bookmark – Page 3 – Wanda's Knotty Thoughts

Gifted Crosses

In between working on the china hutch edgings I’ve made several cross bookmarks as gifts

This one is April’s Cross that I gifted as a wedding gift. The bride sent me a picture of it as I did not remember to take one of the finished bookmark before I gave it away. It came out nicely.

April's Cross wedding gift on wandasknottytoughts — The finished wedding bookmark April’s Cross

I also made one to celebrate a baptism. Well, I made two, as I wasn’t happy with the first one. The pattern is my take on a traditional cross.

Traditional cross bookmarks as gifts on wandasknottythoughts — Two cross bookmarks in my version of a traditional pattern

Both of these are made in size 20 Lizbeth thread #605, Silver. I wasn’t thrilled about the length of the long arm of the top one, it didn’t look proportionally correct with the other arms. So I’ll keep the first one for me.

Both recipients were pleased with their gifts, which also makes me happy.

Now I need to stay on task and finish the third edging for the china hutch.

“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Medallion cross once more

Tatted Medallion Cross Bookmark on wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com

Medallion Cross Bookmark © Wanda Salmans

I seem to have a lot of these crosses now, all just a little different from each other. I keep trying different stitch counts, looking for just the right pattern.

This cross is in Lizbeth Twirlz #404 Mermaid Lagoon. I’m not all that excited about how it looks in this thread. I also had an awful time taking a good picture of it. This is the best of the lot. Can you tell that is a piece of white printer paper behind it?

I think I finally have the pattern done to my satisfaction. I still need to tat one with this stitch count to go on the pattern page. I started one, then I lost it under my seat in the car. Up until then I thought I’d have it done today, but that was the end of working on it while we were driving. I lost a bit of tatting time so it won’t be finished as soon as I’d hoped.

Due to a couple of rainy days my kitchen didn’t get finished until Tuesday, but the construction is done! *happy dance* What this means is I now have to put things away. I have lots of cabinet and drawer space and I have no idea where I want a lot of things. We just started putting items in cabinets where we (I) think is a good idea, at least at the moment. If they don’t work there I guess we’ll rearrange. Pictures will be coming as soon as I get a chance to download them to the computer.

Through all of this mess and muddle I’ve been tatting small things like this cross. Now I need to move on to other things. Not sure if I can call them bigger and better, but different anyway.

“See any detour as an opportunity to experience new things.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

http://www.brainyquote.com/

Lace in the dust

In an earlier post I mentioned we are remodeling our kitchen. As you can imagine, it is a dusty process. There is dust everywhere! It gets into everything!

A couple of days ago I was looking for something in a drawer in the living room and found something unexpected. I wasn’t even sure what it was at first glance because I couldn’t think of anything I had that looked like it.

This is a glasses case. There was a hanky with a tatted edging laying across it in the drawer. The dust infiltrated the drawer and left a lovely pattern in dust on the case. It’s amazing how disappointed I am that I messed up the pattern when I picked up the case.

Dusty tatted lace - dust left an impression on a glass case. The tatted edging of a hanky echoed in the dust. wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com

The good news is that the kitchen is almost done. We can actually start cleaning up some of the dust, as most of that work is about over. The contractor is putting the finishing touches on. I may have my kitchen done by the weekend! The background in the picture is my new kitchen counter. Isn’t it pretty?

I’ve been working on the pattern for the Medallion Cross bookmark. I want to review it a bit before I post it but I’m hoping to have it ready in a couple of days.

“An idea can turn to dust or magic, depending on the talent that rubs against it.”

William Bernbach

http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/dust_3.html

Eenie, meenie, meinie, moe

Two tatted Medallion Cross Bookmarks on wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com

Medallion Cross Bookmarks © Wanda Salmans 2016

in Lizbeth #122 Caribbean size 20

I shared this bookmark a few weeks ago.

Original tatted Medallion Cross Bookmark on wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com

Medallion Cross Bookmark © Wanda Salmans 2016

This is how I made it originally. Well, not quite, but almost. After looking at this picture I thought there must be a way to make the medallion center look a little better. For the last several weeks I’ve thought about it and tried a couple of different things.

Tatted Medallion Cross Bookmark version 2 on wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com

Medallion Cross Bookmark v2© Wanda Salmans 2016

This version has several changes. In this one the chains are joined at the arms to make it a bit less likely to twist. The long, bottom arm is also made with one ring at the top of it instead of two. The picot count has been reduced making it less frilly. It came out pretty well, but is it the way to leave it? Maybe the long arm should be a bit thinner?

Tatted Medallion Cross Bookmark version 3 on wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com

Medallion Cross Bookmark v3© Wanda Salmans 2016

Version three is the same as v2 except for the long arm. It was made a bit skinnier by making the ring and joins between the sides a little different. Not bad, but good enough? Is this the way to leave it and write the pattern?

The chains are joined at the arms where they weren’t before and now both of these versions cup slightly. In a book they would probably soon loose the cup and wouldn’t be noticed, but it’s not pleasing. Looking at the picture of the original it’s obvious that the way the chains were modified changes the look of the medallion more than planned. Maybe the chain stitch count needs to be altered back to how it was.

Hmm. What do you think?

Which version should make it to the pattern page?

“Eenie, meenie, meinie, moe

Catch a tatter by the toe

If she hollers make her tat

Rings and chains to make a mat

My mother told me to pick the very best one

and you are not it!”

Children’s choosing game –

modified 🙂

Hanging Basket Edging Winter Runner

I made this edging for a table runner back in August. I hadn’t been sure I was going to be happy with it, but it turned out looking good.

Hanging Basket Edging © Wanda Salmans

I was in a hurry when I took this picture and I didn’t notice how crooked it looks. It didn’t look like that when it was hanging up. This just shows that I’m better at tatting than I am at sewing 🙂 This runner was given as a gift for Christmas.

"Medallion Cross Bookmark" © Wanda Salmans found on wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com

Medallion Cross Bookmark © Wanda SalmansI noticed a bookmark in my Bible that I made several years ago and thought I would make it again. I couldn’t find anywhere that I had written down the pattern so thought I would. Jotted it down on paper and lost it. Re-wrote it. Then tried to diagram it and found my vector program has a problem just after I upgraded to Windows 10. Serif Draw X8 is supposed to be compatible with Windows 10 so maybe it got corrupted during the upgrade. I uninstalled SDX8 and re-installed and still get an error. I tried installing an update but still no luck. I have put my problem on their forum and hope to get an answer. If not it will be direct contact with Serif. I’m used to this program and like it, it’s a real problem to not have it work.

It has been quite a week. Besides the program issue we’ve had some trouble with the Internet so I had trouble posting. We’ve also had a lot of things happening at the house getting ready for a bit of remodeling.

There has been some other distractions as well. You may have heard about the shooting at Excel Industries in Hesston, Kansas. Hesston is just down the road from us. It was quite a shock to have something like this hit so close to home. I don’t personally know any of the people that were shot but people I know do. In such a small community, something like this effects everyone.
It’s wonderful how the entire county has joined together to get through this ordeal and help those who need it.

Hymnal Bookmarks

A few months ago our church congregation decided to purchase new hymnals. The ‘Lutheran Service Book’ has been out since 2006 but we are slow to accept change. We like the old hymnal, ‘Lutheran Worship’, and going to the expense of buying different ones just because there is a new one out there is a large investment for a small congregation. But our organist of many, many years retired last year and we are having trouble finding another one. Even guest organists are hard to come by and they are mostly used to playing out of the LSB. So we voted to to purchase the new hymnals.

It was brought up that the new books do not have any bookmarks in them. You can purchase bookmarks that have two or three markers but no-one wanted to pay the extra. I made a bookmark for my aunt that had a few tails and my mother brings a handful of bookmarks to church every Sunday. As other members had also brought up the lack of markers I thought I’d see what I could come up with.

I’ve seen this type of bookmark on the Internet – regular ribbon, a button and an elastic hair band, then I added four ribbon page markers.

Hymnal Bookmark with 4 tails wandasknottythoughts

I made eight of them while watching the super bowl Sunday night. I could have made more but I ran out of ribbon.

I will take these to church Sunday and let a few people try them out. If they are liked I’ll make a few more. I don’t know that I’ll make them for all the hymnals but, if they go over well, I’ll make enough for everyone that comes regularly and maybe a few more. We’ll see what people think of them.

On the tatting front I’ve done a little: I’ve made it to day 9 of Jane’s TIAS.

Day 9 of Jane Eborall's 2016 TIAS from wandasknottythoughts

I know, she’s posted the last day and people are sending in their finished pieces, but at least I’m back at it I need to remember not to use such dark thread on something like this – if I make a mistake it’s hard to see to undo it!

I did find a wonderful pattern I wanted to make for Valentine’s Day but it is not going to get done in time. In fact, I haven’t started it yet. And I have the Round Robin that I need to finish before I start something else.

I think I need one of the hymnal bookmarks to keep track of all the things I need to do.

But I’d have to add a few more tails.

“The attitude you pose is greatly influenced by the links of friendships you bookmark. Good friends, good attitudes; best friends, best attitudes. Guess what for toxic friends…!C”

Israelmore Ayivor

goodreads.com/quotes

Joy’s Heart Cross Bookmark

Joy’s Heart Cross Bookmark © Wanda Salmans 2016

The center of this cross is Joy’s Heart (pattern found on My Patterns tab) with arms added. It’s done in one pass with shuttle and ball only, no fancy or difficult techniques. Made with Lizbeth #670 Victorian Red thread in size 20.

This was made in memory of my sister-in-law who loved anything hearts who lost her battle with cancer this last week. We were the same age and though we didn’t see each other often we always enjoyed each other’s company. She will be greatly missed.

I had almost a week to make a bookmark for my brother-in-law but I had a hard time getting started – maybe denial? I finished the last arm and hid the ends a few minutes after the funeral. The picture was taken in the foyer on a table there. I should have found a better background but there were other things to do.

Funerals are hard to attend but can help so much with dealing with loss. Besides all of the memories shared you also reconnect with extended family that unfortunately doesn’t get together often enough. I also find myself reviewing my own life and wonder if I’m doing things I might regret or what things I might regret if I don’t do them.

As family and friends mingled, shared memories and tears, many of us kept saying “we have to stop meeting just at funerals.” Someone decided to do something about that – plans have been started to have a family reunion later this year. I’ve added it to our calendar and we’ve made plans to go. We not waiting until the next funeral.

There is a wonderful poem by Linda Ellis called “The Dash”. It really makes you think.

Many-tailed Tatted Paperclip Bookmark

A favorite aunt of mine had a birthday recently. I always try to make something for her as I know she really appreciates handmade items. I also know she doesn’t need more things sitting around her house, so gift ideas are for things that can be worn or used. For this year I made her a paperclip bookmark.

Many-tailed Tatted Paperclip Bookmark

This bookmark is specifically made for my aunt to use at church. Lutherans use a hymnal that has a liturgy in the front and hymns in the back and during a service you go back and forth between the liturgy and the different hymns. I’ve been thinking of making a bookmark like this for a while, one where you can mark several pages at a time. This bookmark actually has more tails than are usually needed for a normal service but it looked cool with the different colors hanging from the clip.

Many-tailed Tatted Paperclip Bookmark with a button

Isn’t that button pretty? I hope you can see it. This is one I picked up just this week from a fabric shop that sadly is closing. The good news about that is that everything is on sale. I didn’t pick up a lot of buttons but I did pick up a lot of material. There’ll be more about that later.

My aunt really liked the tatted paperclip bookmark. I think it worked out well.

‘If you love to read, you know there are three kinds of book-markers: the dog-ear-er, the any old flat object that will hold my spot-er and the beautiful “I even spent money on a bookmark”-er. Of course, if you read an e-reader you totally miss the point, but that is neither here nor there. I fall into the “I even spent money on a bookmark” category. To me, a bookmark is a friendly “hello! we’re glad you’re back!” statements as I immerse myself back into the text to tackle paragraph after paragraph.’

Being Geek Chic, beinggeekchic.com

Apples for Auction

I volunteered again this year to work on the basket from our church to be auctioned off at a fundraiser for a local retirement village. This year I had more than two days notice to get it ready, I had almost a whole month. The baskets are also wanted much earlier so they can promote them better prior to the auction. I did the basket from last year all by myself, and I thought that was going to be the case again this year, but I ended up with help. I asked one of the other ladies from church if she’d like to help and she agreed.

I didn’t have a definite theme in mind and neither did Susan so we began our shopping at an antique/flea market to get ideas. I had a lot of luck here last year and thought it would be a great place to start. We wondered up and down the aisles, looking for inspiration. Several items caught our eye but we kept looking for more things that would bring a theme together. The theme we finally settled on was Apples.

We found a cute small-ish bushel style basket and a set of four cups and saucers with apples on them. At different stores we found dried apple slices, apple juice in cute bottles, caramel apple coffee, apple dip mix, apple pie spice, a cinnamon apple scented candle, and a hot pad with apples on it. We couldn’t find any towels with apples so we bought two red hand towels to line the basket with.

Apples Themed Auction basket from wandasknottythoughts 2015-10-27

Can you believe I forgot to take pictures of our prizes until after I had it wrapped??? So this is the best picture I have. I also found some decorative green apples at the Dollar Store. I spray painted them red, which turned out great as they looked more real this way. I added them to the basket, too.

The bushel basket and apple theme came about by what we found at the flea market but it worked out well for another item as well. It happens that Susan has published several books, the latest being “Bushels of Nostalgia” with a bushel basket of apples on the front cover. She was kind enough to donate a signed copy of her book to put in the auction basket.

Apples for Auction with Bushels of Nostalgia book and tatted apple bookmark from wandasknottythoughts 2015-10-27

I didn’t get a picture of the book by itself, I was trying to get an interesting picture of the bookmark.

From the beginning I planned to put something tatted in the basket but was waiting to determine the theme and color. Now I started looking for patterns with apples. I found a couple but not quite what I had in mind so came up with my own.

Apples for Auction tatted apple bookmark from wandasknottythoughts 2015-10-27

I’ve never tried layering rings like this before. I’ve seen it several places on the Internet but I’m not finding the sites now – of course. I didn’t quite get the shape I was going for but with the leaves I think it still looks like an apple.

I was very happy with the basket we came up with. The auction was last week but I have no idea who won our basket or how much it went for. It doesn’t really matter – whatever it went for and whoever got it – it was all for a good cause. I’m hoping that the winner is enjoying all their apples.

“If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange these apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”
George Bernard Shaw

Two Crosses

I’ve mentioned before that my go-to gift for some special occasions are cross bookmarks. Recently I had two such occasions, one sad, one happy.

I made a cross for my sister-in-law when they recently lost their son. I couldn’t make up my mind which one to tat so I made up one. I’m not sure I like it that much, but it looks okay. I’ve tried coming up with a name for it, but they are all sad – “Sorrowful Cross,” “Funeral Cross,” that type of thing. I’ll come up with something sometime.

"Two Crosses" tatted lace cross made as a gift for a funeral. On wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com

The other occasion was much happier. We just installed a new pastor at our church, and what better gift to give him than a bookmark for his Bible? This is a traditional pattern that I’ve made several times. It tats up quickly and is a nice size for a Bible.

Both bookmarks were made in Lizbeth size 20 thread, in, I think, #652 Royal Blue. After making the first I still had plenty of thread for the second one. It is a suitable color for men or women, don’t you think?

I’ve been doing a lot of tatting lately and still feel I don’t have enough time to do all that I would like. The holidays are fast approaching as well as several birthdays and a craft show in November. I just can’t tat fast enough. Isn’t that the way it goes – when you’re busy you keep finding other things to do as well? I’m thinking I should be making a few more cross bookmarks so I have a few handy when needed.

Oh! another something I want to be doing.

“People give one another things that can’t be gift wrapped.”

Nadine Gordimer

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