Happy 4th of July

It’s Independence Day, 2022!

I haven’t tatted anything new this year for the occasion, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been enjoying the season.

Patriotic runner on wandasknottythoughts
Patriotic runner

Last year I made a runner for my daughter that I was unable to get to her by the 4th of July or her birthday. It was eventually delivered in November in time for Veteran’s Day. She was able to use it this year for Independence Day. She loves decorating for this holiday.

Patriotic birthday runner on wandasknottythoughts
Patriotic birthday runner

She does such a great job of making her house look festive!

It’s amazing where you find people showing their patriotism. A local farmer showed his 4th of July spirit with these large hay bales.

Patriotic hay bales on wandasknottythoughts
Patriotic hay bales

My dog also dressed for the occasion.

Bonnie dressed for the 4th on wandasknottythoughts
Bonnie dressed for the 4th

We celebrated the holiday at my daughter’s house last night with family and friends, tonight we’ll do it a bit more locally. We celebrate and thank all of those that have fought for the freedoms we have.

Today I’m packing for our trip to Indiana tomorrow. I’m going to Tatting Corner’s “Artful Tatting” Tat Days at the end of the week. My husband took vacation so he could come with me. Looking forward to seeing all those fellow tatters!

May you all have a happy and safe Independence Day.

“A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works.” Bill Vaughan

Patriotic Earrings

Patriotic earrings on wandasknottythoughts
Red, white, and blue earrings made for Independence Day 2020

One of the things I enjoy about tatting is making something on the spur of the moment and it comes out just as I envisioned it. Or maybe even better! Once in a while it all just comes together and, bingo!, there it is.

These earrings are like that. For the 4th of July, we were going to our daughter’s to enjoy family, food, and fireworks in the evening. In the morning I finished a little piece in red, white, and blue, something I try to do every year when I noticed how much of those threads I still had on my shuttles. I wanted to free those shuttles up, but what to make? Earrings for the evening sounded like a great idea.

Patriotic earrings for the 4th on wandasknottythoughts
Patriotic earrings for the 4th

For all that they came out well, they still had their moments. Hiding the ends and finishing off all three colors on such small pieces was interesting. And why I decided to use a picot that had to be joined with a twist (the second side of the ring to a facing ring) I’m not sure. I mostly try to avoid those if possible. And adding the jewelry findings, for me, is problematic. Sometimes everything goes smoothly, sometimes not so much. These went relatively smoothly.

Every time I tat with red, white, and blue thread together I notice how hard it is to find a good background to take pictures. Most of my background choices wash out one color or the other. I tried eight or nine backgrounds to get a decent picture or two of these earrings. So even if the picture doesn’t come out as well as I hope, I am happy with the subject of it.

I happily wore my new patriotic earrings that evening. We had a wonderful time! And now I have a cute pair of earrings to wear, to be patriotic whenever I want to be.

“Alfred Hitchcock once told me, when I was analyzing a lot of things about his pictures, ‘Clint, you must remember, it’s only a movie.'” Clint Eastwood

A little red, white and blue

Tatted buttons of red, white, and blue on wandasknottythoughts.com
In honor of the 4th of July I thought I’d tat something in red, white and blue.  This started out to be a bracelet with three white buttons, each decorated with a different color thread.  The red and blue threads worked great but the white thread kept breaking.  I finally gave up on trying to tat around the button and went around the other two buttons instead.  I’m still deciding how to make a bracelet out of this.I’m not giving up, just changing the plan a bit 🙂

Enjoy a safe, happy and red, white and blue Independence Day!

William Faulkner: “We must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it.”

Happy 4th of July!

It’s Independence Day!
My mother had a few patriotic things out for decoration but I couldn’t make up my mind which to use today so I put them all out!
The pin on the hat I made for my dad a couple of years ago.  The bookmark is new.

Made in Lizbeth size 20 in 
Red, White and Blue!
O say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming;
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there
O say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On that shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam–
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream;
‘Tis the Star-Spangled Banner; O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

The Star Spangled Banner
by Francis Scott Key