peacock ice drop - nuntium ducentesimum octogesimum septimum

At our TCT retreat, Diane the Lace Lovin' Librarian was most generous.  She shared many things including thread, thread and thread; beads and even patterns.  Through her encouragement, I tried some SLon beading thread with Shelley Perrault's pattern and a peacock bead.  Because the SLon is so thin, I had to modify it on the outside.  I think it turned out okay.

I wound both bobbins full and I think I have enough to do another one.  I have another bead so why not?  : )

TCT 2018 retreat - nuntium ducentesimum octogesimum quintum

Wow did we have fun or what!  Many thanks to Cindy  who did so much of the organizing and the shopping.  She's so organized we even are ready for next year!

The Timberhaze is an amazing location which again was an oasis of calm and lots of laughter and tatting.  In fact I'm not sure it's a good idea to tell everyone how wonderful it is because we want to go again and it fills up fast!  The craft room alone is amazing. 

Photo by Cindy

We had another lovely commemorative shuttle from Frivole. 

Another wonderful photo by Cindy

We went to a nearby winery one day and out for dinner the first evening but the majority of the time was tatting, tatting and more tatting!

My first goal was to get my four lucky pennies done.  I finally found them in ND when we were there last week.  So here's the first thing I made:

That doesn't seem to be a lucky penny.  Right!  Diane had brought a pattern for the peacock bead from Shelley Perreault.  I tried the metallic Lizbeth (isn't that a gorgeous color?) but it was too big so I made an ice drop.  Go figure, Diane was in the room....

Diane is so, so generous.  She brought a lot of supplies including all of the metallic Lizbeth threads.  She offered and offered so I happily took some (a lot- gulp!).

My plan is to make a snowflake in each of the colors I chose and see which I like most.  Then I order my own stash.  It's much nicer than most metallics and doesn't seem to hurt my hands.  But it isn't regular Lizbeth for sure.

Next, my penny.  I've made about 10 of these and suddenly I couldn't get it to work!

Grr, I tried altering the stitch counts and NOTHING worked.  I even called in the expert - Heidi and she couldn't figure it out either.  Turns out the size of large picot on the back side is VERY important.  Mine was too small.

Finally success.

Isn't that the cutest box ever?  Diane, of course.

Next I tried tatting on a button like Cindy does.

Cindy has tatted on buttons for a few years now and always makes such lovely things.  With the Mocha metallic and Cindy's guidance on the beads, I gave it a try.  (This is Cindy's pattern.)  And in case you haven't noticed it, look at the gorgeous "bin" that she made for each of us.  Mine has wine corks- how appropriate!

Next, then more pennies!

Where did the picture of the fourth one go?  I don't know!  Who cares!  

Now I'm off on my next tatting adventure- where will it be?

Blue ice drop - nuntium duocentesimum quinquagesimum tertium

I thought of Diane the Lace Lovin' Librarian the whole time I made this one!

What do we think of the graduated picots with beads?  I can't decide.  I love graduated picots but it seems like it should be an either/or but not both.

Thanks again for checking out my daughter's shop.  VERY, very kind of you all, I'm not surprised though.

New ice drop - - nuntium duocentesimum quinquagesimum primum

Here's what I made yesterday with my fellow tatters and while sitting with the family as they watched basketball.

I've been thinking about this one for a long time- the color combo and beads.  Yesterday I finally had the time to do something about those thoughts!  I don't know what to do with it though.  Should I make a pin out of it?  A pendant?  One of my daughters suggested a suncatcher.  I just don't know.  This is the deadly part.  When I don't know, it languishes in my box of finished-but-what-will-I-do-with-it stuff.

And thank you for the lovely suggestions about the pin.  I'm going to try them all!!

And thank you to those who looked at my girl's shop.  She was so excited last night to tell me about all the views!

2nd Ice Drop and TCT retreat possibility - nuntium duocentesimum quadrigesimum secundum

Here's the Ice Drop with another round and my second attempt below.

I'm not sure the second one is better.  :)

And in other news....

Cindy (A Happy Bluebird) and I thought is was time for the Twin Cities Tatters to have a little summer retreat in July, so we are interested in finding out if anyone else might want to join us!  This would be a 2-night stay at a retreat center somewhere near the Twin Cities, Minnesota area, and just time set aside to tat and enjoy the company of other tatters.  No classes would be offered for this first retreat, but who knows what fun could evolve?!

If you are seriously interested, we would love to hear from you ASAP.  The link below will take you to a simple form to help us determine interest and decide what might work the best.  Space will be limited, and a deposit will be required - so the sooner we get planning, the better!

Click here to submit interest (no obligation at this time).

Once the dates are set, the Retreat will be open for registration on a first-come / first-served basis, so watch for that information!

Ice Drop - nuntium duocentesimum quadrigesimum primum

Well, Diane the Lace Lovin' Librarian has caught me in her web!  Here's my first Ice Drop.  She has a wonderful tutorial on her blog.

I think it's pretty cute but I have some ideas for improvement.  The encapsulating rings are a bit too stretched so I'll need to fix that but still it's nice.  My younger daughter said it looked like something to eat!  Ouch.

I really have been tatting and doing craft shows.

This was the first one of the year and it was crazy successful.  : )
Here you can see the preparations for the second show.

Those are the MN snowflakes.  Not big sellers after the first show, strangely.

Here's a hanky I made for a bride/colleague for her December wedding.  The edging is Joëlle's gorgeous Iris edging.  And here's me and my handsome husband ready to go to the wedding, isn't he still a great-looking guy?

Here's what I got from Ingebretsen's (local craft and meat market) who awarded me a gift certificate for my State Fair doily.

I'm so excited to have these!  I've wanted them for a long time.  If you own the cross one, I'd love to hear what your favorites are.