Anemone Almost Done

A week or two ago I almost finished this doily, "Anemone Nemorosa" by Iris Neibach. It is in her book Tatting Fantasia 2. I was drawn to it because I had not made an oval doily before.

I say almost finished. I have made all the stitches and worked in all the ends, and even performed a bit of surgery to repair a mistake noticed much too late. What I lack is blocking it so it will lay nice and flat so it may be fully appreciated. I've got a styrofoam board and some rust-proof pins. What I lack is the time. I think I will put it away until after the move.

Even with a four day weekend, I did not finish stripping the wall paper in the master bedroom. In my defense, I did not get to start until after lunch every day. We did get quite a lot of other things accomplished, though.

Home Sweet Home

Well, it's official. Today we signed the papers to buy this townhouse.

Goodbye, rent payments; hello mortgage.

Goodbye, apartment plain white walls; hello ??!!??!!

Decorating seems to have been the hobby (or obsession) of the former owners.

This bathroom is nice.

This one.....isn't. It has a fishing reel shaped toilet paper dispenser, too.

This is the INSIDE of my closet.

This, unfortunately, is the wall of my eat-in kitchen.

On the first of an infinite number of trips to Home Depot, I got a wallpaper steamer ;)

Give-away Winner!

The winner of the magazines is sherrya! Please contact me to claim your prize.

Mary Konior's Rockingham Cross

Sometime late last year I made this series of crosses. The pattern is "Rockingham" in Mary Konior's Tatting in Lace. First I made the solid version above. The pattern is written in 2 parts, but I figured out how to make it all in one pass, using a split chain and a split ring to move into the last section on the bottom. So far, so good.

Next I worked it in this variegated thread I got from the Thread Exchange. This is a size 10 rayon thread. I ran out of thread on both shuttles too soon, so I ended up making it in 2 parts anyway. Even though rayon thread is usually slippery, it was oddly hard to close rings completely. The ring where I worked in the ends stretched out of shape. I've got a little of that thread left. I keep meaning to rework that bottom part, but you know how that goes. After doing a solid and a variegate version, my next project was to make the pattern with both types of thread. Still stinging from running out of thread the previous time, I wound plenty onto both shuttles. About halfway through, it occurred to me that I couldn't work it in one pass anyway, because the split chain would show the wrong color. Or could I? I remembered Jane had shown a new technique for a Single Shuttle Split Chain. It was something I had looked at and decided I would probably never use since I was satisfied with my split chain ability with the traditional method. However, it was just what I needed to preserve the color scheme here. Did it work? Yes. Was is more time consuming than just working the cut & tie & hiding ends? Well, maybe. Still, it's one more technique in my "tatting toolbox." (Note I also used the color-hiding single shuttle split ring trick that Tatting Chic and I worked out.)

I've been neglecting my 25 Motif Challenge. My goal this time was to count only motifs from books. I think this is only motif #3. I really am behind....

Mary's Book Update

I've been getting a lot of questions about the travelling book. Yes, it is now in route. I looked at my list of people, and came up with a geographical scheme. The book will take the longest trip first, and then a series of short hops across North America. (Late-comers will be tacked on at the end.)

Here is the list:

Jon

Marie

Diane

Deborah

Karrieann

Sandra

Mary

Katie

Sarah

Carol

Kelly

Jeanne

**Robert**

Sherry

Brigitte

Ann

Bree

Karen

Connie

Shannon

Michelle

Julie

Laura

Ronda

Linda

Deb

Roberta

Nancy

Leah

Meriem

Martha

Coretta

Another Giveaway

I've got too much stuff, and I'm trying to thin it out before I move. So, here for one lucky winner is a set of magazines with at least one tatting pattern each. I have 2 Popular Needlework (Sep 68, Apr 69), 2 Old Time Crochet (Spring 95, Spring 99), and 3 Needlecraft (Sep 22, Feb 23, and Aug 24). Two of the Needlecrafts are missing their covers and the other is a little beat up, but still so much fun to look at.

To enter the give-away, simply leave a comment on this post, just once please. The deadline to enter is midnight, Sunday April 3. I can cover domestic postage, but I would ask anyone outside the US to cover part of the mailing expense. (The package will weigh almost 2 pounds.)

Good luck to everyone.

Shameless personal plug: I have a lot of non-tatting craft books & magazines on ebay, see them here.

Meditative Tatting

When you feel all tensed up, with too much to do, or too much on your mind, sometimes the best thing to do is let it all go, and pick up a piece of simple tatting. Working easy repetitions lets you empty your mind and find a quiet place to get away from it all for a little while. Just when I needed something like this, I was lucky to have such a pattern appear in my inbox, courtesy of Nancy Tracy's Bestitched newsletter. You can see her pattern here, and while you are there, you can look around her site for many more nice patterns, or shop for supplies.

She saw this medallion as a spring flower, but since it had six petals, I worked it in white to use for the new Palmetto fundraiser. Yes, there is to be another group project quilt. This time, instead of quilt blocks, they are asking for white snowflakes in all sizes. See Georgia's site here for all the details.