Bentley - nuntium centesimum nonagesimum et sextum

I made (and sold) four Bentleys before I got a picture of one!  They are beautiful and a pattern from Frivole.


I also made this little love from Jon Yusoff's book Snowflakes.  I did an SCMR for the center which I think still looks good and in fact maybe even better than the ring with split ring with somehow always looks a little wonky when I do it.


And this one which I didn't enjoy much at all.  No good reason, just not the same appeal as a tatter.  Lovely flake though.



And now, I'm working with COLOR!!!!!  Stay tuned, it's up next!

Crazy successful - nuntium centesimum nonagesimum et quintum

The MN snowflakes were a huge hit!  I did the best I've ever done at a craft fair.  I sold them all so I've been tatting between everything I can and even in the car on the way to church (husband driving not me!)  But the tealights?  No go.

Below is a wedding present for a dear friend and his new wife.  They have been married before and really don't need anything so I went with unique instead of practical or expensive.

It's a Robin Perfetti design done in Lizbeth 20, Herbal Garden and Brown

And I loathe sewing edgings on but I figured out the way to do it.  Invisible thread and a sewing machine!  But I had to do it on a sunny day and seriously felt like the tailors in the Emperor's New Clothes waving around with empty needles.  But I was done in about 20 minutes (most of that time spent pinning) and those edgings will NOT fall off even when washed.

How's that!

Twenty-four! - nuntium centesimum nonagesimum et quartum

This week has been a busy one but I've been able to squeeze in a few MN flakes for the next sale.

New one from Craftree - Small Snowflake from Amanda Lockwood

 And yes, that's Frivole's 2015 snowflake, Snowdrop.  It's just so lovely (and was the first thing that sold last weekend).

And just for fun, here are our pumpkins.  Mine is the one with the crazy glue where I got too enthusiastic and sliced off an important bit.

Not so complex - nuntium centesimum nonagesimum et tertium

I'm going to persist with the tealights for at least the next show.  I think they look great and they just aren't that hard to make.  It's a simple motif and then I just put the tealight "through" it.

Plus I get to do split chains.  I love them!

Results - nuntium centesimum nonagesimum et secundum

The craft fair- not the success I'd hoped.  I was SO sure the tealights would be a hit and while there were many, many comments, not a one sold.  But the MN snowflakes all sold.  So I've been looking for small flakes.  Here are these little cuties from Muskaan, called Hexagonal Motif.

And two of Elizabeth Zipay's Tiny Snowflake.  I've been trying Frivole's technique for thrown rings and I really like the result!

One of my colleagues came in with this last week.  It's the greatest thing ever!  Ever.

I don't like lanyards.  I can't handle all that stuff around my neck.  It makes me tired and I constantly bang the keys on things and I find I don't want to wear a necklace because it's too much.  So I don't.  My friend found this "hand"yard and it's perfect!  I am ridiculously happy with it.

Little snowflakes - - nuntium centesimum nonagesimum et unum

Tomorrow is the craft fair- strangely I am more excited than usual for this one.  As I was making snowflakes, I would wind too much thread so I made a few of Decoromana's snowflakes.  I love this little pattern and it's a quick tat.  (I don't know why the pattern isn't available on her Etsy site right now, it looks like nothing is.  It's too bad because it's so cute.)

I was trying to figure out how I could sell them. In light of the bigger, more elaborate flakes, it didn't seem right to charge the same.  So here's what I came up with:

Maybe people will mail them to friends?

This is a Patti Duff pattern- I only made the one.

Almost ready! - nuntium centesimum nonagesimum

This weekend, there's a craft fair that my sister and I are doing.  It's a bit different- card tables instead of the longer ones but it's pretty well advertised so I'm hopeful and for us, it's the first of the the "season".
My sister has my "stock"  but I've been working a bit to add to it- here's what I've got.

I'm very excited about those little tealights.  I hope they're a hit.

Snowdrop test tat - nuntium centesimum undenonagesimum

I was one of the lucky ones who was able to test tat Frivole's gorgeous "Snowdrop" which is her snowflake pattern of the year.  If you have never tatted a Frivole pattern, this is a great one.  You need only know rings and chains.  I find her patterns so pleasing to do, they always lie well and there's no wrenching, twisting or forcing the item into shape once finished.

If you check out Frivole's blog today, she's having a giveaway of this pattern, otherwise it will be available in her Etsy store, La Cossette.

That said, I did my snowflake with size 30 instead of 20 (I was out of town and didn't have my supplies with me).  I still like it and you can still see the hexagonal center.  I even used my picot gauge!

I didn't pin the outer picots due to sheer laziness.  That said, younger daughter's eyes got HUGE when she saw the snowflake and the word "mine!" came right out of her lovely mouth.  She has tough standards and doesn't go much for tatting so that tells me a lot.

Not a coaster - - nuntium centesimum duodenonagesimum

I made this motif for a coaster for my friend.  I thought it was from "New Tatting" but this motif doesn't seem to be in there although there are some that are similar.

It's Lizbeth size 20, ecru and something

Could this be why it wasn't the size it was supposed to be and why the center didn't work?  Did I combine two designs inadvertently?  Only to discover it two months later?

I'm starting to wonder about myself...

Gone but not forgotten - nuntium centesimum octogesimum septimum

I made this bracelet last winter.  I love it.

Lizbeth, Herbal Garden size 20

 It's my favorite thing I've made to wear so far.  I wore it today and LOST IT.

sigh.

UPDATE!  One of my students found it today and turned it in!  WAHOO!

Partner in crime - nuntium centesimum octogesimum sextum

Last winter my sister and I participated in a couple craft shows.  She makes lovely earrings and you know what I'm up to.  Here is my half of the joint table.

And here we are together.  She's still a cutie!  I can't remember the last picture we have of us together.
I have more pictures!

This is my daughter's steampunk jewelry which we also sold.

 

tealight - nuntium centesimum octogesimum sextum

I'm a little surprised that I didn't post about these last spring when I was making them.  Hmm.

I got this idea from a German blog that I follow by Conny.  Here is her original post from last November.

This is made with Lizbeth Christmas Red, size 20.  I'm hoping to make more for my own home this year.

Here's another in silver, which didn't turn out as well.  Different thread size changed things.

And in a non-tatting note, I spent the afternoon outside on the patio (with a shawl).  Probably the last hurrah for one of my favorite places.

Pot o' flowers - - nuntium centesimum octogesimum quintum

Today is the first day to go back to school.  Students are next week but we start now.  People always ask, "Are you excited to go back to school?".  It makes me chuckle.  I am but I'm not.  I love getting up when I want to, being able to schedule dentist appointments whenever I want, having time to exercise (I ride my bike around the nearby lake for about an hour and half each day), cooking real meals and being able to sit at table.  And of course the time to tat is wonderful!  These things are hard to give up.

But do I love seeing the kids when they walk in the room and watch them grow and learn? Guiding them along their path during these often awkward and hard years? Enjoying their goofy and developing senses of humor? Of course!  So let's say, I love to be where I am.

I found these pictures of a Christmas gift I made for a teaching friend/colleague last winter.  She loves to garden and in December in MN, there's not much chance of that!  So I made her a rose garden and even had a little watering can with it (why isn't that in the picture, I wonder?)

Off to school!

What is wrong with me? - nuntium centesimum octogesimum quintum

Why is it that Robin Perfetti makes such beautiful, clear, easy to understand diagrams and yet I consistently ignore her directions and make ridiculous mistakes?

Look at this pattern.

Now look at what I've done to it!

Argh.

Hanky - nuntium centesimum octogesimum quartum

A dear, dear friend is getting married tomorrow Friday so I made a hanky with Frivole's beautiful Iris edging.  I've made it before and just loved it.  These two are special people so I wanted something extra special for them.

Lizbeth size 80

Don't pay attention to my miserable crocheting!  : )