Happy Anniversary to me, and a little giveaway to celebrate!

SO!!  I was thinking the other day that I really wished that I knew the day that I started tatting.

So, I thought real hard as to what I was doing while I was trying to teach myself.  Then it hit me... I was watching Lemonade Mouth, because it had come in the mail.  So, I went Amazon, searched my old orders...
and it arrived at my house on May 28th, but it was most likely the 29th that I actually watched it, since we had also order Gnomeo and Juliet.

So, woo hoo!

I've been tatting for a whole year now!

So in celebration, how about a giveaway?
To enter: leave a comment on this post with a color suggestion for a future Tat-ilicious colorway and a name for that colorway.
PLEASE make sure that you either leave your email address in the post if it is not posted on your profile.  If you don't want to go public with your email address, then feel free to email me after you have posted your entry.  I love chatting through email anyway. :o) I can be somewhat of a "last word freak" (unintentionally of course)... so feel free to not respond to me if I keep emailing you back.
What's the prize?
at least one skein of your colorway idea (or at least as close I can get to it) (in a size of 20, 40, 60, or 80... your choice)
plus more Tat-ilicious HDT (it will be a surprise as to how many... as I don't know yet) (specifics will probably heavily depend on your size preference)
and maybe some beads, that I feel coordinate with the thread/s. :o)


Good Luck!


***OH YEA: I'll chose a random winner on Friday June 8th  Hopefully we can get a few entries between now and then :o)

And also, remember, I won't be replying to any of the comments, unless its through email.  But that's only so I don't confuse myself when it comes to number the comments.

Row 4: finished!

I have completed Row 4

Which incidentally, in this picture is the top row.

So, here's the run down so far

Row 1: Pink Lemonade, Esmeralda, Aurora, Lizbeth Lemon Yellow, Camolicious

Row2: Lizbeth Seagreen Light, "a nameless autumn mix"  Autumn Loam, Pastel Rainbow, Rainbowlicious, Rustic Blue

Row 3: Mindanao Gum, Torch Lily, Peacock, Pitaya Limeade, Lizbeth Lime

Row4: Royal Biscuit, Serendipity, Lizbeth Purple Md, Royal Biscuit, and Pinkaholic

So, at first, I was going to do the whole thing in what Fox has named Royal Biscuit:

But, I realized that I would get very tired of the color if I did all 25 squares in it.  So, that's why there are two squares with the same colorway. 

And the not represented colorways that I have left are Chilled, Queen Anthias, Fancy Fields, Olive Warbler, 

But, I have temporarily lost my Olive Warbler... sad, I know... but it'll work out. :o)

Imagination Mover Magic! (and more HDT)

We had an absolute blast at the concert last week!

Here, they were admiring her shoes!

I think she really liked Dave (the one with the red baseball hat)

(Now she's just loving the attention)

Here is Livi and Caralyn (Jeremy's girlfriend).  We were at the Knoxville Zoo

Here's another shot of my Maynard's Granny Afghan

I'm still working on the other two rows. 

The edge is Lizbeth Fudge Dk.

Each row has at least one solid.  Other than that it is all my HDT. 

And of course, I couldn't wait to get back to dyeing!

So, here is Aurora.  After it was done, I realized that it looked an awful lot like Serendipity, but in my defense: Only one of the dyes is the same as Serendipity.

The colors present are Navy, Grape, Robins Egg Blue, Jade, Lime

Not as pretty as the real thing... but it is reminiscent. 

Growing

Well, im still out of town. But we are making the trip back to memphis tomorrow.
My granny afghan by maynard. I ordered her book before i left. Its waiting for me at the house. But, this pattern was on the web. Well a picture of it anyway.  I still have two more rows for the center. I like it so far.
The secret of course is to hide the ends along the way.
:o)

and this has turned out to be a productive trip...
I got my brothers girlfriend tatting.
Once i get a pic of her tatting ill share it :o)

Livi tatting

Today is the day of the concert.  BUT b4 we get ready, we are getting some tatting done.

Ever since Livi saw Eliz show that boy at Mcdonalds to tat by holding the working thread she has wanted me to teach her to tat that way. :o)
I also have video but my tablet wont let me upload video.

99 skeins out the door (and a very short video of my tatting)

So.... as of right now, I have sold exactly 99 skeins!! WOOHOO!!!

Unfortunately, the shop will be on vacation for the next week (starting tomorrow afternoon) because I am going out of town!  I am SOO excited!!
I am taking Livi to Knoxville to see the Imagination Movers in concert, which will be on Sunday.  I got us the good tickets too.  The good tickets get you a wristband which gets you into the after party.  So Livi will get to see a private show and actually get to meet the Movers and have her picture taken with them!!  We are super excited!!
THEN! Since I hardly ever go ANY WHERE , we are going to stay a few extra days and hang out with my little brother.  We are even planning on going to the zoo.

I'm still trying to think of a special pattern to tat while I'm gone.  If I don't have a game plan, I'll just be messing around and then not get anything done.  I just ordered Maynard's 4 square ring.  I saw a picture where someone had tatted one of her patterns.  I won't get the book until I get back in town, but I was thinking about starting it.  I figured I shouldn't feel too bad about using the other tatters picture as a pattern since I did buy the book for myself... right?
OR I will work on one the doillies from Neibach's Tatted Doilies.
OR choosing one of Koniors patterns that can be connected together and making a bunch of those.
 choices choices choices....

I officially ran out of size 40 thread off the cone, but I am planning on taking my size 20 cone and wind some skeins.  Don't worry, my size 40 fans, I have a new size 40 cone in the mail on the way to me as I type!

Now, hopefully this is going to work.... 

I had Livi hold my tablet while I tatted a split ring and a regular ring.  However, she was having an interesting day... to say the least. I will work at making another one. (I was also a little tired/ cranky)

Eliz had mentioned that I tat differently than anyone she has seen, so I was wondering if anyone else tats this way:

Just as a note... I do not usually drop my shuttle as much I do in this video, which is the main reason I want to redo it.  It is hard to tat with an almost 5 year old leaning on your arm lol  I also would not drop my work when getting ready for the split ring.. shift it :  yes... completely let go of it... no. :o)

***UPDATE***

I just looked in Livi's bag... this is what she packed:

A bunch of toys.. and two shuttles

One of which she "blinged" and the other is my new one that I just got from LaCossette

Seriously?  Could she be any sweeter???

Evening vs Morning tension... makes me sad :o(

So, I started Susan Fuller's Heart's Desire last night.  I used my new "Olive Warbler" with Lizbeth Gold.  I also used some of  the beads that Sharon sent.  (they are lime green)

I only did half of the heart last night.  It turned out really nice:

 Then I decided to finish the pattern this morning... but apparently my tension is much looser in the morning.... not nice.

And here's the train wreck all together:

:o(

::sad face::

The colors match together well though, don't you think???

ALSO!!! Does anyone live near Knoxville?  Livi and I are going up there this weekend to see the Imagination Movers in concert... SO excited!!

Olive Warbler

I like wearing my skeins as bracelets, at least for a little while before unwinding them.

I was attempting Birgit's Peacock Heart , but when I messed up on the second round, I decided to end it early.

This is tatted in Tatilicous size 40 "Olive Warbler"

I'm about to add these to the shop now. Unfortunately I don't have as many size 20 as I had originally planned. But, with that being said, if this mix ends up being popular I can dye more. :o)

Thank you Sharon!

I have another barter package to show.  This  one is from Sharon.

 I really do love these barters! In fact, I would do them for all my thread if I had a job or didn't need the money that comes in from selling them.  Because these packages are really a lot of fun and make me feel so special!

:o)

(and Livi too)

Here Livi has the contents, and she's smiling because Sharon sent her fun stuff too!

Fun!! You know... with all these beads, I'm starting to get the feeling that I should start adding beads to my tatting.  Of course... that means pre-planning. (EEeek!) lol

books! I did not have these.  Even though I have a difficult time with reading patterns, I love Karey's creativity.  (and my difficulty with the patterns stems from my difficulty with reading in general not Karey's wonderful explanation.  Actually if I sit down and actually read what she has written, it makes sense and I can figure it out... but reading in general is not easy for me.) So, I will have fun attempting these.

Livi got stickers.  She was trying to show me here favorite, because she accidentally dropped it right as I took the picture.  (Her favorites were the Ariel and Snoopy ones.)

Oh... did you happen to notice the Princess Tiana dress she has on?

She LOVES princess stuff. :o)

And small tatting! So cute. 

An angel, pattern by Marie Smith (tatted by Sharon)

And a button Butterfly pattern by Karey Solomon (tatted by Sharon)

I still haven't taken any pictures of things that I have tatted, but I have been tatting.  I've also been winding some skeins, so I plan to dye today. :o)

I finally got to meet another tatter!!

It was so exciting and such a blessing to finally get to meet another tatter today! (As you may or may not know... I taught myself, so the only act of tatting that I have seen is my own or videos on You tube... well, until today!)

I got to meet with  Tatknot (Eliz) today.  We met at McDonalds so that Livi could play on the playset, and let me tell ya- she played hard. We stay for a little over five hours and Livi still said, "That was too much fun!  Next time, can we stay longer, like 6 or 70 hours " I feel like I didn't actually get that much tatting done, but that's alright I had a blast!
Eliz even got to teach a little boy how to tat... how sweet!!

I have tatting to show, but I will do it on my next post.  This momma is tired, but I need to finish up on Mother's Day flowers :o)

Happy Mothers Day!!

Serendipity and flowers

So, I have been working on flowers... here are some:

 The following 8 flowers are all from The Artistry of Teiko Fujito.  They are also all the same pattern, except I changed some of the numbers along the way.

The top one is the blended thread from Val.  It tats up to about like size 40.

The bottom two are size 20, and are my attempt at recreating Citrilcious, but it's darker/ bolder.

Here I've got my new "Serendipity" followed by LadyShuttlemaker's "Magnolia", then the next three are my own and from left to right " "Queen Anthias", "Pink Lemonade" with a "Queen Anthias" center, and "Torch Lily" (or at least my latest attempt at it)

Then I tried to empty my shuttle of "Serenditpity" with one of my one shuttle hearts... but didn't have quite enough thread.

The next one is the first two rounds of the Sweet Rose pattern by Jon Yusoff from Tatted Snowflake Collection

This colorway has no name, but if anyone would like some, I can do an actual batch of it.  I had dyed a dress for myself with these colors, so I dyed a couple of skeins with it as well.

So, "Serendipity"..... I spent the morning winding skeins, so that I can do a fairly big batch of skeins with a light blue, jade, and chartreuse.  I was debating putting a darker blue in the mix, just so that it wouldn't be too light.  But, I still had purple from Queen Anthias in my little stainless steel pots from the other day.  I realized this little tidbit after I had already laid out the skeins.  Then... I accidentally dropped my little cup of purple on the skeins. I was heart broken.  But I decided to go on with it.  The result was a happy accident so it shall be called "Serendipity"

I did happen to have a couple more skeins, so I did a couple of the blue, jade, chartreuse and they are above and beyond beautiful.  I will just have to do more of them. :o)

Tomorrow is going to be Livi's last day of preschool!  This is what she gave me for Mother's Day:

Trying something a little new (for me at least)

So, all this morning I have been working on this:
Step by Step for "Jess!'s One Shuttle Heart"
** or try this new link: http://freepdfhosting.com/512121ddc5.pdf

It still needs some work.  But more for formatting and font size issues than for actual content reasons.
Once I get that sorted out I will figure out how to add a link to side and will change the link address.

But, basically, I did one of my one shuttle hearts and took a picture of the heart after every ring. lol

Now, if you saw my post the other day with my "future inspirations"

This will be a testament of my sincerity (that sounds weird.. but oh well)

So, this fish is a Queen Anthias... but after looking at the skeins.. 

I really think that "Pink Sunset" would be a better name for the colorway... what do you think???

I am *hoping* for these to be in the shop by the end of the day :o)

Barter items, LOTS of pictures, special mail...

First, I would like to apologize to Red because this actually arrived over a week ago, but I was in the middle of finals and didn't get around to posting about it.
So, here is the yarn she sent me as a barter item for some of RJU 001:

Thank you Red! I'm going to give them to mom.  She needs a reason to crochet. :o)

Next, I got a package from Val, it's another barter package. :o) 

This package included 3 handkerchiefs, 2 knotted tassels, and a ball of gold thread.

AND Singapore stamps... FUN!

Thank you Val! The items are lovely and I look forward to using them!!

Up next, hand made cards from Mimi! Mimi doesn't have a blog, that I know of, but she had made an offer for some of RJU 001, for a set of handmade cards.

These cards are seriously beautiful!

She also included a small bag of beads, but I forgot to get a picture of them. :o)

Thank you Mimi... I love them!

 Now, THIS package was a complete surprise! Randi, the winner of the "How tall am I?" giveaway sent me a package with of sorts of goodies. 

Beads, bangles, metallic thread, frame, and a cluny frame..

I got lots of learning to do this summer!! :o)

Ms Rani designed this little cross tat she tatted in size 40 Tatilicious "Pitaya Limeade", isn't it so pretty!!

She also included some hair clips and and a bag of sticker sheets for Livi.

Livi was confused at first, as you can see in the picture.

She loves the hair clips and the stickers despite her some strange look in the first picture.

In fact, she has been putting the stickers on just about everything since I gave them to her. 

She even decided to change her outfit so that she would match the hair clips better, and made me take her picture again. :o)

Thank you Randi! That was so sweet of you! I will enjoy the goodies!!

This also came today.  Of course, I knew this one was coming.  I did order it after all.  But, it's still exciting!

The HDT is LadyShuttleMaker's Magnolia size 80

So, why would I, a dyer, buy another dyers HDT?? Well, that is a good question that has many answers. 

First off, I feel that I have a different "style" than the other dyers. (And this a very good thing)

Second, I have no intention or desire to copy anyone else's work/ ideas, so if I like what someone else dyes, then I will buy from them. 

Then, for a more specific reason, Sherry has colorways that are soft and lovely.  I don't know how to describe it other than that they remind me of paintings like Monet.

That is a style that I admire and love to tat with, but is not my "forte" for when it comes to creating. 

This is what I am going to be up to this next week!!!!!

I am tatting little flowers to put on either floral wire, or as I have done here with a jewelry eye pin

Then I tatted over the pin and the ends to create a stem. Can you see the little leaf that I tatted.

This flower is a pansy from Teiko Fujito's book. 

Don't you think they will make cute Teacher apprecaiton and Mother's Day presents. 

This one is not quite 4" tall. :o)

The flower is tatted with Size 40 Tatilicious "Esmeralda"