MY PEOPLE!!!!

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

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

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...

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...

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...

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!

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.