Showing posts with label photographs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label photographs. Show all posts

Monday, April 14, 2025

It's been a month plus?!

 

I finished my 1st draft of my Morse code edging. I used single picots for dot and double picots for dash. I’m not that happy with it. It seems visually noisy.

Ring and chain edging with varied picots


There are other options. I could do SCMR (self closing mock rings) and so single picot for dot & Josephine knot for dash.

I could use a picot for dot & bead for dash. Or bead for dot and 2 beads (1 up and 1 down) for dash. I could even try, although I’m not likely to, using seed beads and bugles beads for dots and dashes.

I finally finished a bear from Loomahats book with tiny loom knit bears (look up title). I wanted to use up some yarn left from another project but there wasn’t very much. The bear body took most of it, but I wasn’t sure there was enough for the limbs, so I used leftover coordinating yarn for limbs, ears, and snout. Plus a 3rd yarn for the headband. I think I will also add tatted flowers to the headband. I wish I had thought of that before I sewed the headband to the bear.

Knit teddy bear in fuzzy yarn with smoother yarn limbs and headband


There’s a peanut butter snack ball recipe I’ve had for over a month. I finally picked up the last two ingredients. There’s an optional 3rd ingredient I don’t have, but it’s optional. And kind of expensive for the amount I need for the recipe.

Spring has sprung, in all of its pollinated glory. At least the flowers are pretty.

My friend with the mid-March birthday celebrated late this year. He rents a picnic pavilion at a park, as his house isn’t really big enough for all the guests. He makes it a cookout and provides the charcoal and everyone brings good. C made burgers and my favorite fruit dessert. C takes raspberries and blackberries, muddles some with honey and lime; he added fresh rosemary this time. Then mixes crème fresh with mascarpone, honey, and lime. Layers the fresh berries with the muddled berries, then covers the whole with the crème fresh/mascarpone frosting-like. The berries are quite tart and the frosting is creamy and they work together so well. Sorry, I don’t have pictures because I forgot.

March 29th, Tri-Tatters did our demonstration on the Matriarchs of Mordecai day. There was a lecture in the visitor center, so we were on the porch of the big house, aka the yellow house. If you look carefully, you can see the shadows of the display in the pollen on the tablecloth.

Shadows where items were, outlined by pollen

 

And footprints in the pollen on the porch (oooh, alliteration).

boards with smears in pollen

 

At the Carolina Fiber Fest I talked to a woman who concentrates on linen and cotton. She recommended I use 100% cotton thread to sew my linen edging to my linen hankie, since I am highly unlikely to find linen sewing thread.

If Michaels has 100% cotton thread, I didn’t see it. And of course, the thread rack at Joanne’s is denuded. I emailed one online company because I wasn’t sure which of 3 colors would work best, and you can’t really trust what you see on a computer screen. They were not helpful, ‘whichever one you think is closest.’ I understand them not wanting to take a chance since I asked for ‘closest to unbleached linen,’ but still. I’d rather have a ‘we do not have enough information to give you a reliable recommendation’ than telling me to trust my video card. The whole [gold and white/blue and black dressfiasco] proves that you still can’t trust video cards (although one article I read blamed other factors like people perceiving the color difference due to whether they think it’s in shadow or not and in artificial or natural light). 

I volunteered to make motifs for pin cushion/needle something for part of NCRL’s provided goodie bags to next year’s IOLI. I plan to make 25 and I made 14 in less than a week. I need to have them done by May 3rd, the NCRL Spring Lace Day. Sumiko is doing the sewing and she needs to have them on hand. 

pile of tatted motifs

 

I also need to recover my headphones. They are very expensive ones that I got secondhand for a really good price. Alas, the cover has split on one ear and I need to cover it before it gets worse. And if I’m covering one, I should cover the other. I have some nice, soft knit to use; black with white print.

I got the knit to make shorts or leggings but I’ve been using it to patch stretch jeans, etc. Both because a stretchy patch is better for a stretchy garment and because knits don’t need to be hemmed.

If you’re wondering why this post is so long, there are 2 reasons. One is that it has been a long time since my last post. The other is that my supervisor has requested that I avoid social media during working hours. Which wouldn’t be a big deal except the only people who can see my screen are behind me. I have a privacy screen on my display because I sometimes look at sensitive information. And there are times when I am quite busy and there are downtimes when I don’t have anything to do.

I can’t do trainings during slow times, because between the noise of the area and the poor quality of the speakers, I can’t really follow anything. I have old tv, radio, and movies playing because I feel no need to follow the plot and don’t need to watch them. I do have headphones, but they were ordered when I thought this change was temporary and I only needed them long enough to listen to voicemails, which are rarely more than 2 minutes long.

I have ordered new earbuds. One, I only need to wear one, so I can attend to people at the counter without an earbud that suggests I’m not paying attention to them. Two, I can actually hear training videos without ear pain. Most trainings can be interrupted, although being able to take them without interruption is better. That’s not going to happen, so I need to work with what will happen.

Obviously, I can’t tat or loom knit either. I hate having to look busy. I don’t mind being busy, just having to look busy when it’s not.

And I can’t go far from the counter for very long. Yes, other staff can handle it but the counter is my primary responsibility.

Instead, I will work on my writing. Thank goodness for the ergonomic keyboard.

Tuesday, September 03, 2024

A week after Tat Days

 As usual, Tat Days was a blast. My class Thursday night went pretty well (multiple people finished their version of Solar Flare). I repeated that I didn't care if they didn't do it the exact way I did, the pattern is flexible and as long as they were happy with it, then it's a success. 

But one tatter gave me such a compliment. She finished her Solar Flare on a jump ring, and said she's going to use it as the snowflake in her Christmas cards this year. 

Ridgecrest was nice but very confusing. We had a map of the conference center and we had maps of the individual buildings, but we didn't have maps showing us how buildings connected. For example, you could walk entirely around the dining building from the building with Tat Days to get to the building with our rooms, or you could go through a door at a dead end hall, go up half a flight of stairs, and be on the 2nd floor of the rooms. 

Paper map of Ridgecrest contion center

 

The scenery and weather were gorgeous. Saturday morning I even saw my breath (after the extreme heat this past summer, that was a blessing). 

For the first time, the webmistress of SomethingUnderTheBed was able to attend. I think she was a little surprised by her popularity. 

I wanted to take at least some of Randy's classes, but you can never take all the classes you want to take. I bought his latest book and Anitra took all of his classes, so she can help me.

I wasn't entirely certain about Bev Corder's Art Trading Card class. I was definitely intrigued but I wasn't certain how my end result was going to be, and if I would be happy with it. By the end of class, I had finished 4 cards and was thinking about more. Here are my cards.

Small card with tatted flowers and a quote card "Art is not just a painting" and handwritten "a garden is art made of flowers."
Flower Garden Art Trading Card

Small card with tatted leaves and handwritten 'don't leaf me alone'
Leaf Art Trading Card

Small card with rounded corners, tatted half-circle motifs in upper corners and a metallic tatted snowflake a the bottom. A quote card in the middle "Objects with stories to tell become Art."
Art Object Trading Card

Small card with tatted edging of flowers on the bottom edge and a quote card "Art is the essence of beauty."
Essence of Art Trading Card

  I also like my Posies for Nina class (Karey Solomon) and I got a second kit so I can do it again. Then I'll probably make my own 'kits' to make some more in different colors. 

5 petal tatted flower with beaded tatted chain petals, that look striped. Center is a glass 'stone'.
Posies for Nina pendant

 I need to tat Jane Eborall's This Way and That Way Snowflake again. I'm not happy with my block tatting. She was showing another way to do it and my lines of tatting are kind of uneven.

6 pointed tatted flake with block tatting forming the points, on top of the pattern showing title and example picture
block tatted snowflake

On the other hand, I'm very happy with my flower(s) from Heidi Nakayama's class. They're going to be earrings. I have 2 flowers done, but they don't quite match (one is dark purple and the other is Elderberry Jam, an ombre purple). 

Two five-petaled flowers with solid petals (block tatting). One has a contrasting single ring 'flower center' resting on it.
WIP earrings

 Sharren Morgan's Lattice Edging is pretty easy. She also provided variations and a couple corner treatments in her pattern. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but I realized it was perfect to trim the tote bag we got. I'm almost done, but I've said that for 2 days. 

Tatted inserted edging with alternating rings in 2 sizes, laid near the top of a tote bag
Lattice edging

2024 Palmetto Tat Days tote bag with logo, ABC Tatting is About Being Creative
Palmetto Tat Days 2024 tote
I bought 2 stickers and put them on my journal. I should take pictures of my goodie bag and my purchases.  

Cup with the words "Tatting, Chocolate, Repeat" on it
Tatting advice sticker

"Tatting Lace is my Superpower" round sticker
My Superpower sticker, on my journal

The drive wasn't very long, even with the detour to get Martha, but I had to stop and get a 5-hour energy drink. Luckily, I only drink them about 4 times a year (maybe only 2), so I'm not greatly concerned with their effects. When caffeinated drinks alone are not enough, and I'm driving some distance, then I partake. Luckily, they also taste nasty, so I'm not tempted.

Have you ever heard of Yaupon Holly? It's a holly native to the SE part of North America. It's also related to yerba mate and it's a caffeine source. I bought some tea from a company in Wilmington, North Carolina. I got a variety similar to black tea, and it's tasty. To me it tastes more herbal than traditional teas.

They had muscadine grapes in the store the other day. I couldn't resist, so I bought some. I shared them with my co-workers and finished them off myself. They're tasty, but a little messy.


 


Tuesday, July 30, 2024

Still no zipline pictures

 I still haven't gotten pictures from my zipline experience. I think I'll need to request them.

Rain spattered car window looking at the sky, there may be rainbow visible

I swear, there was a rainbow. But there was also lots of rain.


Ombre red triangle of tatted lace sewn to triangle of fabric. Fabric is tan with blue checks and red hearts.
I've tatted more triangles, but I need to find matching fabric. Or at least coordinating.
Mullein plant going to seed. Growing in area growing wild.
My plant id app says this is mullein.
close up of mullein spike going to seed.

There's a few flowers left at the bottom.


We finally got some rain, but not enough to get us completely out of drought.

Thursday, May 16, 2024

Again, it's been more than 2 weeks

I hate summer colds. I just felt tired and my sinuses went awry (lots of drainage and coughing). I got sick the Sunday after the Matriarchs of Mordecai. Both Tri-Tatters and Sir Walter Lacers made an appearance. It was a lovely day and we all had fun making lace. Liz did both bobbin lace and needle lace.
This was my section of the display.
And this is what the cicadas around me sound like, plus some bird song. Doesn't it sound like a 1950s UFO hovering? My partner says it sounds like a over charged phaser about the blow. Yes, only grass is visible.
I found a couple dresses for mom for Mother's Day. Since I'm traveling to see her on the 18th (between Mother's Day and my birthday), it's good time to deliver them. I have earrings for my stepmom, and rose salve for both.
I mended my jeans. I have 2 more pairs still to fix.
I really love magnolia blossoms.
I'm sorry about the lack of alt text. Something changed and now instead of pictures, when I'm composing the post, all I see is a block of code.

Thursday, January 11, 2024

Guess who got sick?

 You've got 3 guesses & 1st 2 don't count.

It wasn't Covid (I tested) but it might have been RSVP. It definitely involved mucus and fever. For about 2 days I lived on water and intermittent peanut butter crackers (I couldn't manage more than 1 at a time). 

I did get some tatting done, before & after. I made snowflakes for several friends (from A Veritable Tatted Blizzard). I gave this year's State Fair Ornament entry to a pair of friends who will appreciate it. 

I'm glad I went to see my family before Christmas, so getting sick didn't ruin that at least. But my other plans, Christmas dinner with my partner's family, sewing, tatting, etc all got kiboshed. 

I was already scheduled to be off work so no need to notify anyone there.

At least I recovered enough that I was both feeling better and not contagious so I could maintain the Christmas/New Year tradition of the party with my friends from high school, plus additions.

I don't think I got many pictures of the snowflakes I made. I'll need to check. I have 3 at least. The picture with 2 flakes are the same pattern that I made a slight error on. But once is a mistake, repeat and it's a design element.

Tatted snowflake in 2 rounds. Central round is spoked with rings on the end. 2nd round has a 5 petal flower above the rings of the 1st round. 2 small rings joined to the flowers keep the 2nd round stable
Frosted Flower Snowflake

2 tatted snowflakes, identical except for length of chains in 2nd (outer) round.
1st flake in the book, done twice
  
We had a springlike thunderstorm on the 9th. Luckily, we didn't get hit by a tornado but some neighboring communities did.
Intersection with stoplight at night, focus is on water flowing down a sidewalk
We got some rain on Jan 9th
 


Knitted scarf in progress hanging from a knitting loom. Yarn color changes from greys to white as it descends. Bottom is rib knit, then seed stitch, and rest is modified garter stitch (rows are 2 knit 1 purl)
pocket scarf progress

2 dimensional squirrel doll with embroidered features (tail, acorn, face, limbs)
Kiriki Press kit squirrel

small tin of Danish butter cookies with gift tag made of white paper folded and top layer cut like a cut out snowflake
I'm proud of this tag on a coworker's cookies

I also joined a 2024 Temperature Tat A Long (this is as of January 9th)
10 square tatted motifs, alternating square set and on point. 1st motif is metallic silvery blue. Other motifs have 2 colors, inner for low temp of the day and outer for high temp of the day. 2 motifs have beads added.
2024 TTAL January 9th
The metallic is to start the year & remind me where the start is so I don't accidentally join to the wrong end. Beads are for >1/2" of rain. No snow/ice yet.


Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Projects etc

 I had to drive to Greensboro to take care of something for my mom. It emphasized my desire to take the train instead. But the matter is handled and Mom was happy to see me.

I also gave her a recent picture of me and one of me in my Halloween outfit. That was lovely. It seems awfully self-centered to give her photos of myself, but she seems to like that.

I have finished the embroidery on the Kiriki Press squirrel doll. Next step is to sew the back to the front, cut it out, and stuff it. 

Printed squirrel with embroidery added on tail, acorn, delineated limbs, etc

Progress also continues on the bun cover in Lizbeth spice cake. I am doing a better job with the front side/back side tatting.

WIP tatted bun cover, up to round 4

The Online Tatting Class founded by Georgia Seitz is doing ANKARs right now. Which I don't really have an interest in doing. It's pretty enough and I've seen some truly striking pieces, it just doesn't blow my skirt up (as my mom used to say).

I have an idea for a story. I've written maybe a page and a half. It's a 'former Chosen One' story. I also heard about one with a similar idea. Except in that one kid who's been raised as 'The Chosen One to Take Down This Tyrant' is left with no future when someone else gets rid of the tyrant. Unfortunately, I don't have a title.

I've also started a scarf. Hopefully, it will be a pocketed scarf. I'm using Loomhat's instructions.

Scarf in progress, in chunky thread from a knitting loom, Caron chunky color, showing 3 different stitches


Wednesday, September 06, 2023

Recovering

It's been over a week. Work had us out for 2 days. Then holiday weekend with gaming plans. Unfortunately the GM got sick so it was cancelled. 

I finished the size 80 edging (finally). Now I need to find the safe place I put the hankie. 

I finished the bottle holder (from a few years ago). Looks good and works well. It's a Sharren Morgan pattern I started a few Palmetto Tat Days ago. I asked her for help and she was able to figure out my next step. 

I spilled Cheerwine Zero on my '1st doily', aka my bun cover. I made it over 20 years ago and I hadn't realized how dingy it had gotten. Now it had a red/pink stain. I soaked it overnight in Oxyclean, then put it in a lingerie bag to wash with the rest of the laundry. I should block it I suppose. On the other hand, it's really clean and white now. 

Yesterday I was called for jury duty. I took a couple books (Women's Work:The First 20,000 Years Women, Cloth, and Society in Early Times and Blades in the Dark) plus my tatting and a new ebook. I've almost finished Women's Work (it's pretty good, albeit Eurocentric), plus onto point 5 of my second attempt of Karey's Beaded Celtic Constitutional. I stopped there as I spotted I had missed the beads in a beaded join earlier in the work. 

My 'jury duty pay' almost paid for lunch. Before tip. Oh well, I got paid to read and tat. Back to the office tomorrow.

Friday, August 25, 2023

quick update (supposed to be July 12)

 Here's a picture of the Chinese coin, made into a pendant with tatting.

Chinese coin held in linen thread tatting

Our 5e game was Thursday. Turns out the fey we met wasn't my PC's lost lost mom. Considering what she was like, that's a relief (she was a hag, and she killed our aunt at the beginning of the game).

Friday, we got together to plan a friend's party. She's having a gaming weekend, kind of a mini-con for her next birthday. It takes a lot of planning, so we're starting now. 

I went to see my parents over the weekend. Surprisingly, traffic was not too bad. I didn't run into any rolling stops or slow and go. My stepmom liked the earrings I gave her. It's getting harder to find neat/unusual red, white, and blue earrings. I gave mom a copy of the photo of me dressed for the wedding.

Floral style tatted edging next to corner of handkerchief embroidered with a floral motif

This is the daisy edging and the hanky. The pattern is from Mastering tatting.

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Wedding and Mayberry

 Saturday was the wedding! We were cutting it close, but not too bad, until we discovered there was a walk (not a short one) between the parking and the ceremony. It was a graveled path (glad I didn't wear my heels), which is not a quiet walk, so we stopped short a distance away. We were waved on by a member of the wedding party. We circled around to the seating and were lucky enough to have partial shade. 

And I was glad to have my hand fan, which coincidentally matched the one they were handing out to attendees. 

It was lovely. They both looked so wonderful. They had a very large wedding party but the bridesmaids were not all matchy-matchy. They wore the same color (pomegranate, which was the wedding theme because they apparently shared one during their 1st date), but in dresses, jumpsuits, sleeveless, spaghetti straps, etc.

After the ceremony, we went to the pavilion for the reception. Still outdoors, but under a roof and with ceiling fans. Waitstaff circulated with hors d'oeuvres; cucumber slices with dill cream cheese and also dollops of bacon jam and pimento on pork rind. They helped stave off starvation until the wedding party arrived (from the picture taking) and food was served, buffet style. 

The music was great and it was lovely meeting some of the couple's friends. There was dancing and laughter and conversation. Guests wore everything from cargo shorts or jeans to full 3-piece suits. There was also a photo kiosk with a table of silly hats and props. Users had the option of printing 2 copies, 1 for themselves and 1 for the wedding photo album. 

I knew my dress was short, but I didn't realize how short until I sat down. I had to adjust every time I stood up to make it reach my knees. At least I looked good. Although I had to hang it up to dry before I tossed it in with the dirty clothes.

We knew we were going to be up late and it's a 2+ hour drive home so we had a hotel room. And since we were 'in the area' we went to Mt. Airy and visited Mayberry Square.

Alas, it wasn't quite noon, on Sunday. Very little was open, including the bathrooms in the park. We did some window shopping but it was ridiculously hot and humid. We made it to the Antique Mall's (lots of individual vendor booths under 1 roof) opening hour (AC!), looked around a little and went to grab lunch to eat in the park. We went back to the antique mall but the $12 jar of buttons was gone, oh well, I missed it. I did get a large jar of sewing notions (mostly thread, but some buttons, scissors, etc) and a hatpin! It's a very plain hatpin, but within my budget. I saw one piece of tatting, on a tea towel (I think). Nice enough but didn't blow my skirt up. I was flipping through 1 of the collections vintage hankies and picked up a nice linen one. Last, but not least, we stopped and got a charcuterie board. We headed home after that but I'd like to go back and see the stuff we missed.

Tuesday was dental fun. More dental fun on Thursday. It's very discouraging. I'm doing a pretty good job on dental care but my teeth are still getting worse. I'd like them to at least stay at this level of ugh. 

I tatted IOLI's tatted note, the one for the 2024 convention. But in crappy thread with crappy results. I'll try it again in better thread.

I finished my sample of method 5 from Rosemarie Peel's Tatting with Beads and the 1st project from Mastering Tatting by Lindsay Rogers (not pictured). Today, I finished (maybe) the Chinese coin based on Jane Eborall's magnet bookmark pattern. On the drive to the wedding, I finished the 2nd row of the hankie Sue Hanson sent me. I made a mistake on 2 sides, miscounted the stitch count. Now I need to decide if I'm going to do a 3rd round. It's all chain so it's not hard. I used two different variegated greens to tat hondu (Japanese turtle pattern) but I can't find it.

Chinese coin held in circle of tatting, coin shows flower

Chinese coin, 50, held in circle of tatting

Multicolor tatted butterfly

Book cover: Tatted Butterflies by Adelheid Dangela, with picture of tatted butterfly



Handkerchief with 2 rows of chain tatting

Bracelet made with metal beads & tatted iridescent braiding cord