Christmas is round the corner!

Well, not really!! I like to start early on my Christmas giveaways so that I can do them as and when I feel like it!!! This year I wanted to use a sequin as the basis but this has proved a long winded design as the end result has to pretty fast to work or I get fed up!!!!

I finally came up with the idea below. I may add more beads to the outsides of the SR's but that's all.

Oh, do have a close look at the points of the motif. Can you see how every other one is repeated? Having discovered that new way of adding beads to a picot has made this possible without all the hassle of counting the beads onto a thread and working out the other beads to fit in with these.

Life with beads is good in tat land - long live brain cell # 3!!!!!

I think it's finished - the horseshoe

I went down the town yesterday in yet more rain (our roof's leaking even faster!) and bought some ribbon for the horseshoe. An exact match to the gold thread I used.
Then I sewed some more of the gold beads into some of the spaces on the outside. Now's the time to put it away for a few days and then take another peek!!!
Next I'll probably play with some earring rings that SueH sent me a couple of weeks ago and also play with the sequins again too. I want to make something pretty fast for the sequins so they will be my Christmas giveaways. I have to do roughly 30 so they do have to be FAST!!!!!

Talking about tatting

Before I start talking about my tatting talk at Loxley I've been asked what the W.I. is so here's a link.

What a hoot the evening was!!! I arrived and immediately found myself in a time warp!!! It seemed that nearly every lady who arrived was a face from the past!!! There was the lady who'd bought a 10 year old freezer off me twenty years ago who took great pleasure in telling me that it was still working!!!! Then there was the lady who's hubby had taken a garage away for us on a 'free to whoever will collect' basis and then converted it into stables. Next there was a friend I was at school with and another lady who's kids went to the school I taught at! Aileen was also there who is a friend from the past and who I help nowadays with computer stuff.

I started the talk in a 'serious mode' but this soon developed into the usual hilarity that seems to accompany me wherever I go. I think it went well and out of about 15 people I got two started on the basics and they will hopefully get in touch for more help.

Ooooh, there was supper afterwards and THE most delicious lemon cake - homemade, of course.

Horseshoe - nearly done!

Well last night I thought it was done but now I'm not so sure!!
Obviously it needs some ribbon to carry it or even a tatted cord but now looking at it today it still needs something more.
Nothing will get done today as I've a busy morning followed by (hopefully) some more sewing on the bags this afternoon.
This evening I'm giving a talk out in one of the villages to their local W.I. group about - guess what?
'How to plant your potatoes'.
No, seriously, tatting!!!

Horshoe again

Simply MUST tell you about yesterday.
During the morning my neighbour came round to use our internet connection (she's having trouble with hers) and I put on my laptop where she sat with it on the sofa. I was pleased that the horseshoe wasn't lying around and whispered that to Nick. After a while she said 'darn' and I asked what the problem was. She'd generated something which then told her to print off the email receipt. No probs, says I - we can print it off from the main computer and I toddled off upstairs followed by neighbour!!!
Fortunately I got into the 'office' before her and noticed that I'd left the scanner open (remember the black background to yesterday's picture?) and quickly closed it before she noticed the horseshoe lying there on the platten. Phewwwww, a narrow escape!!!!
In the afternoon I went to give my 70th donation at blood donor. I kept getting the feeling that one or two of the staff were watching me while I was donating. Afterwards I sat and had the usual cup of tea (darn, no bourbon biscuits this time) and then went to leave to walk home a few minutes later. As I was nearing the door three or four of the staff descended on me. Was I still doing that ........ you know, making butterflies?
So out came the tatting again (I'd had a quiet tat as I was waiting for my 'turn') and away flew a few more butterflies. I made my next appointment and left. When I got home I started thinking about what to do instead of 'boring butterflies' and have decided that next time I go (in November) I'm going to take them some beaded hearts like these.
I finished the outer trimming to the horseshoe last evening and started on a narrower one for the inside. This is definitely a 'make it up as you go along' project!!!!

Horseshoe in progress

In case anybody was thinking I'd packed my bags and left tat land well, no, I haven't!!! I'm giving brain cell # 3 a break at the moment and just 'playing'.
We're going to a re-wedding in September and I wanted to make something special for the bride (our neighbour) so I'm making a horseshoe. This is it 'so far'. I want to decorate it lots and am currently working on a gold (beaded, of course!) edging which I'll show in a few days time. Meanwhile here it is mounted on fabric and stiffened.
Oh, this is the reason I found the way of adding beads while working - too lazy to decide ahead which ones to load onto the shuttles!!!
Ah, so does this make it truly a lucky horseshoe?

Katie's man and turtle!!!

This is from the bonus button family and came from Katie. I'm going to share what she said -
"I wanted to send you also the man from the button family that I made. When our little tatting band met at Janie Armstrong's for Mark's workshop, we all brought some little tatties to make a b-day and thank you card for him. I took the red-headed man with a shuttle and Mark's turtle. I don't have a scan of the final card."

Results brought by my visitor!!

Remember my visitor? Brain cell number 3? Well, she's finally fulfilled all her promises!!
I've been playing around with the idea that I showed last time when the visitor arrived. I wanted to have beaded picots on this design but just couldn't work out what colours I wanted or where I wanted them. I thought I'd have different colours on each picot but working out how to thread them onto the shuttle or chain threads was more than the other two brain cells could cope with!!
So I played and eventually came up with another way of doing it without having to add the wretched beads to the shuttle thread first. Everybody knows what a pain it is to have so many beads on a shuttle - not fun.
So I devised a way of 'cheating'. I've run it past the tatting gurus who live in tat land and neither have seen it written down anywhere. So, I thought I'd do it. Here's the link to this technique.
I'm just so pleased with it as it's going to save a lot of trouble in the future. I do hope brain cell # 3 stays around a bit longer or even invites friends to join the others!!!!

I've had a visitor

Yes, it's true. Guess who? OK, I'll tell.
It's brain cell number 3. Don't think it'll stay long and I'm very excited about what he brought with him. Actually, make that a female brain cell. It could only be a woman that thought this idea up!!!!
I'm actually not going to share it today as I'm running it past a few of the gurus in tat land to see if they've seen it done before. It's certainly revolutionised my tatting.
Ah, before I go. Another puzzle for you. What AM I making now? Below are the rough and first attempts.

Roly Poly Tat Bags

OK, here's the new 'range' of integrated tatting accessories which I'll be listing shortly on Etsy. Least I'm hoping some of these (there are only the three so far) will make it to Etsy as I've been selling privately now for weeks and nothing has got into the shop!!! First of all there are the 3 new bags.

These are followed by the 'poke proof' pouches (no hook or pick will get through these!!!) with separate bobbin holders which fold into the pouch.

Another sequin idea

I finished off this sequin design yesterday evening after a long day of sewing.
I'm not sure yet if this one will be the final idea for the Christmas giveaways but it's nearly there. Probably a bit complicated and intricate but I do like it.
The next thing I really ought to do is put these ideas on a web page for anybody who might want them but I've a bit of a concern at the moment. My friend Jennifer wrote yesterday evening and gave me a link to Bev's Dillon's tatted coin bracelet as she wondered if what I was doing with the sequins might be the same as Bev's idea. Well, although I've used more SR's and a different stitch count, it is in essence the same. I've written to Bev to ask if she's OK with me using this idea - even if it did occurred accidentally. OR (another thought) was it one of the two brain cells retaining the idea if I saw it once before? Now, there's a mystery. All answers on a postcard to the comments section of this blog!!! Please send a stamped addressed envelope if you want a reply!!!!!!!!!!!
It's been said before but it's going to happen that great minds keep going down the same avenues of thought!!!
I've taken some photos of the new 'range' of roly poly tat bags and shuttle pouches and will blog them tomorrow by which time I'll (hopefully) have finished a third set.

It works!!!!

Well, I said watch this space so here we go!!! The new pouch is fabulous (with hook/pick proof bottom) and I've also got bobbin holders that I'm pleased with!!! What a relief. Suddenly the second brain cell woke up yesterday afternoon and reminded me that I should try 'fitting' the bobbin holder inside the pouch. Not sewn in but placed in. This now means that if people want to buy a pouch off me then they'll get a bobbin holder too - whether they want it or not BUT if they don't use bobbin shuttles then they can just throw it away!!! Two problems (or more) solved. Here's the pouch.

Here's the bobbin holder (I know they're different fabrics but that's so it shows up what I'm doing!)

Here are the two together before the pouch is closed with a velcro fastening.

My two favourite brain cells

Well, they're my two favourite cells because they're the only ones I've got!!! They were both working well yesterday!!!
I've been trying to design a shuttle pouch for my Aero shuttles. I want it to be suitable for shuttles with picks too and also to have spaces for spare bobbins. Well the actual first attempt did all that but needed some tweaking. Then I decided that it still hadn't solved the problem of hooks poking through the fabric. This has been nagging away at the two brain cells for a week or more now with no luck so yesterday I went down the town to try and resolve this problem.
Oh, before I say more - I'd already tried to resolve this by cutting up plastic lids and inserting those but they were way too bulky and didn't lie well.
So, off I trundled down to the town and I decided to annoy the fabric store first. In the dress fabric section Mrs Miserable was on duty so no luck there! I then wandered into the curtains section and with much joviality was pointed out that probably a certain tye of cloth would do the trick! This shop is SO expensive and I only needed about 3" by 3" to try it out. So, 'girding my loins' (whatever that means!) I decided to annoy the curtain shop on the way home.
EUREKA. The man there has a sense of humour and when I told him I'd come to annoy him he 'rose to the occasion'. I finally bought about half a yard of this type of cloth for a pound!! He said he was glad to see the back of it (it was the tail end of a roll) as I left!!! Actually I reckon if only I'd have been a bit quicker I could have asked him to pay ME to take it away.
Point is, it looks as if it does work. This means that the production of shuttle pouches will soon be underway!!!! I've decided not to make integral bobbin holders but to make separate ones exactly like those I've been using for years!!
Watch this space!!!!!

The difference one double makes

I'm intrigued. After all these years of tatting I still don't know the answer. Perhaps somebody can help?
As anybody who's been following this blog will know I've been struggling with a decent way to enclose a sequin within two layers of tatting but with the proviso that it must be worked in one 'hit'. Years ago I made them by working two rounds and joining them with the third one working outwards from the sequin.
I finally managed to do this in one round a few months ago and was pleased with myself!!! I went back to this again a few days ago and was bitterly dissapointed because it didn't work so well this time. However much I tried the sequin was loose in the tatting.
While out walking the other afternoon I thought about the problem so then sat down two nights ago and tried doing it another way - again in one hit.
Now, the question is that on this final and utterly fabulous attempt in each SR there is a total of 7 ds. YET in the version before which was loose, there are only 6 ds. Can anybody explain?

Time after time I find anomalies like this. When I work on animals something done a few days/weeks previously can be knocked out of shape by one join meaning a re-think or even re-start on the whole thing. It's absolutely no good drawing it out first as this still happens.
Anyway, this is last night's outer round.

Eureka!!!

Well I'm sure that anybody looking at yesterday's post would've thought that the sequin design was OK. Well, let me tell you it wasn't. I wasn't happy with the fit of the sequin in the centre of the two sides of tatting. So I suddenly had a brainwave.

Yup, one of the two brain cells had a growth spurt and came out of hiding. Sometimes this happens in my little corner of tat land!!! It's meant re-writing the centre part again but it's still done in one 'hit' and it gives a fantastically snug fit to the sequin.
With these particular sequins there are two holes and it's possible to join through those if you want to. Personally this is such a good fit now that it's not at all necessary. Ooooooh, I'm SO pleased with myself.
Next I want to do another one or two outer parts and also work on Martha's idea of a smiley sequin face which then will be added to my web pages. The two I have just done are fine but they don't give much opportunity to use beads and you know how much I love my beads!!! I want something that will be my Christmas giveaway so I want something sparkly and fun and which will fit in a bracelet to hang on the tree.
I'll take a few more days to play with this and then I must do something for a wedding we're going to in September. No, we're not getting married at last - no time for all that!!!

Here's one I made earlier!!!

Well, actually something I made yesterday evening!!!
I'm not sure I like it or will bother with it again but I suppose it's different!!!
I went back to playing with sequins and might stick to that for another few days - until I've worked it out of my system!!! I'm not that happy with the first round and may play with that to make fewer split rings if possible.
Back to what I did ages ago - or should that be years ago!!! I went through this phase once before but hope I can now improve on it!!!! Well, where there's life there's hope, I guess. Wonder who said that? Well apart from me!!!!!

Been tagged.

I've been tagged by Sherry!
6 unimportant facts about me? Tat's easy!!!! Now if it was six important facts then that'd be a challenge!!!!

1. I've been tatting for 52 years - with a few breaks for other laces and crafts!!!
2. I hate makeup, haircuts, looking in the mirror!!
3. My sense of humour gets me into a LOT of trouble and most days.
4. I can cope in bad situations - but fall to pieces afterwards.
5. I snore and talk in my sleep - so I'm told but I don't believe it!!!!
6. I managed to drag up two daughters while working as a fulltime teacher. They turned out brilliantly too. Hmmmm, how did I do tat?!?!!?

Now for this award thing!!!! Not sure I understand it but here are the rules
Rules:
1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award,
creativity, design, interesting material, and also contrubuites to the blogger
community, no matter of language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award-winning, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4) Award-winning and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y pico"blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.

Blog number 1 is the walking the streets blog. I like this blog as it was written about my area but I cannot reveal the name - well, not the real one.
Number 2 is this one but I'm not prepared to say who's it is or where they fit into my life!!! I love her dry sense of humour.
HECK, I'll have to come back to this another time!!! Need to find thread and beads to tat!!!

100 done and dusted

Well I did it!!! I had a late start on them yesterday evening because the garden needed a little 'attention'!!! I'll pack them up and post them today.

Now I've been tagged again by Sherry and Ais has sent me an award. Need to dust off one of the two brain cells and find out what to do about these!!! Which of the two will I use? The 'sensible' brain cell or my favourite - the other one!!!!

I'm now wondering what to do with myself this evening. Several options occur to me but my favourite is to play with the sequin idea again! I just want/need to get one idea out of the blur inside my head.

I also managed to get all of the new roly poly tat bags photographed yesterday afternoon and up on a temporary url to show people. My next move was to list some of them in Etsy. BUT, they've all sold again without reaching the shop!!! So, when I get time it'll be back to the sewing machine!!! I really must finish getting the garden sorted first!!

Oh, I've noticed that the 'timeless tatting' site has dissapeared (for now at least). So all the natives in tataholics in tat land must have done some good by complaining!!!!

Are we there yet?

Do you remember the kids sitting in the back of the car and saying 'are we there yet?' after you'd done a mile or two on the holiday journey? I do!!!! I feel like that with the snowflakes!!! I've now done 84 and a half so should finish this evening. Well, if I don't get distracted!!!
Ah, tattingchic, the 'im wot must be obeyed' is Nick!!! He isn't a person who thinks he should be obeyed one bit. The kindest man you'd ever wish to meet but (like me) he has a HUGE sense of humour!!!! We thrive on each others company.
I made some more roly poly tat bags yesterday so hope to have time to list a few more in my Etsy shop tomorrow. I'll keep you posted!!!

68 done - too many to do!!!

So a few more done!!!
A frustrating day yesterday but I still managed to get a few more roly poly tat bags sewn. Frustrating in that I had to walk to the nearest hardware store to buy paint for 'im wot must be obeyed' twice!!! Still, I managed to get a few more bags sewn before, during and after!!!
Here are the tiny 'snowflakes' that I'm working on. 68 done and boredom is setting in!!! I hope another two looooong evenings will see them done!! Least I get to watch the telly while I'm doing these!!!!

51 down - 49 to go!!

The small snowflakes I'm working on are only teeny tiny ones - 10 minutes a snowflake!!! I sort of 'race and pace' myself when doing these so they go faster than usual!!!

Yesterday I made a couple (or was it three?) roly poly bags and have thought of two improvements to the pouches. Major improvements to the two shuttle one which will ......... I'll show you when I've made one!!!

Now another thing which has shaken tat land during the past few days has been somebody who has been taking images from other's sites/blogs etc and using them to publish 'her' e-book. Not only doing this without permission but also charging for patterns (when you eventually get to the 'nitty gritty') that are already in the public domain!!! She would have you believe that the images she's using are the patterns in the book. Very misleading. In the UK we have a very good law which is the 'Trade Descriptions Act'. This means that if she lived here she would be in major trouble. Also charging $27 for something which is available for free AND not refunding a purchasers money as promised if they're dissatisfied is downright criminal.
If you want this lady's (or man's) email address and further information please ask me for it. DON'T buy any online patters from anywhere before reading the small print and asking around first.

A day in the life of ME!!!!!

On odd occasions we take a trip 'out of town'. Yesterday was one such day.
Have you heard the nursery rhyme - 'Ride a cock horse to Banbury cross'? Well we took the car there (to Banbury) yesterday (couldn't find a horse anywhere!).
The small market town is about twenty miles from where I live and has a shopping centre (the 'normal' boring sort with all the big stores) and some super small shops like our town used to have. There are several fabric shops so they were a great place to browse.
I found some Opera thread which I bought for a friend (£1.00 a ball) and some zips on a market stall (there's a great street market on a Thursday and Saturday) for my roly poly zip bags.
I also posted the penultimate bag off to America from the Post Office which is close by the cross. Hope to start on another 'batch' this afternoon for the Etsy shop where the last one is at the moment.
I'm also working on some shuttle pouches and will pop pictures of them on this post. There are one or two 'design issues' at the moment which need to be sorted!!!

OK below are the two pouches. The one on the left holds two bobbin shuttles with integral 'pockets' to hold two further spare bobbins. The pouch on the right holds four shuttles with pockets for a further 4 bobbins. I think I will go with the 2 pocket pouch. I only make things I just KNOW I will use. I've been meaning to make a 2 shuttle pouch now for ages - one to fit the roly poly bags. I'm also thinking along the lines of a 'hook/pick' protector at the bottom of the pocket but I'm not sure what to use or how to 'fit' it. I will get there in the end!!!!

Tatting at the moment is a no, no. I can't get started on anything new. I made a tentative start the other day but it went nowhere. Then a friend rang (I do wedding stationary tatting for her) and asked for another 100 snowflakes. Doing these on 'autopilot' gives my mind time to wander and the ideas usually start to flow as the boredom sets in!!!! I've done 41 so after today should've cracked the half way point!!! THEN I may go back to the sequin 'share a tat' as I have more ideas about those.

Simply a teaser!!

I thought I'd just show a picture of what the bonus is for TIAS 3!!! As this game is on url's it can be started and completed at any time. There are now 70 ladies up in cyberspace with a few more promised. Now, as you know, I did say there would be a bonus and a few were expecting the man to go with the lady. I thought I might just add a picture of the bonus to this to this blog to show you what everybody who has completed got. Just the picture, mind, not the pattern - you have to earn it!! DO I LOVE teasing?!?!?
I can see this little family being great for kids clothes, on cards or just little giveaways.
I've just added the lamb to a 'bonus bonus' page. This is Martha's and I've added it to a another page to save you printing off all the others again!!!! It can be reached from the bonus page!!!!
I also must mention before I go that the TIAS will still be accessible from this page forever or until I run out of space on the server!!!

During the TIAS

While the TIAS has been going on I've had to take a break from designing. Well actually the TIAS took a lot of my time so to give it the amount of attention it needed I found that my two working brain cells were being run under full pressure!!! So, I did stuff for myself. Well, I made them for me but I doubt I'll ever wear them as I don't go to 'posh' places!!!!!
This set of necklace, bracelet and earrings is the pattern I've been playing with for a while. I've used some antique beads for the centres of the daisies and 'regular' beads as well. The antique beads are known (I believe) as carnival beads. I love them.

How I've been spending my time lately!

While everybody's been doing TIAS #3 I've been sewing!! Remember the roly poly tat bags? I sold a couple through ebay and two from my Etsy shop (there are still two left there!). I've also had other enquiries from friends round the world too.

One friend asked me to put in a tag saying 'made by Jane Eborall'. What a brainwave!!! So, off I went looking for ways to get these made. I snurged around the internet to no avail. It suddenly occurred to me to try ebay. After considerable searching I found what appeared to me a grand little shop.
By this time it was about four o'clock on Monday afternoon. I emailed the shop owner who put me onto another type of label she sells. We discussed the layout and format (very simple - just like me!!) and I went and paid her. First thing on Tuesday morning I had an email to say my goods had been despatched. GREAT, I thought. I'll hopefully get them on Wednesday (Royal Mail permitting).
About an hour later the letterbox rattled and Nick called out that my labels had arrived!!! I honestly didn't believe him but there they were. EXACTLY as I expected and just what I needed.
Ah, now who's going to ask me how to find this amazing supplier? Don't worry, I'm definitely sharing the url with you!!! Here it is - just click here.

Miss World 2008 - and onwards

OK, I know it's way too big - the dress I made. But, isn't the model a real poppet?

Yesterday

What a day. It rained all day but I went out for my walk and then hung myself up to dry when I got back!!!

What I did manage was to re-price my Roly Poly Tat Bags on Etsy. I had put them a little high in price as I didn't really know what to pitch them at. Now I want people to buy them as I'm finding mine just SO useful. Here's the Etsy shop.
I also got myself sorted and listed two more in Ebay along with a brand new bag of embroidery floss which a friend gave to me and which I'm sure I'll never use!!!!
So, that was a wet day in the UK. Today looks like being the same too!!!!

A little bit of tatting

I know this blog is about tatting but sometimes I digress a little. No excuses this time, though, as there is a little itsy bitsy bit of tatting involved here!

It is a loooooong, loooooong time since I've made a little girl's dress and I'm going to brag about this one! I bought the pattern about two weeks ago and had forgotten the thrill of taking out those flimsy bits of tissue paper to sort them out. I remember this as being one of the highlights of dressmaking when I used to make all the family's clothes.
Way back when my two were tiny (the oldest has recently turned 40) I used to work at a playgroup every Friday morning. The pay for this was the princely sum of £1.00 ($2.00). With two tiny daughters in a double pushchair I used to dash back through the town, after playgroup, to the Friday street market where Cliff had a fabric stall. I spent my £1 on fabric to make clothes for the 'females' in the family.
Even when I was back in full time work (teaching) I would try to get to the Friday market for my fabrics and remember occasionally dashing back to school, putting the children's tiny tables together and pinning out a pattern on the fabric - much to the amusement of colleagues.
I can't tell you how many times over the past week or more I've taken those pieces of tissue out of the packet and put them back!! I was almost afraid to start. Anyway, I did!!! I tried to follow the instructions but soon went back to my old ways of 'instinct' and the little dress has worked up a treat. I found some thread that exactly matched the flowers to finish it off with three tiny tatted motifs.
Tomorrow I will post it to my daughter as it's for my six month old granddaughter. After three grandsons it's good to have a little girl to make for. She received her first (pink) tatting shuttle on the day I met her for the first time!!

Here are the bracelets and earrings

This is what I've been up to while everybody's been playing with the TIAS!!! I've got 'stuck' on making these!! I'm now working on a necklace to match the purply bracelet and earrings. Don't know what it is about this design but it's become addictive!!! If you click on each picture you'll get a closer look - I hope!!!

More of the same thing!!

I've not been idle while the TIAS has been going on. I've become totally addicted to these earrings and the matching bracelet. I can't get enough of them. Here are the earrings that I've made and tomorrow I'll post the others plus two bracelets. The reason I can't post the matching sets is because they've been 'mislaid'!!!

Not the Tat It And See blog!!!

While everybody's having fun (I hope!) with the TIAS I'm playing too!! Remember the earrings? Well, there had to be a bracelet to match!!! Here it is.
I'm going to work one more to check the pattern out and then I hope to put the whole thing together. I just hope it hasn't been 'done before' as it's not too hard to make. Just found the matching earrings - in the stupid place I'd 'filed' them. (For filed - read lost!!!).

Spot the mistake in the one and the design improvement in the other!

OK those earrings were pretty yesterday, I guess but I was still not satisfied with them completely. I thought about it during the day and in the evening set off on another 'adventure' with the thread and beads. This is what I finally settled on.
Now there is a reason that the single one hasn't got a partner. That's because there's a mistake in it. I was so cross with myself when I saw it as it'd been made right at the beginning. Bummer. After looking at it closely again I realised that here was an opportunity for a 'design improvement'.
Can anybody guess what the mistake was and what the improvement is? No prizes - just a humungous pat on the back!!!
I'll tell the answer tomorrow!

Success which I will build on

At last a pair of earrings which I can and will wear!! I finished off the blue ones from the other day and then decided that blue had stopped the creative juices. (What nonsense I talk!).
I went through my stash and decided it had GOT to be green's turn next. Here are the completed earwigs. I've found a lovely easy way to put the bead in the centre and have it held by the two rings. I put it on the core thread of the ring but allowing it to hang below with a safety pin to hold it in place until I joined in later to a SR. This is probably not a new idea but it was 'new to me'!!!! Wonder if I should draw it down as a technique?
The thread I used is a sewing quilting thread (I'll look it up later and add to this blather) doubled and with a single strand of Madeira sparkly.
OK, later in the day and I've got the details of the thread. It's by Coats & Clark and is a 100% mercerised Egyptian cotton. It's called 'Star Machine Quilting and Craft' thread. The spool holds 1,200 yards which should keep me out of trouble for a while!!! Especially as I've got lots of bright colours too!!! I got it from a sewing machine shop in Blue Ash, Cincinnati but I believe it can be bought anywhere. Here's one outlet I found online and a few of the colours are at the top of the page.

What a waste of time!!

I can't believe how many hours I wasted making this. It was going to be an earring but I doubt it'll ever have a partner!!!
The metal outer rings are fine. The motif (well, the central part) is fine but once the two are put together with a chain and a wing and a prayer - it's not fine!!!! Well, I don't like it at the moment but perhaps it'll 'grow on me'.
The only good thing about this experiment is that I've found a way of putting that central bead into place. The rings are all facing outwards but the bead is integral to the centre.
I've had another inspiration while I was going to sleep last night so I'll work another motif up using this idea of the bead in the centre and then draw up how it's done.
There should be a place for all these 'bits' that I experiment with. Somewhere in tatland where they can go to live. A place for 'displaced' odds and ends.
Actually, perhaps I should go there cause at times I feel at odds with the world!!!

Playing with earrings

I'm still playing with earrings!!! The one on the left (below) I made using 3 strands of quilting machine sewing thread that I got in Amerrica last year. It's a bit tooooo thin for using singly - unless, of course, your name is Mark Myers!!! I like this little motif but it's too ugly for an earring IMHO.
The smaller one is again using the same sewing thread with two strands AND a strand of sparkly Madeira. Now this is a lot better as I've reduced the stitch count! Since working this one I've found a way of adding beads to the centre as I go along (not between the rings as the one on the left) . I will add one spectacular bead to the middle of the next one. I will also put another round on this motif as I want it to fit in the larger metal ring on the left! These rings I again bought in America and have been longing to get to play with them too. Joannie also gave me a packet so I've been waiting for another 'earring urge' to hit.
These are going to be the 'best ever' earrings. I always say that, though!!!!

Bad, bad day

Yesterday was a bad and frustrating day. I went to do some drawings on my computer and found that the previous few days were lost! I'd been saving them every time I exported a picture but they were gone. Three of us tried to find them but they appear to be lost forever. Ah, well.
Then my laptop played up.
Again 3 people had a 'go' at it and finally it started to behave.
I made these earwigs yesterday evening as a 'consolation' to myself. The ends need 'snipping' off when I get downstairs and the findings need adding, of course. They really didn't turn out as I wanted as I expected them to be larger. I used the Dual Duty Plus thread and a Madeira. It wasn't until I was settled down that I realised that this DDP is thinner than the other ones that I've been given!!!! They're still pretty but they don't fit what they're meant to fit!!! Still, I've had another and better idea so this evening might see progress!!!

Mystery Motif

Finally I had time to work on Gina's May mystery motif yesterday. Lovely little motif, Gina.

The only problem I had with this is deciding which is the 'right' way up!!!!!

Butterfly edging

Today I'm showing you an edging and sharing a message that Jane McLellan sent me. She's used one of the simple SCMR butterflies for this project. Anyway, here's what she says.

I thought you might like to see this edging, done with your SCMR butterflies. The thought process goes like this: on the 25 motif challenge, I saw a bookmark with butterflies and flowers. Lovely. Then I thought how I turned your flowery book mark into an edging. Could I turn that one into an edging? How about just butterflies? Didn't take too very long to work out that they would have to face different ways to get a straight edging! Voila. I think it worked well. I've also successfully used your squares to make 'corner decorations' for a teashower, rainbow dyed cotton in the middle and yellow round the edges.

Twins!

This is a picture which Maureen Lawrence sent to me. I'm just green with jealousy as she's expecting twins. Well, not her exactly but they are due or have arrived in the family.
Having taught several sets of twins over the years (I had four sets in one class one year) I've always found them fascinating. Anyway, here's her explanation.

Hello Jane - an over-burdened stork! At your suggestion, I decided to leave the heads and feet out as I think they would all have got tangled up - the pink and blue slings look fine on their own.
John did the scan, and he wasn't terribly careful about positioning the legs, but he is a very nice stork indeed, and I really enjoyed tatting him. I've put the stork on a card mount, on one side of a double picture frame, which I will give to Nicola - she can either put a picture of both babes on the other side, or remove the stork and use both sides of the frame.
Thanks so much for your help - the Big Day is tomorrow, and I know I won't sleep tonight.

Maybe this time, I will be able to join in the TIAS - we'll see!

Let the fun begin

I'm happy to announce the start of a new TIAS. I learnt a lot from doing Diane's so this time it will be presented on a web site rather than a blog. This means that 'late starters' will be able to join in at any time and won't be able to see what's ahead of them!!!
Completed pieces will be put on the Tat It And See blog here and then a 'bonus' will be sent to those who get it finished!!! That's not bribery - it's just a thank you for taking part.
OK the first page with a list of what you need is here. The first 'installment' will be released on Saturday 17th May.

Phewwwww

I'm going to get the bonus done for the TIAS and then hopefully announce the start date in a few days time.
I managed to get four of my roly poly tat bags listed on Etsy on Sunday. The other two haven't quite made it yet. Oh, here's the link!
Yesterday was a VERY busy day with the aged nose glued yet again to the computer - this time doing drawings for somebody else. An exciting new book coming out shortly (or even lately!!).
Just remembered this morning that I'd fogotten (remembered/forgotten!!) to add Lai Ellen's clover sequin to the site. Just need her to check it over then it can 'go'.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr, swear, cuss etc

I got all the TIAS pages done yesterday by early afternoon.
It was trying to rain but I needed to get out for a walk. I'd just set off when I suddenly thought - darn, grrrrr, cuss.
I'd put all the pages up on the internet and had used the same 'format' for each day. This meant that anybody who knew how my brain worked would easily guess after two days what all the other pages were called and would be able to race ahead!!!
So, when I got back I had to change the lot!!! As pictures are embedded (or something like that) it isn't possible to just change file names in explorer and hope it works. Each page had to have all the pictures removed, re-added and then 'saved as' .
Then of course, they all had to be uploaded again!!! Well, that's one way to keep me out of trouble!!!! All I have to do now is work on the 'bonus'!!! Not telling what that's going to be either!!!
In the evening I did a check through and found one picture missing and several silly little things that needed altering. I'll do another 'tat through' before deciding on the start date. All suggestions welcome!!!

Glued to the computer

For the past two days I've been glued to the computer building pages for the TIAS. The weather has dragged me away to clean windows (didn't know there was a world out there until I'd cleaned them) for a couple of hours but all the rest of the time has been spent sitting here. Looks like rain is coming this way so maybe I'll get all the pages done today.
I've still got a lot of work to do on the 'bonus' but that's not going to be half as hard as doing the basic TIAS!!!! I hope!!!!
Also hope to get to list the roly poly tat bags today. I'm an ambitious person! ANYTHING to avoid doing my tax return - even if it is a lot easier online!!!