Score One for Charlie Brown

Oh, ha ha!  What a marvelous treat I found in my mailbox today. An unexpected letter from Lily! (Aren't these simply THE BEST sort of surprises?)

Just a little, hand-addressed envelope. So very exciting to open and read! I was immediately time-shifted back to younger days when I would anxiously await letters from far-away pen pals.

This letter was every bit, if not more, exciting than those. It felt a bit bumpy in spots and I immediately thought, "Lily sent me tatting!"

I ran. I kid you not, RAN home to open the letter.

Sounds silly right? But having an appreciation for the time, effort, energy and love that goes into a hand-made piece of tatting, I get excited when someone sends some to me. Don't you?

Here's what I saw as I opened the contents:

Not sure if you can see the round, embossed spots in the paper...at regular intervals...can you make out the barest hint of an outlined shape in the paper?

Okay, okay, enough stalling. Ta-daah!

Oh Lily, these are even more bright, bold and beautiful in Peacock Blues than I could have ever imagined. And the gold beads and wires accentuate the lace to perfection. Your stitches are impeccable. Stunning! I will wear them proudly and think of your generosity every time I do.

It all started back on July 30 with this comment on Lily's blog:

Thank you, Lily, from the bottom of my Peanuts-lovin' heart.

I accept this spectacular gift in honor of Charlie Brown. This time Lucy didn't pull away the football. This time he kicked it through the goal post.

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!

Starting to Pack

Call me crazy (it wouldn't be the first time) but I have started packing for Tat Days.

Here is a sweet list of recommendations from say la vee blog to help anyone else with their advance planning phase: packing

Why the new header?

This was my best effort to "freshen up" the look of this blog.

My frustration level with blogger templates has risen to unheard-of new heights. I hate everything about the new template format. *grumble.grumble*

Folks (like Fox and a few others) who routinely entice and delight us with blog makeovers, how do you manage?

As for the photo, I took it with my cell phone quite by accident one day while I was tatting and listening to Pandora streaming radio. The fabric is actually from the pocketed dolly bag I bought from Jane Eborall back in April, 2010.

Thinking myself quite clever, I decided to attempt a blog makeover using this photo. Many hours later I was still wrestling with the template designer options and intensely dissatisfied with the results.

In the end I settled for this. Mostly because it will focus on the color in the lace photos I upload. But I am not happy with the design.

Eye, Eye, Capt. and ♥ from Postie!

On Monday, the human residents of Silly Hat Central had eye exams, so we drove to the nearest Metro station and rode the "city train" to visit the Optometrist.

The Sprout and I both did great! His eyesight is exactly where the doctor wanted it to be and no change for me since last year. Big Daddy has officially joined the Progressive Lenses Club for Men.

The Sprout really enjoyed riding the Metro and asked if we could take more trips on the city train. "Can we go to the Aquarium on the city train? I want to see killer whales and sharks."

Alas, we had to explain the "city train" only travels around the city. The closest killer whales were in Florida.**

We stopped by the outlet mall on the way home to buy a pair of Crocs on inventory clearance. Here they are.

I don't know what is more exciting, the fact that they are for me or that with the money I saved I decorated them with Harry Potter Sorting Hat, Gryffindor Crest and Goofy Jibbits. If only they had tatting shuttle Jibbitz!

The Sprout donned this Pirates of the Caribbean hat in the Disney Outlet and had us grinning from ear to ear. (That's a shark on his crocs.)

♥ from Postie
Two parcels arrived via post on Monday while we were out.

And three gorgeous skeins of Lady ShuttleMaker's HDT!

The arrival of these parcels couldn't have been better timed. Inside the box were these beauties.

Suffice it to say, as thunder rolls and lightning crashes outside I am happily unwinding Helm's Deep HDT and loading up new shuttles for their first tat.

One is called "Tea for Two" and the other, "Pretty Pansies." Both the HDT and the shuttles are more enchanting than the photos can portray.  Squeee!

** This past weekend I learned that SeaWorld in Aurora, OH, and Geauga Lake had both closed down in 2007. Both places held fond memories from my own childhood. How disappointing to not share these attractions with The Sprout.

Fleur de Lis Figure

Playing around with the fleur de lis edging led to this lovely surprise. The figure is 3 inches (7.6 cm) long and 1 1/2 inches wide (4 cm) tatted in size 20 thread.

You are looking at an unblocked test tat using three shuttles. Many attempts to keep the shuttle count down to two ended in missteps, but also led to new discoveries.

I am cheered, delighted and excited by this outcome.

This figure CAN be tatted using two shuttles, but would require the second four-ring cluster (the top part of the fleur de lis) to be tatted separately and attached as you go.

To tat it all in one pass was a bit more tricky. The issue was throwing off a ring and chain combo from a SCMR.

For those who don't mind two extra ends to hide, using two shuttles would be easier.

I will be writing out this pattern to share!

While the process did not yield a fleur de lis edging, it produced other tat bits and built my design confidence. In the end I do think that a fleur de lis edging will come forth.

I Make These Mistakes...
...so you don't have to. See the uneven chain? I hid the final two ends in the wrong place. Click on the image above for a close-up.

Now I turn by tatting focus back to an unfinished project - Wanda's Hearts Honor Bookmark. (Sorry for the blurry cell phone photo.)

Absorbed in bright color and captivated by the split chains down the center, this second stage is even more fun than the first. The first stage was pure pleasure to tat! The rest should go smoothly and will result in what is sure to be an all-time favorite bookmark.

Thanks again, Wanda, for allowing me to test tat this pattern!

Paisley Scarf Edging

Spotted on Etsy

Red Grey Paisley Silk Tatting Lace Long Scarf

Here is the link to this Etsy item: Red Grey Paisley

Take note of this graceful way to "unique-ify" a silk accessory.

Hmmm, I have a shoebox full of long-neglected accessory scarves a round here somewhere...

Don't the colors of the lace match the scarf perfectly?

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My ability to re-size photos (PhotoShop) is still on the fritz. (*grumble*) But I am still tatting. (Wishing I could show you...)

Remember this? Dipping a Toe in the Design Pool

Here is a slightly out-of focus shot from my cell phone. It shows my attempts to tat a fleur de lis edging. Right now it looks more like a weird light bulb filament, but once I get the shape worked out to my satisfaction I will offer up the pattern for free.

Here is a second cell phone snapshot.

Gina, you have been waiting since June of 2009 for this project to bear fruit. Hope I haven't kept you waiting too long! I am still toying with ideas. Hopefully soon it will be finished. Soon!