My Weekly March 2003

I thought I'd finished with these but I was WRONG!!  I found another!!!

Now there's quite a story behind this article!!!!  Are you sitting comfortably?  Then I'll begin!!!

It all started with a phone call from the arts editor at the magazine (My Weekly).  We'd obviously become friends over the previous few years.  Elena asked if I could please do a seahorse pattern.  Well, of course I said 'yes' and asked what the deadline was.  'Tomorrow' she said.  Oh, she might've said next week but I know it was a very, very short time.  This must've been in 2001 that the call was made.  That's (duh, come on out BC3) 12 years ago when my life was megga busy.  So I made a seahorse.  This embarrasses me now as the tail is really the wrong way round!!!!  Neither I nor Elena noticed at the time!!!!  

So the pattern was completed against all the odds in just a few days, submitted and accepted.  I was as ever, dead chuffed.

Roll on a couple of YEARS and it was finally published!!!  

This seahorse  (although one of my favourites of all time) has caused me a lot of upset as a few years after publication somebody 'stole' it.  They changed it (NOT for the better) by putting in some picots and missing out a nose ring!!!  In fact I've put a picture of the 'damaged' seahorse below.  This was published in a tatting newsletter under another lady's name and the editor of the newsletter said it was 'fine to do that as it had been changed by more than 10% so the copyright now belonged to her'!!!  That's a myth as we all know!!!  I queried the amount of changes anyway!

I finally spoke to the 'designer' who was a very, very old lady who'd seen a picture of the seahorse and copied it from that.  She'd no concept of copyright issues.  I couldn't be cross with her but I was with the tatting newsletter people as, if they considered themselves 'experts in tatting', they should've checked and double checked the pattern.  By the time it was published it was already on my web site.  

Anyway it's all 'water under the bridge' now but it's worth a mention that by taking other people's work you can damage their health and temper!!!!!

A new bracelet for Ros

So, after the earrings that I showed you here I can now present the bracelet to match.  Well, not quite a match as I didn't have enough of the beads that I used on the earrings!!!!  

My stash of beads is quite considerable but finding the 'right' ones each time means I tend to use the same favourites!  This eventually leads to a dearth of the favourite colours - time for another look in Ebay, I think!!!

I'm going to start doing the drawings for this soon and once I've made a few of these bracelets (with adjustable clasps) I'll put some in my Etsy shop.  They'll have to be a tad more expensive than my usual 'stuff' as they take ages to make (nearly two evenings which is about 6 hours) and are (as you can see) 'bead hungry'!!!!

Question is - how much do you think I should price them at?  I find it SSSOOOOOO difficult as I rarely sell stuff - it gets given away or thrown in a box!!!!

Curtain at 22 inches

First of all - number 117 pram has arrived here on the TIAS blog.  Thank you, Ray.

I thought it was about time you all suffered an update on the filet crochet curtains.  Well, that should be curtain at the moment.  

This is still an interesting afternoon project and one which is still slowly progressing in spite of the 'grand tidy up' that is ongoing in the house.  Don't you just HATE having to do that?  The tidying up, I mean.  

Red Winsomes

So another look at my vast collection of tatted earrings and a thought about the only red pair I've got.  

Now this red pair are based on this pattern and when I made them I extended the long beaded picots on the side and bottom rings.  I thought they looked fine until people started commenting and calling them my 'cross' earrings.  That stopped me wearing them as I didn't want anybody to think I was in any way 'into' any religion!!!!  So this weekend I decided to make a new pair of red earrings.  This is the pattern - the ever useful Winsome Drop earrings.

I bought these lovely glass beads while I was in America last September.  I really love them.

Earrings Ros and compare

Having made the one pair of these earwigs for myself as an experiment I then decided that my friend Ros would probably like a pair too.  Now Ros is even shorter than me and a lot, lot slimmer so she doesn't like big earrings.  

I made her the pair that you can see at the top using the same pattern - which I WILL get onto my site once the manic tidying up has been completed here in the house!!!

The picture below shows the comparison between my pair and 'hers'.  Dying to give them to her now and hope to see her later today.  I've also made her a bracelet which I'll show you soon.