Poncho and Tat Days Prep

Shockingly, I recently ran out of notecards. Or at least, if I have more notecards, I cannot find them, which amounts to the same thing. Luckily, I am prepared. I have a pad of decent quality watercolor paper, 6"x9", and washi tape and rubber stamps and bits of tatting. Between these elements, I can make my own notepaper. The drawback is a lack of envelopes. However, as per this blog, there's a solution for that. I often use old calendars and maps.

Here's an analysis someone has done, attempting to use Spotify to identify timeless music. It's interesting and it might be possible, due to modern technology. The only other way to measure how popular an older song is (to my knowledge) is it still being purchased? If I'm wrong, please let me know. I'm curious about this.

CD, my SO, made another chocolate chess pie. This one was ever better. It was lighter and the crust was softer. I don't like hard pie crust. He used grated frozen butter and frozen vanilla vodka and colder dough means softer crust.

My boss turns 50 this week, so the office got together to celebrate. Monday evening, three of us decorated his office with balloons, caution tape, etc. At lunch, the people who share an office with him added more. We had cake, ice cream, nuts, chips, and CD's pie. We were supposed to have punch but the woman making it dropped her punch bowl and it broke. Luckily, it wasn't an antique or anything like that.

picture from iPad game, Neko Atsume

And this arrived this week

Pretty

Remember the cape from last year? My...additions are complete. Bwahahahaha.

And coincidentally, Michael's had Aunt Lydia's Mexicana thread in size 10 on sale, $2.93 each if purchasing 3 or more, compared to the usual $3.49. No connection. At all. Really. I mean that.

I've been trying to write in my journal again. This blog , with daily journal prompts, is inspiring.

Someone save me. My eye was caught by a small Dr. Who sampler, I now want to do a larger sampler with the transcript from Blink. There are some obstacles; one, what fabric would I use; two, do I do the entire transcript or just the Dr's lines; and the hardest one to overcome, time.

British Library published public domain pictures. Much fun.

Nothing Exciting

I consumed too much caffeine last Tuesday. I finally got to sleep around 3 am. I made it into work and made it through the day; although I did take a nap at lunchtime.

C made a chocolate chess pie. I may have bragged a little bit on social media. As a result, I have two people strongly request I bring some when they see me, Palmetto Tat Days and Village of Yesteryear. I told them I'd ask, but I wasn't guaranteeing anything.

We played our next session of Wardens of the Reborn Forge (Pathfinder module) on Sunday. We had some close fights but we made it successfully through the session.

I think I finally figured out the pattern I'm supposed to be assisting at Palmetto Tat Days. Yay me (& Georgia). 

Palmetto Tat Days, less than a month

It's less than a month until Palmetto Tat Days. I haven't started fretting about my prep yet. I have gotten emails about homework, though. And packing will be...interesting this year.

Thanks to Anitra's car being a yutz, we'll be taking my car. Another local tatter will be coming with us (we'll call her V). My car is Honda Civic. I think I'll be packing smaller to get all of us into it. We have a bag of tins from CK, plus the ones Mom and I have collected to take. Plus there's the infamous poncho and its decoy, neither of which qualify as particularly small. Figure at least 2 bags for each of us on the way down, and 3 bags when we return (we will be making purchases after all). It's going to be a squeeze. Added, we're picking up a 4th tatter on the way. I have ordered a TripTik from AAA.

I'll be Georgia Seitz's assistant in her class on weird joins. Such a thrill. Georgia Seitz is such a sweet lady. I've been working on that project instead of the gold/silver bead bracelet and necklace.

homework for Georgia's class

Had the monthly date with CC last week. She's applying for a project at work. Her video interview was Friday. I need to find out how that went.

I am terrified of dentists. I wasn't always, but the older I get the more anxious I get about them. It's not a phobia because it's not an irrational fear. I have a small mouth, soft tooth enamel, and a sensitive gag reflex; both of these contribute to a potentially lousy visit. Add in some past experiences, and well, let's just say it adds up.

However, I had a toothache, and it got bad enough I couldn't sleep. It wasn't a constant pain either, it would come and go in waves. After a couple days, I worked up the nerve and found a dentist in my insurance network, and who was close to my home. They saw me quickly, at least for an initial problem-solving and we've scheduled a follow-up to take care of some other issues. The dentist and staff were all very nice and understanding about my anxiety. The dentist even asked what incidents contributed to my anxiety so as to avoid doing those things, or at least be aware of possible triggers.

I finished the tatting on the bracelet to match the earrings. Now I need to make a necklace. Karey suggested using a large bead and threading the beaded tassel/tatting through that, although the bookmark has me toying with making a lariat necklace.

A friend of mine (not a close friend but we have a huge overlap in social circles) has been going through a big change in her life. It's been a kind of a scary change for her so I plan to make a bracelet for her. Of course, I have a necklace, a star/snowflake, and State Fair jewelry project to make. Of course, I could overlap the State Fair project and her bracelet. I am taking a bracelet class at Palmetto Tat Days, I think.

C made chocolate chess pie. It is yum.

These are some things from Kickstarter projects that arrived last week. The artist did a really good job with the illustrations and the cards. I have friends who want to buy the deck and I'm trying to find out how they can do that.

I got the PDF of the gamebook, too

Another Busy Weekend

The folks from PBS picked up my Saturn on Thursday. I'm a little torn. I drove that car for 20 years, so I'll miss it. On the other hand, it wasn't as reliable anymore and it kept needing repairs, usually expensive ones. I have to pay property, etc taxes on it one last time.

Anitra's car decided to misbehave so I gave her a ride to Mordecai House on Saturday. They have a living history day on the 1st Saturday of the month; they invite people doing or demonstrating old skills to come to the museum. Last time the Triangle Tatters were there, there was also a chair caner; although he was outside, under the trees.

They had us in the visitor center again (yay, air conditioning), but not in the classroom. We were in a room facing the doors, which was nice. We had a number of people stop by to watch and/or talk to us. I made a pair of earring from Karey Solomon's book, Tatting by Ear. And because I couldn't get the beads back into the bag, I also made the bookmark based on the same pattern. And maybe I'll make a necklace, or a bracelet. Since I already have the beads on the thread (thank you Beadalon beadspinner). I used Autumn Spice (size 20, Lizbeth#136) thread and mixed gold and silver beads from Michael's.

As I was entering Anitra's house, I felt something on the back of my neck. I figured something from a tree had gotten caught in my hair so I brushed it off. It was not plant matter. FYI, wasps do not like being brushed off. Ow. Anitra and Steve treated the wasp sting and while it twinged off and on all day and I am avoiding collared shirts for now, it's not that bad.

When I got home, I had packages waiting. Both are from Kickstarter projects I backed. 

box for cards

sampling of cards

I backed the Kickstarter at PDF level and got these extras on top of that (GM screen, book of essays, and cardstock character sheets)

Sunday, I made a stab and sorting and culling stuff. I did not get as much done on that front as I would have liked.