picots

R 1-1-1-1-1+ (gathered picot) 1 cl ring. If you are not good at doing a gathered picot then I recommend cutting and fraying the picots.

You end up with a green motif, a red motif and a yellow ring. To assemble stack the green, red and yellow sections pulling the thread down through the center of the green motif. At this point you have 2 choices:
1. use glue to hold everything together and attach the flower to earings through one of the vsp on the leaves.
2. use the green thread the make a creative knot (1st half flipped 2nd half unflipped) around the other threads, cut and tie. The earings can still be attached to one of the vsp on the green leaves.

Enjoy!

I've got nothing

2010-01-13T13:53:00.000-08:00

I've got no pictures or tatting related stuff to share, So I've decided to share a tale of toilet paper terror with you. In my house there is no toilet paper roll in the holder-Ever! The reason for this will soon come apparent....

My parents came to my house on New Year's Even to redo my kitchen floor. I have what can only be described as a major incline in the back of my house. I'm talking 4-6 inches across 12 feet. So they came to my house to create small step, a sub floor and to lay new vinyl flooring. Given that there were extra people in my house and they don't know where I keep extra toilet paper I thought it would be wise to put a basket of extra TP beside the toilet. This way no one is stuck in the bathroom without tp.
I left the house on Friday evening to visit some friends. When I came back at 2 am there was scattered toilet paper on the landing upstairs and a mangled roll of toilet paper that someone had placed on the back of the toilet. Mmmm, it was late and I was tired so I left the shreds of toilet paper on the floor and went to bed. BUT, there was still TP in the basket on the floor. Next morning I wake up and there's one more roll of mangled toilet paper on the back of the toilet. In addition, there are little piles of shredded toilet paper distributed throughout my small house. It's like it was snowing inside!

I know that my mom or my dad put the mangled toilet paper on the back of the toilet. I'm pretty sure that neither of my parents decided to toilet paper my house in the middle of the night. They just aren't the sort and they don't have claws. There's no CSI to examine the shreds of tp but I know who did it. I've had this experience before and without any video evidence I'm sure the culprit is grey, whiskered and not a mouse.

No confession was forthcoming and no guilty conscience on behalf of the accused. She was crying and weeping for treats the next morning like a spoiled rotten brat. I don't know why I keep feeding her.

This little piggy

2010-01-05T11:06:00.000-08:00

I have a tendency to buy yarn with the erroneous belief that I'm going to make something. I never buy a pattern (no that would make sense) so I have stray yarn. Its not exactly a stash because quite frankly I try to stay away from the wool shops and I'm cheap. Yarn can add up and I can't justify spending money on a project that I may or may not complete in a satisfactory manner. Plus I get real bored real fast with knitting. I have a beautiful scarf in progress that my friend would have loved to receive a few years ago. So I'm not the person to ask for anything knitted. Yet I can't leave the wool shop without a ball of thread in hand.

So last year when Leanne (a friend) mentioned to me that she was knitting stuff for her son's school bizarre I asked her if she needed any yarn. I had some pink stuff left over from a poncho and guess what? Leanne was knitting pigs. Yep, pigs! I gave her the yarn and they sold out right away. Since then I have been whining for my share of the piggies. Guess what? Leanne dropped them off today and they are the cutest little piggy-wigglies that I've seen. Scanners just can't capture the 3-d glory of my pigs.

On another note, I received my Secret Santa package on New Years eve and was thrilled with my stash of goodies! I don't have a picture because I had to put everything tatting away to protect it from dust and dirt while we leveled the floor of my kitchen. Thanks. I really love doing the exchanges but haven't signed up for many this year because I'm always late.

note- spell check wanted to replace erroneous with erogenous. Go back up and read the first paragraph again with erogenous. Struck me as funny.

Christmas comes too quickly...

2009-12-23T11:38:00.001-08:00

So Christmas is nigh and I'm wondering where the time went. Its definitely past time to draw a name from those who helped me with pattern suggestions. I got the most honest person I know our clinic director Hafeez, to draw a name out of a pile and he pulled out Connie. Connie can you send me your address information and fave colors? I was so happy with all who responded that if you email me at victats@gmail.com with your address I'll send you a thank-you gift!

A few great answers...

2009-12-14T06:18:00.000-08:00

I have been asking everyone's favorite Christmas/seasonal patterns and offered a bribe in my last post as an incentive. (check out the post http://victats.blogspot.com/2009/12/favorite-christmas-patterns-and-bribe.html) A few of you have thought my question and shared:

Tatskool: "My favourite at the moment is Third day of December by Lene Bjorn in 24 Snowflakes in Tatting. I have blogged about it here: http://tatsakoolchallenge.blogspot.com/2009/12/third-day-of-december.html." I'm really happy to see someone else do this pattern because now I know that the rose in the middle is supposed to be 3-d. When I made it a few years ago I thought I was making a mistake.

HJ's favorite was Susan B. Taliaferro's Christmas Chain Wreath with beads, found at http://www.susansplanet.bravehost.com/ChristmasChainWreath.htm. I couldn't get the picture to copy over but you can check it out yourself.

Kook Vee: "My ultimate favourite Xmas pattern to tat up would have to be the Holly Garland by Pam Palmer which can be found on page 18 of Tatting Treats 3! It's fast to do up for last minute gifts and just so darned cute. I've made it into cards, brooches and even earrings. I love it =)."

Jane's Current favorite is her butterfly on her site: http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/butterfly2009.pdf. I'm kinda partial to her snowsettia pattern at: http://www.janeeborall.freeservers.com/Motif2009.pdf. I have to warn you if you stop at her pattern site make sure you have plenty of ink in your printer. There's so many great patterns!

Thanks so much to Kook Vee, Jane, Tatskool and HJ for writing down their faves. To the rest of you out there, I can see that I may have to offer a little more incentive...I'm working on it!

note: none of the pictures in this post are mine; they come from the sites noted beside them.

Christmas Patterns and The Bribe

2009-12-05T06:43:00.000-08:00

Seeing all the different projects that people are making has given me an idea. There's just too many patterns and books out there to see what's available for Christmas. So I'm going to cheat and ask everyone to share their favorite Christmas tatting pattern. I'd like you to write in the comment section your favorite pattern, the creator and where it's found i.e. book, website, CD...

This seems like work and I hate work so I'm giving you an incentive. If you share your fave then I will enter you in a draw. If you write about this quest and share a picture of your fave pattern on your blog I'll enter you a second time (please let me know in the comment section). If your favorite thing isn't tatting (I don't know how that could happen), you may need a Shrink but you can still enter your favorite non-tatting Christmas pattern and the same rules apply.

THE BRIBE:

My copy of Tatting for the Tree by Karey Solomon which is currently my fave Christmas book. You can see a few samples of her patterns in previous posts. A tatted lavender sachet and a pair of pointsettia earings tatted by me. As well as a few other goodies that I'll throw in for fun.

How did she know?

2009-12-03T09:16:00.000-08:00

Have you ever received a gift and wondered how did they know you would like it?
My sister finally gave me my Birthday gift when I was at her house on the weekend. It was a coat but now just any coat! Its one of those old black coats with the fur collars and I think the material is called Persian wool. I don't think these coats have been sold for a long time but its in such good condition that I almost thought it was new. Anyways, I don't think I've ever told her I love those coats. She won't tell me who it came from but assured me that they were clean (seniors can't always see the dirt due to eye stuff). It just amazes me that she picked that coat out for me. I'm very happy.

The Talk

2009-11-28T07:06:00.000-08:00

So I've been giving this talk all week to patients as they come into my clinic with their shoulders up around their ears and hunched over like Mr. Burns. Its getting closer and closer to Christmas and many (including me) are frantically trying to finish gifts. Please don't end up like that. Here are the 2 essential things you need to have to minimize the damage:

lighting, lighting, lighting- if you are finding the you are squinting to see your work, bent over nose to the table, or you are holding your work up right in front of your nose then you don't have enough light. Its best to use natural light but most of us don't have that so OTT lights rock! (no affiliation)

Egg timer- not just for perfect soft boiled eggs anymore. Set the timer for 30 minutes. When it goes off the 1st time you need to look up from your work, roll your shoulders, stand up and basically squirm around a bit in your chair. Reset the timer to another 30 min.
The second time the timer goes off you know its been an hour so you have to take a break- 5 minutes minimum. I know, I know you are in the middle of something and you'll finish it any second but get up anyways. "Finishing in a second" can turn into hours. You need to get up and move around to get blood flow (which will make the cloudiness go away) and to give your muscles are rest. Its easy to let a lot of time to go by without a break.

Doing these 2 things are a big start in avoiding that cramped, pressed down feeling you get when you work for hours. A few moments of prevention go along way. On the other hand Chiropractors, Massage therapists and Physiotherapist all need to make money for Christmas so maybe just ignore me- you'll be done in a second anyways. (just kidding)

There's only so many places it can go

2009-11-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

Don't you hate it when you clean up, tidy or declutter? I do. What's wrong with a little organization is what many of you maybe thinking but it tell you its evil, evil, evil!

For the last 2 weeks I've been trying to locate some beads I purchased. I know I bought them because there is half a necklace on my tray. I have no idea where those beads went. They couldn't have gone far- I work in the same area and store my stuff in the same spot. How can I so totally lose something in such a small area? Mmmm let me think...that's about the time I thought my mom and sister were coming for a visit. What did I do that day? Oh yes, ran around trying to pretend I'm not a slob by cleaning frantically.

To be honest, this is not the first time I've lost something by cleaning. The last time I organized/cleaned I lost my cell phone in one of the tubs of thread. It was only by fluke that I found it the next day because I SWEAR I LOOKED IN THAT TUB! I'm not that good at organizing my stash. I probably should just let it go and the beads will show up...but the necklace is taunting me. Bad necklace, I think it has some evil Mojo- I'll have to give it to someone I don't like.

On a happier note, I'm once again wowed by the effect packaging/presentation has on a product. I know that's not terribly eco-friendly but its true. I made some bookmarks, stuck them in a resealable bag and voila! Instant value upgrade. A friend is giving them to her son's teachers at the snotty private school he attends for Christmas.

Been sick...

2009-11-17T11:52:00.000-08:00

For the last week I've had THE FLU. I've basically slept 5 out of the last 7 days. Its amazing how much getting the flu can take out of you. In between sleeping I did tat a bit (the first 2 days I was too sick to do anything but lay there). I'm making snowflake bookmarks for a friend. She's giving the bookmarks with a Chapters gift certificate to her son's teachers for Christmas. I have no pictures yet.
As I have been feeling better I've started decorating my house for Christmas. After Halloween I bought a black minature Christmas tree on sale which I've put in my kitchen. I was trying to figure out how to decorate it when I realised that I had a bunch of small motifs from Karey's book Tatting for the tree. The ones on the upper right were the perfect size for the tree. I used the snowflake on the left as the tree topper. Looking through my pictures just now I saw this white 1/2 ring braid. I think it will be really nice as a garland on the tree. I just need to find it.

Bandaid heart

2009-11-03T10:21:00.001-08:00

I came up with this pattern with the intention of giving it to someone who had a car accident but they got better before I had the chance. (do good intentions count?) However, I thought it would be an easy get well soon gift for anyone who is sick or spending lots of time in hospitals. If you spend time in waiting rooms then you can always use a bookmark. This is my first time writing out a block tatting pattern, fortunately its a square but if there's any problem let me know.

Band-Aid Heart
By Vicki Clarke
2009
drvmc2003@yahoo.com
victats@gmail.com

vsp- very small picot
lj- lock join
slt- shoe lace trick
shuttle and ball thread wound CTM

Pattern starts with a block tatted square. Use a dead end start with a paperclip or safety pin to save a space for a vsp. You don’t have to use the same turning technique on the block tatting.

Ch1 8 slt turn
Ch2 vsp 8 lj (vsp created by paperclip) slt turn
Ch3 vsp 8 lj (to picot of prev ch) slt turn
Ch4 vsp 8 lj (to picot of prev ch) slt turn
Ch5 vsp 8 lj (to picot of prev ch) slt turn
Ch6 vsp 8 lj (to picot of prev ch) do not turn, now you start making the ends of the band aid.
Ch7 10 RW
R1 6 vsp 6 RW
Ch8 10 RW
R2 6 vsp 6 RW
Ch9 10 lj (to vsp on R2) 10 lj (to vsp on R1) 10 lj (to corner of block tatting) 10 lj (to other corner of block) 10 RW
R3 6 vsp 6 RW
Ch10 10 RW
R4 6 vsp 6 RW
Ch11 10 lj (to vsp on R4) 10 lj (to vsp on R3) 10 lj (to corner of block tatting) 10 lj (to other corner of block) tie and cut.

Heart- uses ½ stitch to make a dimpled heart.
HS- half stitch

R 6 3 1st HS 3 2nd HS 6 close ring and cut leaving a 6 inch tail. You can either glue to heart onto the bandage but I sewed it on by going under the stitches.

Instead of the heart:

You could stick one of Abby's smile makers on the center instead of the heart to give to children. Then it looks more like a child's bandaid. You can get the pattern for the smile makers at this link: http://www.freewebs.com/needletattingtwo_2/smilemakers2.htm. I love the smile makers, they were such a smart idea, thanks for sharing them Abby

necklace

2009-10-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

When I made TotusMel's mask (last post) I decided I liked the look of the center motif. So I made a few more of the motif using the crystal beads on the outside picots. I liked the how the motif looked so much that I made it into a necklace. I had a few blue beads left over from other projects and used them in an asymmetrical necklace. I'm not normally a blue kinda person but I like the necklace.
The scanner doesn't do it justice. In fact, it looks kinda crappy in the picture. Have you noticed that its hard to get good pictures of tatting? Even when I use a proper camera I'm rarely happy with the picture.

Masked

2009-10-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

In my minutes of lurking I found the link for TotusMel's mask pattern and decided to try it out. I had the right sized thread, beads and wire handy. I have to say that I really enjoyed making the mask...it took awhile but I could make it much faster the next time.
I was tempted when I started to just fudge it but in hindsight I would never have got to this point. What you don't realise when looking at the pictures is that the mask has its own curves which conform to your face. In fact it kinda sticks there on its own, the ties just gives it extra security. If you set the mask on a table it holds it's structure and doesn't go flat.
Just a warning though, the pattern is very brief (for tatting patterns) and relies heavily on the pictures for the joins. Print of all the pictures!!! I didn't and had to squint at the small pictures to try and figure out where to make my joins. This is what took lots and lots of time. Its been awhile since I've retro tatted so much. Its a great pattern, I'm tickled pink with the mask and would definitely make more of TotusMel's patterns.

Simple Heart

2009-10-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

I made this heart a few years ago to send in an exchange. Its very quick and easy to make.

Simple Heart Pattern
By Vicki Clarke

RW= reverse work
C= chain
R= ring
- = picot
+ = join

R1 6-4-4-6
R2 6+ 4-4-4-6
R3 6+ 4-4-6 RW
C 10 RW
R4 3+ 3 RW
C 10 RW
R5 3+3 RW
C 10 RW
R6 3+3 RW
C 10 RW
R7 3+3 DO NOT RW
C 4 jn (to 2nd picot of R2) 4 RW
R8 3-3-3-3 RW
C 4 jn (to 3rd picot of R2) 4 DO NOT RW
R9 3+3 RW
C 10 RW
R10 3+3 RW
C 10 RW
R11 3+3 RW
C 10 RW
R12 3+3 RW
C 10, tie and cut OR to make the tail:
3 split rings of 10/10 and finish with a tassel.

2009-10-20T12:24:00.000-07:00

One of my classes at Tat Days was a lavender sachet. I love lavender. Pam Freck shared with me what her Mom makes with the lavender that grows in her garden. So I was happy when I received a little package from her the other day that included on her mom's lavender sticks. She also included a magnet from the Tatting is in my Heart Tat Days. Thanks Pam, I really appreciate it. Its a great idea for when I manage to get some growing.
On another note, I'm planning for a flu prevention night for my Sparks (girl guides 5 and 6 years old). So I've been looking up all the Public Health and CDC information about flu prevention and the basic message is don't touch your face and wash your hands a lot. This has me wondering- are crafters/needle workers at a higher risk since we tend to touch everything? How often do you stick a crochet hook, needle or pins in your mouth? Do you use your mouth as a 3rd hand? Just a thought.

2009-10-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

The other day I posted a picture of a doily and Tattingchic asked for more information on the doily. Well, here's the scoop:

I made that doily using a five point motif that I joined together around a center motif. To fill the gap between the motifs I used hearts. Everything turned out just hunky-dory (see exhibit A). I really like the doily so the same doily again using a Sherry's silk thread but no changes to the motif. The problem is that the space between the points of the stars was bigger the 2nd time and the hearts just didn't cut it. So I used another star to fill the gaps (see exhibit B). I swear to you that its the same pattern, same picot size and my tension is pretty consistent across the board. I just can't figure out why the chubby cheek hearts (that's what I call the hearts) weren't big enough. Any ideas?

I really like the motif so I've made a few with extra rounds. I've talked about these in previous posts. I'm calling the motif a star but it's really a pentagram. Did you notice that every other round the pentagram is inverted. Is that a big deal or have I watched too many episodes of Supernatural?