Saturday, March 20, 2010

Cookie Crisis Averted

This just in! I found Girl Scouts! I bought cookies!

*happy dance*



Wasn't that just an adorable Snoopy dance? With all the fluffy bunnies clapping and cheering him on? Dunno about the rest of you, but I'm really in the Easter spirit now.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

A Giveaway — No Foolin'

For many, April 1st is a day for tomfoolery, pranks and hoaxes. But for tatters it is a day devoted to furthering a lace-making art.

Did you know that April Fools Day is also International Tatting Day?

Many tatters still don't know about our special day. So in the interest of getting the word out far and wide, I am having another giveaway!

Enter for a chance to win this pampering set from New Hands Soaps and Lotions.


Amber Romance Gift Set

NHSL is my twin sister's Etsy shop. In February Igoya prepared a Posh Petals custom set for me to use as a prize. In it was an indulgent combination of chocolate lip balm, champagne and strawberries linen spray and posh petals soap.

As good as that was, this gift set is even better! Amber romance is a warm and mildly aphrodisiac scent with black cherry, creme Anglaise, sandalwood, sensual amber and Egyptian musk.

Included in the prize package is a 6-ounce lotion and two 7.5 ounce bars of long-lasting, handmade soap.

And since we're "partyin' like its our birthday," I'm throwing in a skein of Tatskool's Vanilla Sky hand-dyed thread. Just in time for Easter or Spring tatting projects.

HERE'S HOW TO ENTER:

1. Leave a comment on this post. You must leave a valid e-mail address to be eligible for the prize. Comments without valid contact information will not be entered in the drawing.

2. Cut-off date for entries is Wednesday, March 31.

3. Winner will be announced on Thursday, April 1st.

For more chances to win you can
1. post about this giveaway on your blog to qualify for an additional entry.

2. post about this giveaway on Twitter to qualify for an additional entry.

Be sure to add a (2) or (3) to your comment, just like in LadyShuttleMaker's Mondo Monday Giveaways. Kindly include a clickable link or the name of your blog so I may verify your entry. Once verified, you will be added to my giveaway spreadsheet a second or even a third time.

Winner will be chosen via random number generator.


Wanna see my past posts for International Tatting Day?

2009 - International Tatting Day – No Foolin'

2008 - No Foolin' – International Tatting Day


Each year in honor of International Tatting Day I sit down to tat with my fish-shaped shuttle. Over the past two years I have searched in vain for a Celtic fish pattern. If anyone finds one please do forward details or a link.

That said, it would be remiss of me not to point out that Jane Eborall offers many wonderful animal patterns for free, including an impressive goldfish in three sizes, small fishy earrings and even a starfish.

Special thanks to Georgia Seitz for making my beloved fish shuttle and Lady Jane for sharing her limitless creative artistry.

If you're still reading, click on this link to read a lovely poem called The Name of a Fish by Faith Shearin.

Now, let's all spread the word about International Tatting Day!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Green Rant - I Need a Cookie!


Here it is St. Patrick's Day. My first "wearin' o' the green" with Ciarrán. Woot!

While I look forward to sharing the day with a bonafide tatting leprechaun, I do have one mean, green rant to vent.

I have not eaten a single Girl Scout cookie yet this year. No thin mints. No Do-Si-Dos. No Tagalongs. Not even one of those smelly Lemon Chalet Creams. This is a crisis.

Show me the cookies
At the risk of sounding like the Clara Peller of cookie-dom, where have all the Girl Scouts gone?

Not a single green sash or vested gal has graced my doorstep these past three years. Usually I see a table set up outside of the grocery store with girls hawking cookie boxes. This year, nary a representative of the Girl Scout movement is anywhere to be seen.

Luckily for you, I did find this cookie locator online. If not for that, y'all would have suffered through a fractured Bonnie Tyler lyric. (Think "Holding Out for a Hero," only crying out for a cookie!)



Good luck trying to get that song out of your head. Hope you have a cookie handy.

Today the sun is shining and I have high hopes of getting out of the house.

With a bit of the "luck o' the Irish," I will go ISO cookies to add to the rapture of warm rays and you all will be spared more fiendishly fractured songs or pallid poetry!

Tomorrow - Watch for a giveaway announcement.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

"Hope" is the Word

Ready for more Knot-Tea Fun?

Dedicated to All Tatters Everywhere
Lyrics adapted from:
Grease, "You're the One That I Want"

Hope © 2010 Sherry Pence

HOPE

I got Hope, it's multiplyin', and I'm losin' control.
Cause the power it's supplyin', is butterflyin'!

You better shape up, cause I need to tat, and my goal is set on you.
You better shape up, get your tools in hand, to my lace I must be true.

CHORUS

You're the one that I want, ooh ooh ooh, flutter
The one that I want , ooh ooh ooh, flutter
The one that I want (you are the one I want), ooh ooh ooh,
The one I need (the one I need), oh yes indeed (yes indeed)



25 Motif Challenge
Hope was tatted using size 40 Lizbeth threads, in black #604 and Falling Leaves #100. It will be counted as motif 10 in my 25 Motif Challenge.

Thank you, LadyShuttleMaker, for sharing this inspirational pattern. And more thanks to Tatskool, for all the beautiful butterflies she has been posting on her blog. And how could I forget Wanda (Wanda's Knotty Thoughts), Jeff Hamilton (Bridge City Tatting) and Cindy (A Happy Bluebird). Their Hope butterflies rock!!

Don't be surprised if a few more of these flutters fly off my shuttles in the days to come. They are quick, fun and keep me thinking of Spring.

Tatting Tea Tuesday
Now that you all have Knot-Tea song lyrics stuck in your heads, it's time to settle in for a nice Afternoon Tat.

And by that I mean a sneak peek from Heather, the Tarnished Tatter's forthcoming book!

Large Swan © 2010 Heather Johnston

I tatted this large swan in Lizbeth size 40 Black #604 with hematite seed beads. Sadly, at the time I wasn't aware that black swans have red beaks.

Must make another one and give her a proper red beak.

Also, I have a white swan to show but haven't gotten her scanned yet. Watch for the white swan to be added later today.

Thank you, Heather, for granting me permission to post photos in advance of the book's publication date.

Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful.

See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!