Tagged

I've been tagged by singtatter (just learned how to make a link!)

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 6 unimportant things about yourself.
4. Tag 4 people at the end of your entry

6 unimportant things:

1. My grandmother had a terrible fear of snakes and taught me to be afraid of them as well. She used to put out moth balls to keep the snakes out of her garden. When I was a child I had nightmares about them being in my bed. Snakes aren't very big or dangerous in Canada so its silly to be afraid of a garter snake.

2. I love donuts. I can't stand the crappy donuts that they serve in most coffee shops (Tim Hortons) but I love the real bakery donuts.

3. I hate going to movie theaters. I know its a date killer but why go somewhere you can't talk and you can't see your date. I've never been to a drive- in- movie, but I would like to try it sometime.

4. My favorite movie is Zoolander. Its been a few years and I'm still laughing. I love Ben Stiller's jokes but it always takes me awhile to catch up. I'm too literal to get the jokes the first time but I giggle later.

5. I don't own a computer.

6. I love to read silly romance novels. Except now I realize that I'm older than the female characters. In fact, I'm the same age as most of the guys and I'm starting to question their judgment!
I'm supposed to tag 4 people...

What's on TV.

My mom and my sister are always giving me a hard time about having my tatting or crafts out in the living room or sitting room. I figure that's unfair since they have their major hobby (watching TV) taking up an entire section of their house. If they can have their hobby sitting in every room why can't I? The angel above is from the be-stitched web site, its very simple to make and takes little time but is so pretty.

Summertime Goals

We've had the first truly hot day here in Ottawa so I thought that I would share some of my goals for the summer:

1.) Complete the TAT apprentice phase. I have thought about doing this for a couple years now but didn't really have the money to spare (even though its not expensive). Keep in mind that until last year the Canadian Dollar was significantly much lower than the USD. Naturally it required that I get more thread and I am waiting for the threads to arrive right now. Although I have LOTS of thread I have no size 20 cordonet thread. I have ordered flora thread size 20 from Handy Hands tatting.

2.) In January I bought a house that was basically gutted on the inside and with the help of my PARENTS (no, your children never grow up and stop depending on you) I am fixing it up. My goals for this summer is basically painting:

kitchen (2nd coat)- grey
trim- oxford white (inside and out, some are currently a very ugly green)
living room wainscoting and bathroom - beige/brown
bedrooms- unknown colors and probably wallpaper, in old houses you really don't have much of a choice.


3.) Vegetable garden- needs to be reclaimed from a very obnoxious weed


4.) running 5km 3 times a week, I also want to find a soccer league close to where I live


5.) Work on knitted lace. I am starting bobbin lace classes this fall and the teacher asked if I knew how to do knitted lace and I said yes. Apparently it makes a difference if you know other kinds of lace. I haven't done it in awhile so I need lots and lots of practice. I guess everyone is getting a lace scarf this fall. I'm doing some practice runs (the scarves) and then will start a doily... wish me luck.

Finished round

This is the finished first round of the snowflake. As you can see it is a little lopsided. I don't think that I will do the outside round, instead I will used this for something else. I am going to do another version of this pattern but will change the picot size as well as the spaces between the rings. I may also add beads to hold the space between the rings constant. I think part of the reason I'm not crazy about this kind of pattern is that I usually don't need to block a piece. This style definitely needs to be blocked and stiffened.

I forgot to include this bookmark when showing you what I sent to Meme for the round robin exchange. Instead of doing a traditional tail off the top or the bottom of the heart I tatted around to the side of the heart and then did the tail. It doesn't show up in the picture but where it curves around the outside of the heart looks like little waves. If you do 4 hs and 1 ds it creates a curving wave effect.

Stressful tatting

I find almost any style of mignonette tatting and any pattern with bare thread stressful. Why you ask? Well I hate the fact that the thread between the rings is never quite the same no matter how carefully I measure. I've actually done quite a few of these patterns but I use beads to get the spacing of the bare thread to appear consistent.

In ring only patterns the space between the rings is often not designated. For example, the snowflake above is from 24 snowflakes in tatting but it does not say how much space to put between the rings. This means there is a strong possibility that when I get the first round complete it will cup and I will have to start again.

I think of an easy pattern as one that will look nice with minimal skills. Although the only skill involved here is ring making, I also need to guess at the spaces needed between the rings to have the snowflake come out flat. This makes it a fussy pattern to do. I will probably work at mastering it simply because once I figure out the spaces between the rings it will tat up very quickly.

Round Robin Exchange

This is the bookmark I sent M. Eliana for April. I sent it out a few days late. I finished the bookmark part but felt it wasn't quite ready yet. I wasn't sure why...just it wasn't right. That weekend I went to the Hector Tatting seminar and found an Oak leaf charm at Debbie Arnold's table. In the fall, the oak leaves turn green and yellow which is the color of the bookmark. It just seemed to finish it off nicely. The thread is something I picked up at a needlework show a couple of years ago, I really like it. Its hand dyed silk but unfortunately, the person who dyed the silk stopped! I liked tatting with this thread and I loved the color combinations. At the time I bought it I had no money to buy more, in fact I shouldn't have bought anything. I wish that I had bought one of every color she had available.

Camping

I was camping on the weekend with my Sparks (girl guides). I guess if you sleep in a heated building its not considered camping. We slept on the floor and spent all the time outside so its as camping as things get at 5 and 6 years old. The Sparks made mother's day gifts since they were being picked up on Mother's Day. We also made necklaces and pipe cleaner wands. I thought they turned out really cute and the girls really liked them. Everyone loves making stuff with pipe cleaners. Here is the picture of one wand that got left behind. I have also given instructions on how to make one below.

Pipe cleaner Wand

pipe cleaners- assorted colors, some cut in half

foam stars (or you can make your own out of pipe cleaners)

2 pieces of ribbon

hole punch

Take a long pipe cleaner and wind the shorter pipe cleaners around it until the entire length is covered. Use a hole punch to make a hole in the foam star. Insert the end of the main pipe cleaner through the hole and bend it back towards the base creating a loop through the star. Finish the loop by twisting the tip around the base. Finish by tying the ribbon on the wand by pulling the ribbon through the loop and tying the ends together. If you wanted to add a little more you could use sparkles around the edge of the foam. This is a craft that any age can do, you can make it fancier by making the stars out of scrapbook paper.