Tat-ilicious

Purple Fields or Purple Sea??

2012-02-21T17:57:00.000-06:00

Maybe neither name really suits it. This heart is size 20. I picked out a random skein from the lot to keep for myself. I should have paid more attention though. I would have preferred to keep size 40. But that's alright. Maybe I'll tie this one back up and sell it at a reduced price. The heart needs some work, it's the same "One shuttle chevron" that I showed last week. I just added two rings on each side. The top (added) ring is 6-4-4 and the added ring below it is 4-5-6.

Really this would have looked a lot better if I would have been more consistent with how I joined the rings.

All in all though I think it's cute and effective... I mean, it actually does look like a heart :o)

new threads... and a messed up stumpy

2012-02-19T20:50:00.000-06:00

Last night after posting about all the new colors that I haven't tried out, I broke down and dyed two skeins. Today was my "mother in law's" birthday. So I intended them to be the thread for her present, but she likes my camo stuff better lol

But I will definetly do some more of these. I love the Kingfisher Blue, (it's the dark teal color) Pretty right?

And that little bit of tatting was going to be a
Stumpy. lol I was doing it for memory and it was at about this point that I remembered that there are supposed to be some single rings in there . oops. lol

Now this one:

I dyed naturally. I will still need to do some "tests" to check its colorfastness, and lightfastness. But if it stays this color that would be great!! I set against the Lizbeth Gold and Lizbeth Lemon for comparison.

Would you like to know what kind dye source that beautiful yellow came from???

I'll let you guess first.:o)

I don't have any prize, it's just for fun :o)

An International Request...

2012-02-18T20:24:00.000-06:00

If you don't know already, I am taking an Italian class right now. We are giving an oral presentation and I am going to talk about tatting. I was hoping that I could get in contact with someone from Italy, that could send me maybe a little piece of tatting and a note in Italian to accompany it. (I emailed a couple of bloggers from Italy, but so far haven't heard anything.) But, if I can't get anything from Italy, it would be cool if I could get some pieces from other countries. I think it is so wonderful that even though we are so far apart in distance, we can interact on a personal level, even if it is only because we share the love of tatting. You know what I mean?

This is what I would like to convey in my presentation.

Anyway, so I have to turn in a script for my presentation on March 2nd, but don't give the presentation until March 14th. This means that I just need to know that something is coming just a little before March but it doesn't need to be here until the 14th.

In return, I can offer any and all senders HDT... I figure this could be a good incentive. I don't want anything for free, but I do want to have a nice presentation. :o)

SO!!! If you are interested comment here or email me and we can iron out the details.

I'm going to be doing some more dyeing soon. I've got a lot of new dyes that I haven't gotten to test yet. :o)

(Which include... black cherry, dusty rose, bubble gum, lilac, wisteria, grey, alpine blue, deep yellow, kingfisher blue and amethyst)

I'm thinking my next batch will be either deep yellow and amethyst will maybe another color like chartreuse.

OR I'll start playing the kingfisher blue, it's a new mix from Dharma, not just new to me. :o)

Anyway.... I'm getting off subject and I need to be writing a paper. So, if you can help I would be ever so thankful!!

If I do however get a poor response from this, I will open it to American tatters as well. Because I do adore my fellow American tatters!

Smile, today's a new day :o)

2012-02-16T01:45:00.000-06:00

So, I felt the need to define "tat-ilicious" and since a picture is worth a thousand words.... I think this might come close to defining it... but doesn't quite get the job done :o)

THREAD, pretty designs, and SHUTTLES!

And that's not even touching the fact that, my special shuttles are all from tatters, the thread is all HDT, and not all my own.

And sorry, the peanut knife is just too funny...

And on another note....

I've decided to join Umintsuru 's tat along... but you know me, I don't follow the rules... ever

I'm doing my flowers in Yarnplayer's Corsage

On a different subject....

I've been wanting to try some natural dyeing. I REALLY want to try dyeing thread with blackberries. I've got the alum, a recipe, thread.... I just need blackberries. The trouble is, everytime I buy blackberries, Livi finds them and gets all giddy. She will sit and eat and entire container of blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, or strawberries like they are going out of style. :o)
Oh my... looking back:

I've always known my baby to love natural foods :o)

I actually made her baby food when she was a wee tot. I'm pretty sure that teething thing in the top picture was filled with blackberries. I'd stuff them with fruit and they kept her very satisfied. The bottom picture, she had been eating beets. Beets, rutabega, and green beans were her favorite among favorites!

Actually that bottom picture is making me wonder if trying beets wouldn't be a bad idea...

One shuttle chevron in Camo-licious

2012-02-15T16:30:00.001-06:00

I've been working on this for a few days. All the rings are 4-4-4-4. I think it could make a fun bracelet, or edging. also I think it could be incorporated into design in multiple ways. Heck one up and down makes a cute little heart.

To get from ring B to C, just lock join down to the side picot of A and so forth for the other rings. This would kind of be like Jane's Continuous Thread Join, except that because it's one shuttle, it does lock. Also, if that just really bothers you, you could run another shuttle through the middle and have every other ring be a split ring (4-4-4/4) But I think this way works just as well. (But I haven't done the other way, so ...)

Also, for this particular pattern, it is not necessary to to have two step ups, you could just alternate between two heights, if that makes any sense.

Here is Camo-licious:

I have 4 size 40's and 5 size 20's in the shop now! Livi did help with these. She did a good job too!

If you would like your own copper rose, contact me either in comment or email and I can get you the contact information for my friend Matt that makes them. This particular rose is going to be in a lot of my thread pictures from now on. I just love it. :o)

Presenting P.W.

2012-02-12T12:31:00.000-06:00

Here's P.W. (Pink Western) the goat. It's the only picture I could get because she ran away in fear after she saw that floating UFO that resembles a headless legless goat.

TIAS 2012

I've enjoyed my first TIAS. Thanks Jane!!!

Giveaway winner is:

2012-02-11T13:26:00.000-06:00

So the winner is Red:

Thank you to everyone that entered!

I was looking back at my old blog posts, and realized that my last giveaway was at about this time of the month. Maybe it'll be a trend... we'll see. :o)

Well, now I need to go get my Faith, Reason and Imagination homework done. THEN maybe I can finish Jane's TIAS. I ended up with a headless goat when I ran out of thread lol But I have restarted with a small skein of "Pink Western" that I set aside for myself :o)

oh boob.... and Superman Bubblegum... the most random post ever, or at least in a while.

2012-02-10T01:58:00.000-06:00

Oh boob is for this:
I wanted to show my support for my fellow tatters, so I decided to tat Yarnplayer's Unfolding Heart with the Wisteria Lane that I purchased from Krystledawne. But I messed up in the joining in the middle.

But the pattern is really wonderful and isn't that thread beautiful?? But, I have an Italian test to study for, so I'm not going to be redoing it tonight. Maybe tomorrow :o)

And Superman Bubblegum:

This size 40 is also an option for the giveaway from my last post.

Tats up pretty though right?? That little snowflake is from Jon Yusoff's Tatted Snowflakes Collection and is "Circle of Crowns"

And other bits:

I'm about to add this to my shop:

Do you think $1 is too steep to charge for unwinding the skein onto one of these? I figure there's got to be at least some people that would just rather not unwind their skeins, for what ever reason. AND, since I have the swift that the skeins were wound on, it would be easier for to unwind them. I will however only charge the $1 once; it will not be a per skein thing. Just think it might be a nice option, ya know?

And one more matter of business:

You remember WAY back... the Yes U can doily. Well I got frustrated with how I wanted to adapt the last row to my own tasting, and I ended up redoing the whole bit. Granted I haven't actually tatted it yet. Although I have started. But this is what I'm thinking:

My plan is to turn the first two rows into one row by making the rings from row 2 into floating rings. and then the 2nd row would be the bottom half of the bare thread row. Then the rest would be one continuous row.

Okay, I'm done procrastinating now! Happy Friday everyone!!

the 2nd ever Tat-ilicious giveaway!

2012-02-09T20:06:00.000-06:00

So, I want to give away some more of my thread. This time around, the winner can pick any of the new threads that are about to be put in my shop. Livi is busy taking pictures of her beanie baby, or I'd upload the new pictures I just took of them. To do this, I am just going to save one of each of the different colors until after the giveaway. BUT since I can't possibly have a giveaway with only one winner... everyone will be a winner in a way.
I am offering a coupon for 35% in my etsy shop. The coupon code is "blogreader". This coupon will be active until Sunday night 11:59 pm (central standard time). Basically, that covers shipping. But since I don't have to pay etsy fees on shipping costs, it makes more sense to discount the actually product, for this special. ALSO, please be careful when entering this coupon. I have no idea how to fix that sort of issue, so I would really rather not have to, you know what I mean?

I'm not running this "special" because there is anything wrong with my thread. I just really want my thread to get out there and into the hands of tatters that will enjoy it. I love seeing photos of items tatted with the threads I've dyed.
Sorry if you read about these threads the other day. These photos are of the same threads, just updated pictures...

SO.... comment on this post to enter the giveaway. I will use the random generator on Saturday afternoon to get the winner. That way the other threads can go in the shop to be used with the coupon.

Well...look at that... while typing this up, Livi got done with her photo shoot, so here are the new threads that are being put in my shop and likewise the options for the winner of the giveaway to choose from:
There's also one more that is also a choice, which is size 40, just like the red, blue, light blue, but instead of whiteish, it has hot pink.

This one has two of my new dyes in it, Rose Red and Rust Brown. Personally, it reminds me of a cowboy, so I guess it'll just be "Western" (which would be contrast to "pink western which is pictured below) these are size 20.

Blue and light blue.. size 20, these are only about 25 yards though:

Pink Western comes in size 20 and size 40. But remember from the previous post, the 40 are most "spotty" or "stonewashed" while the 20s are I guess "richer"...

Size 20 red, blue, light blue and white-ish lol:

These brown/pink/reddish ones are all size 40. You like the little bit of edging adapted from a pattern in The Tatter's Treasure Chest. This will either be a bracelet or, part of a mat. I haven't decided yet.

and here are a couple of pictures from Livi's photoshoot:

Quick post of hdt update.

2012-02-07T00:29:00.000-06:00

I know that I said that I had tons to do... but since I can't literally study around the clock, Livi and I took a little time to dye some threads. She loves helping! She actually didn't dye any threads, but she did dye some baby hats. I'll have to scan them another day. I did size 20 and 40 and they'll be in the shop later this week if anyone is interested.

These red white and blues are all size 20

For what ever reason, I am really excited about these. They look dirty right? They have a certain bohemian dinginess to them that I am totally digging! (size 40)

It was only while I was cropping this photo that I realized that my size 40s didn't turn out as well as my 20s because the 40s were at the edge of the drop cloth and probably dried out where as the 20s were nice and moist. I'm thinking about calling this one pink western or cowgirl.

On the left are a couple of samples I did just to see if I liked the combos. I actually did the blue/red/brown one this weekend, but I did the blue/black/gray one a few weeks ago.
The in the middle are size 20, about 30 yards each.
Then on the right, size 40, these are very similar to the red, white and blue that are size 20, just I threw in hot pink where the white would be :o)

Red and Rust (that's not a name, just the colors) size 20

The small blue one on the bottom was actually dyed with fountain pen ink... Baystate Blue. It's very brilliant and almost shiny in person. And I was worried that it might stain my fingers when I go to tat with it because when I was winding it up to a skein it was turning my fingers blue. So, I ironed it, and apparently that all it needed, because now I can't even force it make my fingers blue.... pretty cool! :o)

Might be my last post for a little while...

2012-02-02T20:47:00.000-06:00

I've got a Sociology report, Italian composition, FR&I study questions to type up.... and oh, the big one.... BIOCHEMISTRY TEST in less that one week!! So, I predict that this weekend I may go temporarily insane and also that I won't get much tatting done. But that's alright, it'll be a nice relaxing moment when this rush of excitement is over next Tuesday and I can sit down and recompose myself. lol

But for now: These were inspired by Fox's foxtangles

And those in turn inspired these: SHRINKY DINKS! Cute right?

On the left, this flower was traced from scrapbook paper. On the right, was free handed.
The Sharpies are just for size comparison.

This one was just traced from a Lisa Frank coloring book... and that is the original crown shown. So, they really do shrink quite a bit. Also, if you can't tell, the circle is actually where I cut the circle from the clear shrinky dink plastic. Pretty cool right? I also hole punched the top of it, so these can be used as pendants.

What's in a Title? that which we call a post by any other title would be just as good a read...

2012-01-31T03:46:00.000-06:00

Wow, can you tell it's late? It's 3:30 AM here, and I've been in the closet (with the light on) tatting so that I wouldn't wake Livi.

BUT, here's the HDT "Laila" worked up. It is so pretty. Size 80

It's Mary Konior's Eightsome Reel. I really like this little piece. I want to make some more!

Up next: Susan Fuller's Heart of Desire. I've started this one before, but only now actually finished one. This one is in size 80, one my HDT's Pink to Gray

I was getting really tired towards the end. Can you tell? I'll give you a hint as what to look for... I started with the pink ring and ended with that ugly gray one lol (the ring is ugly not the color). I also joined the rings that usually hang loose in the middle to the rings on the edge. I like this, keeps them in line :o)

And finally:

I'm working on Iris Niebach's Cornelia from Tatted Doilies. Again, this is size 80 of my HDT. I do not plan to do the whole doily in the color. Heck, I may not even do the whole thing in this size. I have ideas for how I want finish this one my way lol

This is the only bit of this thread that I have, but I plan on making some more. I don't know if you can tell, but it's blue/gray/black. It has a very "denim" look. This one, I had a short skein (from cutting between knots off the cone) so I let it loosely sit however it wanted in a 2 oz cup and then applied dye to the cup via a dropper. I put a light blue on one side and black on the other. As you can probably imagine and as you can see, the black took over most of the area, but the randomness of it is very fun. I thought about experimenting with other colors but the same method and calling them "Messy Jessi's" lol

Rainbow-licious Glass Mat is finish, and oh so pretty!

2012-01-27T00:35:00.000-06:00

I've got to admit, this pattern (Konior's Spinning Wheel Glass Mat) is really pretty. Not only that, but it's a lot of fun to tat and it looks especially wonderful in my own HDT size 40 Rainbow-licious. :o)

So, now I must study for the small Italian quiz I have in the morning. It shouldn't be too hard, but it's always good to practice.

Coming up next for tatting, I reserved for myself some the black and pinkish purple size 80 (or "Laila", which I actually did not name after my cat, Layla... I got the name off one of the Baby name sites lol). I'm going to find the perfect project for some of it. The "plan" is to use a pattern from one of the three new books I got in the mail the other day! :o)

More thread in the shop

2012-01-25T00:57:00.000-06:00

So, I got with my good friend Mandy tonight and she very kindly took some more professional style pictures for my Etsy store. She's so wonderful! So Instead of having just two listing in the shop I now have 8 listings. Also, I ordered a cone of size 20 today from Lizbeth, so once I get that in, I'll be able to offer size 20. I know a lot of people like that size. I personally prefer size 40, but if they are to sell, then I need to offer what you like :o)

Here are some of the pictures Mandy took tonight:

And for Diane: Because of your excitement to see what I could tat with the threads the other day, I am tatting your favorite pattern. The MK Spinning Wheel Glass Mat, and in the Rainbow-licious!

It may take me a while to finish, but it's looking beautiful already. I love how the colors work together. :o)

Rustic/Blue Cross

2012-01-24T15:44:00.000-06:00

Here's an example of the Rustic/Blue worked up as a cross from Tatting Patterns and Designs by Gun Blomqvist and Elwy Persson. The "chocolate brown" is VERY dark, but do you see why I call it "rustic"?

I like it, do you?

Rainbow-licious!

2012-01-22T23:38:00.000-06:00

I hope y'all don't get too bored hearing about dyeing and such.... but anyway... the other night I dyed 15 skeins. That's the most I've ever done at one time. Overall, I feel like it was a success. I have not washed all of them yet though. But of the ones that I have washed, I have 7 "Rainbow-licious" skeins and 4 "Rustic/Blue"

"Rainbow-licious":

These are all size 40 Lizbeth brand thread. None of them are "perfect". All of them have some spots that are lighter than others, or extra spots of color, mostly in the yellows. Despite these little imperfections, these are really stunning. (IMHO) .

"Rustic/Blue":

Again, this is size 40. This one turned out really fun! If you google rustic blue, and look at images... you'll pretty much see what you can expect from these threads. The dark color, is actually the "chocolate brown", but the dye didn't dye "evenly" so the brown as "speckles" all throughout it that are blue in shade. On top of that the blue has it's own gradient I guess. These will be great for a more "manly" project. There's also, white spots between the blue and brown, which just adds more to the overall personality. :o)

So, the above are all still fairly damp, so they aren't ready to go anywhere. But these are:

Here is one of those places where I feel my scanner does not do the threads justice. The top two are the same colors as my "monster heart" from the other day.

That is all for tonight. I'm going to try to sleep, and hope the tornado sirens don't start going off again tonight!

Does anyone have any tips on how to get this 3-D??

2012-01-20T16:08:00.000-06:00

It's Rosa Frivola by Mary Konior, from Tatting with Visual Patterns. I love this book. Even though I have gotten other books, this one is my favorite. I actually ordered one of her out of print books, but since it's coming from the U.K., and even though it was shipped last week, I have a feeling it could be forever until it gets here. Oh well, it'll be worth the wait :o)

But, back to the question at hand. I have 9 petals, the last three look pretty awful, so I didn't go out of my way to get them in the scan. I figure they'll be in the center of the flower lol. I've starched it, but it's still hard to get it to look right. BUT it does say in the book that it'll take some practice. I want to put it on a crochet cap that I got for my baby neice, Chloe. That means that I want to get it to sit right and not move once it's set. Also, I'm looking into how to get it attached to the cap in such a way that my sister in law (Chris's sister), can remove it from the cap when the cap gets dirty, because I already know that she's not going to want fluff this thing back up. For that part of my problem, I'm thinking maybe a button attachment. I was thinking a pin bar backing, but I would absolutely hate (and I do not use the "h" word") myself if it ever came loose and stuck her.

So, any suggestions on 1) how to get it to actually look like a flower and stay looking like a flower. 2) how to attach it a crochetted cap in a removable fashion.

You ALL are so wonderful with your suggestions. I really do appreciate every comment that y'all post on my little blog :o)

On another note... Aren't the colors gorgeous?? This is the pastel rainbow that I have a size 40 and size 80 skein of in my shop. This is in size 40. This pattern however took a lot of thread. More than I thought it would. Luckily, these skeins are the ones that were closer to 65 - 70 yards, so even though I made this thing, and a couple other little things that didn't pan out, I still have quite a bit of this thread left for myself.

small heart-like motif/ monster heart

2012-01-19T23:26:00.000-06:00

I got Tatting Patterns and Designs by Blomqvist a week or two ago and while flipping through the book immediately was drawn first to the crowns in towards the back but then this little heart like motif that they actually call a "star", but it looks like a heart to me...so, I'll call it a "heart-like" motif :o)

It's in some Lizbeth 40 that dyed the other day. It's pink and purple, and I thought the whole thing was kind of a bust since some of the purple patches are a little "splotchity", but really I think it just adds personality to it...

What I really love about this little thing is that from far off it looks like a heart...but when you look at it close up, it looks like a monster face lol See how the clover kind of looks like eyes and a big nose and the rings at the bottom look like fangs. Then he's got like droppy cheeks and floppy ears lol I've always had a knack for seeing weird things, maybe this is one of them :o)

That reminds, at one point I had some sew-on googly eyes that I wanted to make a little face out of, but since I use smaller threads, the eyes were always too big. Maybe this in size 10 thread with sew-on googly eyes would really tie it all together. :o)

slowly opening...

2012-01-18T23:53:00.000-06:00

Well, I officially have an Etsy shop. Because my camera is still with Fuji, I am not able to take beautiful photos like I'd like, so it's only showing scans of the threads. BUT at least I started it, it needs a lot of work, but that will come with time. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither will Tat-ilicious Threads.

I only have the pastel rainbow colored threads and the bold pink/orange ones up right now... just because it's late, and I'm tired, so I'm going to bed, and hopefully I'll get my mom's camera out tomorrow and take some better pictures of the others and get them in the shop!

Hope everyone out there in Tat-land is doing well!!

a little preview...

2012-01-18T00:18:00.000-06:00

Here are some of the threads that I intend to start a shop with...

These are actually very "healthy, plump" skeins. After these I realized that my "50 yd" skeins were more like 65 yds... I have skein in size 40 and the other in size 80. These may not look all that impressive, but worked up it looks very lovely... I'll have pics soons!

These 4 are size 80... and just like I suspected with my post yesterday... once I washed up the black and gray ones... they were beautiful. Go figure. They are in plastic baggies... so, sorry for the light reflections.

These are size 60... and oh so pretty from reddish pink to bold pink to orange... yum! I have 2 of these.

These are size 40. I love the colors, but not how I dyed them. For some reason... I took my very long skein loop and colored half one color and the the other half the other color. This makes for a VERY long colorway. Since these I have gotten one the tabletop swifts with moveable pegs, which means I can make a 39" loop. If have dyed have a 39" loop one color and the other half the other color, that wouldn't be so bad. But these loops are more like 58" or so. (I was using a PVC niddy noddy that Chris made for me). So you can see how that would be problem.... but if you started in the right place it would look as if you were using two different colors for your rings and chains which would be pretty cool I guess.

I know I don't have many skeins of each color, but where I am right now, it doesn't seem to make much sense to make a whole lot of any one color scheme. This whole experience has given me a real appreciation for the lovely people that do dye a lot and have such lovely selections. It takes a lot of work... and my hats are off to you!

Just a Quick Question for all those in Tat land...

2012-01-17T22:13:00.000-06:00

So, as you know, I've been dyeing thread to potentially sell on Etsy. As far as I can see a 50 yd skein for about $7 is standard. 50 yds is quite a lot of thread though. If you have ever been hindered to buy HDT because of the $7, would you be more likely to buy a smaller skein, say 25 yds, at $3.50?

25 yds still seems like quite a bit of thread. Of course, you wouldn't get it for a big project or anything. But this is one thing I'm thinking about, but if I get too many negative responses to it, then I'll just scrap it. :o)

Thank you all for any and all input.

I'm glad to be out of school and all but,

2012-01-16T16:43:00.000-06:00

I really wish that the mail ran today. Well, Happy Martin Luther King Jr. day everyone. So, I am awaiting 4 packages in the mail... I really dislike the waiting for mail thing. Most of the items I am waiting for are coming from the United Kingdom, and I know the whole overseas thing takes a while so I'm not holding my breath on those, trying not anyway. I mean we are talking about 3 tatting books and two shuttles from Jane... so it's kind of hard not to be a little excited. :o) The other though is a cone of size 40 from Handy Hands. That should be here tomorrow. So excited!
And speaking of the cone from Handy Hands...
The dyes I had been working with were from Dharma Trading. I think I am going to stick with them. I went to a local art store and got some new procion dyes by Jacquard there and so far have been not happy with them. It may be that I tried black, and just was not happy with it. Also, I bought a jar of "chocolate brown" which when I mixed it up... is black with a purple tint. The powder itself is brown though. I get it though. I can understand how brown would be a hard color to obtain. THEN the "hot pink" I got was more baby pinkish... and at higher concentrations was red.
My dyes that I have from Dharma are wonderful though. The give nice bright colors. I currently only have three: Fuschia red, robins egg blue, and citrus yellow... but with those I can get all kinds of colors.
I guess it's really one of those things that just takes a lot of trial and error, ya know?
ALSO! Something I think is kind of funny. Sometimes I'll have an idea for something to dye... and when I'm actually dyeing it looks awful. But when I go back and wash of the excess and dry it... the colors kind of grow on me and I like it more than something that I thought was brilliantly spectacular when I was dyeing. Go figure. Life is funny that way.
As far as tatting goes... I've got a couple of big projects going on and once I'm finished I'll have pics. :o)

Well, I'm back from class.... so that means....

2012-01-12T15:10:00.000-06:00

After figuring out how to print screen on random.org, we have our winners.....

So looking back at the other post, that means the winners for the first ever Tat-ilicious giveaway are Fox, Jane, and Michelle!!

Congrats!

And since none of you had listed a preference I will just let Livi put the labels on the envelopes (That is of course... after I receive your addresses of course) :o) Which means I won't know what you got either. lol.

I hope to have more giveaways in the future. They are just plain fun for everyone :o)

some catching up to do

2012-01-10T21:33:00.000-06:00

So, I've been tatting, but for whatever reason, I never posted about any of these.

They are all from Jon's Elegant Tatting Gems. The top right is done in Lizbeth size 40 Charcoal and Medium Purple I believe. Then the middle one is done in some size 60 that I dyed. These are brighter than some of the ones I dyed recently for a couple of different reasons. One of which is I used freshly prepared dye for it and another, I did most of the curing under an electric blanket instead of in the cold garage. Lesson learned :o). The bottom, is Lizbeth size 40 Azalea Md. and Seagreen Light. Aren't they pretty??

And here are some more pictures of the threads I'm giving away on my other post.... This time done on the scanner. My camera is being sent back to Fuji for repair. :o)

I think it's funny that the pictures really capture the beauty of the yellow and green but the blue and purple just looks dull. In person though, the blue and pink/purple looks very nice.

And here... I've decided to try Jane's TIAS... so here's my day 1... I'm doing it in the size 60 yellow green mix, same as the two skeins I'm giving away. :o) As for that extra picot at the beginning... that's just habit I guess. I always leave a small picot at the beginning of every project.

The very first Tat-ilicious Give-away!

2012-01-10T01:15:00.000-06:00

Okay, so if you've been reading lately, you already know that I've been trying my hand at dyeing thread. The first reason for my dyeing threads would be to sell the threads to justify my buying and acquiring more thread for myself (naturally, right?) Since I am currently jobless, a self supporting hobby is justifiable, in my eyes :o)

So these first few skeins I had intended to start an etsy shop with... but alas... I had been working hard at getting some skeins wound up and ready for dyeing. All was well they were sitting nice and pretty on the couch, and then my lovely artistic daughter placed her freshly painted picture right on top of my beautiful pile of freshly wound skeins. LUCKILY, not very much paint got on the thread, but some paint did get on them. I tried to clean them and get all the paint off, but there is still the mark from where the paint was. I really do not think that this little bit of paint will make the threads un-usable, but in my eyes, they do make them un-sale-able. (( I did not tell Livi that her paint got on the thread, as this would made her extremely upset. She's very sensitive and gets very upset when she thinks she has messed anything up))

So I feel bad that my first giveaway is essentially "damaged goods" but they are still pretty. I have three total. One skein is size 40 with colors of pink-purple-blue (it kind of looks like something Barbie would wear really) The picture doesn't do it justice but, oh well.

The other two are size 60 and the color is pale yellow to green:

I really think that they are both very pretty. In fact, I have a skein of both that I have decided to keep for myself despite their flaw. And if you are wondering about the flaw, here's an example:

Do you see that tiny blue speck... that's how small we are talking. All the strands separate from one another and they still fell pretty smooth. But like I mentioned before, I just don't feel right selling them, in this condition. Plus, I'm still working out making the skeins. So, this will be a good start I think.

So... the giveaway: Because I have three skeins, there will be three winners. To enter, all you need to is comment on this post and make sure that I can contact you. Because I have 2 different kinds of skeins, if the first comment that is selected randomly has mentioned a preference then they will be granted their preference. If the first winner had not made a preference known, and the second winner does give preference, then the 2nd will be granted their preference... and so on. If no winners give their preference, then, I will just randomly divvy them up. How does that sound?

This is post is going up on Tuesday morning (for me) at 1:08 am, so I will randomly draw names for the winners sometime Thursday afternoon when I get back from Biochemistry! I realize that makes this kind of a quick giveaway... but there will be more in the future, that hopefully will not include small bits of acrylic paint

how sweet...

2012-01-05T00:01:00.000-06:00

So, I would like to preface by saying that a few weeks ago after reading that Fox mentioned running out of pink in size 80, I mentioned that I had loads of pink in size 80 and offered her some. So we did a little swap, which she sent me some very lovely items. As I was putting together the package together for her, Livi of course needed to help me with everything. She was very fascinated that I had a friend that she had never heard of and that I talked to this friend on the computer. So, now anytime I get on the computer, she just assumes I'm talking to Fox. (She's so sweet!)

So tonight, I was on the computer and she wanted to get on and tat.... so I took her video. So, as you watch, you'll see her talk about "my friend Fox" lol

Enjoy!

Don't you love how she's been tatting since she was a little girl, or did she say since she was a baby. It's always one of the two. :o)

And here's just the two of us:

Isn't she precious???

Trying my luck again...

2012-01-04T22:03:00.000-06:00

with the camera that is. The camera is a Fujifilm Finepix HS20 EXR. Other than that, I don't know much about the camera other than my mom found it on One Sale a Day. The main screen on the back doesn't actually work, something's wrong it. It shows lines and is discolored, but it's okay because the digital screen that you can find in the viewfinder works fine. I've never seen a digital screen like this one in a viewfinder before but since the main one doesn't work, I like that there is another one.
So, anyway, I took my lime green piece outside today (it was a nice sunny day) and took some pics. Natural light always looks better than artificial. Even if you have a crappy camera, it probably takes good pictures outside. But here are some of the pictures from today:

This was outside, with the piece sitting on a brownish black piece of wood. I think this piece of wood was once supposed to be a shelf for one of the bookcases inside, but I have since confiscated it for moments such as this :o)

Here I hung the motif on one of the many bare branches of my rose bush. Poor rose bush.

This clover patch sits right beside the bare rose bush, and may be part of the reason my rose bush stays so bare. lol

Ahh... chilling out on the chair on the front porch :o)

Same chair, just macro

Now, this, is the same board from picture number 1. Except this time I scooted Layla out of her sun bathing spot right inside the door. Amazing that this was actually taken inside.

This was taken inside in one of the more shaded spots but with the blinds open on a near window. Also, I'm pretty sure I used the flash on this one.

Looking at them all together, I think I like the second one best. Next favorite would be one of the last two pictures. Looks so much better than the pictures taken in my bedroom last night :o)

Thread....

2012-01-04T01:22:00.000-06:00

So, I am still playing with my camera. I had the wild hair to get all my thread together and take a "group photo"... and I know I shouldn't say this, but I know for a fact that this is not all my thread. For instance, I have a whole other ziploc bag full of vintage that has just reds and pinks in it. I also have more size 20 somewhere... like a medium green, victorian red, angel love, and black and white that are missing from this collection... and oh yeah... the dark blue, brown and seagreen... wow I left out a lot of the 20's... oh well.

But here is most of my collection. Sorry about the lighting, I'm still working on how to operate this camera.

Oh, and do you like the lovely art work on the bed? Funny story actually. I love Sharpies. So one evening, like usual, I had a couple of Sharpies sitting out on my desk and I ran downstairs (probably to print something out but I don't really remember now). I left Livi playing quietly in the room. She's super wonderful and rarely gets into anything and even when she does it's not usual an issue. But this time, I just happened to be washing covers so she was just too tempted with my big white canvas of a bed. She colored the entire bed with my pink and green Sharpies. You'd think she'd get in big trouble right? No, it reminded me so much of something that I myself would do, that I all I could was stare at it with open jaw and pop eyes and then patted her on the head and told her that it was okay but it was really not a good idea to color someone else's bed.

She did get in trouble that evening for something different... but that parts not too funny so I won't go into it.

But I do believe that if I have a hankering to tat... not having the right thread really should not be a problem.

new camera

2012-01-04T00:30:00.000-06:00

For Christmas, I got a new camera. I was not expecting it at all, so I'm still a little in shock over it. It's a pretty nice camera, but like all cameras... will take some getting used to. So here are some of Jon's patterns from Elegant Tatting Gems. The Green and Gold one I actually did weeks ago, just never showed it. The other I did only the other day. I really love it because it's so brightly colored. However, since I'm still getting used to the camera, I don't feel like that is something that you can really see from these photos. But I used Lizbeth size 40 Lemon, Azalea Md., and Lime Green. I'm going to try photographing that one again tomorrow outside in the sunlight against a dark background to see if that will work better. It'll be worth the extra work, because this piece is probably my favorite just because it's so brightly colored. :o)

bah...

2012-01-02T14:39:00.000-06:00

So, on Christmas Eve, I started getting a bad headache and cough. By Christmas, I was feeling a little feverish, but not too bad. Then Monday we went out of town to Knoxville to visit my brother. I was sick the whole time. It did bother me too too bad since I get bronchitis every year. However, this time it just kept getting worse. It got so bad that I couldn't breathe hardly at all. So once we got back in town on Friday I went to the doctor.

My appointment was at 1:15 and even though they took me straight back, I didn't leave until after 4 because they ended giving me a breathing treatment, taking X-rays, drawing blood, and giving me a penicillin shot because come to find out I have PNEUMONIA! Great fun right? Luckily since I had Livi with me at the office, my white blood cell count was high and it's only in one lung, I got to come home rather than take a trip to the hospital.

So, tatting isn't much fun when you can't breathe, so I haven't done too much. But I have been feeling a bit better since yesterday so I will have tatting to show soon!

Hope everyone is well!!

Happy Birthday to me...

2011-12-22T14:12:00.000-06:00

Today's my birthday. Don't tell anyone, but I turn 27 today. Livi wants to take me to the movies to see TinTin. Then we are going to come back to the house and watch movies and "chill out" lol. Of course, I'll be eating some Baskin Robbin's ice cream cake.... my favorite. Chris got me one of LadyShuttleMaker's silver shuttles for my birthday and I am SOOO excited to get that in the mail. I bought a silver chain so that I can wear it as a pendant if I want to. :o)
Oh, I went to Hobby Lobby yesterday, and was delightfully excited to find a Lizbeth thread holder there. Of course, I had to support their carrying it by buying one for myself... naturally, right?

I'm *hoping* to get some tatting done today because I've been super swamped with card making that I haven't been able to do any tatting and it makes me sad. My cards are going to be super late to getting in the mail, but oh well. Mom put a special "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" insert in the cards; so, hopefully that'll make it okay that they will arrive after Christmas :o)

Hen and Chicks... scrapbook paper!

2011-12-13T22:44:00.000-06:00

I have a problem. When I get stressed, my first "remedy" is ALWAYS a stop to the craft store. So, despite the fact that I don't actually have money to spend because I don't have a job, I just feel the need to go buy things to craft. I always justify this practice with self promises to make something sell-able or gift-able. I have a not so secret desire to start up an Etsy shop, just saying...

So, after taking two dreaded finals, Livi and I took a trip to Archiver's in Cordova (it's about a 30 minute drive). They have loads scrapbook paper and stamps. I actually went looking for something for my dad. I was making some earrings for Livi's teacher's the other day and he asked me what I was going to make him. I went blank for a while. I had no idea that he had any interest in something handmade from me. I've thought of something wonderful though, but I'll wait to share just in case he comes across my blog.

But, while I was looking for "manly" paper, I found this sheet that had pretty lace flowers. They look "crocheted" and then on the back was a pretty pink and white "lacey" kind of design. I fell in love and bought it without "really" looking at it.
Then when we got out to the car, I decided to give my purchases another look-see, and this what I found:

It's so obviously Hens and Chicks.

This made me love my purchase even more. I may even go get some more. Who knows?

But if you are interested in this paper for yourself, it's made by Cratepaper, part of the Emma's Shoppe Collection. Let me tell ya... I'm in love with it. :o)

I also, unintentionally I might add, picked up my dad an item from the same collection. I picked up a sheet of the crossword puzzle with the back side being wood-grain, I guess that's what you'd call it anyway.

Pulling an All-nighter....

2011-12-13T02:22:00.000-06:00

I have 2 finals in the morning. Back to back. It would probably be a good idea to sleep tonight but since my little one has been sick all weekend, I didn't get much studying done. Plus, it's torture to try to get to the campus in time to be in my seat at. 8 am when I don't stay up the night before.
So, you remember how I said in my last post that I had on done one skein/ hank of thread? Well that wasn't completely truthful. It was the only full skein. (over 50 yards) I did however do this small one (I don't know the exact length, but it is much smaller than the other.) Anyway, I haven't had the heart to undo the other one. It's so pretty and hanging on the wall right now. I did however want to see all the colors were going to look worked up. I think it's really pretty don't you?

And then I tore off like a 1.5" piece of cardboard and wrapped some thread around it before I started dyeing stuff and this what I produced:

I actually really like how it turned out. It actually has a "tie dye" kind of look to it. I felt like I was tatting dangerously lol As you can probably see, I didn't see any point of taking the thread off the cardboard to start tatting. I think it will be very interesting to see if the shades get lighter as I progress through this sample. Also, I didn't do a very good job at dyeing this evenly, so the top portion had more red which is why the first little medallion I did has more red speckles than the second. I will definitely be trying this method more... maybe with just 2 colors instead of 3 though :o)

BTW These were all done with either DMC size 80 tatting thread OR some white vintage thread that I had bought off etsy.

3 down and 3 to go

2011-12-10T13:31:00.000-06:00

3 more finals and then my brain can focus on tatting.... and take a break from all the craziness!

I have been doing some painting, but I'm wiped out so I'm not going to post pictures of them yet.... especially since they aren't done yet. ( and when I say "they" I am referring to some wooden jewelry/ trinket boxes that I was decorating for yet another birthday party for one of Livi's friends)

I did however come up with this super cute idea tonight while thinking of teacher's gifts. They are going to be earrings. The design is actually Baiduri from Jon's Elegant Tatting gems, just not the whole round...

Both are size 40 Lizbeth Charcoal. The one on the left I added antique copper Pearl Ex to Mod podge and then painted the entire piece. On the right, this one has only been painted with Mod Podge.

But I didn't stop there, because I plan on these being earrings, I not only painted them with mod podge, but added some of Jacquard's Pearl Ex pigment in with the mod podge before painting. I've done two so that you can tell the difference. I rather like the effect over all. I makes it look really shiny (though you can't tell that it's shiny due to the scan :o( ). I would definitely not do it to just any piece of tatting. But for this occasion, I think it looks nice.

Also... try not to drool too much. And certainly don't get your hopes up too much, because I'm still working at it. Just being able to do something once doesn't mean a whole lot. But... here's my first real attempt at dyeing thread. I've tried doing a little before with hot water dyes, but only very small batches and only messing around.
This however turned out beautifully. I only did one though. Really I just didn't have enough white thread to make another hank. Plus, the hanks are not exactly the easiest things to make. I don't think they are easy anyway.

2011-12-03T19:46:00.000-06:00

Blog name change....

2011-12-02T13:04:00.000-06:00

So I changed the name of my blog. It's not a huge deal, but I didn't care for the other one. Livi and I are big fans of the Pinkalicious series by Victoria and Elizabeth Kann. So that and the fact that it seems like you can put "ilicious" on the end of any word and make it super cute inspired the name "Tat-ilicious".

So, what do you think?

Freak Snowstorm

2011-11-29T01:56:00.000-06:00

Nothing like a freak snow "storm" to get you in the mood for snowflakes! lol Memphis never gets snow ... at least not until like late February or early March-ish. But it's snowing now. I'm *hoping* it will delay my BioOrganic test in the morning. I should study anyhow though, just in case. :o(

So to celebrate this snowy occasion.... I finished Jon's Almas, this time in Azalea Medium (Lizbeth size 40) and also Jon's Baiduri in Blue Ice.

I'm hoping the ADD will not get the best of me, and instead of jumping around in the book I can continue to do them in order and thanks to Jon, alphabetically :o) I've already started on #5 Cintamani. My mom actually picked the colors for this next one. I won't spoil the surprise, but it is turning out nicely.

Boy-O! I've been busy...

2011-11-25T23:03:00.000-06:00

So, I've been gone for about a week now... but this past week as pretty crazy. Last Saturday we took Livi to see her pony "Ice Cream" again. We had a special visitor. His name is Buddy Bear. Buddy Bear is the class bear that gets to visit each of the students in Livi's preschool class for one week. During that week we had to take note of all the things we did with Buddy Bear. Livi really enjoyed that. So, we took Buddy Bear to meet Ice Cream :o)

**Update: That good looking man beside my baby is her daddy and my "one true love" aka Chris :o) ****

So, that was fun.

Then, I had the honor or winning Anika's giveaway and received a wonderfully fun package as a result of that:

She was just absolutely mesmerized by the fact the shuttle could come apart. Also included in the package as you can probally see was a wonderfully beautiful mix of threads. And a little ring that fit Livi better than my stubby little fingers but since my baby is so darn cute, it works out perfectly :o)

So, Thank you Anika for the package, Livi and I loved it.

Here is a snowflake that I tatted with the pink and black thread of Anika's:

This is from Jon Yusoff's Elegant Tatting Gems Adan.

For the most part when I was tatting this I was in the house and couldn't really see the purple midtones on this thread and then went outside to finish tatting it while Livi was playing outside and just fell in love with it!

So, I slipped in a little subtle note there did you notice? I purchased Jon's Elegant Tatting Gems. I love it! It's wonderful! I'm *trying* to tat my way through it. So I actually started with the first one:

Jon Yusoff's Adiratna

And I am now working on third "Almas" now BUT I made a crucial error on one of the points and while I am going to tat until the shuttles run out of thread, I don't know that I will add new thread to complete it. I may just wind the shuttles with new thread and start over. This decision is mostly a result of the fact that I just received 8 new balls of Lizbeth in the mail today. They are all solid colors. I am sure you will see them in due time.

But here is my progress on Almas thus far:

And here are some other workings I've been holding on to:

These are both the 2nd of December by Bjorn. The Black one is size 70 Star tatting thread. I picked it and the mystery pink thread up on Etsy. The pink one is not deformed by the way, it just hasn't been starched, or in any manipulated.

Also, hopefully you've made it this far in this super long post. I've lost all of my needles. I hid the strings on the black star and put the needle on the top of my Diet Dr Pepper can (dumb I know) and then forgot that I put the needle there and threw the can away. So, I'm actually not being lazy with hiding my ends... I just need to go to the store and get new needles. (I actually have some needles but they are all the wrong size)

And here is the finished product of my 3rd day of December by Bjorn:

And here is Three Mountains by Karey Solomon in Lizbeth 40 Turquoise lt (color 662) (It's one of the new shades... isn't it pretty?)

Okay... I'm tired of updating now lol

My beginnings....

2011-11-18T13:55:00.000-06:00

So I mentioned on my first post that I am a beginner. I taught myself this past June. Thanks to Jane Eborall's wonderful website mostly. But it occurred to me today that I have never shared some of my very very earliest of workings.... so here they are... please don't laugh to hard.... or do it's okay :o)

So this first picture is my very first butterfly and my first (and only come to think of it) "chain" of single colored split rings the butterfly was done in Lizbeth 20 Spring Garden and then split rings were just done in embroidery floss.

And then there's this huge thing and if you know the pattern and and author of the pattern could you enlighten me? I had never though that I would actually share this piece so I didn't write down the source. Also since I messed up with the center by adding a extra stitches... I just kept it that way for the whole middle flower. It is not that way in the original pattern. But anyway, I actually did this one with "braiding cord" I guess that's what you'd call it... that or hemp. And this thing is slightly longer than the length of my forearm, which is 8 inches.. and this piece is 10 inches. ( I took the time to measure both of these mid sentence.)

So I think I've improved don't you?

*** update... if you are wondering, at this point in my hobby I had not yet discovered clover shuttles(which I love) and while I had a susan bates shuttle I didn't care for it. So I was using wooden clothespin exclusively for the huge bookmark and the single colored split rings. I did however use the susan bates for the butterfly.

Well, I lied.

2011-11-15T01:37:00.000-06:00

Yesterday (or was it the day before?) But anywho... I said I was working on a snowflake... but then as I was whiping around the 5th corner, I realized that I was running out of thread, so I made a star. This works out because Livi wanted a star anyway. :o) I don't think she really understands the concept of a snowflake. (We do live in the south, and she's only seen snow once or twice).

Lene Bjorn's 9th day of December (but with as a star instead of a snowflake) from 24 Snowflakes in Tatting

I really like how the star turned out. I really like holding it up to the light and looking at the silhouette of it, but I'll have to figure how to capture that before I can post it :o)

Moving forward:

So, I loved the Ninth of December so much, that I just had to try another snowflake. However I am in the last lap (as they say) of the semester, so I don't get to tat everything I like as it takes away from crucial studying time, but I did start the Third of December: I'm going to do the outside row in Lizbeth 684 (Leaf Green I think... not the light, I guess it's medium) But this part is in Lizbeth size 20 Victorian Red:

And I tatted this actually a few weeks ago, but never got around to posting it. Prob because it took me working on it off and on for a few weeks and then I lost the piece and the two shuttles I was working on it with for like a week. But anyway, it's the MK Glass mat. Lizbeth size 80 Pink Cocoa. As you may notice, I didn't go by the pattern verbatim and I actually did not forget to attach the last middle ring, I actually was just not paying attention and attached originally to the wrong ring and just cut it. I may go back and sew this together. Also, this is scanned on index cards because I felt bad that I hadn't hid the ends on this piece even though it's been done now for so long. So, I just draped the loose ends between two index cards and scanned. Pretty sneaky huh? ;o)

Snowflakes... no pics yet...

2011-11-13T12:42:00.000-06:00

Well, tomorrow I have to identify an unknown sample of bacteria, which means that today I have to put together my "cheat sheet" with all the different tests to perform (Gram, acid fast, and a whole host of other things... citrate, oxidase.... blah blah blah, right?)
BUT yesterday... I got the 24 Snowflakes by Bjorn. Since they all looked so wonderful, I handed the book to Livi and told her to pick out which one I would do first. She picked the ninth.... I looked at it. Looked back and her and with a very unsure tone said, "Um, are you sure?" So, when I take a break from studying, I'm working on that :o) She calls it the up and down one :o) So, whenever I get that done I'll have a picture. I'm doing it in size 40 Confetti and it looks pretty cool so far. I've just never done the "block" tatting. That is what it is called, right?

I call it "The Livi Leaf"....

2011-11-09T19:29:00.000-06:00

Livi: because that's my baby's name (well, her name is Olivia, but I call her Livi)
Leaf: because that's what it looks like.

I did this one in Lizbeth size 20 Seagreen (dk I think).

Here's the pattern:

Do you think method of diagram is easy to understand? I distorted it a little, but only because I thought it might be easier to read the numbers that way. I know I can't hardly understand written out patterns, but I love diagrams, and I have a drawing program, but it would be a hassle at this time and place to get to (hook up my other computer, blah, blah, blah...)

Anyway, tell me if you try it. Especially if you like it, but even if you don't I would love suggestions!

update:*** I've just noticed that distorted it looks a lot like the maple leaf pattern. So, I felt the need to add that I was inspired by the Maple Leaf that Tammy Rodgers diagrammed, but I was trying to go for something a little more narrow... so that I can put two of them together maybe coupled with red beads... like mistletoe maybe??****

Awww.... how cute...

2011-11-07T21:45:00.000-06:00

So I've been looking for the Tammy Rodger's Maple leaf pattern/ diagram for awhile and every time I would just find a bunch of dead links. So, when I found it today I made sure to print it out :o)

So, here it is.... I left out all the non joining picots... it's size 80 Pink Cocoa. It's so cute... and measures in at ~1 in X 2in.... so it's super tiny...

I don't really like what I did with the tail.... but other than that little bit I just think it's darling!

Decorated Shuttles....

2011-11-03T18:55:00.000-05:00

So, I took a stab at decorating a couple of my shuttles. Which turned out to be a good project when I was studying since there's so much waiting between coats.
What do you think?
The one with Cameron Diaz's eye (from a magazine) is a Sewmate
The clover I started with a metallic sapphire on which I topped with a sheet of pink tissue. Then covered it with the fingernail polish that I got Livi and myself that just a purple and blue glitter and is called "frenzy"
On the bottom side, I took covered it with part of a mascara add from another magazine. (And topped with Frenzy)
I like them, but the pictures don't do them justice. They are very shiny and also, there is isn't that odd yellow spot on the mascara ad one. I think that's just from the scanner not liking to be propped open... it'll just have to get over it though.

Also, I want to add something to the eye one... But, I don't want to overdo it.... Any suggestions?

:o)

2011-10-29T23:54:00.000-05:00

So I tatted this adorable little bracelet for Livi to give to one of her friends for her birthday. Unfortunately, I decided to do it at the very last minute and didn't get a chance to take a picture of it. It makes me sad. BUT Livi says she wants one too but instead of in Yellow like her friend's she wants one in Rainbow. :o) Also, just about everyday she asks me when I'm going to teach her how to tat. It's so cute!! She's four, so she lacks a lot of the skills necessary to actually learn it, but I have sat her down with one of those friendship braiding wheels so she could make a braided bracelet with yarn or embroidery floss, she's likes that :o) Any time she gets a hold of one my shuttles, or a pair, she likes to twirl them above her head likes she going to rope something. Did I mention that she's a little cowgirl. She has cowgirl boots and a cowgirl hat. Her Papaw even has a farm with horses and she's been horseback riding ever since she was like a year old. She even has an actual pony. How many four years old do you know that actually have a pony? :o) (It's name is Ice Cream)

Livi on Ice Cream

So, once I get Livi's bracelet made, I'll have pics related to tatting. :o)

Yes U can update

2011-10-23T23:41:00.000-05:00

Alright, the flower row is finished now....(Except that one last set of threads to hide)

Well I made the bare-threads on the last row a little long, but since it was first bare thread attempt I'm not going to beat my self up over it. :o)

Yes U Can Update plus some design ideas...

2011-10-23T19:13:00.000-05:00

Since I don't have any test to obsess over right now, I got some tatting done. So here is a not so good scan of my progress on the "Yes U Can" doily:

So, as you can probably see, I have only a couple more flowers to do. I have already done the other rainbow taffy flower, I just need to do the 2 remaining yellow flowers. I will probably finish this before I go to bed. I'm please with it. I say that this is not a good scan because it slid a bit when I closed the lid on the scanner and it distorted it a little.

My mom has "hired" me sweetly so tat some ornaments for the Christmas cards she is going to send out this year. This has inspired me to design something new. Here are some of the ideas that I've been kind of playing with:

I messed up on the bow, which is why I kind of scratched one of them out. Also, I wasn't too impressed with the top corner design, which is why it looks like the one below it. I like the idea of the others... I just need to sit down and figure out what stitch counts will work I guess. BUT, what do y'all think so far?

distraction generator #2

2011-10-19T21:07:00.000-05:00

Having ADD is obviously not enough to distract me from my huge BioOrganic test in the morning. lol Add a four year and it's a wonder I get anything done.... but sometimes Livi is distracted by my parents or my brother who came in town for a couple of days. I was a little excited... thinking: I might actually get some studying done! Then comes in my number 2 distraction (or "distract-er" I guess). Layla.... (the cat) feels the need to be in my face and prefers to sit on my books whenever I've stolen a moment away from the little one to study. It's so cute but somewhat frustrating.... but I stole a picture of her... and it didn't turn out half bad.... (If I had an actual camera rather than a webcam she would have been running lol) She's a strange cat... but I'll have to tell her tale another day :o)

Layla. suspects something at this point lol and that's my shoulder and part of my face lol In case you are concerned... I have a neck. I just shot the picture over the shoulder because that was the only way I could get a picture of Layla's face lol.

And another note before I hit the books again... I do like the Eric Clapton song. BUT I adopted her from the local animal shelter in 2005 (she had been waiting for someone to adopt her for about 6 months, poor thing, but also lucky that it's a no kill shelter) and I didn't see any reason to change the name they had already given her, so in short... I didn't name her.

Yes I can!!

2011-10-19T19:22:00.000-05:00

So, not that I actually think anyone has just been sitting on the edge of their seats to see this but... here is overdue update on my Yes U can doily:

Over all... I really like it. It was a little difficult to sew in the ends but I managed, and it feels pretty stable, so that's good. I really like the colors. I don't know why but I've been craving yellows. Maybe it's the fall season?

And this tiny thing I managed to tat while waiting at the doctor's office today. It's Lizbeth size 80 Grape Splash. It's SOO cute! Oh, and if you don't recognize it, it's Dress Trim by Mary Konior.

I really LOVE the Mary Konior book and all the patterns in it... but I'm looking forward to trying out new books in the future. That's what I'm asking Santa for this year :o) especially since he's already been asking what I want. Any suggestions??

a little insight to my life

2011-10-19T00:01:00.000-05:00

I've been studying just about all day. I'm tired, but really need to study some more... but for right now... we are getting ready for bed. Livi and I share a room. It's really not that bad. Once Chris and I finally tie the knot and get our own place, she'll finally get her own room and I'll miss her. lol But back to right now... we are getting ready for bed, which entails, her singing a "Happy Birthday Jesus" song at the top of her lungs while I give up on my studying until after she's fallen asleep... but as long as she's singing... spending some free time online.... except now... I think she's writing on my books.... so goodnight!

Yes U Can update... somewhat

2011-10-18T19:50:00.000-05:00

I have not abandoned my Yes U can doily, but I did just realize that I didn't do a "complete" bare thread row. And because I didn't do a complete one, I can do half of the next row with out attaching it to the previous row, if that makes any sense. So I decided to try out one of the flower motifs.... but it looks so tiny, but maybe that's just because I'm only seeing one of them....

I added the whole ball for a reference on size, does it look right?
Also, does anyone else leave their balls in the bags or is that just me? I like it better that way... big chunks of thread don't come off and get tangled this way.
Also, I've just realized that I haven't shown a picture of the bare thread row which is complete now, but I don't have time to scan it right now.... its back to studying for me :o)

UPDATE: lol I just realized that I made an error while making one of the last joins. I was wondering why it looked somewhat lopsided. Still cute mind you :o) but... Go figure.

Some fall break...

2011-10-18T11:29:00.000-05:00

I'm being tested tomorrow on my knowledge of acetylcholine (along with nicotinic receptors and muscarinic receptors), epinephrine, norepinephrine, isoproterenol, and dopamine, and opiods, and CNS depressants and stimulants.... Pharamacology sounds fun doesn't it? I got a whole list of other fancy words I need to study for my microbiology lab midterm tomorrow too.... And blow me down and call me shorty... by golly I got me a BioOrganic test on Thursday. It must be my lucky week :o) That lovely test will be on Nucleic Acids... woohoo!

But even with all the studying, I did manage to tat this lovely thing this weekend. It's 2 pieces of the pattern Flower Patch by Mary Konior, in Lizbeth size 40 Mountain Breeze. I want to do at least 2 more and make it a bookmark... but I may do a mat of it... who knows?

Hair Clips

2011-10-12T21:49:00.000-05:00

So, I mentioned these the other day, well... one of them anyways. I liked it so much that I did another one but with a different pattern. The Zebra one with the greenish button is the pattern that I blogged about on my last post. But the confetti colored one is the Mary Konior Rosette that was on one of her patterns. I can't remember the name though. Until I get an actual camera, I can only show scans. Scans are nice and all but for something like a hair clip, being able to see the actual three dimensional shape is also nice.
Livi wore the Zebra one to school today and I wore the confetti one today. We both got compliments :o)
Also, the hair clips have 3 holes in them so I just sewed the tatting onto the hair clip via those holes. :o) My mom thinks I should also glue them on the back just to be sure, but I'm a little apprehensive to do so just because I don't want the glue to ruin (discolor) my tatting in the long run.

little circular flower thing :o)

2011-10-10T23:23:00.000-05:00

Well, for the 5th Tuesday in a row, I'll have another test tomorrow morning. Really, I'm not complaining, because I have 3 Tuesday Thursday classes and it would be WAY more stressful to have 3 tests on one day, but luckily they have been spaced out. So I haven't had much time to do anything elaborate (like work on the Yes U Can Doily) BUT I did manage this little cute flower circle thing. I was going for a Jack and Jill type thing but once I missed a join, I just kept going to see what would happen with it. I did another in Zebra and attached it to a barrette which turned out super cute. I'll post a picture of it tomorrow. But here's one in Lizbeth size 40 Rainbow Taffy! If you would like to do this as well, all the rings are the same size in a 3:1:1:3 ratio, with 3 rings on the outside to every one on the inside. :o) also, 2 sets of the inner rings are joined by two picots.

2011-10-07T23:53:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of examples of my Sharpie works... They are only pics taken with my webcam... but that's alright.

Here's my "Yes U Can" doily update

So, I started out just doing a "one shuttle bare thread rings row"... but ( and this is actually kind of silly) I was about 4 rings (8 when you consider there's one on top and one on bottom) short of being done and decided I did not like it so I cut it off because I thought of a better idea. What do you think? I'm using three different colors, all size 40 Lizbeth, but I'm using Blue Ice, Lemon, and Rainbow Taffy. I think after I go around like this, I will either go back around doing the three alternating sets OR I'll just do one in what would be the center. I really like it so far. I'm also planning to do the flowers in the next row with these colors, but I may leave off the Blue Ice for one row.

Just for records sake, I didn't like how I had it before the cut because I made the bare threads too long and none of them were the same size as any other. Then I watched a you tube video about using a post it note to judge the length of the bare threads.... which I really and truly think is genius! But of course, when I started this row, I didn't have a post it.... so I'm using a folded up gum wrapper. lol

Quick Note...

2011-10-05T23:39:00.000-05:00

Well, if I weren't staying up to utilize my Livi's asleep time to work on my Genetics problem set that's due in less that 12 hours, I would totally tell you all about the book I got in the mail today that I am totally in love with already. Just a little book called Tatting With Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. ;o)

Yes U can update...

2011-09-30T11:12:00.000-05:00

I was just about to start on the next row of this challenge and suddenly remembered that I hadn't scanned my progress so far... so here is my version thus far:

I've decided to use Lizbeth size 40 Blue Ice or color number 163 :o) and it's sitting on a navy blue leather bible, but on my screen the bible looks kind of green.

My baby girl is just too cute

2011-09-30T10:42:00.000-05:00

So I'll post a little later on today about my tatting updates, but i was just looking at my baby girl's school pictures and just had to blog about it. lol She is such a cutie! She is so delightful too. I tell people she's borderline angelic :o) So... here's is my Livi (Olivia):

And I feel bad about putting the proof copies... just because copyright laws are so insane these days, but I've also added their information, so maybe that makes it better in some ways. But isn't she adorable?

"Yes U Can doily"

2011-09-28T22:09:00.000-05:00

Thank you Lace-lovin' Librarian-Diane for directing my attention to this challenge with your post about it. I'm excited about the challenge. To help others that are going to attempt it, but are having trouble seeing the stitch counts, I have broken out my usb microscope and took a couple of close up pictures (using a print out) of some of the "repeating units". I hope this helps, because I was hurting my eyes trying to look at them. However, my little microscope does have its limits though, so they aren't the best "quality"

Here is a close up of one of the 12 rings from the center of the doily

Here is a closeup of part of the flower medallions that repeat in what I would assume is a row

Here's the botton portion of the outside row's repeating units

And this part of the outside portion of that the above picture.

Here is a closeup of the rings that connect the outside row to the flower medallions

And here is a closeup of the connection between the outside pieces.

If you would like to see a close up of any other portion, try to explain where it's located, or take a picture of the portion circled and I'll try to get a good picture of it as well :o)

Figured it out...

2011-09-26T15:52:00.000-05:00

Well, I solved my scanner issues... I don't know how, but the important thing is it's working now. So, here on some pieces I would have liked to included in yesterday's post:

Here is Lizbeth size 40 Tropical Fruit. This is the first little motif I did with the same general design that I showed yesterday. I meant to only do six repeating units, but forgot to do a join so I went ahead and did seven.

Here is Lizbeth size 80 Grape Splash. This is the same one from yesterday's post, just a better quality picture :o)

And here is what I've worked on so far today. I quite like it. Again, it's same general pattern, but with 4 units. When I started it I thought it might end up like a butterfly but, it really just looks like a flower I think :o)

Tonight I have to study for a Microbiology test that I have tomorrow, BUT I also have my first "craft date" with one of my best friends, we've been friends even since we were tiny tots (like 5 years old or so). So hopefully I'll have some pictures tomorrow of the things we create tonight! I'm so excited. My babygirl Livi is excited too, because my friend Mandy has a little boy, Alex. So Livi and Alex will have their own playdate while Mandy and I have ours.

Scanner problems...

2011-09-25T21:22:00.000-05:00

So, I wanted to post some pictures of this motif that I came up with that I've been somewhat obsessed with, just "perfecting" it I guess. Here is a picture I took of it in Lizbeth size 80 Grape Spash. (One of the new colors... I love it, the photo does not do it justice) Unfortunately my scanner has decided to not work today, so I took the picture using my webcam... so, I'm sorry that quality is not so great.

I've done it in some other colors and other sizes as well.... once I can figure out what I'm doing wrong with my scanner, I'll post some pictures.

The general pattern however is:

2 shuttles

R1: 6-4-4-6

Ch1: 6-6

RoCh1: 6-6-6

Ch2:6-6

R2(shuttle 1): 6 + (to R1) 4-4-6

R3(shuttle 2): 6+(to Ch2) 6+(To RoCh1)6-6-6-6

Ch3: 6+ (to R3) 6

RoCh2: 6+ (to R3) 6-6

Ch4: 6-6

R4: 6+ (to R2) 6-6

Ch5: 3-3

R1: 6+ (to R4) 4-4-6

What do you think about it? I think's it's cute... but I'd like to hear some feedback from others.

Posts seem boring without pictures...

2011-09-15T19:17:00.000-05:00

Today I went in Hobby Lobby and to my amazement.... Lizbeth (size 20 since that's all they carry) was on sale for $2.66 a ball. (For those of you who don't do dollars, they are usually $3.99 a ball) Then you figure in that I live in Tennessee so, we have 9.25% sales tax... and a ball of Lizbeth from Hobby Lobby cost ~4.50. So, I bought a few (or more than just a few).
I've been working a new "pattern". I don't like to say that I design just because I don't feel like I know enough to effectively do that. Plus, when I have come up with these "patterns", it's usually when I'm just playing around and I know that there tatters out there that are WAY more talented than myself, that actually sit and work hard at coming up with designs.... and my process does not do given any justice to the design process. Does that make sense or am I just rambling?
My sweet daughter is asleep in the room that has the scanner, so after she has a good nap I'll put up some pictures. She's been sick lately. She started preschool week before last, and all you mothers already know what happens at the beginning of every school year. It's like all summer they were stashing away germs just so they could swap them when school started back up.

Hello Again

2011-09-11T13:56:00.000-05:00

Hello World! This is just going to be a quick update because I have a BioOrganic test on Tuesday that needs my immediate attention.

So, I know just about everyone has seen this pattern, but if you haven't it's Jon's Merriment Doily/Coaster

I love it. I think it's beautiful! (Which is why I tatted it twice) The top one is Lizbeth size 40 Confetti and the bottom one is Lizbeth size 40 Denim whisper. Which reminds, I read somewhere that someone didn't understand why denim whisper had pink in it, but that didn't bother me since I actually had a pair of jeans that color. lol Also, after tatting these, I fell in love with size 40 thread. So I order 5 more colors from Handy Hands. I plan to make my next 5 motifs in the 5 new colors. :o)

Here's another little diddy I did a few weeks ago. it's size 20 Lizbeth I don't remember the colors though.

For this one, I was out of town and didn't have any access to internet, so I just kept tatting hoping that the two ends would get close enough to close. So, you can see from the high number of rings in the middle that it took a while.

Being a Biology person, I have a digital microscope next to my computer. I actually tried to get a microscopic few of this motif/ medallion but for some reason it's acting up and wouldn't take a picture. When I have more time to work though, I'll share some pictures of a microscopic few of the tatting. It will probably end up showing the importance of washing your work after handling it. It's amazing the amount of oils and other particles that end up on things that are handled a lot.... or even just left to lay out. I'm taking microbiology this semester (along with 5 other classes), so I am now even more aware of these things.

One more thing... when i first started tatting, I was of course using larger threads. BUT, I just happened to go in Hancock Fabrics and while looking over their clearance section I found this:

Tatting thread on clearance for 30 cents. They had 4 balls, so even though at the time I knew it was too small for me to use, I went ahead and got all four of them. In retrospect, I should have also gotten the couple of balls of white that they had for $1, but I didn't know what the regular price of a ball was, and when I returned to pick those up as well they were gone. Now I scan clearance sections at such stores secretly hoping to come across little treasure finds like this one :o) This also means that if you see a lot of my work in this thread, it's not because I necessarily love the colors.... I just have a lot of it.

So... introductions are in order...

2011-09-07T19:45:00.000-05:00

Hello! My name is "Jess!". I adopted this name ~ 8-9 years ago when I got tired of Jessi and also tired of Jessica. Jessica is just a mouth full and when I think of Jessica, I think of Jessica Rabbit.... which is not how I see myself. So, I decided to flip the i and be Jess! :o) I even sign my name with the heart of the "i" on the bottom on all my legal documents that it is can be informally legit. lol
A few weeks ago I was a FedEx employee working nights, while trying to manage school and my beautiful 4 year old during the day. As you can probably imagine, sleep was not a regular thing for me. But, I am blessed with a wonderful parents who said that they would support me if I quit my job to attend school full time. I jumped at the opportunity. So, now I am the mother of a 4 year old princess and I attend school full time. I study Biology and Chemistry at the University of Memphis, and I'm technically a senior but due to reasons I don't feel like going into... it looks like it may be 2 years before I can graduate. My goal however is go to pharmacy school so that I may one day be Dr. Jess! :o)
So... that is my background.... but if you found my blog from a tatting site, you are probably more interested in that than me. Since I started back in school in 2008, during every break from classes, my brain just seeked some form of stimulation which has led me to learn to knit and try to learn embroidery and also led me draw some pretty neat Sharpie pictures... but never failed... once the new semester started up and I started focusing on school and work... my crafts stopped. Until now however, which may be for a few reasons... but I'll get to that. So after this past spring semester, I went to Hobby Lobby and I was looking for a way to release some of my creative juices and while looking embroidery floss, I saw a pack of tatting shuttles beside a whole bunch of really pretty threads (Lizbeth) which in the description said something about tatting. So my interest was peaked. I had never heard of tatting and still don't know any tatters in person (anyway) and have only seen and held my tatting in person. So I bought a bobbin shuttle (because it was cheaper than the rest) and a ball of yarn and went home determined to learn something. I took me a few days of actually trying to finally get the "pop" or "flip"... but once I got that.... I was hooked. Since then I have laid the bobbin shuttle down (it was the Susan Bates variety) and my discovery of clover tatting shuttles has just contributed to my love of this art. I'm very much a beginner or novice.... and I hope some of you more experienced tatters can give me some pointers because I have lots to learn :o)

Since I am going to school full time, I may not update this blog as much as I would like, but that doesn't mean I'm not tatting. In fact, between classes, I love to take out my shuttles and tat to let my mind kind of cool down and catch up.... because since I haven't mentioned yet, I'm also ADD..... so focusing on school takes a lot of conscious effort and literally drains me. BUT! Because of that fact, it makes me all the more proud of how far I've come and how well I've been done! :o)

The photo up there is a bookmark I tatted while still working at FedEx. I'm proud of it, even though looking at a big scan of it, I feel the perfectionist in me pointing out every little thing. But then I try to calmly remind myself that you live and learn. For instance, I started is book mark doing the top row, then the middle and then 3rd I just copied what I had done on the first row. The problem with that is that I had no plan for a second or third row when I did the first row. If I were to do this bookmark again, I would start with the middle row and then do the outside rows, that way the chains wouldn't look all out of whack. :o) Overall I'm pleased though, and because of this particular piece I decided to join the 25 motif challenge, which I am really excited about! So I guess that would be motif #1.