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!!!