Fergal & Miss Scarlet Found

Great news!  Fergal and Miss Scarlet have been found safe and sound.

CelticDreamWeaver has put them up for an extended, restful holiday, complete with a view of Canandaigua Lake. (Click on the link to see the gorgeous view.)

They have even been enjoying tea time!

Fergal and Miss Scarlet having tea
with CelticDreamWeaver's leprechaun Fergus

Sherry has been making them feel as welcome as can be. After seeing the photo above, Ciarran was jealous he hadn't gotten an invite for tea. Poor chap will have to make do having tea with me.

Now we can all breathe a sigh of relief.  Thank you, CelticDreamWeaver, for sharing the news!

L&MBER ALERT #2 - Fergal & Miss Scarlet

A second L&MBER alert has been issued in the case of missing leprechaun Fergal and his traveling companion Miss Scarlet. This is not a test.

Fergal, age 7, was last seen in the company of Miss Scarlet and Training Academy mate Killian at the home of Lace Lovin' Librarian Diane.

They have since moved on, possibly headed east. If you have any information concerning the whereabouts of these two missing persons, please REPORT SIGHTING.

Pin Cushion Jars and Flags

Pin cushion jars made at the May 2015 Tatting Social

In May, my LYS (Local Yarn Shop) hosted a Tatting Social for which I was an Evil Taskmistress a teacher.  We made pin cushion jars and used our snippets of tatting to decorate them.

Since then I have gone a bit barmy for pin cushion jars.

Hello Kitty 4 oz. pin cushion jar.

No Dull Pins

Here's my dilemma: the metal lid keeps the pin cushion from "popping" like a weasel out of the top once the rim is turned onto the jar. Pushing the pins down to the metal lid dulls them.

Peacock pin cushion

Hot-gluing into the rim is messy and hot-glued cushions dislodge after a few opening turns. (What's the point if you cannot use the jar for storage?)

What's a girl to do? I have read that steel wool keeps pins sharp. But I suspect I will have done and move on to more conciliatory pursuits.

EDIT:  Just to be clear, the pin cushion jars work GREAT when you use the metal lid in the bottom. They turn on to the jar smoothly.  They don't pop out of the lid.  The only downside I can see is that the pins get dull if they are pushed in as far as they can go.

I have extra long pins, so I am guilty of pushing them in farther than the average person. It is a habit I developed when Sapling was small and his curious, wee fingers got into everything.

My latest pin cushion jar has steel wool in the bottom with poly-fil batting on top.  It assembled easily with the lid and (while not as poufy as the ones with a felt disk) works well.  If my pins dull, I will get new pins.  I love having a peacock feather pin cushion jar!

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Stars and Stripes at the June 2015 tatting social

The June Tatting Social was all about patriotic tatting.  In honor of the sweet land of liberty we celebrate every July 4th, we tatted stars and American flag bookmarks in different sizes.

HandyHands, Inc. graciously granted us one-time use permission to share Dee Powell's American Flag pattern from the pattern book "Tatted Bookmarks Needle & Shuttle," edited by Barbara Foster.

My flag is the "medium sized" one at the top right in the photo (10 rings wide).  Fellow teacher Sw4nkyL4c3r  needle tatted two red stars and the small flag pendant in bottom right of the photo.

It was a truly wonderful day spent tatting and chatting. Cannot wait for the August tatting social!