:o)

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

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...

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

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!!

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

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

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...

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

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)

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.

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...

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)