Doodads in the middle

Just a couple of motifs with a doodad in the middle
I was inspired to buy more doodads (‘links’ in the catalog) and see what I could come up with using them.  It took quite a while to look through all that is available at Fire Mountain Gems – wow, there are a lot of things you can get to make jewelry!
I’m actually thinking of making snowflakes with doodads in the center, and maybe beads, for Christmas this year.  Not sure I’d call either of these a snowflake but I think they came out okay.
This motif has a gold link in the center and gold beads I already had.  I put a ring at the top but I’m not sure if it should be for a necklace or another zipper pull. The thread is Lizbeth #652  Royal Blue in size 20. 
#6 in my 25 Motif Challenge

#7 of the 25 Motif Challenge
This one is also in Royal Blue – it was on the shuttles already – but the center link was part of a chain bought at Walmart.  I used gun-metal seed beads instead of silver.  I’m sure I like them that much but that’s what I used so I’ll have to live with it. I changed my mind mid-stream while working on this so one side is a little wonky.  I have no idea what I will do with this. 
Choosing to use beads and other jewelry findings is a bit of a challenge for me, taking me out of my comfort zone.  It’s good for me 🙂
“As a child my family’s menu consisted of two choices: take it or leave it.”
Buddy Hackett
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Getting the kinks out

 of my zipper pulls. Miranda suggested leaving a space, or small false picot, between the rings.  I gave that a try and they seem to be hanging without kinks in them now, though they still twist a bit.  

I really like how this one came out.  It’s made with gold plated 6 or  8 mm beads and a dragonfly charm;
 the thread is Lizbeth # 652 Royal Blue in size 20. Without the lanyard hook at the top it measures about 2.25 inches.  The only lanyard hooks I have are silver so that’s what I used.
This one is also made with the Royal Blue thread as that’s what I had on my shuttles.  I used gun metal seed beads and a silver butterfly bead at the end. I like this one except for the ring I put around that butterfly bead: I think I should have just threaded it like a bead and tied the ends off.   This zipper pull is about 4 inches long. 
Thanks, Miranda, for the suggestion!
I have several projects going on right now – I can’t seem to concentrate on one or another.   My mantra going forward needs to be “Focus, focus, focus!”
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other.”
Abraham Lincoln

Where have they gone???

The pictures of tatting I took while on vacation??  I can only find the one of green thread on a red button that I already posted about, all of the other ones are gone! What a bummer!
Taking a suggestion from Kathy I’ve been making zipper pulls instead of hair clips.  Each one of of these blue ones has some form of mistake so they are mine, but I’ve been trying out different ideas to see what works, what doesn’t work and if I like the results or not. I had a pink one that I gave away to a friend and a green one that I put on my coat zipper.   I had taken pictures of them while on vacation with my phone so didn’t worry about taking one with my camera.  They should still be on my phone but I can’t find them anywhere:(
 I also forgot to take a picture of these at home before I came to work.  It’s been interesting trying to find a way to get a good picture that doesn’t have my shadow in it.   You can see how they don’t hang very well.  I’m still trying to figure out what I need to do to fix that.
We are slowly getting back into the swing of normal days since returning from our vacation, but it is hard.  We had such a great time it was very hard coming back. I’m still going through the pictures trying to label a few and pick out some to print.  
On Wednesday, September 12, we decided to go over Weston Pass because it is an easy pass and it was misting and raining that day.  We aren’t that skilled at driving in the mountains on rough roads so thought we should do something that wasn’t too challenging.  In trail books this pass is rated about a 1 or 2 for difficulty but a 10 for the scenery.  
We saw a lot of color on our drive up through the mountains. 
The rain turned to snow as we got to the top. It was great!
As we came down the other side it turned back to a light rain. It was a wonderful drive. Here’s some information on Weston Pass if you are interested. 
We went over starting on the Fairplay side so ended up close to Leadville.  We went on in and had lunch there, at Callaways Restaurant in the Delaware Hotel. We enjoyed a great lunch then did a little shopping.  We also drove a little ways out of town to see some of the mines.  We could see it had snowed enough in the higher elevations that the mountains tops now had a covering of snow. 
I have no idea which mountain this is, but it was beautiful.
Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I sipped hot tea and looked through pictures instead of tatting.  I’m still hoping to get a few minutes of tatting in but it may have to wait until tomorrow. 
“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”
John Ruskin

Home again

We are home again after spending a week vacationing in Colorado.  I now have a better Internet connection.  Oh, happy day!
We spent the week in the same area we did last year, close to Buena Vista.  There is still a lot of things we haven’t done there, but we had a lot of fun checking a few things off our list of things to do.  
We went back through St. Elmo and this time went all the way over Tin Cup pass (we didn’t make it last time). We stopped in St. Elmo for a few minutes to see what had changed since last year and to take a few pictures. The post office in this picture is a good example of the state of most of the buildings in the town.
Me tatting in front of the St. Elmo post office, elevation 10,006 feet (3050 m)
Jay seen flitting around St. Elmo.
Can you believe I actually caught this guy sitting still long enough to get his picture?  I just got lucky.

Flying chipmunk
The chipmunks were unhappy with us that we didn’t give them any seeds.  They would come right up to you in search of them.  One even climbed part way up my leg (it’s an odd feeling!) I was snap-happy with my camera and was able to catch this guy jumping from one rock to another. 

Aspens at St. Elmo
We came up a week earlier this year than last and weren’t sure we’d see any of the Aspens in their fall colors, but they were just starting to change while we were there.  Here you can see that some have changed while others are still completely green.  You can see some of the color change on the mountain side in the distance, too. 
We spent a lot of our vacation in a jeep going up and down mountains.  The roads are not conducive to tatting while in the car!  I was able to get some tatting done but very little.  I’ll share some of what I worked on later.
Deer in someones yard in Buena Vista.
We saw more wildlife out in the mountains this time than we did last year but, like last year, most of the deer were seen in Buena Vista.  They have become quite the pests.  This lovely buck was seen in the front yard of a house, along with four other bucks and three does.  You have to be at least as careful driving through town as you do out of town so as not to hit them. 
I had a cup of Refresh tea yesterday for Tatting Tea Tuesday, but due to life’s twists and turns was not able to post.  I’m hoping that next week I’ll actually get to post on Tuesday!
We had a wonderful vacation and are sad it’s over and we have to return to our normal life, which includes working, though I am glad to have a normal Internet connection.  It is (very) likely that I will be sharing more vacation pictures next time 🙂
“I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.  I travel for travel’s sake.  The great affair is to move.”
Robert Louis Stevenson 
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Blogger Mobile hates me

I’ve been trying to post for two days now on Blogger Mobile and it stops during the upload every time!!!  I finally got to a hot spot (though it’s very, very, slow) so I can let you know that I’m still here.
Just a little something I made trying to empty a couple of shuttles.  I’ve been so busy doing other things I haven’t gotten much else done except a few doodles emptying other shuttles. 
I’ll try again later this week to get a longer post in.  I have some really cool pictures of where I’ve been the last week I’d like to share.  But that will have to wait for a better Internet connection. 
Happy Tatting everyone!

Diane’s Double Dare

 Diane dared us to! 
She double-dared us! 
Then she enabled us by sending us doodads!
Isn’t she a special lady?
She sent me two 1/2 inch doodads with eight petals.  I thought about it a little bit, then found some thread and beads that worked well together and gave it a try. 
My first try is made in Lizbeth #662, Turquoise Lt in size 20 with matching seed beads. 
You can’t see it in this picture but it didn’t want to lay flat, it was three dimensional.  Because of the length of the chains on the outside round every other leg was raised.  It looked pretty cool but made it a real bear to photograph.   
I liked the result well enough that I thought I’d try it again but shorten up the chains a bit. 
My second try is made in Lizbeth #638, Christmas Green and silver seed beads.
The reflection off the silver beads and the doodad really made this hard to capture with a picture.  And the darker thread made finding a good background hard, too.  The picture doesn’t show just how striking the green thread set off the silver beads and center.  In person this looks much, much better!
Thank you, Diane, for sending me the doodads, and for daring me to use them!  These are #5 in my current 25 Motif Challenge. 

p.s I have posted the pattern on the Pattern Page if you’re interested.

“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.”
Dale Carnegie
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Center Bead Success

I have gotten a bit of tatting done this week, though not a lot.  I was successful in putting a bead in the center of a ring using split rings to make this hair decoration to put on these little gripper clips.  I had bought a package of these on the way to the wedding last month and now I’m looking for things to do with them. I’ve given this one to my daughter to try out and see what she thinks of it.  I haven’t heard back from her but I’m working on another one, whether to put on this type of clip or something else, but I like the look.  It looks better than the picture shows it.

I started this one thinking I had all the right colored beads but when I went to get the seed beads the colors didn’t match the thread at all!  So I’m using clear ones instead but I think they’ll work fine.
We’ll see if this goes anywhere.

Something I’ve been thinking of trying for quite awhile now I finally tried.  I have a lot of little doodles – butterflies, flowers, birds, etc – from emptying shuttles.  I do use them on cards and letters but I don’t send many of those.  So what else to do these doodles?  How about wine glass charms?

These are very quick to make up.  20 gauge wire, wood craft pieces, a little glue and a doodle.
I like to drink wine (I’m not a connoisseur by any means!) but we don’t have parties and I don’t know that many people that drink it.  So I don’t know what I’ll do with these, but I thought they came out well. 
I had a good laugh after I did these a couple of days ago. I’d been thinking about doing these charms for months but never had and finally got around to doing them.  Then I opened my email and read Nancy Tracy’s Be-Stitched newsletter. And what did I find?  Her tatting pattern of the month is a tatted “Goblet Charm”!  It’s quite different and much more elaborate than mine, but still!  Dare I say “great minds think alike?”

It’s hard to believe that it’s almost September, but I look around and see that the sunflowers are in full bloom, some even past their prime. This is a small patch of garden variety sunflowers that I drive by every day (wild sunflowers are much smaller and branch out a lot).  I had wanted to get a picture of these earlier but never thought about it when I had time and my camera.  I finally had both time and camera, but you can see that some of the heads are already finished blooming.  Time is getting away  from me!

Things have not gotten done this week like I had hoped.  I was planning to have the barefoot sandal pattern done by today but it’s not.  There are several things that I haven’t figured out how to diagram yet, and it’s taking more time than I estimated it would. And I’ve had a hard time making myself sit down and do it!


Tatting Tea Tuesday
I’m drinking green tea today, iced as the weather has decided to be hot again. Not has hot as we had it earlier this summer but still in the 90’s.  My tatting was done earlier today when I got together with my sister and my mother for a visit and all of us were working on projects.  My mom and sister were knitting some pretty cool looking scarves and I was working on my hair piece.  It was a very pleasant way to spend the morning.  We’re hoping to do it more often.
“How to Have A Lovely Day”

Smile at strangers
Slow down
Say thank you
Give lots of compliments
Dress nicely
Wear perfume
Observe and listen
Be charming
Laugh
Wish people a lovely day

Trial and Error

The green mess there in the front?  My attempts at adding a bead to the center of a ring. I watched Marilee’s  video found on her blog, which is very clear and easy to follow, but mine look pretty sad.  This doesn’t show all the rings I broke when trying to close them, just my semi-successful attempts.  I finally decided that if that wasn’t working to try something else, namely trying it with split rings.  This is working much better.  Maybe when I get a little more comfortable with the technique I’ll have better luck with the single-shuttle version. I can dream. 
Speaking of Marilee, have you seen her magnificent Nouveau necklace?  If you haven’t seen it yet you really need to go check it out!
I’ve been working on the pattern for the latest version of barefoot sandals, trying to write out on paper what I did in thread.  My problem is habit -when I tat I don’t think about what shuttle to use, as, this is shuttle #1 and this is shuttle #2, or even this is the pink and this the yellow, I just see which way I want the tatting to go and without thinking too much about it use the shuttle and technique to go that way. Which means when trying to write it out I’m totally lost on when to change shuttles.
I remember seeing how Fox used high-lighters to help her follow a pattern and thought I’d give it a try, too. I  loaded two empty shuttles with thread, added what I  hoped was enough beads and started trying to follow the pattern I jotted down, coloring the lines with the appropriate color as I went.  Coincidentally, the two high-lighters I happened to find were the same colors as my shuttles – how cool it that?   Now to consciously notice which shuttle I am using and mark the paper. So far it seems to be working well. I am, of course, correcting errors as I go and trying to note bead placement and use as well.  I don’t often use beads and I think this is the first time I’ve made them an integral part of the pattern. Lots of new things to try documenting!
I was hoping to have the pattern done by today, but it didn’t happen. I still have quite a ways to go.  I’m going to try hard to have it ready to post by next week, but it all depends on how much time I have to work on it. 
Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I’m enjoying a cup of peach tea.  I’m going to make a second cup now that I’m done with this post and try to get some tatting done. I think I’m going to work on putting beads in the center of the ring again, take a break from the computer for a while.  The pattern work can wait just a little 🙂
“I have failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”
Michael Jordan
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Another pair of Barefoot Sandles

Lacey’s barefoot sandals
I had made a pair of barefoot sandals for one daughter for her birthday and the other daughter really liked them and wanted a pair, too.  As her birthday was coming up I decided a pair would be a good present for her as well so I got started.  Well, not really quite that fast.  There was that wedding present I had to get done, and the new techniques to learn from Sherry’s book so it didn’t really get started that right away. 
Actually, it took several weeks to start on another pair.  The first pair took a long time to make – has something to do with not sure where I was going with it and using lots of beads, which I don’t do much of.  I had a thought that if I started with something in the middle I could tat around it and it wouldn’t take as long.  Then the trick was finding something to put in the middle.  I also wanted to make them with size 10 thread and I don’t seem to have much of that in my stash anymore.  
Not quite two weeks ago I went up to Omaha to visit this daughter and while there we did a little shopping, both at Hobby Lobby and at a place called Mengelsens, a large local crafty-type shop.  At Mengelsens I found some flower doodads that I thought would look great as a center but I didn’t find any beads there that I liked.  But at Hobby Lobby I got lucky – they had beads for 50% off!  So I bought four bags of glass beads for the price of two – whoo hoo!
These are made with DMC #310 black thread in size 10 and 6/0 glass seed beads, an Amethyst mix. 
I did have to start over a couple of times when things didn’t turn out the way I had in mind.  I’ve been told that designing on paper or the computer can save a lot of time and thread but I haven’t gotten there yet, I still do best with thread and shuttle in my hands. After a couple of false starts I came up with something I’m happy with.  I’m not sure just how long they took to make – I keep forgetting to check the time! – but much faster than the first pair.  The only reason this matters it that I’ve been asked if I would make some more…
These are #4 of this round of the 25 Motif Challenge.
Today is a great Tatting Tea Tuesday – it’s raining!!!!  And it’s only 65 degrees F, almost cool.  It feels great outside!  They say we’ll only get a little rain out of this but any rain is welcome.  It’s been so dry here that everything is brown unless you water, which we don’t except for the flowers and a couple of young trees.  Walking in my yard is like walking through straw, it both looks and feels like straw.  It’s so wonderful to have the rain!
“Raindrops

Raindrops are such funny things.
They haven’t feet or haven’t wings.
Yet they sail through the air,
With the greatest of ease,
And dance on the street,
Wherever they please.”

Anon.

Graduation Cross Bookmark

I visited my daughter and her children this last weekend.  It was a lot of fun to spend time with them, but small children make tatting just a little hard.  They like to sit on laps and “help” with whatever you are doing.   In fact, my grandson wanted to know what I was doing with my “boat” 🙂 So, though I did get a small amount of tatting done it’s not ready to share yet.

Graduation Cross Bookmark  based on an old pattern

Something that I have been working on at home is writing up some of my patterns.  This is another cross bookmark I made up a few years ago in the normal way that I come up with most patterns: I needed something for – you guessed it – a graduation gift.

I made this one with Lizbeth #115 “Springtime” size 20. It measures 3 inches long by 2 inches wide.  The center has one split ring then climbs out with a false picot and another split ring, the rest is just rings and chains.  If someone couldn’t do split rings it would be easy enough to make the center as a separate piece then do the outside.  The basics of this cross I know is one of those patterns that most of us stumble to on our own, but I haven’t seen a center done quite like this so I’ve added it to the pattern page.
(It will be up later)

I’m hoping to have something more to show next week.  So far I’ve had to un-do, re-tat, cut off, and start over several times. I’ve got the idea in my head, just having a little trouble translating it to thread.

“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me…Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” 
Shel Silverstein

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