So... introductions are in order...

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.