Candles

The other day I had a lovely message from Kay who had found my little candle pattern on my site. Oh, before I forget - here's the link. Oh, here's another link for you too - for the larger candle!!! 

Now these must have been some of my first patterns onto the internet (I think the owl family was the first) as the candles don't have a date on them. It must've been in the 'early' days of this wonderful invention called the WWW when dates just didn't matter and I was a lot younger and more innocent!!!

Anyway, I digress. I am showing you her candle today as I'm most impressed at her creativity in finding a solution to not having the right sized ring available. I used brass curtain rings when I was doing them but Kay didn't have enough of the right size of .......... Let her tell you!!! This is part of her message to me. 

"Each year for Christmas, I try a pattern or two (of yours) and tuck a few tatted ornaments in Christmas packages as gifts. Some of my friends/ relatives LOVE those more than anything else. This year I really wanted to try your little Christmas candle, but didn't have enough of the little rings in the proper size.....so my "pack rat" tendencies came in handy. I've been saving the plastic pop off tops from 1/2 gallon size milk containers, hoping I'd find a use for them at some point. Guess what? When I cut the ring off, it's just the perfect size for your little candle ornament. I'm delighted. :-) Thought you might get a kick out of this."

Two more!

Here are two more of my Rachel mats. I've given a lot away but they still seem to be accumulating!!! 

Fortunately I may be able to have a table at a craft fair next October but that's a long way away and meantime I need to 'get rid of' some more of them. Any suggestions?!?!?

I've had one idea but have got stuck.  I've seen people selling on Facebook and would like to set up a sales section there.  I've tried and tried but seem to be getting nowhere.  I've found a 'how to' but am now stuck with adding Paypal and shipping costs to the shop.  Any suggestions very welcome as I'd like to sell the Pop A Bobbin Shuttles there too.

Just a few more random pictures

Tomorrow will be 'back to normal' in my little blog. Meanwhile just a few random pictures I had to share.

First off - the Marilyn's. This is a link to explain. They really are stunning.

Next the CN tower.  SO impressive.  The sky really WAS that blue.  It was very hot for all of the two weeks.  Lucky me!

The view from Donna's window.  Donna kindly hosted Ruth, Terry and I for lunch one day and I was honoured to see her impressive collection of lace goodies.  

The view across the lake from the end of Ruth's road. You can see the tower.

Finally some of Ruth's regular visitors popping in for a drink and a bath!!!

Thank you

This is just a quick post to say thank you to all the people 'out there' who regularly click on the adverts I run on my blog. 

I have to pay for my space on freeservers.com - no, it's definitely NOT free!!!! Every two years I pay for it and this time round the price has gone up a LOT!! It's going to cost me $142.80 (£107.75) for this coming two years. 

The payments I get from Adsense help pay for it so every click helps. I'm not allowed to click on the adverts myself which is fair comment.

Thank you again. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow!!

On my travels

Whilst I was 'out and about' I had to have something to pick up when I had some spare time. 

I never tat on the plane as I'm always afraid of dropping something and then not being able to find it again on the floor. Plane seats seem to get narrower and narrower and more and more squashed in so tatting is, for me, a no, no. BUT there are always the departure lounges where the light is pretty good and there is always plenty of time to sit and tie knots!!!

I pre-wound Ez-bobs with either size 40 thread or HWT. I put the chain thread on first and loaded the beads onto that. That was followed by the shuttle thread. I found I could get two 'projects' onto one Ez-bob. Here are two that I made on the trip (or just before!).

Skull

Now this isn't the best skull ever designed but it was done in a bit of a hurry!!! Why? Well, a good friend of mine called Georgia Seitz who wrote to me a few weeks before Palmetto to ask for three designs. A skull, a tankard of beer and a Japanese lady!!! 

Well that was quite a task as BC3 was buried in other 'stuff' at the time so Georgia's wishes had to wait a week or so. This is the skull she decided to use. It's not that brilliant BUT it does 'use and abuse' the technique of adding a bead to the SCMR which pleased my tiny brain!!!!

I may go back and play with this again sometime to put in a better mouth but there again - I may not!!!

Here's the link!

Another heart by Kaye

This heart really doesn't do well as a photo and I would hate to flatten it under the scanner. 

I had a problem starting this off but Kaye's pattern was NOT to blame!!! As Ruth said - read the pattern carefully!!! Once BC3 had logged into that and 'got' the hang of the picots the rest was (as they say) - history!!!

This is such a pretty technique which I'd never come across before so it kept me on my toes (or rather my big fat butt) for a while.

Kaye has several books here which may contain these two heart patterns but I'm not sure.  You can see better photos on the Fringe Element site which is here.

A day at Jane's house

A lovely lass called Jane, who belongs to the Fringe group, kindly set up an 'open house' for all the organisers of the event on the Monday after Tat Days. She'd been hosting Randy and Wendy and invited the rest of us to spend time with them. WHAT a privilege. 

Although I've met Randy several times before we've never had time to really sit and play tatting together. This we were able to do. I took some pictures of his work at Tat Days but he doesn't want them put online and so I'm not going to. It was work he'd done on the book called Tatting Alternate Threads.  I've already got that book.  Thoroughly recommend it too.

Well what he showed me was mind blowing. 

Something I can show you - Randy tatting.

Down the pub!

On the Saturday evening I was led astray. Honestly, I was bound and gagged and kidnapped and taken to the pub!!!! Yes it was almost a 'real' English pub and probably more authentic than English pubs are nowadays!!!! 

When we got there (Kelly, Vicky and I) we bumped into the South Carolina contingent along with my other dear friends Riet and Martha. What a lovely time we had before heading back to the hotel to play tatting again.

In the goodie bag

Nick said yesterday that it looked as if my tatting cupboard had been sick!!! Why? Well, I'd put my gifts and purchases from the trip on the floor outside the cupboard with the door open. He was right - it did look as if the cupboard had been sick. So I decided that I ought to do something about it. 

In the goodie bag we were given at the Fringe tat days there were some of these mesh tubes (see below - top picture). Lots of other things too, I might add!!!  I was given some last time I was 'over there' and they proved to be most useful. Kelly also gave me a 'few' more. As part of the tidying up campaign I decided to sort them out. 

The first thing I did was sew up one end. This was very simple to do on the sewing machine. Next was the task of allocating them to their new job. 

My thread drawers are always getting in a muddle and these little mesh 'bags' are really good at keeping it tidy. I put a ball into the new 'bag' and tuck the ends up into the centre of the ball. Works a treat. Below are the before and after pictures of the drawer. You can still see the colour of the thread through the mesh which is really good. 

Now to tackle the rest of the cupboard. 

Some random photos

First of all we managed to persuade Martha to put on her drop dead GORGEOUS collar that she's been blogging about for a few months. It's truly exquisite. What a lovely smile too.

Under that is a picture of a vegetable display in the store where Kelly works. I couldn't get over the different varieties of veggies that are available in the Canadian stores. Lucky people.

At the bottom is a waffle I made!!!! Yes, I do love to make my own waffles!!! They have the 'technology' to make them in the Best Western Hotels both in Canada and America so that's always my first 'stop' at breakfast if I'm ever staying in one!!! I'm a pathetic (and quite rotund) old git now!!!!

Two hearts

Two hearts but the same pattern.  Both were made in Canada!!  The first one is made with HWT which dear Ginny sent to me (picture at the bottom). 

This is a lesson that Kaye Judt taught at the Fringe Element. Everybody who goes to this event gets a folder with all the patterns in. That's a real bonus as nobody can get to every class!!!! Specially when you're teaching. 

I love, love this little pattern even though I 'lost the plot' in the second one (white) that I made I still managed to tat myself out of the mess I'd got myself into!!! I can definitely recommend this pattern although I've no idea whether Kaye will publish it or has published it already.

Now, where was I?

Ah, at Tat Days in Cambridge.

It was a busy but very satisfying two days. I'm going to put some pictures up so you can all see the fun we were having. There was very little time to take photos, though.

The first is a general view of one of the classrooms.

Second is a few of the raffle prizes which were amazing.

Third is the youngest tatter there although she doesn't know that's what she's going to be when she grows up!!!

Next is what I considered to be the star item in the auction which was conducted (in the final picture) by Vicky and Randy. The tree was spectacular and has gone to a very good home, I believe.

Then on to

The serious side of the trip!!! Well, with tatters around things can never be 'that' serious!! 

First of all I was taken to Len's Mill which was really close to the hotel where the Fringe was taking place. It was like walking into an Alladin's cave! Quite literally when you went down the stairs!  Here we found the fabric you can see below. Of course I had to buy some!!! We also met other tatters who were on their way to the hotel too - a happy, happy meet up before the event. 

I also found some Miyuki beads which were a very good price.

So after that bit of excitement we (that's Kelly, Vicky and I) headed towards the venue - the Best Western where Tat Days moved into 'setting up' mode. The organisers just swing into the place and it all goes like a smoothly working machine. I'm always amazed at how these things 'just happen' although I do know that there's about 12 months planning that's gone on before.

My first class was the heart which you can see here. I'll upload the pattern within the next week or so. That took care of the afternoon!!! Onto the evening next time I blog!!!

Did you miss me?

Well I've been on my travels again. This year the group to suffer were the Fringe Element in Canada. Well, they did ask me to come back and they should've known better!!!!!

The first few days I stayed with dear Kelly and ACTUALLY got her to try using a shuttle. I'm not going to say this too loud in case she hears me but I must say that I'm sure she'd make an excellent shuttle tatter.  The first photo shows her making out that I'm bullying her but it was her idea to have a go!!!

The second picture is a truly great hanging that she made.  The photo doesn't do it justice.

The last picture is the fire that her hubby (Dennis) set up in the yard one evening.  Very relaxing sitting round a fire pit in the warm (or that should be - hot) weather we had for the whole two weeks I was over in Canada.  In fact we saw rain for a very short time one morning and the temperatures were - well, HOT!

Unbelievable

Because I'm a twit this post didn't go out as it should've.  I was a twit because while I was away I updated my iPad to IOS11 and didn't find out til afterwards that the blog app I use on it didn't work as the developer hasn't updated that.  So, here is a two week old post!!

Now this maybe a long post but I'm sure you'll find it really interesting - just like I did.

Some time ago Liz, who lives in Australia got in touch with me regarding making my seahorses (big and medium sized). This was for an exhibition in Exmouth she was involved with over in Australia. 

Now Liz lives on the opposite side of the country from where this is actually taking place so she will never see the 'real deal' which is a shame. I'm attaching some photos she sent me of the final project but I really, really feel you should follow this link to a time-lapse video which the group in Exmouth did. Here's a link to their Facebook page too and also It's mind blowing and the results are amazing. Another link for you too.

Look out for the whales - they're incredible.