Tatting Tea Tuesday - In the Zone

Juggling multiple projects can frazzle the nerves but this past week I was in the zone. Let's credit the adrenaline rush from registering for Palmetto Tat Days online. I'm getting excited!

My tea for today is a tall glass of iced pomegranate apple green tea. It goes down smooth and easy on hot summer days.

Beginning Tatting - Level 1 Kit

This week:

• I wound 12 floss cards with tatting thread samples, loaded 6 Pony shuttles and assembled 6 new (beginner level) tatting kits for my class that starts tomorrow night.

Fleur de Lis Motif Sample

• I tatted a new sample in Lizbeth^® 20 #642 Lilac Medium. The rings on the sides are floating free to test a hypothesis fueled by Jane Eborall's awesome Diamond Mat. How will the Fleur de Lis motif look joined together into larger shapes?

A quick-n-dirty, not-pretty-enough-for-prime-time pattern is available for any brave soul wishing to test tat. Email me at the address listed in the "About Me" widget on the right navigation panel above. (Look for the red-headed cartoon girl.)

Heart's Honor © Wanda Salmans 2011

• Wanda Salmans' Heart's Honor bookmark is closer to completion. I'm half way through round two.

This is my "on the go" tatting project. It is great for tatting in the car or while DH watches TV shows I don't care for. This design is eminently preferable to "Mansquito" or Sasquatch or Ghost Hunter TV. (Apologies to fans of these shows. They are just not my cup of tea.)

Lizbeth^® 40 Peacock Blues is the thread I am using for Wanda's lovely bookmark. It looks pretty to me, but sometimes I am not a good judge of a variegated thread overpowering a design. Do tell: do you think Wanda's design is getting lost?

Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon © 2008 Anne Bruvold

• I began a test tat of Anne Bruvold's Flying Minor Norwegian Dragon in pastel-colored quilting cotton blended with a sample of YLI red-gold variegated thread CrazyMom sent me.Thanks, CrazyMom, I have been so anxious to try the sparkly threads you sent.
• As I mentioned, I registered for Palmetto Tat Days online.  Wheeee! 
• I registered The Sprout for his second year of preschool. Where has this summer gone?

Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful. See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

Bug Gets the Boot and More

The green cloud has lifted and thanks to good drugs, hand washing and TLC, we are all feeling much better.

Instead of purging the house of the last lurking vestiges of germs or finishing up the last few unsent holiday cards, I decided to write a blog post.

That was this morning.

It is now 7:44 p.m. and this post has fought me like a cornered wild animal. Time to put The Sprout to bed and pop in tonight's Redbox rental, Inception.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Holiday Recap

Santa was good to me this year! I received four new shuttles and four free balls of Lizbeth Peacock Blues thread. Two Dresden Files novels, and iPad gadgetry.

Two of the new shuttles are included in the tatting photo below.

Nutmeg the Christmas Camel almost done.
More details after I finish, but doesn't the almost-camel look splendid in Tatskool's Nutmeg HDT?

Check out the shuttles. These beauties were hand-crafted by Georgia Seitz and her husband.

Georgia applied "leafy" origami paper over whitewashed wood for a lightweight, well-balanced shuttle I just don't want to put down. Hand-marbled paper is applied to the "surf board" shuttle for an even more gorgeous look.

Both are great shuttles that make tatting even more pleasurable. I will use these again and again. Can't thank you enough, Georgia!

More Shuttles, Treat Mints and a Teapot

I swear, Ciarrán has been such a poseur lately. Look at him lounging over the adorable teapot I received from Sw4nkyL4c3r. Must be the effect of having Miss Scarlet and Fergal comfortably close since September.

The scuffle of leprechaun boots and orderly habits of Miss Scarlet have been a joyous addition to the house. But sadly, in a few days it will be time to bid our guests farewell and safe journey. Maybe then I will be able to sit down, organize my thoughts and share details of their stay.