nuntium octogesimum quintum (85th post) Camptown Ladies sing this song

Doo-Dads!  Doo-dads!  Anyone else been singing that crazy song since Diane started her Doodad dare?  If not I'm sorry I just gave it to you!
I just knew I had to do Fox' Athalia with the Doodad I got from Diane.  This is Lizbeth size 20 and I got to practice my new-found josephine spiral technique too!

motif #11

I even managed frontside/backside on this one. 

Sorry this is so short but it's school, tatting or blogging.  I'm just so pleased to have tatted anything!

nuntium octogesimum quartum (84th post) ad audiendum (Latin audio 1)

ad audiendum et dicendum Are you ready for the first Latin audio lesson? It's only 10 minutes and 26 seconds.  If you do decide to listen, please let me know what you think.  I want to continue with this idea but if there's obvious improvements, I'd love to learn about them now!  You can play directly from the page or you can click on the share button and then download it to play on an mp3 player (over and over if you wanted- haha!)


Maybe you can tat at the same time...

Here's some snow from Minnesota for you- nothing new but I've been making them for my sister.

Minnesota snow

I have a dear friend who is from Romania and her lovely mother recently was there for a few months.  She brought me back some of the most amazing thread/yarn but I'm stumped with what to do with it.

 

I'm not really sure what its original intent was.  It says macrame but I think that's a language thing.  Part of me wants to jump into the deep water and dye some of it.  (never tried that before.)  The other part says to keep it as is and make a set of placemats because there's so much.

Opinions?  Ideas?  Suggestions?

nuntium octagesimum tertium (83rd post) old dog, new trick

So many things to say!  I'm brimming!  But first, if you came here for an audio Latin lesson, I haven't done it.  Next time, I hope.  (I can hear the sighs of disappointment across the land - tee hee.)
On Saturday my elder daughter and I tried our hands at another market.  This one was billed as an Artists' Market and even though we had to pay a very small fee, it was much better than the flea market in July.  First the weather was stunning, then it was in the parking lot of a very popular coffee house in the neighborhood and there was also free music.  We didn't have scads of people but a good showing.  We had gone to the library the day before and I'd seen this little lovely in an Elgiva Nichols book there. I quickly tatted one up and put it in this pendant. Isn't it just sweet?

motif #8

I put some other things in the pendants too.  Just little butterflies but I thought they were cute.

Didn't sell any though...

I even tried a new butterfly from Ellen Lai.  The one on a paper clip.  Isn't he adorable?  I decided to try with two colors but I know for next time size 80 is too small.

motif #9

Here's the other stuff except the bookmarks.

The wackiest thing is that we sold pretty much one of everything, one ring, one bookmark (the one made with Jess!' Mindanao Gum thread- very eye-catching and the first thing to be bought), one set of envelopes, one hairpin.  No clear and obvious crowd-pleaser.  Huh.
I *was* going to make snowflakes for my sister who is brilliant, talented and crafty and has plans for them but instead I made a pair of TotusMel's slave bracelets for elder daughter.

motif? #10

And this is where we get into the new trick for this old dog.  For the life of me, I could not figure out how everyone made these beautiful josephine chains.  Even after Happy Bluebird's brilliant post (ha!  I just looked this up to put the link and it's almost exactly a year- talk about a slow learner) last year about them, they just escaped me.  But at the market we had wifi and I decided to see if there was a video.  Thank you, TotusMel!  Don't laugh but I never caught on to the idea that one should physically put the shuttle/needle around the core thread!  DUH.
Elder daughter and I were each going to make one of the bracelets but she kind of gave up after the first two "medallions" and asked me to finish.  It is really interesting to finish another tatter's work.  Her tension is different and she'd made a mistake which I didn't notice until quite a bit later and had an extra chain to somehow fit in there. So the two bracelets aren't the same but only other tatters would notice.  You might know my fear of designing but I persevered and ended up with a pretty nice one.  No picture, she whisked the second one out of my hands as I sewed in the ends and they've been on ever since!
Lastly, my sweet husband read an article in the paper about the IOLI convention in Saint Paul and said that we could go for a mere $5 as general populace on Wednesday.  (I had decided that the convention fee was too steep and had resigned myself to not going at all.)  We went together, like a date! and it was very fun.  Some of the display laces were out of this world lovely and we got to go to the vendors too! It's so wonderful to be able to look at the books, not just the covers and see if what's inside is what I would like.  And then we saw Majestic threads, something I'd never heard of before and the colors were so rich and lovely, my DH bought me a whole bunch!

I just LOVE these colors!

Look at these amazing pieces from the 1850s.  This was the first time I'd seen pieces with the picots tied together.  (I would never have been a tatter then.  I hate tying.)

I know it wouldn't be very practical but I'd love to wear a cap like this.

Oops, there goes the time.
Latin for today = tempus est coquendum!  = Time to cook!

nuntium octogesimum secundum (82nd post) Heart for Misha

I have never test tatted anything before!  Wow, what a privilege.  I was able to tat Fox' Heart for Misha.  The pattern is easy to read and fun to make so I encourage you to get it here.

motif #6

And you will see why I dislike variegated thread for little motifs.  Unfortunately this thread does not do the heart justice.  I plan to tat it again. Soon. This was done with size 80 vintage Aunt Rose-E thread.

motif #7

I also made this Julie Patterson Just Marking Tome "Eye Spy" with thread from Jess!  You can see here that the variegation worked up very nicely with this Mindanao Gum colorway, size 40.  I don't see it listed anymore but she's so accommodating, I'm sure you can connive your way into some by sending a message to her.

And now for the ramblings of a teacher in August:
I'm always intrigued by how many of readers comment on the Latin in this blog.  For me, there is no way to separate it out from life but I love reading about your memories and (sometimes) fierce defense of this "dead" language.  (We just like to think of it as very stable, not dead).

I've been thinking a lot about school (go back next week) and what will be.  We are instituting a 1-to-1 iPad initiative in the 6th grade.  The prospect is exciting and daunting.  I love technology and use it in my classroom ALL the time but it's very important to remember that technology isn't going to make a bad teacher good (or a good teacher bad) and this is where things get lost.  It's a tool like a scissors or an overhead projector.  If I don't know what to do with them (or for that matter the students), no point.  It tickles me to no end that despite amazing technology, students still love it when we get out the white boards and markers.  They beg for it.  They LOVE blue days (we have a rotating schedule with four "colored" days) when I teach them Roman history.  Just a lecture with some pictures.  "More, more, more".  Imagine.

I'm thinking of making audio files for practicing Latin à la Pimsleur method.  They would match the concepts we're learning in class but with different vocabulary.  Anybody interested in trying them?  They'll be 15 minutes long and hopefully painless to do - and gratis.  We'll be starting at the beginning so even if you don't know any Latin, you could do it.  If there's interest, I'll put them on the blog, if not, no biggie.  I have a captive audience waiting for me in two weeks.  tee hee.


I've done it again- used my tatting time to blog.  Ugh.  Wish I could figure out a way to do both!


 
Latin for today:  diei aestivi mihi maxime arrident = I really love summer days.