A small confesion!

Just a small one which will prove something to you.  Not quite sure what but it may throw some light on my personality!!!  

I love making pendants.  No, that's not the confession - well, just part of it.  

I make them by tatting onto a small split ring finding and then add another (which then, of course) lies at right angles.  Now I make sure that this second one is large enough to put the clasps on one of my favorite necklaces through.

This is a lovely gold necklace that I've had for many years.  So, my big confession is that I have many pendants with just one chain!!!!

Here's the necklace with one of my (so far) favourite pendants on it!!!

Sewn on!

Just to prove I can finish things off completely here's the tshirt edging sewn onto the right tshirt!!!    Yes, I have been known to sew onto the wrong one in the past!!!

Now this tshirt was a really, really cheap one I got in America last year but the quality is really good.  I've bought this brand before on our trips 'over the pond'.  Thing is, this really cheap shirt now looks slightly smarter for it's bit of tatting.  Well, I think so!!!

I used my very favourite thread to sew it on.  Well, let me clarify that.  It's my favourite for looks when I've used it but not my favourite for using!!!  Not easy to use is the invisible thread.  Why?  Well cause you can't see it - it's really invisible!!!!  A good light, plenty of cussing words and a firm word with myself and I can do it!!!!

I've teven atted with this thread before a few years ago - here's a link.  Not one of my favourite things to tat with!!!

After HDT comes HWT

Have you ever tried HWT.  No, no, no, not HDT but HWT?  Hand Wound Threads.

It's one of my favourite threads.  You take two or three sewing weight threads and wind them on to a shuttle together.  Needs a bit of concentration so that they go on equally but well worth it.

So this is what happens when you use the three spools shown below.  The plain blue is a machine quilting thread which I bought in a tiny store in Cincinnati.  The one in the middle is Perfect Quilter (which, incidentally, Gina gave me many years ago on one of our outings) and the one on the right is Valdani which I bought from a UK supplier.

Now not even I would think normally of putting three such different variagated threads together but I think it WORKS!!!  See the bottom picture.

I find that three sewing weight threads HWT work out to a size 20.

This is another tshirt edging.  I've started sewing the last one onto the shirt so should be able to show you soon.

Oh, another goat arrived yesterday - 105.  Thanks Brigitte.

An edging for a tshirt

I started this just around Christmas time as a 'pick up, put down' project.  One of those 'what shall I do now' projects when you've been working on something most of the evening, finished it and you're feeling tired and just need something to keep yourself awake until bedtime!!!!  

I used the 'Oh SO simple' edging as I know this off by heart now!!!!  When we took the car to the garage last week I remembered it and took it with me as we knew we had a three quarter hour wait for whatever it had to have done to 'be done'.  Now it's finished the next big obstacle is getting it sewn on to the tshirt!!!

Of course you can guess what thread I used - Lizbeth Pink Cocoa!!!

Down memory lane!!!

More of my favourite earrings that I mentioned last week.

When I found the bath plugs I found these too - two more of my favourite pairs.  Most of the earrings got thrown out with the bath water, marriage, job and the house I lost but these seem to stick to me like that stuff that sticks to shovels!!!

I obviously used to wear strange earrings wherever I went and my dentist greeted me on one visit with the pair directly below.

The other pair were given to me by a five year old pupil.  I seem to have mislaid one of the pair so I took two photos of the one to show what it's capabilities were.  I used to wear one with the seat up (gentlemen only) and one with the seat down.  This time I've left the lid down on the one photo.  Modesty prevailed as it hasn't been cleaned in years!!!!

Just to prove

I'm not a liar, liar pants on fire!!!  Here are the earrings I was telling you about in this post here.

If you look hard at the left one you can see that it says 1 1/2" too!!!!  I still have a HUGE soft spot for this pair!!!  Not that I think I'd wear them nowadays as I don't go to any posh parties anymore!!!

By the way - thanks to a few more people we now have 104 goats in the herd here!!!

New HDT

A week or two ago I had an email from Sherry (Ladyshuttlemaker) asking me to test tat something for her for her new book.  Now being as I was towards the end of sorting out 'stuff' to submit for Palmetto I said yes.

Well she sent the files and my heart dropped!!!  NOT a technique I've ever really given much time to or ever wanted to!!  Certainly NOT one that I've ever tried.    I've done the odd drawing for Georgia along those lines but never wanted to try it.  I really, really wished I'd not offered!!!!!  But, as I'd promised I had to give it a whirl.

Now Sherry's book is mostly based on EXCELLENT pictures with not too much text.  As you know I'm a 'gobby' sort of person and talk a lot.  A real challenge was this test tat.  

The result?  I'm now HOOKED on this technique and really enjoyed what I did with it.  Sherry's pictures/instructions are fantastic and by the time I did the second piece I was wondering why the OG had never wanted to do it before.  Part of the fascination for ME was the use of colour.  Well done, Sherry, you've got an OG converted to this technique and those patterns.  Not sure when the book will be out but I'll be in the queue.

This is what Sherry sent me as a 'thank you'.  WOWEEE - don't you just love the colours.  Zing a ding, ding.  You can find more in her Etsy shop here.  These two are called 'Bell Peppers' (on the left) and 'Rose Petals'

Doodle flower

The final doodle for now is a flower like one.  Now I bet there are a few of you - well, hopefully one at least, who might remember I was working on several new doodles.  Yes I was - BUT they're now part of my submission for a teaching post at Palmetto Tat Days in September.  

IF I'm lucky enough to get a teaching position then they'll be on the CD they usually bring out.  Of course if I'm not selected you'll get them after the end of April.  BUT there might be a sneaky preview next week.

Amongst those ready to go are an ostrich, a peacock a penguin and a tiny, tiny gecko.  Well I'm prevaricating again - here's the link to today's doodle.

Doodle LBP

Sorry about the lack of post yesterday but it was a 'hurried start' to the day.  

The cat had to go to the vet for her 'annual inspection' and we had to take the car to the garage in another town.  I'm very pleased to report that we DID get that in the right order and the cat didn't land up at the garage or the car at the vet's!!!  Sometimes I'm very impressed that between the two of us we do get it 'right'!!!

Today I've got one of the first things I did with a long beaded picot done using the technique that I now use all the time - to be found here.  What I LOVE about this technique is not only the lack of beads to add to the thread before starting but also the fact that you can decide what you want to put on the picots when you get there.  MUCH better for a ditherer like me who can never make up her mind.

Here it is in all it's 'glory'!!!

This could, of course, easily be an earring too!!!!  BUT I've put it on the doodle page for now!!

Dog doodle

SHEEEEESH - can't believe I'm keeping this up!!!!

Introducing what I believe is a dog doodle.  Least I think that's what it originally started out to be some 30 years ago when it was one of my 'teaching aids'!!!  

I was known to appear in school with all sorts of things hanging from my ears - the tatting doodles were quite tame!!  Least the kids were happy to come to school to see what 'teacher' was wearing - anything to amuse the four/five year olds (and their parents).

I wore tea bags, dog biscuits, wrapped sweets, numerous Christmas decorations, adio tapes and anything that would hang from a pair of ear wires.  I think my best ever was turning up to a VERY posh party with a pair of bath plugs (marbled red) hanging from my ear lobes.  1 1/2" diameter ones - I've still got them somewhere too.

Another doodle

I'm following (so far!!) my new blog policy of 'a doodle a day keeps the doctor away'!!!  Well, that's until I run out of doodles and/or steam!! Here's today's doodle.

Again it's another that's been floating around forever on my web page but I've now tidied it up and (hopefully!) made it easier to follow.

Snickerdoodle!

So in the end after some suggestions I thought the best name for this design would be the Snickerdoodle Earring.  Thanks, Sue Anna.  That name really grabbed my imagination. 

So, I present you with the Snickerdoodle Earring!!!

I'm hoping that unless I get distracted I'll get the other doodles sorted out in the doodle section.  What's that saying?  Ah, I remember - 'a doodle a day keeps the doctor away'.

If you pop by there you'll see that I've moved a few things over from other places too.  I'm inunndated with doodles!!!

In fact I'll let you into a secret.  No I won't - another day, perhaps!!

Look what I found

Look what I found yesterday - this is what I've been waiting for.

It's the call for teachers at Palmetto Tat Days in September.  I'm going to apply so wish me luck.

I've actually been working on patterns for just this event over the past few months so I'm almost ready to submit mine.  Well probably not 'almost ready' as you know what I'm like - I keep changing my mind all the time so the ones I've got ready now will probably change before I submit my application!!!!!

Shall I give you a clue as to what I'm submitting?  OK, here you go!!

Would you buy it?

Would YOU buy a book with a very pretty cover but NO pictures of what is inside?

I've been buying books for more years than I care to remember.  Mostly, I'll admit, craft books and on the whole - tatting books.  I buy because I see a picture of something I'd like to make in it.  That's the way I have always done it.

I saw a very pretty looking Ebook (tatting, of course) recently in an online store and would love to buy it.  BIG problem is that there are absolutely no pictures of what's inside it.  Not one, ziltch, zero.  It says that there are 29 designs for motifs, doilies, bookmarks and jewellery.  It SAYS that it covers from beginners to advanced.  BUT there's nothing to tempt me by showing what sort of things are in it.

So to get more of an idea I contacted the seller asking for a picture or two to help me on my decision on whether to part with nearly £9.50 (almost $15.00) for an EBOOK - yes, an EBOOK so there's no postage involved.

The only help I've had from the vendor is that if I want to see what's in the book then I'll have to buy it!!!!  NO WAY, JOSE!!!  Would you buy it?

One of the doodles.

Hey, all you TIAS'ers.  We've done it.  Thanks to Joanie in Tennessee we've now got 100 goats!!!  I'll keep quiet now about goats from now on BUT any that are still out there are VERY welcome to join the rest!!!  This has given me huge encouragement to do another next year.  Thank you everybody.

So this doodle will not go back into the doodle section!!  Why it ever got put there in the first place is beyond my comprehension!!

It's one of my favourite earrings and I've made literally dozens of them over the years.  I'm going to have to give it a name but I'm hopeless at naming stuff so wonder if anybody's got any suggestions?  Once it's 'named and shamed' it can go into the 'jewellery' section.

Why is it a favourite?  Well because of the many beads (only 8 on the shuttle thread, though) it holds it's shape.  I do stiffen them slightly as the diluted PVA that I use also protects them from dust and dirt.

This is a one shuttle and four rings design and so very easy to make too.

Standardisation

First of all - we're nearly there.  98 goats in the field!!!!

Something that is impossible but would be WONDERFUL is a standardisation of the way we all write down patterns.  

When I started out on my adventure of 'writing stuff down' I did it the way I was reading it in pattern books 50+ years ago - as a kid I didn't question the way things were written.  Actually I found the old notebook with my orignal patterns in the other day (written, I guess, about 30 years ago) and here's one of the originals below.

Then when I started sort of seriously wanting to get rid of my ideas and inflict them on others I really looked at the various ways of writing down patterns.  I did a lot of research into how they were written down over the years too - must look it out sometime!!  I found that our 'modern way' isn't so modern after all.  Anyway, again I digress.

A few years ago when the Palmetto Tatters kindly allowed me to run rampant at Tat Days they decided to ask us teachers to use the standardisation that they'd come up with.  Mainly I think this was (I'm guessing here!!) to save on printing out everybody's notation - one sheet now covers all patterns taught.  GR8 idea - save our planet.  So I've taken to following their very welcome lead - here's a link should you wish to see it.

I am always tickled with the vsp (very small picot) being written in BIG CAPITAL letters (VSP) as it makes me smile.  I like my vsp to be written in very small letters because it is just a very small picot!!!

What's next?

Before I start rambling - I've now got 94 goats in my herd!!  WHOOOPPPEEEEEEE.

While the TIAS was going on I've been quietly (yes, for those who know me - I can 'do' quiet) getting on with sorting out some of the 'stuff' on my web site.  Nope, I haven't changed anything yet but things are about to change!!

It's the 'doodle' section that's been 'bugging' me.  I did those doodles more years ago than I care to admit to!!!  So, I've taken on the enormous task of re-vamping it.

At the moment there are 13 doodles on there and not very well written at all - well, some of them.  So I started to look at them in depth.

Remember the doodles I was doing for Erin's shuttles here?  Well some of those were off the doodle page.  Having sort of 'jiggled around' with those I set off to get the drawings done.  

Then, DARN IT, that wretched brain cell popped up with more ideas!!!  Currently the roll call stands at just over 30.

My next big problem is how to put them on the pattern page and for that I need help!  Do I put one per page or put several.  How do I sort them?  I mean, does a gecko go with the angel or the turtle with the tiny man?  Come on all those other brains out there - what does an old goat do?!!?

I'm a dozy mooooooo

I'm going to admit this publicly.  I'm a DOZY moo.  It's the solid truth too!!!

I work away at designing stuff and then forget what I've done!!! I have stuff on this computer that just has never got onto the web.  The joy for me is simply in getting things to look like a crazy idea that brain cell 3 has had - oh and in getting them 'just right'.  Once that's done I FORGET THEM!!!

I was contacted a few days ago by somebody who wanted a sheep pattern.  They'd seen one on my blog and when I looked through the blog I found it!!!  Completely forgotten I'd done it too!!!  How STUPID is that?

Well looking at the sheep (which I'm now finishing off - it only needed one final test tat) I remembered the 'no onion' ring smallies I was working on a few weeks ago.  So, here they are (now unforgotten!!).  First the owl, then the elephant and finally the pig!!


These three got 'converted' into bookmarks and are in the Etsy shop now.  Well, what do you do with a surplus of rampant, neglected and cross animals?


We now have 87 goats on the TIAS blog - thank you, Sunset and Carol for sending yours in.

A tip

Without Gina I'm sorta lost and didn't know whether to hold back on posting for a few days or not. Then I thought 'what would Gina say' and she'd be all for going on.  We never discussed the 'what if's' of her illness but only her desire to go job hunting as soon as she got back to work (that's partly why she got her wig).  So, for this reason I think I'll carry on today - still with a very heavy lump of lead inside me where my heart should be.  So, here we go.

I'm always amazed at why little holes are always put through the middles of post shuttles and are also on bobbins too - at the top.  

Now you're going to think I'm bonkers (well, I guess you know that already) but they're pretty darn pointless I think.  Those holes, I mean.

If you look at the picture below you'll see what I mean.  I've seen people struggling to poke their thread through the hole to then tie a knot.  What an annoying thing to have to do.

Me?  I'm WAAAAYYY too lazy to do that!!! I simply make a loop in my thread with a slip knot.  Like this.

Put the shuttle (post) or bobbin into the loop and pull the slip knot closed.  Like this.

Then all you have to do is wind your shuttle/bobbin AGAINST the knot and it will stay tight and not slip.  When you've finished you pull the small tail that's left to open it again and you can slip the shuttle out.  There - Bob's your uncle!!!  Well, not my uncle and probably not yours either!!!  Actually I don't think I even know a Bob either.

Gina

I had the saddest news yesterday.  My dear friend Gina (tattinggoddess) died on Monday.

Gina and I met online many years ago and I enjoyed her wonderful friendship.  We gossiped and exchanged ideas and eventually met at one of the early Palmetto Tat Days.  We didn't always agree on everything and she was always a calming influence when I got my knickers in a twist about things.

One year she and I met in Tennessee and she took me down to Tat Days and gave me a lift back to Cincinnati afterwards.  What a wonderful time I spent with her that weekend.  We met again a few years ago when she and Gale 'kidnapped' me for a day in Cincinnati.

Last July we met once more when she drove all the way from Lafayette to Cincinnati to spend a day with me again.  We hunkered down in her motel room after lunch and just talked and talked tatting!!!  She gave me the sweetest little RPL bell which you can see below.  She showed me lots of her work too which she kept in very well organised folders.  A wonderful afternoon.  This is the only photo either of us took where she has the backdrop of sunflowers.  That to me sums her up.  

Last September she hadn't appeared in my inbox for a few days so I sent her a message to say she was 'too quiet'.  She replied with the news about her fall at work and the subsequent finding of the cancer in her lung.  I went through that dreadful journey with her.  The down days and the good days.  The days when sleep was all she wanted and the days when she moved stuff round the house in her ongoing attempt to 'tidy things up'.  Sadly her new curtains will never be made now.

Sometimes she'd be up in the middle of 'her' night and would release comments on her blog which would land up in my inbox.  I'd hit reply to tell her to go back to bed.  That always amused her.  She was SO brave and SO positive and finally a few weeks ago came the good news - she was in remission.

Things were looking good a few weeks ago and Gina offered to test tat the goat for me.  I thought everything was going really well - and then ..........

Gina, I'll miss you SO, SO much.  My time in tat land will never be the same without you to gossip and giggle with.