How to find your beads

Do you ever find you keep losing your beads?  Do you wonder where you last left them?  Having trouble keeping them in one place together?  

Here is the answer - a bead bracelet!!!

This was kindly given to me by Joanie after a discussion with her husband and some really clever DIY work.  

Although this was given in jest I can see that having your beads round your wrist is a great idea.    Thanks, Joanie and Rick - the inventors of the year.

I wear this with pride and with no intention of opening it up to use the beads!!  Isn't that the silliest thing?!?!?!

Hurt feelings

Before I toddle off to do household chores this morning I must tell you about a rather upsetting incident which happened a while ago.  This is the story.

I was booked to teach a tatting class.  A few weeks before the class a picture of the piece I was going to teach was put up on the group's web site.  I arrived at the venue to start and was very surprised to have one of the members of the group approach me straight away with the finished item telling me she'd already done it!!  To say I was gobsmacked was the very least.

When I asked how she'd got the pattern she said she'd worked it out from the picture on the web page.

My question is - how would you feel about this?  Why couldn't this person wait for the pattern - especially if they were intending to come to the class anyway?

I suppose it's inevitable that a design can be copied off the internet but surely it's bad manners to then flaunt it in front of the person who's taken the time and trouble to design it, annotate it, then draw it and finally turn up to TEACH it?  I felt really hurt that somebody would undervalue my time and effort in this way.

Is it coming to a place and time now when it's not worth writing down a pattern?  Think how much time I would save and how many more projects I'd get done if I didn't write everything down.  Should we now just make something and put a picture on a site so people can copy it?  Is this the beginning of the end of copyright laws, intellectual property and the demise of respect?  I wonder.

Over to you!!!

I've finally got the Garden Wall Motif pattern up on my site and ready for you.  Here's what I finally did with it.

An accident report

Last week there was an accident in my house.  My own fault as I'd just finished reading a book and had just left the bookmark (one of my Wrap It, Flip It and Mark It ones) on the bed.  We both forgot or didn't notice it there when we stripped the sheets etc for washing.  While you're reading the book with one of these they can't get lost so this was entirely my fault.

That evening as I crawled into bed I looked for my bookmark but it was gone.  Gone to join the other bookmarks in the sky!!!  

A few days later Nick found it lurking inside the duvet cover which had been washed and left to dry out in the garden.  Look at the state it was in!!  Top picture!!!  

Now look at the picture below - I rescued it and put it back to work.  I use white glue (slightly diluted) to stiffen these bookmarks.  I wet the motif thoroughly before squidging the diluted glue into the item with my fingers.  This appears to be the answer to this type of accident as all I needed to do to restore it was to steam iron it back into shape, wet it again and squidge in more glue!!!!  I've been making more of these bookmarks for my Etsy shop - they really sell well when people realise that it's the answer to losing your place in a book or the bookmark itself.  Well, that's unless you're an OG with a dozy brain cell 3!!!

Lizbeth now in size 3

What a surprise I had one day last week when I had a mailing from Barb of Handy Hands.  Inside there was a sample reel of the latest Lizbeth in size 3 along with her newsletter too.

Yes, you did read that right - size 3!!!  Now I looked at it and thought to myself why would anybody want to tat in size three!!!  So, of course, curiosity got the better of me and I had to find out 'why'!!!  Darn that brain cell 3 for distracting me!!!!

I made up this little hummingbird with the thread and then had an 'AHA' moment (or three!!!!!).  Now I can see the 'why' of this size.  It really makes a statement about the colours and the thread too.  This little chap works out to be a full 2 inches worked in this thread.

Follow up to this experiment is an email I sent to Barb showing her what I'd done.  She asked if she could have the pattern for the hummer and I've said she can put it on her site.  BUT if you want the rest of my zoo collection (here) from Tat Days you can buy the CD from the Palmetto Tatters here.  There's a flamingo, an ostrich, a lion, a gecko, an octopus and a peacock.  All doodle sized but I'm now thinking which one to make next in the size 3 thread!!!

OK - that's the end of today's BLATANT advertising for Handy Hands and Palmetto Tatters!!!!  Do I care?  No - I only advertise what I totally believe in!

Kits from Tat Days

Now I came home with a few 'kits' from Tat Days.  Here are the results of two of them.  

I didn't bring an owl back as they flew back to Riet ready for the State Fair but they were really really cute and I will be making more.  My sister's addicted to them - see this link.  

I did make up the pendant which came in a goodie bag and which was kindly donated by Vicki Clarke of this blog.  I'm now wondering if this pattern is in the book she's posted about.  Very pretty and easy to make too.  Can't wait to see the rest of them.

Below that is a pretty pair of earrings but I can't remember when I was given that!!!  I do know that it's a clever little pattern by Barbara Hevener who can be contacted if you email me privately.  I'm sure she won't mind.  I thought the base of this little wreath was truly clever - thank you, Barbara.