Houston I have ANOTHER problem!

This is what you should've seen yesterday!!!!  No grumbles about blogger going down as I so much appreciate the free access they give me to being able to publicly talk to myself!!!


Now, you may ask (or you may not!) - what's the matter with the MOG NOW (see title)!!!  Well the problem is that this round of diamonds is finished.  All stars completed plus the infills.  


You would think that after all this I'd want a change but I'm struggling with the idea now of NOT doing more and getting it finished.  That's what's making me a Miserable Old Git!!!  Also the fact that it's Friday the 13th (well it was when this should've posted) doesn't help either.  Not that I'm superstitious - just 'careful'!!!!

Below is a diagram of the final round of diamonds which are still needed but also I need to use the triangle pattern which can be found here to fill in the last 'gaps'.  I've worked out that I only need a 'mere' 42 diamonds and 18 triangles.  


Tat's all!!!  I'll then add a border to 'get rid of' the picots.  That'll tidy the whole thing off and make it looked 'finished'.

An excursion into the miniature world

This set of designs really are my own!!!  Ancient ones but mine!!!  All worked in 80 or finer thread for the 1/12th doll's house collectors and makers.


I got sucked into making miniatures when a friend had a gift shop in Henley Street right opposite Shakespeare's Birthplace.  She sold only locally made items from this outlet.  This was a venture which made me no money but kept me busy trying new things out!!!  

Tooty (this friend) also had an outlet at Anne Hathaway's Cottage where I would sit sometimes in the school holidays and demonstrate.  This gave me my first real opportunity to meet AMERICANS!!!  

Before this happened I regarded our 'across the pond' visitors to the town as loud and uninterested in much except doing the 'tourist trail'.  Sadly tour operators tend (probably not so much nowadays) to rush their 'captives' through all the properties and then back to their coaches and onwards.  It was while sitting there tatting away that I really came to appreciate our American visitors as they were SO interested in what I was doing.  It was a real eye opener for me as a YG (that's a young git!).

Look what I found!

I found this little box.  It's in a pretty good condition considering!!

It was rescued from my gran's house when she died and nobody wanted it so I adopted it.  

See what's inside?  This is some of Sally and my Gran's tatting with a small piece of paper with her notes on.  I THINK I've got a wee book somewhere of hers with samples and notes in - I'll see if I can find it. 

Bearing in mind that I was 13 when we learnt the craft together and I'm now 67 (and a half!) then you can sort of date this box and it's contents.

Old earrings - part 3!

Here are a few more.  

The cats are old and so are the horses.  I sort of remember doing the horses - they were relatively easy!!!

The swans remind me of an 'incident'!!!  One of those days in my life when I was particularly rebellious.  The school I was teaching in had a swan as it's symbol so those were made for that reason.  

My 'rebelliousness' was when I was cajoled (call it forced!) into taking a few of the pupils in the Shakespeare's Birthday celebrations procession.  I really, really didn't want to do that so as a sort of 'rebellion' I made those earrings MUCH bigger and with wool so they really stood out!!!  


Now revenge was wrought upon me as that year it SNOWED on April 23rd (well, the closest Saturday to that date which is Shakespeare's birthday).  It was cold, wet and horrid in the procession so it served me right for being so bad.

Happy or sad?

That is the question!!!  Actually a mixture!

These are a few of my ezbobs.  They're naked and need clothing in thread!!!  Does this make me happy or sad?  I'm not sure to be honest.

The ones outside the bag are really the only naked ones as the others inside have never been 'dressed' in thread before.  Let me explain!

I store all my precious HDT and sample threads on these little gizmos and the newly naked ones are as a result of the ongoing diamond project.  That's the happy part of it as it's been amazing to have been given the opportunity by generous friends to use these.  


The sad part is simply that they are now naked - BUT it does give me a whopping BIG excuse (and hopefully with a healthy Paypal account) to order more.  I'm going to start a list over the next few weeks and will then order (mostly, I think) when I get to the USA.  That will save me on postal charges, I hope, as I'll have them delivered to Cincinnati!!!  Am I crafty, crazy or what?