nuntium sexagesimum primum (61st post) TIAS 6 & 7

Where did that week go?  Whoosh.

Chapters and Units done in school so that means the next ones have to be ready to go. Plus  I'm taking a group to Italy this summer so we had a meeting last night- bit of preparation for that but somehow there's been a little tatting too.

I've got Heart's Desire which Frivole so graciously diagrammed.

motif #12 Lizbeth size #20  burgundy?

And Birgit's peacock heart which somehow ended up as a bookmark.  I like the pattern but the variegation on the thread made it look dopey.  I guess the change between colors is too long for this little sweetheart of a pattern.

motif #13 in dopey variegation (EdMar Brazilian Thread)

Then I tried Mary Konior's Convoluvus pattern (from Tatting in Lace)  again in some fun Lizbeth.  My husband didn't like the bottom of the original so I modified it to his specs.  Now he really likes it.

So I put a tassel on it too.

And of course the TIAS which I realize now is a day behind!!!

day 6  TIAS

day 7 TIAS

Best quit blogging and get to tatting!

Latin for today:  caper est!  = It's a goat!

nuntium sexagesimum (60th post) TIAS day 4 and 5

Here's day 4 and 5 of Jane's TIAS.  I still don't have the slightest idea but I'm having a great time doing it.

day 4

day 5

It's been a tough few days but I was able to tat in the car while my husband drove us all to North Dakota and back. 

On the way to ND, I tried this bookmark which was very interesting and fun once I decided to follow Kersti's pattern instead of trying it my own way.

motif #11

In North Dakota, we stayed with my parents who live near a coulee and have tons of pheasants in the back yard.

I got more tatting done today on the way back but we got home late and for some reason riding in the car for 400 miles is exhausting.  More later this week, I think.

Latin for today:  autoraeda septem horas vecti sumus = We rode in the car for 7 hours.

nuntium undesexagesimum (59th post) TIAS day three

Here is day 3 of Jane's TIAS. I like it although I took out the center ring because I thought my false picot was too long. What a change the internet has made in my tatting life. I never knew that it was possible to open a ring until 30 years into tatting...

But I like the result now. What on earth could it be?

And I made these two bookmarks, nothing new although I tried my Brazilian thread on the simple heart.  I like it although it's kind of slippery.

Next I'm going to try the heart that Frivole diagrammed.  Can't you see these as earrings?

Latin for today:  tempus est coquendum. = Time to cook!

nuntium duodesexagesimum (58th post) TIAS day 2

Hooray!!!  The Ludi Romani is over!  It went very well although there were a few troubles with schedules in the morning, otherwise, it went wonderfully!  I wish I could show you pictures of what we did but I don't feel comfortable posting pictures of other people's kids.  (Or mine for that matter, despite how lovely they are- ha ha!)  I wish could relate the sheer pleasure of looking out in a room where 200 others love Latin and want to spend their day with each other.  I had a number of great parent volunteers and two of my former students who made the day even more marvelous.  These two young men have been coming to help for so many years, I hardly have to do anything! Well, at least the day of anyway.  This is a dream of mine come true each year.

But really this is a blog for tatting.  I came home last night so, so tired but I wanted to tat and managed day 2 of the TIAS.  But my camera battery was dead from the Ludi so I couldn't take a picture until today- haha!
Here it is:

Latin for today: otiosa cras ero = I'm on break tomorrow!

nuntium quinquagesimum septimum (57th post) So lucky (again) and TIAS

First, I have to tell you how lucky I am AGAIN!  I won/didn't win Marty's giveaway for her beautiful fractal shuttle.  I loved the design but I like the aeros (Thanks to La Cossette) so I said not to enter me in the comment.  Marty picked me though and she felt bad for me so went out, got an Aero, and made me one too! 

Isn't it gorgeous?

Despite my gigantic Latin event coming on Saturday, I thought I'd give Jane Eborall's TIAS a try this year.  So I dutifully wound my two shuttles to the brim with Lizbeth Boysenberry (a new color for me) and as I was moving the beads, the dread "splitting" happened.  My first time- ARGH!

So I had to cut the thread, get rid of the split and start with hiding my ends.  But I got to try Jane's way and liked it.

Here's my day one.  I have NO idea what it is.

Latin for today:  nullum consilium habeo!  = I have no idea!

nuntium quinquagesimum sextum (56th post) school spirit

School tomorrow.  I sure love the freedom of break.  Getting up when I want, eating lunch out (and for longer than 23 minutes) and getting to go to the bathroom whenever I want.  Ha-ha!  But I'm excited to see the kids and hear their stories and be around all that energy.  I decided to make my younger daughter a "spirit" bracelet.  Want to guess the school colors?

motif #10

I had seen another bracelet with this pattern but it really is Jane from South Africa's pattern which I'd seen on Jane Eborall's blog.  Well, actually Cindy recognized it and helped me find the pattern on Jane's site when we got together yesterday, it's so wonderful having a tatting buddy!


I also made another snowflake.  I saw this on a blog and really liked it.  It's from Orsi's Spulni-blog. (Thanks, Frivole and Fox!) The shape is really appealing to me.

 unattributed motif #11

Yesterday was the day to take down all the Christmas things which is a BIG task in our house because we're Christmas nuts around here.  Always a little sad to see how bare the place is after- in fact we leave Bedford Falls up until Presidents' Day just because none of us can bear to have everything down at once.  I think we have 12 crates of Christmas things in the basement now.  But before I put them away, I thought to take a picture of a few things I've tatted BK (before kids).  I don't have any idea what patterns these come from but rest assured they are NOT my creation.

We use this one at the base of a big candle (in a holder)

top view

This one is about 12 inches from side to side

a close-up

And so that's all, now the craziness will commence with the big event on Saturday.  I will be reading blogs but probably not writing but hopefully tatting!

Latin for today:  nunc laborandum mihi est!  = Now I have to work!

nuntium quinquagesimum quintum (55th post) picot gauge

 My sister commissioned me to make snowflakes for her little tree.  She almost never asks me for anything so I was happy to do it.  These are Decoromana's and Elizabeth Zipay's patterns.  (I followed the patterns this time.)

Then I tried something new, something I've been wanting to do since Frivole designed and shared her Stellar snowflake.   I really like it and have jumped on the Lizbeth Blue Ice bandwagon.  I'm pleased with it.

motif #7  Frivole's Stellar

 On a roll, I thought I'd try Frivole's CrissCross Snowflake.  Hmm.  These are not the results I was thinking of.  I hadn't really seriously tried a picot gauge before so I dutifully made a 2cm one because the directions call for it.  Since Frivole's directions are so good, I thought I'd better do it.  But I think I misunderstood how picot gauges work OR I tat very tightly?  Should a 2cm picot gauge be 1cm in width so the entire picot would be 2cm?  It seems like what I have is almost double what I should.  And to top it off, there's a ring where the thread split and I couldn't close it.  And I made another mistake somewhere else.  Truly I don't get flustered too often.  Try again or move on?  Dare I even try Regal?  It's gorgeous but I don't want to mangle it too.

motif #8 almost Frivole's CrissCross Snowflake

And I saw this little cutie on Julie's blog.  It's designed by Sally MacGill and you can find the pattern here.  This is the same Blue Ice as above- but what a difference sunlight makes.  (Both were taken in natural sunlight but one day was cloudy and the other we actually had sun.)

motif #9 - just a little sweetie (not blocked or pressed though)

Now that's all you'll hear from me for a while.  I'm hosting a BIG Latin event at my school for kids all around, we'll have some that will come from Fargo, ND and others from Rochester, MN and more the Twin Cities area.  It's an all day event and I've been doing it for ten years.  There are 186 kids coming and it's sort of like organizing a wedding every year, I write the tests, oral competition questions, wrangle everyone into 2 tests, a mini-session (hands-on creative Roman event), get them pizza and pop and also spend an hour of the day doing Ludi Olympici or silly Olympics.  If you want a laugh, you can go to the Ludi website and watch some of the videos.

Latin for today:  serius obdormivi sed non hac nocte = I went to bed late last night but not tonight!