Freak Snowstorm

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...

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....

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.

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...

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"....

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...

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....

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?