Saturday, January 29, 2011

Tatting Give-Away Time


OK, folks, I promised you a give-away this month, so I'd better get going. No special occasion to celebrate, just my feeling that I've won enough times that it is my turn to pass it forward.

Here we have: "The Craft of Tatting" by Bessie Attenborough, a nice little book with lots of traditional pattens. (The book itself is in good condition, but has only part of the dust jacket remaining.)

"A Book of Edging" from Coats & Clark, a leaflet from 1982, also a bit worn.

A half-ring braid bracelet kit that somehow showed up extra after I taught that class at Palmetto last year. The kit includes a Sew-Mate shuttle.

A floral design wooden shuttle by Georgia.

Byzantine chain maille earrings by Jeff, known as Redeye on Etsy.

A tatted teapot with buttons by me.

A ball of vintage Star tatting thread.

A pill keeper good for storing beads, (or pills, I don't care:)

Maybe some more stuff I find later until the box is full.

To enter, simply leave a comment to this post. I will select the winner by some random method a week from today, on February 5th. So did I meet my deadline by posting in January, or miss it by drawing in February?

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Pretty Shuttles

A little while back, I treated myself to some beautiful shuttles from La Cossette's Etsy shop. Quite a few tatters had been showing off theirs, and I decided to get some for myself. I liked these floral designs from previous sales better than the ones currently in the shop, but she was happy to take a special order and had them ready very soon. I miss the posts on the back a little, but these shuttles are a pleasure to tat with. The surface has just a little texture which is good for a firm grip, and I feel a bit elegant when my tools are nice.



Here are a few more pictures of the apple wood Pop-a-Bobbin shuttle I received from Sally. I already thought this shuttle was lovely, and then later I was really touched to find out that the wood was special, having come from a tree that belonged to her father.






At last, pretty shuttles for bobbin shuttle tatters!

Monday, January 17, 2011

Thank You, Tatting Fairy Godmother!



I have a mysterious anonymous benefactor (benefactress?) Not too long ago, I began to get intriguing messages through a third party asking about my likes and preferences. Next, this secret person sent gifts, commissions from Jane and Sally and a gift certificate from Marilee. I certainly feel blown away and very honored. Since this began too late for Santa Claus, I have dubbed this mysterious wonderful person my Tatting Fairy Godmother.

Look what I received:
An apple wood Pop-a-Bobbin shuttle. Isn't it pretty? It feels so nice in my hand. Presently it's dedicated to the TIAS project.

My choice of some Yarnplayer threads. I got an assortment of sizes and colors. One of these I think is the same thread as a much admired snowflake Miranda gave me.

One of Jane's new magnetic bookmarks. The butterfly on top is so colorful. I love it. These magnets really are strong for their size. I had the hardest time making this scan because the bookmark kept following the scanner bar, dragging everything else along behind it.

Thank you so much, Tatting Fairy Godmother, whoever you are.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

A Trip to Washington

As always, time races on faster than I can blog about it. Right now, I'm engaged in some top secret tatting, so I will go back and fill in with some older events.

Last fall, we visited my sister in Maryland. That's just an easy Metro ride from Washington, DC. I was surprised to hear that DH had never toured the monuments, so we spent a long day's walk doing that. We got to a few that I had never been to either. I'm sure you all know what the Washington and Lincoln monuments look like already, so here are a couple others.



This is the World War II Memorial (well about half of it).



This is the Korean War Memorial. The statues are a bit eerie.



Surprise tatting content! After the monuments, we had time for a quick run through just a few parts of the Smithsonian American History Museum. In the "Miniature World of Faith Bradford" exhibit (a huge dollhouse of miniatures), I spotted this tiny tatted doily.