Shopping bag

My new shopping bag (in American - tote!).

I finally finished this project. I'm very pleased with it.

For many years I've taken a shopping bag out with me when I go shopping so the new 'trend' to save the planet by using re-useable bags had no effect on me. Well, that's a lie - it's just encouraged me to make more bags!!

I do wish I could find the one I made many years ago which was a 'planned' pattern made in the same way. That time I used Laura Ashley prints and made a sun rising over some hills.

I'm not sure what sort of work you'd call this apart from 'hit and miss'!!!!

I bought some iron on vilene and worked out what size I wanted the bag to eventually be. Then I took the odds and ends which I'd kept from the tatting bags and placed them on the vilene (sticky side up). I lifted the pieces and pressed under some of the edges and overlapped others until I was happy with placement etc. Then the fun bit. Out came the iron and they were all 'stuck down'. Naturally there were edges that didn't stick but that didn't matter.

Next I used a narrow zig zag stitch on the machine and went round each piece. Finally the bag was made. The handles are made of three strips of fabric which have been plaited.

Bank Holiday

Well, here in the UK it's a Bank Holiday today. Over in the USA it's Memorial Day.

In my small corner of tat land I'm pleased to say that it's going to be no holiday at all!!! I'm no good at 'not doing anything' so being busy is best for me!!

The bags I've been making are steadily selling both out of my Etsy shop (see side bar) and 'off the cuff'!!!

I've currently run out of the pink bags (my 'flavour of the month' at the moment) so am going to sew up three more today. Along with two more of the blue musical fabric and another very pretty green one. I very much doubt I'll get them all sewn but the worst part (cutting them out) is done!!!

I really, really MUST write the pattern down as it's scribbled on a scrap of paper and (currently) residing with brain cell # 3 whom we all know isn't that reliable!!

Spot YOURS!!!

I'm a bit on the mean side. I'm actually very mean. I hate wasting anything. Food, money, thread, fabric etc.

So because of my frugality I have kept all the scraps of fabric from my bag making. If you've bought a roly poly or one of the latest bags you may spot 'yours' in the pictures below!!!

Earlier this week (or was it last week, even) I decided to start a new line in shopping bags (also called totes in America). Thus I got out all my scraps.

This is the 'fabric' I've made for the first shopper.

This will be the 'only' shopper as it took me forever to do!!! That's unless people are prepared to pay a lot of money for one!!!! Also I got bored towards the end too. I haven't made one of these for years and years and years. I'm not even sure where the original bag went to - it's probably up in the loft somewhere.

As I still have to make up the bag this is definitely a 'lost leader' in my brain!!!

Tatting on autopilot!

Some time ago I spoke about a friend and the fact that I do tatting for her from time to time.

Last week she rang me up to ask for more help. Sadly she has suffered a stroke so can't tat at the moment. I've been working my little socks off doing more little motifs for her.

This is the link to my last post about this work.

I hate to repeat myself - Nick's always telling me that I do but I put it down to having been a teacher for so long!!! Oh, and raising two kids!!!

Good Luck

I have a dear friend who is moving into a new house on her own this coming week.

I'm not one for making cards but I made this little one for her. Her living room has a green carpet and she loves 'bling'. Thus the beaded horseshoe.

Guess what? I forgot to scan the card before posting it!!! Oh, heck, also forgot to write down how I made it!!!

What a megga dumby I am. All who agree please stand up and be counted.

YIKES - THAT many agree? Oh, dear - I'm off outa here!!!

Look what flew in yesterday

Now, in our town we have a butterfly farm which does a lot of work preserving some of the species of insects etc which live there.

So, yesterday when the butterfly below arrived I was astonished to see that it had come all the way from Scotland!!!!

Isn't this so pretty? It was a gift from Trayna (thank you SO much, Trayna) along with some motifs for the Ring of Tatters bookmarks.

Below is also a scan of the frame I found for the butterfly. Now, all I've got to do is find something to mount the critter on and then assemble it.

She'd also put in a skein of Madeira embroidery floss which I've never tried before. Whooopppeeee.

Still monkeying around!

First of all a bit of a confession!!!!

The Funky Monkey wasn't the first monkey that I did. I did the 'lot' that are on the web page today first.

I started sort of aiming for the standing up version and then somebody I was talking to said 'why not the 3 wise monkeys'?

This meant another google search for a good picture and the rest was relatively straightforward.

Oddly enough the 3 wise ones have longer bodies. The arms and heads vary slightly but tat's all.

The old bag lady strikes again!!!

While I've been teasing about the monkeys (don't forget to watch the index page for the next pattern) I've also been busy with the bags.

Below are some that are finished along with two further pink bags (Sherry, I've got yours put by, so don't worry!).

The pale blue one is covered with music notation. Also some musical references written on it too. As I've never been interested in the least in music I've no idea what it all means!!!

If anybody would like one of these bags please drop me a line on lovetotat @ gmail.com and I'll send you one!!!! Oh, you'll get an invoice from Paypal too!!!!

I doubt I'll list these in Etsy until I get back from America. I will be taking them to Palmetto tat days with me!!!

Ta de dah!!! Here they are!!!

First of all the rest of the guesses.

Sunela said:-
"I think it is a KANGAROO!! May be the MOM who is expecting."

Marty came up with this idea:-
"It can't be a soccer guy -- they don't wear hats. It's Archy the Cockroach, yes?"

Mark (Tatman) said:-
"With a black top hat(it appears) it could be Abraham Lincoln. Didn't he have tentacles????!!!!! I think all tatters should grow tentacles so that each pair of claws could hold a shuttle and tat. How else are we to get a lot of tatting done before we leave this earth??!!!! :-D "

So, those who were guessing 'naked' were right. Except for hair,/fur that is!!! May I introduce you to the Funky Monkey!!!!

I've also done a 'City Monkey' (notice the rolled up umbrella and bowler hat) and 'Lady Monkey' (hat and handbag).

I bet somebody can come up with other versions too!!!!

I hereby issue a challenge - 'dress a monkey'!!!! How's tat?

Now if you go to my web site you'll find something intriguing on the index page!! Down next to the link to the monkey pattern. Any further guesses?!?!?

Final day for guessing!!!

I think a lot of you have got there by now!!!

This is the final guessing day. Tomorrow I will reveal all (NO, not my naked body - don't want to frighten people off).

Some of the comments from yesterday and earlier!!

TatForFun said this:-

"How should should we wait until the picture's revealed? haaaa...I'm dying to see the whole picture...pleeease ^_^
But I think it's not a man or a boy...the color is to girly LOL
Is it a peacock? "

Gina D said this too:-

"Goodmorning. I've been following your hints and my guess is that it is a pink dragon. "

Valerie said:-

"me thinks it's something with tentacles... hmmm. "

Jenny's doing aerobics and says she's sticking her neck out!!!

"Ok I'll stick my neck out and say it is a mouse. Thanks for the fun"

Marty said this:-

Tentacles? How about a pink tree with waving branches? Nah, what ever it is it's not wearing nuthin'!

Tia's got another idea:-

"OOOOH A Jelly Fish?"

Jon has VERY good hearing!!!

"The picture is showing the tail of a rattle snake. I can almost hear it rattling. "

Day 7

I think you'll all 'get it' today but I'll wait and see!!!!

Carol Amich said yesterday:-

"I guess an octopus or squid!!"

Bev came up with this rhyme:-

Some see pink elephants,
some see a man,
some see what ever they can...
but I've stood on my head,
and spun around and all I got
was on the ground.
From down here, all I see..
isn't pink elephants; but a pink monkey....

Elizabeth said:-

"Looks like a chicken laying a bunch of eggs.LOL"

Tia said:-

"well....that could be a hand...if the picots had been in diffrent lengths....or it is antennae for a naked...Snail...Yup definatly going with Snail."

Jenny Griffin thinks this:-

"could it possibly be another ballerina?"

Day 6

I'm getting worried. Very, very worried. Seems to me that people think I'm a 'dirty old woman'!!!!

This is a remark that came in from Snowy:-

"Now with this new element I am alternating between pink elephant or naked man....scary thought! LOL "

Ginny's remark is fine - nothing to worry about there!!!:-

"Is it a Owl?"

Marty said:-

"Nah - it's a soccer player -- that's a leg! "

Jon said this:-

"I can see that it may be a pink elephant, but I don't know which part Snowy sees the naked man, ;-/, lol. "

Personally I think you're all mad, mad, mad!!! Then again it takes a mad woman to see/know a mad one!!!! Here's today's piece!!!

HOTP

That means Hot Off The Press!!!

Just had an email from Pat @ Roseground Supplies. They now stock the new Lizbeth thread. How COOOOOOOOL is that?!?!??? For prices and colours (the thread isn't listed yet) please contact Pat directly on pat @ roseground.com

Day 5

Today we have another part of the finished 'thingy'!!!

Yesterday Bev suggested this:-

"Could this be a critter that swings from trees? Do we get 20 questions? Animal? Vegetable? Mineral?"

Now how she could get to that from what she saw yesterday is puzzling to me!!!!!

Thelma says

"Is it maybe a tatted cross???"

Christine has come up with a good answer:-

"It has to be a pink elephant."

Day 4 - something different!

Now, just to confuse you and add to the tease I'm putting up the completed first part of this pattern.

This would be the first 'part' you would work if you chose to work it. BUT, here's the problem.

Have I shown this diagram the right way up?!?!? Of course it could be shown partly turned round or even upside down!!! That's the conundrum!!!

Yesterday Lynne said the following -

"A crinoline lady with tiered skirt, this is the bottom layer of the skirt and day 2 is the tier above it!!!! or shall I wait for the white coats!!!!!"

Lynne, I suggest you hold in there. Don't let them take you just yet!!!

I'm worried about Steph too. What sort of mind does she think I've got?! This is her suggestion:-

"I've got it!! It's a little naked man, isn't it? I just knew it!! ;)"

Day 3 of Tease a Tat

This is day 3. Things will get a bit more interesting tomorrow.

This remark from Eileen really tickled me. She said -
"I knew right away what it is. It's a caterpillar with sunburn, saw one in my garden yesterday. You know what they say........"ask a silly question" etc."

Do please remember I have a perverted sense of humour so things might not always seem the 'right way up'!!!!!!

Day 2 of Tease

OK, we have a clown in tat land!!! His name? Mark Myers!! This is what he says as a guess.

Um.....the goat I diagrammed for you???? strange color for a goat, anyway. But with you tatting it......WHO KNOWS!!! LOL!

He sent me a diagram of a goat two/three days ago with the challenge to make a pattern to fit it!!! I mean, dear Mark, you know what a busy person I am and how houseproud I am and how I'm always dusting and vacuuming. How did you expect me to get it done so quickly?

But then I do tell some terrible lies about my love of housework and I did have half an hour free the other day!!!!!!!!!!

HOT OFF THE PRESS
Just in case this has not been noticed in the comments section I have put the link from Laurie here

New game - Tease a Tat!!!!

Now this is how this one works!! IF anybody wants to have a go, that is!!!

I'm not asking you to do anything except guess what this pattern will finally be! I'll be posting little 'bits' of it either as scans of the finished item or as diagrams. If you're any good at jigsaw puzzles you should be able to copy and paste them together later to make up the item!!!

All you have to do is email me on love to tat @ gmail.com with your guesses.

I'll blog people's guesses and any drawings submitted too. Drawings can be a pencil drawing on the back of an envelope or - well, anything really.

Does this sound like fun or just downright stupid?!?!? As usual - answers on a postage stamp!!!

New in my shop!

I was going to start showing you the new patterns today but unfortunately I'm not quite ready just yet. Tomorrow. I'm hoping it'll be tomorrow.

The sewing machine has gone on holiday! Well, not really but it's going to have a rest for a few days!

I managed to finish off and list some of the bags yesterday.

Houston, I have a problem. I like them all but particularly the pink one followed closely by the butterfly one. I DON'T need another tatting bag, do I? But this is SUCH a useful bag!!!

I'm just going to have to keep one but not one of these as they're now in the shop. I do have 'spares' of each at the moment so I've got time to choose. Here are the new ones I've added.

One of my needle tatting adventures

Another piece from my old suitcase!!! Remember the small giraffe pattern on my site? Originally the giraffe was made as an earring to amuse the kids I was teaching. I then heard about needle tatting.

Goodness knows how I heard about it because it was in the days of stage coaches and the penny black stamps!! Well, not really but it was a long time ago.

I heard about Ed and Selma Morin's needle tatting book and took the enormous risk of putting dollars in an envelope and writing to America which was (in those days - the 1970's) somewhere over the other side of the moon.

I bought needles too. Not sure who I bought these things from but I did. So, having bought the needles I tried them out.

Oh, watch this space tomorrow. There will be news of the new patterns!!!!

Somewhere I've still got the ghastly (truly ghastly) needle tatted top I made. I was quite pleased with the giraffes but didn't like needle tatting one bit. I've never gone back to it even though some years later I bought finer needles.