Last of the I hate onion rings!!

Here he is - the last of the 'I HATE onion rings' revamps!!!  

Again I think I may 'convert' him into a bookmark although I'm not sure you can fit an elephant into a book!!!  Perhaps a BIG book!!!!

I finally made myself one of the Wrap It, Flip It and Mark It bookmarks for Christmas and must admit it's my favourite of all because it doesn't get lost and nor does the place in my book either!!!

So, that's my project for the next day or so - converting my six little critters into bookmarks.  I did put the price down on them just after Christmas but that didn't generate any sales.  Not to worry - it's not the end of the world!!!!

A sad day

Yes today will be a sad day as it's the last of my TIAS 2012.  Please, pretty please with sugar on the top will you send in your country and any blog urls with the final day 12?  I'll 'harvest' the blog addresses and then eventually add them to my own main blog here and to my web site links too.  I'm intrigued (as so many of you are) to see where everybody lives too.  I'll number each entry so we can easily keep count too!!

I'm sure it'll keep me busy collecting goats (does that make me a goatherd?) over the next few days but after that there'll be a big gap in my life.  What will I do with it?  

First of all I must add the goat pattern to my web pages - in fact, I'll do it now.  Do you like his name?  I wonder who it's named after?  Any guesses?

Something else I don't like

Am I becoming the 'grump of the year'?  I seem to be doing a lot of moaning lately!!!

Somebody suggested that the newly re-vamped onion ring owl, pig and elephant would benefit by using the Catherine Wheel Join.

Being the sort who always takes all suggestions seriously I set off to see if it was better.  Now I DON'T LIKE the CWJ.  It's time consuming and fiddly but I gave it my best shot (as my American friends say)!!! 

Well I wished I hadn't as it was dreadful.  I mean it sort of looks OK (picture on the left) but it really threw the pattern into a state.  You'll see I gave up on the one on the left with the CWJ - cut off in it's prime, even!!!!  The part that I did seemed to 'cup' even though I was SO careful to keep it lying flat by adjusting the chains all the time.  In fact it was just as bad as working the original onion ring!!!!  Grrrrrr.

I also realise that I actually like the definition that I get with the lock joins too.  Using the Lj gives a much firmer result to the finished piece too and I like that.

I love new techniques - well the ones that aren't 'restricted' by 'ownership' and I'm always happy to try things out but in this case the CWJ doesn't 'do' anything for this design - unless you know better - I'm always ready to take up a challenge!!

More I HATE onion rings!!

Today is Day 11 of the Tat It And See and the link is here.

During the 'refurbishment' of these three small critters I've taken the liberty of changing the stitch counts and other odds and ends.  Well, actually, it's only really been the stitch count, I think!!!

I seem to gather lots and lots of things around tat corner and never quite know what to do with them after.  So I think this little guy will shortly be converted to a bookmark (one of the Wrap It, Flip It and Mark It ones) - just to give him something to do!!!  I'm going to make another just to check him out again!!!!

More about the boxes

So after many starts and changes of mind I finally decided (as I was still in 'heart mode') to add hearts to the lids.  

Then came the 'thread hunt'.  I searched high and low for the 'right one' and in the end I used a number 40 variegated Lizbeth that somehow came home with me from America a few years ago!!!  Thank goodness it did as it's 'just right'.  I added a Madeira thread as a filament and to give it a bit of sparkle too.  I sewed the hearts onto a piece of fabric and then the inner part of the edging.  Then I used the same thread (invisible thread) to sew the outer part of the edging onto the edge of the box lids.  This has made the top sort of 'blend' into the original fabric.  I'm really pleased with them although they were VERY time consuming on the sewing front!!!

Next decision is what on this planet am I going to do with them?  I don't want them - they're of no interest now they're finished so I'm going to give this some thought. 

Anyway, enough rambling - here they are 'transformed' hopefully for the better!

Day 10

Day 10 of the Tat It And See is now posted on this link.