Shawl Shenanigans

Favecrafts.com recently mass e-mailed an advertisement with an intriguing hook (no pun intended): The Goddess Shawl makes you as beautiful as Aphrodite!

Ever the skeptic, I call shenanigans!

If nubile beauty and infinite desirability were as easy to achieve as tossing on a shawl, wouldn't we all have it? And never take it off?

I admit the crocheted shawl in the ad has a definite charm and appeal. Is it the shawl's gorgeous drape? The mysterious allure of the model?

After fantasizing about it, (Didn't you?) I concede the possibility of tossing on a shawl, if it were tatted, to attain epic beauty and allure. I mean, why not? It worked for Kathy Berndt.

Kathy really does look beautiful in her lace, doesn't she?

Libido-lifting Lace?
Advertising claims aside, the Goddess Shawl posits some food for thought.

Why pineapples?!? Did Aphrodite like pineapples? I like pineapple as much as the next person, but it never seemed like a nubile fruit to me.

Well, whaddya know? The aphrodisiac history of pineapple.

Now I Really Want One
Is it possible to tat a Goddess Shawl?

Tatting the pineapples should work, since tatted pineapple doilies exist. But methinks the rest would require some re-engineering.

What say you, Tat Land?

Tatting Tea Tuesday - Motif 9 Cross Your Heart

Motif 9 - Cross Your Heart
It is done! This could be the prettiest heart I have ever tatted. It demonstrates the versatility of edgings and bookmarks.

This dainty heart is adapted from Hearts Afire Cross © 2011 by Crazy Mom and Hearts © 2001 by Dee Powell. It is tatted in Lizbeth® 20 Victorian Red #670 and measures 4 inches by 4 inches (10.2 cm by 10.2 cm).

The Hearts Afire pattern is on the 2011 Palmetto Tat Days pattern CD. Mrs. Powell's "Hearts" bookmark is in "Tatted Bookmarks - Needle & Shuttle" (edited by Barbara Foster of Handy Hands, Inc.) on page 8. It is simply called "Hearts."

Cindy from A Happy Bluebird tatted "Hearts" in February, 2010. Her pretty Valentine Bookmark proved perfect for satisfying my crafty muse. 

Anyone interested in seeing more of Mrs. Powell's work is encouraged to visit Georgia Seitz' "In Memory Of" page, which will be available in the near future.

Tea Shop Mystery - Scones & Bones

Laura Childs' latest Tea Shop Mystery held my interest until chapter 22. The frenetic pace of the next two chapters rehashed previous material. By chapter 24 I had lost interest and flipped to the end to see "whodunnit." Surprise! I was wrong about the killer!

Scones & Bones gets a teacup review rating of 3.5 cups. Atmosphere and quirky characters move the story along well enough until the final 1/3; then peevish reader disdain set in. Where were the clues? It seemed as if the plot was circling the drain.

Don't get me wrong, beautiful descriptions of Charleston, interesting pirate lore and the Indigo Tea Shop's tasty treats were engaging. But are "light, cozy mysteries" intended to be short on plot?

Since this was my first "light cozy" I'm giving myself a second chance with Tea Shop Mysteries. Knowing that the intrigue is not easily predictable may keep me turning pages in the Jasmine Moon Murder. Let's hope a clue or two are buried, like pirate treasure, amid the gravestones of Jasmine Cemetery.

Edging Closer to Motif 9

The other day I read a comment sewmuchfun4 made in 2010 about "feeling less than tranquil" with tatting. It brought a knowing smile to my lips. Haven't we all felt like this at one time or another?

Sometimes putting your tools down and taking your mind off the setback will allow your creative muse to recharge. That is precisely what happened when I was playing around with Crazy Mom's Hearts Afire Cross.

I knew I wanted to expand the cross into a heart. Designing my own heart edging was a decidedly "less than tranquil" experience. And research into heart edgings available online left me stumped.

But the pattern book "Tatted Bookmarks - Needle & Shuttle" (edited by Barbara Foster of Handy Hands, Inc.) stoked my muse. On page 8 was an edging by Dee Powell^‡, simply called "Hearts."

Cindy from A Happy Bluebird tatted "Hearts" in February, 2010. Her pretty Valentine Bookmark proved perfect for satisfying my crafty muse.

See how pretty this edging looks adapted into a heart? It takes a curve so beautifully.

^‡Delores "Dee" Powell, 75, of Kansas, died in 2008 of cancer. Barbara Foster (Handy Hands, Inc.) has given permission to Georgia Seitz to post one of Dee' s patterns from the book "Tatted Bookmarks - Needle & Shuttle" online.  Georgia will create an "In Memory Of" page for Dee.

Almost Motif 9 - Cross Your Heart
This heart-in-progress is adapted from Hearts Afire Cross © 2011 by Crazy Mom and Hearts © 2001 by Dee Powell. It is tatted in Lizbeth^® 20 Victorian Red #670 and will measure 4 inches by 4 inches (10.2 cm by 10.2 cm) when complete.

What a tatting journey this experiment has led me on so far! Crazy Mom's cross fueled the fire for a heart. Taking a "less than tranquil" design path led to an existing source for a lovely edging. From there the creative spark ignited again to combine two lovely designs into a dainty new heart.

Or it will be once I finish...

Beyoncé Sighting!

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Sw4nkyL4c3r and I were driving down a familiar stretch of road, on the way to our lace guild's monthly meeting. There it was — a Giant Metal Chicken!

Funny thing was, it was standing in front of a rather nondescript, white house.

I wanted to rush up to the front door, ring the doorbell and ask the owners if they read The Blogess, but decided against it.

What if they had never heard of her? What if the owners had displayed the Giant Metal Chicken simply because they liked it? What if they mistook my contact for a chicken-induced come on?

File this under Truth is Stranger Than Fiction.

It's here! It's here!

Look what arrived late Wednesday afternoon in the mail. I was at the Yarn Cloud waiting for a student to arrive when Big Daddy and the Sprout walk in with a package for me. It was my copy of "Tatted Jewelry" by Marilee Rockley (published by Annie's Attic).

I'm so excited to have Marilee's new book!

Up for a Tea Shop Mystery?

Have you read any of the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs?

I only just discovered them a week or so ago when a copy of Scones & Bones was on display in the "Fortunate Find" section of my local library.

I grabbed it, thinking it would be a casual bit of fluff reading. Probably not something that would hold my interest. Was I wrong!

It is a lighthearted read, yet held my attention even though I usually guess the murderer early on in typical murder mysteries.

The story is set in Charleston, SC, and revolves around resident Indigo Tea Shop owner, Theodosia Browning. I won't say much more, except that this is the 12th installment of the series. Here are two reviews if you want to know more:

• "Scones and Bones" by Laura Childs
by Christina Durner, Baltimore Books Examiner
• Like it a Latte: Laura Childs & The Tea Shop Mysteries
by Tiffany

The scene of the 5th Tea Shop Mystery, Jasmine Moon Murder is set under an autumn moon, making it a fun read for this time of year.

Indigo Tea Shop owner Theodosia Browning is catering a Charleston benefit, a "Ghost Crawl" through Jasmine Cemetery, when the organizer drops dead—and it looks like foul play. Theodosia stirs things up with her own investigation, and gets into hot water up to her neck.

Renee over at Renee's Reads has a fun rating system for her book reviews and I love that she sets aside time on Thursday for Tea, much like I do for Tatting Tea Tuesday.

As I am on on chapter 5 I will have to give you my rating in a few days. In the meantime, why not try a Tea Shop Mystery and let us know what you think?

Where Have You Gone, October?

I seriously cannot believe that this is the last Thursday in October. Where did this month go?!? Weren't we all just mourning the loss of August? Speeding through September to get to Tat Days weekend? Then BOOM! Hello, November.

With a new month comes a new resolve -- to befriend beads!

OctoStarFlake © 2011 Jane Eborall

The pattern is on the Palmetto Tat Days 2011 Pattern CD. The thread used for this motif is Lizbeth^® #135 Lollipop in size 20. The beads are size 11 Dyna-mites™ seed beads in blue/lilac. A few galvanized gold seed beads in size 11 found their way into the mix too, just for fun.

How many of you remember how OctoStarFlake started out?

As a magnetic brooch cum fridge magnet!

Donna Thompson, if you are reading, please accept my heartfelt thanks for all the patient attention you gave to me during this class at Tat Days. I will return your shuttles to you loaded in either the Lizbeth^® or hand-dyed thread of your choice as a thank you!

Imagine how hopeless a student has to be for the teacher to hand her two pre-wound shuttles (from her personal stash) to start over? Folks, I don't make this stuff up.

(That's Julie Beagle, who thought it was a great time to beg for a treat while I was taking the picture.) Lord knows, I wanted to go to Tat Days in 2003 but I didn't make it there until 2009.

And Lord knows I wanted to sail through this class brilliantly. But arriving late, not starting with shuttles wound CTM. . . To make a long story short, I just couldn't get my brain in gear. The words I used at the time were "I can't get out of the driveway."

But some class learnin' must have sunk in, because I made it through the pattern at home with no trouble.

No doubt this was due to the many gracious tips and warm-hearted help from the ladies seated next to me. This is ON TOP OF the patient direction received from Donna Thompson. Thank you, Donna! Thank you, ladies! I couldn't have completed this motif without you.

Is anyone else as amazed as I am to see a motif with so many beads reel off my shuttles?