Snow Angel Poetry WINNER!

HO HO HO! Here's the prize!

Thank you for all the inspired entries for this contest! You all did SO GREAT at filling in the last line of poetry. Talk about tapping into creative energies and taking charge of a challenge! You rocked it in ways I never considered.

I wish I could award prizes to each and every one of you, but as they say in Hollywood, "There can be only one" so. . . *drumroll*

The winner of the Snow Angel Poetry Challenge is....Crazy Mom.

She followed up Fox's playful entry (which was spot on for expressing frustration) with a sly rhyme. Both were terribly clever and made me laugh out loud.

Does anyone else see the humor in the photo? I stuffed the prizes into Santa's pants! (But seriously, what a cute gift bag, eh?)

Thank you for helping me celebrate my 300th post! And a hearty HO HO HO with mistletoe and lots of tatting joy for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012.

Snow Angel Poetry Challenge

Snow Angel © 2011 Sharren Sarver Morgan
Tatted by IsDihara

Snow Angel Poetry Challenge
As angel lace reeled off the shuttles and visions of snow angels danced in my head, a poem was born, or at least most of one.

My 300th blog post is coming up fast (this post is number 298) and I thought, 'What better time for a quick bit o' knot-tea fun?' So I'm having a giveaway!

The challenge is to find a suitable last line to the following bit of verse:

Snow Angel by IsDihara (and...you?)

It's fun to walk in the sparkling snow,
And hear my boots go crunch.

Frolicking in a frosty 'spance
thrills my heart a bunch.

Swooshy imprints in the snow,
Give my cheeks a rosy glow,
And leave behind a cool halo,

Snow angels are big funch!

ADD YOUR LAST LINE IN THE COMMENTS FOR THIS POST.
PLEASE LEAVE ME A VALID WAY TO CONTACT YOU.
IF I PICK YOUR ENTRY, YOU WIN A PRIZE!


DEADLINE to enter is THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2011, at midnight, Eastern Standard Time.

Contest is open to all domestic and international followers of Ambitatterous. You must be a "regular reader" to qualify. That means a reader who has spent a minimum of three months following this blog.

I will pay shipping for the winning entry.

I will announce the Poetry Contest Challenge WINNER on Friday, December 9, 2011.

Thank you for reading regularly from your corner of Tat Land, wherever it may be! Good Luck!

Giveaway - Tuscan Lace Prize Pack

What Do I Win?
This Tuscan Lace prize package will bring a little ray of sunshine to warm up a wintry day.

A gorgeous, 50-yard skein of sun-drenched Tuscany HDT by LadyShuttleMaker in size 20, a box of Lipton "Tuscan Lemon" Black Tea and an 8-ounce jar of luxurious, Tuscan Lace hand and body lotion made by New Hands Soaps and Lotions.

REMEMBER TO ADD YOUR LAST LINE IN THE COMMENTS FOR THIS POST.
PLEASE LEAVE ME A VALID WAY TO CONTACT YOU.
IF I PICK YOUR ENTRY, YOU WIN A PRIZE!
GOOD LUCK AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Motif 10 - Snow Angel

The final Tatting Tea Tuesday in November dawns grey and overcast with a steaming cuppa (pumpkin spice tea) and wistful sighs over the inevitable end of the turkey leftovers.

(Thanksgiving celebrations in my corner of Tat Land can range from a simple turkey dinner to unrestrained food orgies. The feasting at Silly Hat Central was reasonably controlled. For example, I made four pies for six people and was chided for having a ratio that was less than 1:1.)

On the bright side, I have new tatting to show.

Snow Angel © 2011 Sharren Sarver Morgan

A Pair of Snow Angels - can a choir be far behind?

Motif 10 - Snow Angels
These angels are another inspired creation of Sharren Morgan. Are you amazed to see all the beads? Slowly I am befriending them (beads) and even having a bit of fun.

Tatted in Lizbeth^® 40 #163 Blue Ice, these delicate angels wear sparkly halos of size 10 silver-lined crystal seed beads. Their wings and robes are edged in size 11 blue glass seed beads. I also played with adding bugle beads to one angel's empire waist just for fun.

Each angel measures 1.5 inches wide by 2 inches long. (3.8cm by 5.1cm)

This pattern is included on the Palmetto Tat Days 2011 fundraiser pattern CD. Click here for details.

Sharren's method of encapsulating a safety pin yields a charming holiday pin. Mine are pin-less and will be lovely tucked into cards.

Snow Angel © 2011 Sharren Sarver Morgan

One of the things I am learning is that beaded tatting can be a challenge to photograph! These three images were the best of the lot.

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.