Face of a reindeer!

Today is going to be 'interesting'!!  On Friday I had a letter from Parcel Force telling me that they had a package to deliver to me BUT that I'd got to pay £18.00 (nearly $29.00) customs and excise duty (plus handling charge) before I could have it.  I was held to ransom over this as I think it might be the new Aerlit shuttles from Barb.  Having 'spoken' to Barb I'm now not sure as the value of the shuttles certainly wouldn't merit a charge like THAT!!!!  Of course I paid it - curiosity got the better of me!!  I'll tell you more tomorrow but for now I have a new pattern for you.  

This could be a useful little doodle, I think!!!  I suppose you could add it to Christmas cards etc.

It came about during a conversation when Sally and I were at Joanie's.  She asked if I could possibly do a reindeer face and showed me a picture of a tatted reindeer head.  I've no idea how it was made or who by so when I got home I had to start completely from scratch.  Well I normally start from scratch anyway so that I don't meet any copyright issues.  

Scratch?  No I haven't got fleas!!!!!

Anyway, here is a link to it.  Joanie test tatted it for me but the nose has undergone a small change since then (sorry, Joanie).  She also suggested (and tried) doing it using the double double stitch too and it works well made like that.  The first picture is the head worked normally and the second using the double double.  Have fun with it - I'd love to see if it really does work on cards etc!!!!

Yet another Garden Snowflake

Whoops - this one hasn't been eased into shape yet.  Yes, I did say eased!!!!  I rarely block anything - just wet it, ease it carefully into shape (IF needed) and gently 'show' it the iron!!!

I'm plain idle!!!  I also believe that a good pattern should have it's shape designed into it and not need much pressing and certainly not blocking - unless it's for the sake of picot straightening.  Unfortunately this little motif got shoved into my pocket and forgotten for a day or two so it does need a little TLC!!!!  The times I find things in my pocket and often after trip in the washing machine - you'd think I'd frisk myself regularly but I forget!!!

As the Tat It And See is taking so much time lately I'm going to have to miss the odd day's posting here and there.  WHAT?  Did I hear cheers of delight?!?!?

I'm still here though so don't think I'm not listening in to what's going on in Tat Land.  

Away in a manger

Now WHAT does that mean?  Away?  I mean you're either in a manger or not so where does 'away' come into it?  That story is a strange one anyway.  You'd think a pregnant woman would've booked a hotel in advance on a trip like that!!!  Silly moo.  Still it is only a story so I bet there's a lot of poetic licence in there somewhere!!

Sorry, I'm prevaricating and trying to get round to showing you another little 'almost doodle' that I've got here.

I thought this one might be useful for making Christmas cards.

More of the Garden Snowflake

There will be a few more of these posts as I endeavour to make enough to give away at Christmas.  Don't go away, though, as there are two more patterns (only small ones) to post and I'm still busy working on the Tat It And See too.

Yesterday was really busy packing the shuttles etc and getting them in the post.  

Just a note to those living in America - the lass at the Post Office said to allow an extra two to three days for them to arrive as things were still settling down after Sandy.  Not a lot any of us can do about that except wait!!!!  I do hope that everybody affected by the storm is beginning to get back to normal.

Pattern finished at LAST!

I've been meaning to get this finished for days and finally I've got it up on my site yesterday.  

This is the result of making so many Garden Wall motifs!!  Brain cell 3 started thinking again while I was doing those and finally came up with the Garden Snowflake!!!  I'm really quite chuffed with this design and intend to bore you to death with more pictures.  These are going to be my main Christmas giveaways this year.

Meanwhile I'm finishing off two more Christmas projects - only tiddly ones but it's surprising how long they take to 'get right'.  I'm hoping to get those up this week too - we'll see!!!

Nearly forgot - here's the link for the new Garden Snowflake pattern.

Don't forget!

Shuttles tomorrow at 20.00 hours GMT!!!  Hope I don't forget either.  Perhaps you can drop me a message about twenty minutes before, Sally and anybody else who's around?  Also while you're all busy shopping for shuttles etc please take a peek at my bookmarks etc.  They really ARE a fabulous idea and I'm not saying that just cause I thought of them but mainly because I use one all the time and have proved to myself that they work!!!  They'd make a really good Christmas present too.

Which reminds me - I have several Christmas patterns to share with you over the next few weeks so I'd better get on and finish them off!!!!

Anyway today I'm showing you the other four butterflies I chose for the cardigan.

Brain dead but recovering!!

I apologise for yesterday's post which was confusing to say the least!!!  I put Saturday at the start for the new batch of shuttles and Sunday towards the end!!!  Just say that I realised that I'd be invaded by visitors (happy days) on Saturday so won't be able to release them then.  

So, Sunday is shuttle, hook and bobbin holder day!!!!

Below are some not very good photos of the butterflies on my cardigan!!  Sewn on with invisible thread as usual!!!

Please wish brain cell 3 a quick recovery after his 'blip' yesterday!!!!

More shuttles arriving

On Saturday I'll be letting loose some more shuttles in my Etsy shop.  This time I have the following

2 Hooks with Hats On in maple (size 0.4mm)

1 Oak shuttle without a hook

1 Cherry without a hook

2 Eucalyptus with hooks

2 Pear with hooks

2 Oregon Myrtle with hooks

2 Apple with hooks

2 Maple with hooks

AND this which is a new item which 'im in the garage might make more of.  It's a bobbin holder as you can see.

The time of listing will be Sunday at 20.00 hours GMT.  We're back on GMT now after our summer of wet dismal weather!!!

The new cardigan

OK, between the TIAS, the Garden Snowflake, selling a load of 'stuff' on ebay for a neighbour and many other 'things' I've managed to complete the cardigan I showed you here.

I was really grateful for all the suggestions and wanted to go with the ones that Maureen and Susie's made but as I've told myself very firmly that I'm not allowed to buy more thread and as I hadn't either of those in my stash I had to think again.  

In the end I went for using fine sewing threads and making the butterfly which is here.  So I made about a dozen and then chose 8 to sew on to it.

Nick thought it looked great and as it's passed the 'Nick test' I'm happy with it too!!!!  The sleeves are a bit long but then that is cause I've got short arms!!!!  I can turn those up - the sleeves, I mean, not my arms!!

SUCH excitement

This is NOT tatting related but is for some of my tatting friends.  Among those who might enjoy my excitement are Joanie, Pam, Riet and a few of the others in South Carolina!!!

Now you folks in America have dollar stores which sells things for - guess what - a DOLLAR!!!  In England we have the 'odd' place which is equivalent and in my town we have Poundland.  Now a pound is worth 62 cents at the moment so anything we buy is almost twice as expensive than buying in America.  

I'll confess here.  When I walk in the afternoons I usually go round in a certain direction so that I end up walking up through the town towards home.  I always pop into our Poundland - just in case they've got something new that I can't live without.  

Well, yesterday they did and here they are!!!  The latest craze while Sally and I were in America was the range of small solar powered novelty 'items' (for want of a better word).  I came home so excited with these two but have hidden them from Nick as they'll now form part of his birthday present.  He'll be thrilled as he asked me why I didn't come home with more once he'd seen the dancing daisies that Pam had given me.  Reasons why I didn't?  All the dollar stores we visited had sold out and I'd got no room in my suitcase!!!  The daisies had to travel in my carry on bag!!!

WHAT a surprise

Well you know I fell in love not long ago with a bag.  I know - a bag is a bag is a bag but NOT when you're an old bag lady like I am!!  Who was that who said 'she's just an old bag and not a lady'?  I heard you!!!

Well on Friday I was sitting having lunch when the doorbell rang.  It was the postman with a packet for me.  Now this was MOST puzzling as I wasn't expecting anything.  Not a thing, zilch, nowt, nil, zero.  Well I just LOVE surprises and this one was wonderful.  It came from Geraldine (this is her blog) who also sent me the instructions to make more bags like it AND some fabric and interfacing too.  It's got 8 pockets.  Yes, EIGHT pockets.  I love pockets in bags as they keep me better organised.  I like the square bag I made cause that's got 4 pockets but this one has EIGHT!!!  

Can you see what was in the pockets?  There was chocolate (yummy, yummy), some HDT, another thread which Geraldine says is great for the magic thread trick (I really MUST try that now), beads (can you see that they're eyes?), buttons and a doodad too.  

Thank you SOOO much, Geraldine - that's made an old git VERY happy.

A tin - just a tin!

Just what the title says - this is a tin!!  Nick likes the small mints that come in these tins and when he'd finished with one the other day he asked if it would be any use to me.  Well, what do YOU think I said?

The small black 'bit' fits just neatly on the top of the tin allowing the mints to be shaken out through the hole.  It's made of quite a tough plastic and is quite easy to get out as you can see.

I've got a few very nice crystal beads which will fit neatly inside and which will save me getting out too many at a time and (as is well known in most tatter's houses) getting spilled all over the place if I knock the tin over!!  I've been given two of these so I'll find other beads to put in the other one.  All I have to do now is stick a label on the top so I know what's in each tin.

Now hands up all those who think this is a stonking great idea!!!  

Well done brain cell 3 - long may you live!!!

Don't get bored, please!

I know it's more of the same but I have to make a design over and over again until I'm happy with it.  Mainly it's small tweaks on the stitch count that really matter to me.  I had to get the centre right so that the seed beads filled the space and I think I'm happy with that part now.

I also like these colours a lot better too!!!!

Tomorrow I'll show you something new, I hope!!!!  Newish anyway!!!

Garden snowflake again.

Here's another but I'm not happy with these two colours either!!  They are different to the other two but I'm still not totally happy.  The pattern is coming on well and I SHOULD get it finished soon.  Trouble is I'm dividing my time between this, two other small doodle projects and the TIAS - which I've fallen out with again for now!!!!  I'm hoping to get back to it this evening!!

I was being too lazy and just used what I'd got near the chair again this time.  The variegated thread is some of Karey's and I'm afraid I've just 'killed' it's beauty (and Karey's threads are beautiful) with the yellow.  Ah well, back to the drawing board!!!!

Something slightly new

Whilst I ponder and work on the cardigan I'm also playing with this idea.

This is a new snowflake which I'm calling the 'Garden Snowflake'.  Yes it's already got a name which is very unusual for me.  The reason?  Well it's based on the Walled Garden motif.  It's not exactly the same as you'll see because I changed the centre quite a bit.

The pattern itself is well on the way to being finished too but I'd like to check it out a few more times before sharing.

I'm not sure I like this colour combination but it was what was on hand when I was sitting here a few days ago!!!

Do you like?

Do you like my new jacket/cardigan?  I bought one similar to this last winter in black.  I lived in it all winter as it's very lightweight and I get awful hot in our central heating.  Nick feels the cold and I've got an inbuilt central heating boiler inside me so we tend to 'differ' on heating needs!!!

So, having looked at this new item I've decided it's just a tad too plain for me and needs some embellishment!!!  Obviously you know what I'm going to have to do - add tatting!!!  How or what is my next decision.  I don't want to 'tie' myself to any particular colour as I'd like to be able to wear it with anything in my vast wardrobe.  Hmmmm, that's a joke - my wardrobe just ain't vast at all!!!

So here is the item which is taking my attention (although briefly!) from the Tat It And See.

TIAS 2013

Do you want the good news or the bad news first?  When that question is asked I always opt for the bad first as I like to get that over with and out of the way.  Actually Geraldine prompted this post with her comment yesterday so I thought I'd better update y'all (as they say in the southern states of America)!!!

The bad news is that I really, really struggled to get started on next January's TIAS.  Oh, in case you don't know a TIAS is a 'Tat It And See'.  It's a game a lot of people play with me in January each year.  Here's a link to the TIAS blog.  Last year's links are on the left side of the blog if you want to see how it works.  The introduction here will give you some idea of what you might expect.

Well the good news now - I've finally started on it.

Now what took so long?

You guys - you caused poor old brain cell 3 a lot of worry and angst!!!  You're getting too darn clever at guessing what the finished piece is going to be and I'm trying to make the guessing harder!!!!

I THINK this year's idea will work.  Do you want a clue?  Well here you are!!!

What to do when you can't think of what to do!

My tatting life has been a bit in the doldrums lately.  I'm not sure why but it has.  I've been tempted away from what I ought to do by the wonderful variety of threads I've got.  

Anyway I thought I would settle down and do something a bit more than 'just something small' and decided to have another 'go' at the chicken wing doily.  

This time I've used my all time favourite Rainbow Taffy and another (can't remember which!) Lizbeth variegated for the centres of the 'wings'.  I love it and now it's done it's been put away in the cupboard!!!!  Having got that out of my system I wonder what will happen next in my corner of Tat Land!!!!

My travel project

Now before I left for America I had to decide what to take with me to do in those 'odd moments'.

I never tat while in the departure lounges (too many people to watch) or on the plane (too easy to drop things and not be able to find them again) so that made it slightly easier to decide - or did it?  Not at all as making decisions is hard sometimes!!!

In the end I settled (as usual) for a hanky edging as it doesn't involve beads (who wants to rub their noses on beads on a hanky?!?!?) and does require a lot of mindless repetition!!  So I decided on using the 'Oh So Simple' edging which I happened upon last Christmas.

I've now finished it as I needed something to do when I got home because I wasn't in the right frame of mind to start something new!!  Life's like that sometimes!!!

Finished the pattern!

Well that didn't take as long as I thought to finish off.  It was 'almost there'.  That's the problem with my hit and miss way of life - I start a thing months and months before I finish it and meantime (as you've probably realised) forget I've even done it!!!  

I worked up another pendant to run a final check on the pattern (not got the last metal split ring on yet) which will go well with two new tops I bought last week.  

Oh, here's the link and here's a final picture!!!

Stephanie's doily

Stephanie gave some of us a doily at Tat Days and this is mine.  

Now I must admit that I'm not a 'doily person' or rather - not until now!!!  I never ever ever keep any of my work out on display unless Nick finds it and puts it out.  In fact the only thing that is on display is the big hanging I made last year (OR was it the year before?)!   

BUT this doily has to be seen to be believed.  It's worked in a size 80 (or maybe even less) and hasn't been put away since I got back home.  It sits on the cupboard next to 'tat corner' and smiles happily at me the whole time.

I have quite a few items that other people have made in tat corner but this one is the biggest even though it only measures six and a half inches.

It's just waaaaay too pretty to put away anywhere - thanks Stephanie.

Doodads!!!

I've been following the wonderful excitement over the doodads which Diane started a few weeks ago.  I amend that last sentence - it was in August (doesn't time fly?).

It's been making me smile to myself as I've long had a 'thing' about doodads and started using them many years ago in a butterfly pattern.

In March last year I bought some earrings from Asda - here they are - and took them apart!!!!  This is one of the many, many things I made with them.

So, when it came to putting in my application to teach at Tat Days I wondered what to submit.  I'd recently been working on this pendant which has a doodad which Irma had sent me (another picture below - in coloured threads).  They're not easy to find here in the UK unless you get lucky as I did with the earrings!!!  So, should I submit this to teach and would I be able to point my students towards where to buy them?  A limited use pattern, I thought at the time.

So as I liked the pendant idea I had to go into 're-design' mode which is where the last picture on this page comes from - now on the Palmetto Tatter's CD.  This meant that nobody would have to go hunting for the doodads - good job!!!!

Since then and as people are finding doodads to use I can now add the pattern to my site.  Well, I will in a day or two's time as I've still got to finish off the page and check it out!!!

Update of starting page

On Thursday I spent the whole day updating this page.  I wasn't happy with some of the pictures (done years ago on the PC) so decided to re-draw them and look at all the techniques again.  It kept me quiet and away from the dreaded housework!!!!

This was brought on by Phyllis who I watched starting a ring and chain at Tat Days in one of my classes - which all goes to prove yet again that teachers probably learn as much as their pupils (well I do) at Tat Days.

I asked her to show me how she was doing this and I thought this was a really exciting new idea (well, new to me but probably not for the rest of Tat Land!!!).  Phyllis did say where she'd got the idea from but I really can't remember and anyway techniques are aren't copyrightable.  Only the drawings and words I use in the technique section are and who'd want to copy those, I ask myself - and you too???!!!!!

I've added Phyllis's idea to the page too - it's the second method of starting a ring followed by a chain.  A thought did occur to me - if anybody ever wants to use parts of this page as a teaching aid (ie probably just one section) then please email me and I'll 'chop it up' and send as a word document.

Just to add a bit of 'cheer and colour' to this page I'll add the pictures here too - that should tempt you to take a peek at the destructions (whoooops, I mean instructions)!!!!

A story about a bag!

Now this is a story about a bag which I saw at Crazymom's house when we stayed with her in Atlanta.  Hers was blue and it sat on a side table and just took my fancy.  It sat SO well and SO sturdily but when you grabbed a piece of the ribbon it closed over the contents and was ready to go.  On questioning (no thumb screws were used or any form of torture) Crazymom said it was in her goodie bag at Tat Days 2011.  Ah, that's where it came from!!!

So on to Tat Days - no time to find out anything about the new love of my life but back at Joanie's afterwards she said that the pattern belonged to Anne Bruvold and had been spotted here on her blog.  Another part of the mystery was getting solved.

Back home in the UK Joanie sent me a copy of the pattern and I wrote to Anne as I was STILL madly in love with the idea and asked if I could make one/some for friends.  

Here is my first attempt.  Are you in love now?  It's SUCH a clever idea and I must thank Anne SO MUCH for being so kind and letting me have a go at her pattern.  She said I could make some and sell in Etsy but that will have to wait until next Spring - IF brain cell 3 is in the right mood then.  

I actually made a few of these before putting the sewing machine away for the winter.

Oh, I did land up with a sore thumb when I was putting in one of the eyelets and 'missed'!!!!  I DO NOT LIKE eyelets - never have done and never will but the bag is worth all the pain and frustration of eyelets!!!

Do you fancy a bit of slap and tickle?

Do you fancy a bit of slap and tickle?  I do and regularly.  I do it with/to my tatting!!  What DID you think I was going to say?

OK, I'll explain.  It's my latest way of stiffening small items.  Remember the accident I told you about here?  Well the reason I could put this right was probably (and I do say probably) due to the way I have taken to stiffening my tatting.  Here's how I do it.

First of all I dampen and iron the piece/pieces (under a cloth) so that they're how they should be when finished - see a pile of bits below.

Next I take some white school glue (PVA) - notice how cheap this is for such a huge bottle.

The next step is to put a splodge of the glue into the palm of your wrinkled old hand (if you don't have a wrinkled old hand I'll come and help you - please send money for air fair if appropriate).  Now add a little cold water (not sure you can see it - top left of picture).

Mix water and glue together (below) to get a really good mix.  Note how it hides some of the wrinkles too!!!!!

Finally - and this is where it gets to be fun - take the piece of tatting and put it on the glue.  Now you slap, tickle and squidge the glue mixture into the piece.  

My hands got too sticky to take a photo at this stage but the one above was taken just before I did the final 'dry' slap and tickle to get the excess glue off.  (You'll find you can slap the excess off if you wash and dry your hands when you've finished and if the rings and picots are not 'clear' of glue.)  Finally place on a flat surface and leave to dry.

Well, it works very well for me but there's no guarantee it'll work for you!!!

Another post about our trip!

I think this will be the last post about our trip - I keep finding drafts in my blog and they've got out of order - they 'slipped' down the timeline there.

The day after the guild meeting we had another meeting at the Mall and then the following day Joanie kindly took us to the craft stores and the Dollar store too!!!  It's amazing what you can buy for a dollar (plus tax!).  Sally and I couldn't get our heads around the way tax is added at the register as tax in the UK is included and shown on the shelf.  I managed to squeeze a few more 'essentials' into my suitcase which proved to be well overfull by the time we had finished shopping that day!!

Joanie also gave me a few tubes of beads which I'm dying to get to use as they're different shapes.  I just need time - more time to tat.  Can we get an extension to each day?  24 hours just isn't long enough!

Today I'm adding some of the gifts I was given during our trip.  Sadly I've now lost track of who made them both but you can put that down to old age and stupidity!!!  Actually the name tag is very useful - it reminds me regularly of who I am!!!