Monday, April 30, 2012

Mentally crossing my fingers...

I tried my first attempt at redyeing tonight!  Since the last skein of Fancy Fields sold this weekend, I thought it would be wise to go ahead and redye that colorway.  So, even though I am not superstitious in any way (in reference to the finger crossing title)... I am hoping that it will turn out all right. :o)
I did at least 2 of the 100 yard skeins in size 20, and at least 1 100 yard skein in size 40 (or maybe I have that backwards?) But I will have 2 skeins of size 60 and 2 skeins of size 80!   Fun, fun huh????

ALSO!!! I have 2... count 1....2 finals TODAY! (one in eight hours, one in ten and half hours)  So, I will resume my night before exam/s freak out cramming session now!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

So, the challlenge ball shall roll to Europe!

So, the Random.org "True Random Number Generator" chooses Gunhild for the winner of the little ball of crazy items lol (plus some HDT, which always a plus!)

Thank you to everyone that entered!  

And Gunhild, if you could email me your info, that would be wonderful!

Friday, April 27, 2012

Ladybug or Olivia??

About a month ago, I asked Livi's teacher's what their favorite colors were.  One teacher said yellow and green.  Easy enough.  The other.. black and red. Now, if I were just going to order some thread solid thread from Handy Hands, then these both would be easy.  But, my whole plan was to dye some thread for them and then tat something for them.  Well, Livi can easily do the green and yellow.  There's really not much to mess up there. But, red and black.... eek! The only other possible combination that I can think that would be harder would be Black and Yellow.
Then at some point on Wednesday, I realized that a black and red skein would be perfectly ladybuggish.  This realization was enough to spark my interest enough to try it.

But when I was unwinding the thread onto my little Bob-ee(z), I kept thinking... this reminds me of something else.  I couldn't put my finger on it though.

But this is what it was:

I LOVE these books, (though we only own a couple)! In fact, when I found out that I was having a little girl, Livi's name was already picked out for her.  So, I soon discovered these books.  I went ahead and bought one before she was born.  And little Olivia was the screensaver on my phone for "ages"

But, as you can see... Black, white, and red... could make for a nice ladybug or Olivia colorway.

If you are wondering, we (well I was anyway) were tickled pink when we found out that Olivia was going to get very own show on Nickelodeon. We watch that show quite frequently actually.  But of course the books are far better.

But anyway, here's the thread. You can see part of the Mary Konior Large cross that I'm doing in the size 60.
I added a floss bobbin of Lizbeth's Christmas Red for color comparison.  Color comparison is also why I left the clover show.  

Which brings up a funny story:  I was trying to think of an item that I was pretty sure most tatters would have at their house so that I could use them as color comparisons for the pictures. It took a surprisingly long time to think of common Lizbeth threads and clover shuttles. 

I REALLY like this pattern!  It's from free-tatting.com
I used the same thread that I used for the leaves on my most current Tat along. 


Tomorrow, I will list the couple skeins that I already have of Citrilicious, and these ladybug/ Olivia skeins.

The Citrilicious was relatively easy to dye, so that can definitely be a repeat item if does well in the shop/ if there's an interest for it.

The black and red was quite the pain though, so I don't forsee there being an abundance of that one in the shop.  But, who knows.  I know I really like how the little cross is turning out.  

But, now I'm going to bed, I've stayed up working on a paper for the last two nights and I am wore out!




Thursday, April 26, 2012

Citrilicious

So my last couple of dyeing adventures, I have really loved.  I was starting to feel bad actually.  Thinking that maybe the only reason that I liked them because I had dyed them.
I now know, that is not the case.
Why?
Because... while this "Citrilicious" is pretty... and it's even vibrant.... I'm just not crazy about it. It's just not "me".  Go figure :o)

Tatted in size 80 Tatilicious "Citrilicious" (Lizbeth base)
In fact, I got so bored tatting with it that I finish Jon's Merriment doily short by one repeat.  Luckily it works with just 7 "arms"

OH!!! And I went back through all the pictures that I've posted here, and this makes number 94 or my 25 motif challenge... woops.
I guess I'll start back over after I finish 6 more motifs. (And this time I'll actually count along the way)





Tuesday, April 24, 2012

See? I'm tatting along


The bottom two flowers are not attached because they are going to be retatted.  I don't like how they turned out.  Plus, I changed it up a little bit, and these were tatted before I made the change.

As you can probably see, my leaves are a little different. I kind of like these though.
I just so happened did a couple of solids the last time I dyed. That's why these two colors match the flowers so well.

I realized today that I never really showed how far I went with the last one.  So here it is.  I will probably tat the other flowers .....one of these day :o)

And this is the thread that I used for the first picture.  I call it "Esmeralda".  Why? You ask.
Well, that's because in my Italian class there is this really sweet girl, named Esmeralda, and she had on this super pretty dress the other day.  So I jotted down the colors that were in the dress and told her I would tat her a little something with some thread named after her, that was the same colors as those in her dress.  This was the result.  Pretty, right?

These will not be in the shop until I have time to re-dye which will be sometime this summer.  (which is coming up pretty soon for me) But I will include one skein of size 40 of "Esmeralda" in the giveaway from my other post. 

How's that for incentive??

And of course, like always, these colors look fabulous in person and dingy on the screen.  One of these days, I am going to learn to take better advantage of sunny days. :o)



Oh and this..... is my latest attempt at Torch Lily
And of course this is my new favorite Frivole's The Heart Within
lol, the bead may have been a little too big... but it's cute all the same :o)

Monday, April 23, 2012

Say Hello to my little friend

BLOCKHEAD!!


As you can see, I have used three of the items that are in my "Challenge Ball Giveaway"

I block tatted a little nose,  and then added a little red ring for a mouth. 

The googley eyes are the "sew on" variety, so I added them to pin which is bent around the wooden block.
Here's the back of the block:


I want to add some actual hair so that this part will be covered up.

So, it's not perfect, and it's not the prettiest thing ever, but He's fun and kind of cute (in an ugly kind of way) lol


But, I wanted to show him to prove that I'm not entirely crazy with my selection of items for Challenge Ball ;o)

If you haven't signed up for the Giveaway, you can do so on my last post.  I will drawing a winner on Saturday!!




Saturday, April 21, 2012

Challenge Ball Giveaway!!!!

FIRST!! I want to say that this giveaway comes with strings attached.... little stipulations, and they are as following:
1) To win this giveaway you must either already have a blog or be willing to start a blog.
2) If you win you agree to use the items of the giveaway and post the results on your blog
3) You agree to host a giveaway of your own, challenging your own readers to use different items or even similar items.
**UPDATE- there is no time limit, and I won't hunt you down if you don't follow through with the "agreement".  It's just for fun :o) **
If an item of this giveaway proves to be too hard for you to put to use, I will be okay with you including it in your own giveaway. :o)

Sound fair?

So, to enter, all you must do is comment on this blog post.
Here are the challenge items:
 Notice that I'm also including a McDonald's Squinkies ball, hence the name "Challenge BALL"... 
you do not need to pass along the ball in your giveaway, you can keep it. 


I have these items and I will be creating with them as well, so I do not feel like I'm asking anyone to do something that I would not do myself. :o)

I have already put one of these together and its going in the mail today to an unsuspecting blog owner, I'm not telling who. But if that person tries to enter, I will not count their entry into the giveaway. That is because they are already getting one, they just don't know it yet. 
BUT no one knows who that mystery person is SO, enter the giveaway as if it were not you, because it probably isn't. lol

Oh and I'll draw a random winner next Saturday. AND I will include a couple of HDT skeins!!!
GOOD LUCK!!


On a non-giveaway note:
Here is a closeup of the WIP bracelet that I am using with LadyShuttleMaker's ceramic medallion.
I cut off the beads, if you saw the last post you know what I'm talking about.

At this point, I'm thinking that I will either just go ahead and make the other side and then maybe make a flower medallion (like the Tischband flower) to go behind the ceramic medallion.... or I don't know yet.  

Any ideas from the Peanut Gallery?



Friday, April 20, 2012

More bartering items!

Now, these actually came in on Wednesday, but with all the exams and such that I've had going on, I couldn't really sit down and enjoy them until now.

First Cindy from A Happy Bluebird sent this cute little bag. It's like the origami bag but different, if that makes sense.  This one has pockets on the inside, not on the outside. And, these "Radiant Pearls", they look like a lot of fun!!
Thank you Cindy!! I hope you like the thread because I know I like this stuff!!

Next: these little goodies came from Beelizabeth.  The bookmark is in Lizbeth 20 and the pattern is found HERE on Jane's Blog.  Is there a name for this pattern other than "Bookmark from Jane in South Africa"? 
She also included this little purse dangle which is tatted in Krystledawne's "Getaway" thread that she won through a contest! And then her actual barter item is the cute little beaded Listerine breath strip thing.  This thing is SOO cute!! I will admit, when she first mentioned sending me some breath strips, I kind of thought, "What?!?" I don't even use breath strips BUT this is just too cute.  Once the breath strips are gone, I will keep needles in the case.  Though the actual Listerine container does come out of the beading quite easily, but is still snug, if that makes sense. 

So, Beelizabeth's bookmark inspired me to tat my own.... and then another lol
Actually the first one is for myself, it's tatted in LadyShuttlemaker's Confetti Sprinkles
Size 80.  I added a split ring tail which is attached to a round shell bead around a few other beads. ... SHUT THE FRONT DOOR..... did I just say beads?????
WHa????
Yes, I added beads to my tatting.  Okay technically I added one of these shell beads to my tatting here, but that doesn't count, I was tatting on that bead. Technically this doesn't really count, but that's alright. lol
I really just wanted to say "Shut the front door" I think it's funny
The pink/purple one is my own Tatilicious thread in size 40. To the tail of this one I have added another of these same round white shell beads, but with a different center bead.  This one is for a young lady that I go to church with.  She's in the sixth grade now, but I used to watch her and her younger sister when they were just babies.  She LOVES to read, so I told her I would make her a bookmark.  You what that means though right?  I'll be making another one before Sunday so that I will have one for sister too. :o)
They also have a younger brother that is Livi's age, but I don't think he will mind too too much that I don't have anything for him.  Though Livi wants to give him a shirt that I tie dyed.  I guess I could take that just in case. 



But onward.... the next thing with the gorgeous ceramic medalion (made by the Oh so talented LadyShuttleMaker aka MadMadPotter aka Sherry Pence) is on a WIP (which I discovered last week means Work in Progress... thank you google) bracelet.  
As you can see I started with a split chain tail (CTM) and then took both shuttles and made a leaf braid with each. (attaching the inner picots along the way) THEN I took the threads back together to feed them through the beads and medallion.  I am very very very tempted to cut these beads off and reattach a different way.  I love the tatting and I really love the medallion but I am not crazy about how the beads look right now.  I still want the pearls in there, but not the way they are now.

OH!! The thread is Lizbeth size 80 in silver.


As far as the beads are concerned:
Last week I order some "grab bags" of beads from Goodybeads, and some of these beads came from there. I really like the idea of the grab bag.  Because I do not use a lot of beads, I don't want to buy a lot of beads and if I do buy a thing of beads, I always end up with extra beads... and who wants to use the same beads on different projects?? So, the grab bags give you a variety of beads for a low price. This is especially perfect for me, since I feel like a bead n00B!



Wednesday, April 18, 2012

I love surprises!


I found this little cutie in the mail today!! Michelle had sent it to me because she saw that I liked ladybugs.
Thank you Michelle! I really love it and I will cherish it!
I love ladybugs! "Ladybug" was actually my nickname in the 8th grade. I even wore my the front of my hair up to look like antennae. It was fun.  :o)

Did you know that ladybugs are thought to be lucky?
I did not know that until this evening. 



I don't have any new tatting of my own to show.  In fact the only tatting I did today was a very last ring to finish up the heart that I had dropped in my car over the weekend.  I left it in the car though.. so I will show it another day.  

Now, I'll go back to studying!! 
My brain is already a little frazzled. 

This is me! lol
######
( @@  )
< (    u     ) >
(_~~~_)
U



Monday, April 16, 2012

End of the semester stress but "Peacock" is the shop!

"Peacock just got listed in the shop--------------------------->
Which you find over there to the side.

I just had to do another of Frivole's "The Heart Within", this time in size 40.

Here is the size 40 next to size 80 that I showed last night.






Now, I am going to take a Biochem quiz.  I am not excited about it!! I can not believe it is already the end of the semester.  I am really freaking out!!


Sunday, April 15, 2012

Peacockery, and many thanks!

I first off want to say that I LOVE this pattern by Frivole!!!!!

It's a quick tat as well, which kind of surprised me. 

I've actually done 4 so far (in the last 24 hours, BUT I'm not done with the fourth just yet, and I dropped the shuttle with the heart attached between the seat and console of my car. :o(

Also, I messed up a little bit when cutting my threads on the one in the middle which is why it is destined to be forever attached to an ATC card via a little red brad lol. 

The one on the far right is the new Rainbowlicious (size 40)!

Do you like the first two??
They are both size 80 Tatilicious Peacock (I think it looks peacockish, don't you??)
The base thread is Lizbeth.  I am going to have two skeins in the shop sometime tomorrow. Because they are Lizbeth though, the skeins are only 40 yards. Well technically they are 40 meters, so they are about 43 yards.  But if you are going to get technical, my 50 yards meter skeins are actually 54.68 yards.

I scanned the threads, but I am very dissatisfied with how they look on my screen, so I'll photograph them tomorrow. 



Now a "thanks" to Sherry for posting a fabulous tutorial on how to do a spiral chain!
She may have posted it in 2007, but I only found it last week, so.. yea...

Before Sherry, my lame attempt at a Josephine chain to finish a bookmark.

After Sherry, this thread is some of the thread that I had dyed as it was wrapped around a ~2 inch cardboard piece. You may or may not remember it.  The base thread was some vintage thread. 

Pretty crazy how much her method helped huh??



Now.... Has anyone else gotten Karey Solomon's Bouquet of Bookmarks??
I really like the designs in it, but they are not easy (at least not for me)
Part of my problem may be that there aren't any diagrams and reading is already an issue for me.
But, I knew that there weren't going to be any diagrams so that's not a complaint!

I'll try to post some pictures of my several attempts at a few of the patterns. lol







Saturday, April 14, 2012

Memphis Tigers

So, The University of Memphis is 100 years old now.  To celebrate they started putting up these tiger statues last semester.  They are actually pretty cool.  There are going to be 100 of them total.  I don't know how many there are so far, but I know that they are selling statues (I *think* for $50,000 a piece) so not only are the statues all over Memphis, but all over the city.  Here are some of the tiger statues that I have passed on my way to class.







pretty cool huh??

Alright, I'm going off for the weekend again. Maybe while I'm around town I'll try to take some more pictures of tigers that are at some of the businesses that have bought them!

OH!! I'm also thinking about "employing" Livi.  Would anyone else be excited to see "Custom Livi threads"? 
For $10, you choose 1, 2, 3, or 4 colors (of the dyes that I have on hand) and Livi will dye you a custom skein.  $3 from every sale will go straight to Livi's piggy bank and I will include a 4X6 glossy of her dyeing the thread which will be signed by the artist herself!

I think it will be fun for Livi above all else. :o)

If there is interest I'll put up a listing on Monday when I get back from my weekend excursion and take my quiz Monday morning.

Have a good weekend!!!!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

Barter Update!!

So!!!! An update on the barter situation for RJU 001, I still have 2 skeins 1 skein of size 20 and either 1 or 2 skeins of size 40 depending whether or not I hear back from one person.  1 skein of size 40.  (as of April 13th 8:45 am Central Standard Time)  As of April 16th 11:39 PM, I have no size 40 left, but somehow I have two skeins of size 20. 

So feel free to make a barter offer for them.  I'll take offers until they are all gone.

I did receive my first bartered item today and I love it!!!
It's from Diane and I have already started putting it to work!!

It's holding my skeins while they wait for their ultimate fate!
Thank you Diane!! I really love the bag! 

One of these days I will learn how to sew... but it'll be awhile lol

And I did get a picture of the iris today:
notice my blue hand... I am not please with how that happened!!

I know I have proclaimed my love for Pearl Ex Powders so many times that you probablly tired of hearing about them.  BUT!! I was holding the turquoise canister in one hand, it was opened already. Then I tried to be superwoman and open my "Versamarker", watermarker pen with the other hand.  This of course did not happen, so I tried holding the top with the hand that had the open canister of pearl ex powder and pull the pen out of its top.  And POOF : a cloud of pearl ex all of over my pants, desk and hand.  The really amazing this about Pearl Ex powders is that it takes so little powder to really make an impact.  in fact, if you look at the bottle, you wouldn't think that any of it was missing.  If you look at my desk, you'd think the canister/ bottle would have to be empty lol

The downside to pearl ex... it's just mica pigments, so unless you provide a glue, it will fade away.  Which really is a good thing for my hands and desk, but it drives me crazy because I really love the colors and would love to have thread that was tat-able but was colored with pearl ex. :o)


pretty flower though right??


Alright Good night!!

And in case you missed it: I have an active coupon in the Etsy shop right now.  The code is buried in my 100th post :o)



ALSO!!!!  I mentioned yesterday about having some size 80 that I will dyeing, however I forgot to add that its Lizbeth thread.  I also got some balls of size 60, but of course Lizbeth doesn't make that size, so those are DMC Cordonnett. But that will be something to look forward to, at least I am looking forward to it!  


100th post!!!!!

I made sure to delete all my "draft posts" to make sure this was actually my 100th published post.!!


So, here's a new colorway I'm testing out.  I think I shall call it "Iris" because it looks just like the Iris that is growing by the house.  I will try to take a picture of it tomorrow.  

The heart is "Unfolding Heart" by Marilee Rockley aka Yarnplayer.  It's a very lovely pattern, but I I'm not all together pleases with how mine looks.  I will try it again soon. :o)

Then the egg is Sally Kerson's.  Do you know that I've been watching all you fabulous tatters tat eggs... all the while saying, "ehh... not for me." Then I saw Sally's and was like "oh I could do that", but then quickly forgot about it.  Then I saw Fox had done one and that made me remember my little shell rings, so I've been working on that while listening to my Faith Reason and Imagination readings.... which I will now have to listen to again, because I was no paying attention.  

So, I can't just leave that little bit for my 100th posts so here are a couple of my fur babies!!
Toodles:



Toodles is about 15 years old.  She's a sweet girl.  She is very much an outside dog.  Somedays I really do not like the fact that she doesn't stay inside with us and "really' get to be a part of the family.  But, I know she is happier outside.  I accidentally left the back door open one night.  When I woke up in the morning, there was trash every where in the living room and kitchen where she had dragged trash around the house.  Where was she?  Outside in her doghouse asleep. lol  She's always been like that.  We've accidentally left the gate open a few times.  She got out every time.  The first time we freaked out.  Went calling for her, trying to track her down.  After a few hours, we looked outside, she came back home and was sleeping in the yard with the gate still wide open. :o)
She doesn't do too much walking or running off anymore though.  Her back hips get to hurting.  Plus, she's def now and we aren't entirely sure how much she can see.  She still acts like a puppy though.  She gets so excited when Livi r I go out to play with her. (Which is daily) 

and then there's Layla:



Layla is the epitome of "scaredy cat".  I got her from the pound in 2005, she stayed under the bed for almost 2 weeks and then she wouldn't leave my room for almost a year and even then it was only to go down the hall a bit.  I remember the first time she came out from under the bed though.  She must have been hungry, because I was sitting on the bed eating a ham sandwich and she came up and took a bite out of my sandwich while the other end was end my mouth.  It was strange moment.  One that has not repeat itself.
Her favorite pasttime is to hide behind cracked doors and lunge her paw out of the crack when you walk by.  Also, she likes to ask for attention by sitting under the coffee table, wait for you to walk by, then run, hit you on the back of the leg and then vanish before you see her. lol

Last week, I was getting some clothes out of the dryer, and she was rubbing up on my leg.  I accidentally dropped a shirt on her and she ran off, but the shirt didn't fall off.  haha So all you could see was a flash of purple as my purple shirt went running across the room. 



And then here is my baby girl, sweet sweet Livi, but these were taken 2 years ago at my Granny's farm in Virginia:



and this is the broad side of a barn HAHAHA!!



and if you made it through all that, then you deserve to know that from now until April 19th, I will have a coupon active for 10% off.  The coupon is "percentum" 

I also got some size 80 thread in today which I have already started winding into skeins and I hope to get a bit of dyeing done tomorrow.  So hopefully sometime this weekend there will be new colors in the shop.  However, I am getting towards the end of the semester and starting to freak out slightly.
So, if it turns out I don't get new threads in there, please don't hold it against me :o)

But, is there any colorway that I've already done that anyone would like to see in size 80??


Tuesday, April 10, 2012

You might be a tatter if:

Yesterday morning I was trying to get Livi and I ready for school but really wanted to sew a little motif onto a hairclip for one of Livi's friends.  (I had told her friend's mom that I would make her one)
So, all Livi saw was (haha palindrome) that I had  tatting in my hand.

She said "Come on Mommy! We've got to go!"
Me: "Okay Baby, I'm almost done"
Livi: "Okay Mommy, one more ring, but that's all!"


WHAT!!!!! I really would have loved to see my face at that exact moment.  Probably sitting there with dropped jaw and deer in headlights look.  My four year old daughter is so used to me tatting and telling her, "Just let me finish this ring."  that she tells me... "just one more ring".

Oh, she cracks me up!!!

But here is some tatting:

On top, is Jon's Ring of Crowns (I think that's what it's called) It's tatted in Sulk Blendables, Olive Tree that Diane so sweetly sent me!  
And, it's BLEND able, not BENDable.  For the longest time, I was reading it "bend"able, and I just imagined some rubbery type thread or stretchy cord. My brain does that some times.

And then I have a little ATC card with some of my One shuttle hearts, the top tiny one is size 80 of LadyShuttlemaker's Confetti Sprinkles.  It's so tiny because I did each of the rings as 3-3-3-3, instead of 6-6-6-6. I'm glad I got a picture of it, because now it doesn't look nearly as pretty. 
Then the others are RJU 001, Lizbeth's Azalea Md, and finally my Pinkaholic.

Then I tested the Lizbeth size 80 ball in the McDonalds ball, it fits perfectly! and the thread pulls through the hole beautifully!  A size 40 ball however will not fit.

And this:
Don't waste your time trying to do this. lol
When I got the Bob-eez, I thought they were great. I still think they are great.  But it really bothered me that they were so incredibly plain!!
I have since learned the meaning of "Difficult to glue plastic!!"
NOTHING sticks to these things!!
I'm talking about even super glue practically fell off of it.

I even tried to emboss the bottom of it, when made the plastic all bendy, and the embossing powder stratched right off.  BUT after I scraped the rest of it off, I tried paintint to with acrylic paint.  it was scuffed up enough that the paint actually stayed and I was able to coat it with glitter nail polish. (that's the bottom picture)

So I scratched the heck out of the top and painted it and then coated on pearl ex, and then topped it with an extremely thin layer of mod podge.  Why thin? Because if it's too thick, it'll just peel off, taking what ever is beneath it with it. That would be counter productive.

Oh and all of that was AFTER trying JB weld, which came right off too.

Then I thought made I could make a little top for it and just loosely have it on there, connected on through punched holes.  I am still investigating this option, but that is why there is a ribbon in it. lol




And you may or may not remember when I mentioned these little lockets.  I took a photo of the little heart from above in it. The motif is about the size of a penny, as you can see.


And this is why the little motif is not so pretty anymore:

I took a lot of heavy duty glue to get it stick... but it's definitely stuck now!! It's also topped with Mod Podge Dimensional magic which looks really lovely on here!!

Okay, that's all for now.  I may not be back until this weekend, but I am still taking barter offers for the limited stock of RJU 001


and here are some pictures of Torch lilies that I found on the web, just in case you haven't seen them before.  These are what I want my next colorway to look like and what I was trying for with RJU 001!









This one doesn't have any green at the botttom, and I do want at least a hint of green in it.

And this one:  Has green and hardly any yellow: