Late Halloween and new obsession

 I guess it's not going to be a surprise that I am posting this late but it may be a surprise to learn that I actually sent my halloween dodads out for them to at least arrive on time! Considering all the crap that has been happening lately I will say both of these cancel each other out so I won't count either as a win or a loss.

As I have mentioned , several times in the past, I am having massive trouble finding tatting ideas for my holiday doodads. Therefore  I am very happy to announce that this tatting motif is my own creation!  I have done cats, bats, ghosts and spiders so the only thing left I could think of would be a witch. I did find one picture of a tatted witch on the internet but it didn't have a pattern with it so I used the picture as a general idea for mine. 

Here is my first try but I didn't like the hat so I decided to change it a bit. I don't absolutely love the way she turned out but I am not very good at changing counts to make it better so I just rolled with what I had.

I knew I wanted a dark purple to do my witch with but the only dark thread I had was Artiste thread called plum . This particular color thread is not great to work with as it tends to get fuzzy and you can't really get the stitches tight. I am not sure why this particular ball is so bad because normally I like Artiste so I wonder if this roll was mismarked because it also looks different than my other balls. Thankfully I was able to close the rings fairly easily and it wasn't as terrible to work with as I remembered but it just doesnt look as clean as some of my other projects. I did end up having to starch these because the skirt was a bit floppy. I had run out of glitter glue and I wanted to add a bit of pizzaz to my witch because the color was so dark so I tried adding regular glitter to gel glue.  It really didn't work out so well;  partly because the flakes are too big with regular glitter and I used dollar store glue but I just kept using my mixture because I just can't waste things and I have a hard enough time trying to finish up projects so I just kept carrying on so I could get them done and in the mail. I ended up making 13 of these but I only ended up sending out 9 of them. 

So this is also an introduction to my new obsession...die cutting! I kept seeing the original red sizzix machines in goodwill so I finally broke down and brought one home not realizing that was the beginning of my next hoarding issue! I actually just bought it because I needed to create felt numbers for a project I am working on for christmas and it was going to be cheaper to buy the machine and the dies I needed than it would have been to buy already cut ones or spending tons of time cutting them out by hand. Soon after I found the red machine I found a big shot that ended up following me home. It took me quite a while to even try out either machine, I had purchased tons of dies at goodwill before I even tried to use it. Let me tell you it was a bit of a challenge trying to get the dies to cut correctly so I ended up spending quite a bit on accessories ( I bought new)  for the machines just to get them to work ok. It makes me quite sick to my stomach thinking about how much I have spent on dies but I keep seeing them at goodwill and my hoarding nature takes over so I buy them. Not only are they expensive but the old dies take up lots of space. For the amount of money I have spent I am wishing I would have just bought a new cruicut. I am also finding that I may not ever use the dies I bought because the last couple of cards I made I ended up buying new dies to make the cards anyway. 

Below is my first die cut project I made. I did have to buy the die so I could get these done in a timely manner. I made these as thank yous for Mom Pat's funeral guests. You can't really see on either of the pictures of the cards but I used the decorative scissors on the outer edge of each card and colorful gel pens we got from Mom Pat to sign each one. The little tatted heart is the same pattern I used for my Valentines dodads in 2016 and you can find the pattern by onevirtuouswoman here. Pats favorite color was blue and she loved to read so I thought a blue bookmark in a heart shape (to let everyone know that she will always be in our hearts) would be appropriate. 

My second die cut project was the halloween cards. I just now ordered the die I will use for my Thanksgiving cards. I was hoping to find some dies that I really liked but I wasnt able to find any that I liked more than the one I found on Amazon so I just had to spend money on something that I really didnt love. Now wish me luck that my order will get here in a timely fashion and I will be able to get my doodads out in time!

 

4th of July that changed our world

 

Well, well, I guess its probably no surprise that I am late once again in posting my holiday doodad but this time I have a fairly legitimate reason! Once again I have good news about why and really, really bad news. The good news is that we got to hand deliver quite a few of them and some of them actually even made it in the mail on time. My husbands yearly company shut down happened right around the 4^th of July again so we were able to plan a trip back home.  We were keeping our fingers crossed that Covid would allow us to finally get back home and thankfully everything aligned and we got to keep our plans. This year my sister and her husband were actually able to be there at the same time so I got to see my whole immediate family this trip! We actually got to spend a whole week. We could have spent a few days more but we had to get back because the casino that we used to mix bands for on almost every weekend before covid hit finally opened up their new building and were finally able to get bands back in. So the day after we got back we got to work a band in the new casino that, not only was the first time that we had worked since covid but it was the first time a band had been on the new stage!

The shows went fairly well considering it was the first time the new room had ever been used and also the sound system and the lighting rig was a new system that we had never used before so not only did we have to learn a new room we had to learn new equipment. We did learn that we are both completely out of shape and it was quite difficult to work 2 full days/nights but I am sure we will get back into the habit fairly quickly.

 Now for the really, really bad news…The day after all that, we got the horrific news that my mother-in-law had passed away that morning on the 4^th of July. It was a complete shock because she was doing so well. We were very very thankful that we had just got to spend a couple of days with her a few weeks prior to that. It was the first time we had seen her since covid so it would have been even more difficult had we not been blessed with that time. Of all the people I send these holiday cards to I knew without a double that mom Pat appreciated them the most. She decorates for each holiday just like I do and she always made it a point to at least text me to thank me for them.

 I am absolutely crushed to be saying this out loud but unfortunately Pats card is one that I hadn’t gotten in the mail yet. While we were in Idaho we let the grandkids paint canvas bags and we had all the kids make one for Pat by each putting a painted hand on it and then printing their name next to it. None of the grand kids had actually been able to meet her in person but she had been sending holiday and birthday cards to each one of them.  I had planned to send the bag with the tatted card that next Monday so that means that Pat didn’t get to see the bag or the card.

 

I ended up making 14 of these cards but only 7 ended up getting sent out. I had the best of intentions to send them all out even though they would have been late but the horrific news really” took the wind out of my sails.” I found the idea for the flag from a picture I saw on Wandas knotty thoughts. I just kind of made up the counts for the flag and I just kept tweaking until I got it looking okay.  I don’t normally do holiday projects that take more than one round, but I am running out of ideas for these cards. It didn’t really take too long to make these and they were actually fairly easy to do. The blue is artiste thread called blueberry and the red and white are just a couple of balls I had gotten from Goodwill.

Obviously we are completely devastated and we are still trying to get back to at least a little bit of normal, or I guess I should say “the new normal for today” because I am quite certain that things are still changing due to Covid. Time seems to be just slipping by and it is crusing by faster and faster. I am quite certain that we will never be able to look at 4^th of July the same again but we are trying to take each day as the true gift that it is and we need to try to live it as such!

 

 

Happy International tatting day...April Fools

 

So for international tatting day this year I decided to try tatting something I don’t normally do. I have been admiring and enjoying reading Lace-lovin Librarian Dianes blog for quite some time now and seeing all her lovely ice drops so I decided to try making one.  I used her pattern that she so graciously provided here but I did change the count on the outer chains. I also watched this youtube video. Warning..this video is really long and not very well done but it gave me enough of an idea to figure out how to do this.

 I had actually tried making one a couple years ago and since I usually use cheap artiste thread that is bigger than size 20, I couldn’t find a stone big enough to fill the center of the first one I made using Dianes pattern. I am not very good with adjusting stitch count, so I didn’t try to make another one until today. I remembered that I had some shuttles still wound with the size 20 thread I had bought to make St patricks doodads and didn’t end up using so I thought this would be a good way to use up the thread.

So this time I had a very difficult time trying to squeeze in the flat marbles I have. I learned that I tend to tat very tightly and I make little tiny joining picots. I have tons of flat stones and even using the smalles one I could find I still had to pull and tug to try to get the last ring to fit. In fact, I am totally testing the tensile strength of this thread and at this point I am sure hoping the thread holds and doesn’t snap loose cause someone could sure loose an eye!

The good news is these are pretty fun to make so I think I will be trying to make more of them. More good news is I have already sent out my Easter doodads in plenty of time for everyone to receive them on time…APRIL FOOLS!!! I still haven’t even made the cards for them yet . I am feeling really stupid about that be cause the doodads have been done for over 2 years now and they still aren’t in the mail yet. At this point there is no way that they will make them on time so I am not sure I will even bother sending them out again!

Sorry I didnt get this posted on the actual tatting day but we had a surprise guest show up yesteray. One of my husbands best friends was in town and he needed to borrow some guitars for a show he is getting to do in eastern Washington. It is always so awesome to get to hang out with him as he always has new music to share! So all in all it was a pretty good day and since those are very few and far between it makes them all the sweeter!  I hope you all enjoyed the  day as much as I did and heres to hoping more good days are to come!

 

St Pats and new thread

 

Well it looks like here we have another late holiday motif post. Part of the reason why this is late getting posted is because we have had several house guests the past couple of days. My husband has been trying for several months to get together with several of his old high school friends that he was in bands with and do some recording. One of the friends is from out of state and his plans to make it here have been cancelled several times due to covid.  They finally decided to just go through with the plans because the recording studio has been booked and changed so many times and flights have been moved that it was getting pretty expensive to not do it.  I didn’t love the idea and it was quite weird to be with people after a year of not even seeing anyone. We all just tried to be extra careful and wash hands a lot and several of the guys had already had covid and most everyone has been vaccinated, so for now I will just keep my fingers crossed that all will be ok!

  For the last 4 St. Patricks doodads I have made shamrocks but there are only so many different ways to make them. For this year I decided to make kind of a frame to put a beaded doodad in. It was surprisingly difficult to find a triangle pattern to use and almost just as hard to find a “not green” thread to use since St Pats is all about the green. I came up with trying to find either gold thread or rainbow color thread which wasn’t so easy either. I did some poking around amazon and came up with a brand of thread that I have never heard about and decided to give it a try.

The brand name is golo and it comes in several sizes and colors but the only way to get the gold color was in size 20 which I was pretty sure was going to be too small but I decided to give it a try anyway.  I was hoping it would be a bit thicker than Lizbeth size 20 but alas it is pretty much the same size.  This thread is actually a pretty gold color and pretty nice to work with, its not too terribly expensive but on my budget its more expensive than what I would normally spend.

When I went to work the pattern I had found and put the beaded doodad (that I had already made 4 of) inside the triangle I found that the tatted triangle was way too small.  I then tried to make the triangle with a thicker size thread just to see if the pattern would work and I found out that with a bit of tweaking the knot count I could make the pattern work. So the basic pattern idea came from a motif by Ruth on the site 'tatted patterns calendar" that you can find here. The pattern has both written and picture directions so I was very thankful to have found it. I just changed the counts to make it a bit bigger. I cant remember where I got the pattern for the little beaded leprechaun but I changed it up a bit and added eyebrows and a 3D beard.

 

 I couldn’t find any rainbow thread either so in the end I just used an awesome green thread I had found at goodwill.  I had kind of been saving this thread for a doily but I couldn’t come up with any other thread. It is a vintage J&P Coats knit- cro- sheen. This stuff is great to work with and the photo really doesn’t do it justice to show the great colors in it. It bums me out that this thread isn’t available anymore so I continue to look in goodwills hoping to run across more.

 

I ended up making 12 of these doodads but would anyone care to make a bet on if they made it in the mail on time?  Well the answer to that would be NO! I have never been so good about gifts at Christmas time so a few years back I started sending out fun little things for St Pats. I have been meaning to start another blog for my other crafting to post the things on it so I don’t clutter this one with non tatting stuff but so far I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I should try to make it my mission to start another blog but as you can see I am not even so good at posting with this one on time so maybe I shouldn’t! I guess I will just have to wait and see if I get all ambitious.

  I did end up sending out some tshirts and little rainbow treats along with the cards to some of my family. With shipping so stinking expensive it is kind of hard to send it out to everybody I would like to.  St Pats is kind of a weird holiday for some people and I am pretty sure there are a lot of people that don’t even acknowledge it so I usually only send out the cards to my close family. Unfortunately the shirts didn’t make it in time but I guess the treats are good even though they were late. The cards were also late getting to people so that sucks! But hopefully "it is the thought that counts" and the love behind the making of them!

Belated Valentines Day

 

Another post with some good news and some bad news. The good news is that some of my valentines doodads made it in the mail but unfortunately the bad news outweighs the good. I thought I had mailed them out in time but the weather didn’t cooperate and I forgot that the postal service was closed on  Presidents day  so some of them were late anyway. And as you can already guess..I am really late at getting this posted to my blog! 

Sorry about the poor lighting and the bad shaded areas in the phote. For some reason I cant seem to figure out the best place and way to photograph these so I finally just gave up and went with the best one I could take at the time.

I found the pattern for the little rose on pintrest. It has been posted by lots of people so I am not really sure whose original pattern it is. I had tried to work this pattern when I found a picture of it but didn’t have the directions so It didn’t go so well. Somewhere along the line I found someone else had posted a better detailed picture with numbers as to which section to work next and it is super easy to do.For what its worth this is the pattern I used.  I used a thread called French rose by South Maid. This thead was not fun to work with as the plies tend to split but I had already had my shuttles wound and it is a pretty pink so I just kept using it.

 

The little beaded doodad actually took longer to make than the tatting did yet I still ended up making  18 of these. Unfortunately I was also still in the process of trying to get gifts (Christmas or otherwise ) sent out at the same time so when it came time to get them in the mail only 9 of them ended up getting sent out. And yes, yet again they were late! I am not sure why I was so brain damaged and couldn’t remember who else to send these to. I guess a big part is that they were late getting to the mail, so I just didn’t bother to send more out. Also, it is very rare that I hear from people who receive my holiday doodads so I am quite unsure if anyone actually enjoys them! But since at least some people said they enjoy them, and I would go crazy if I couldn’t bead or tat I will continue to keep making them even though it is getting harder and harder to come up with ideas.

 

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year or whatever!!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year or like it says in our holiday cards..whatever holiday this is posted on!

 

I have some good news and some not so good news about my holiday doodads.  The good news is some of them got sent out unfortunately, the really bad news is that I still haven’t sent out some of them to my family members mostly  because I have still been trying to decide what to send for gifts.(Several reasons for this but most of them revolve around me sucking at life right now) My plan was to get these in the mail super early but, as you can see with the cards that were already printed out from  last year, that wouldn’t make much sense.  But we finally decided about a week before Christmas that we would send them out and just hand write in the cards that “it may be a Christmas miracle that they may actually arrive before Christmas “.

 

 It has been another extremely difficult Christmas. First and foremost, I just really hate the holiday for several reasons. My stress level always goes through the roof around Christmas but this year has been beyond stress. Add the whole 2020 thing, very little money coming in because I haven’t been working for so long, plus not being able to spend it with family, pretty much equates to a terrible holiday. It was definitely very difficult not to travel and spend it with family especially because our new grand babies are getting old enough to know what Christmas is about and the hubby actually had some time off. But we did the socially responsible thing and stayed put.

 

 

I am going to post this even though some of them still haven’t been sent out because I have actually been working on these stupey ornaments for several years now. I have talked about why in previous blog posts but I guess the short reason is I suck! I had started making these for 2018 Christmas but they didn’t get sent out that year, so I continued to keep making a few more for 2019 but I got super overwhelmed that Christmas as well and was still embarrassed to be sending out such tiny motifs with super simple beaded doodads that I didn’t send them out then either.

So that brings us to 2020…I had made 30 of these because I had planned on giving them to the people I work with and the people my husband works with as well as all our family. But as of right now I still haven’t been able to find a job yet and my husband has been working from home so we only will be using 19 this year so I guess we will still have a start for some people next year.

 

 The Angel comes from a pattern that can be found all over pintrest so it is a bit difficult to find out who actually started the original pattern, I am pretty sure it is a pattern by Patrizia Pirocca as that is the name that is watermarked in the picture that also has the stitch counts on it.  I changed the  count on the pattern and added picots to try to make them a bit bigger. I made the picots different lengths on each one I did so each angel actually looks a bit different . The pattern also had a bead as the head but I knew that I was going to be mailing these out so I made the head with thread. 

 

 The motifs are small enough that they really didn’t need to be starched but since I used white thread and apparently didn’t wash my hands often enough, some of them didn’t stay so white so I used gold glitter glue to cover that fact. Since I used gold I wanted to put a gold hanger on them but I couldn’t find any so I decided to make my own ornament hanger. That worked out pretty well because I was able to add the beaded star in a different way than I normally do. The white thread I used was some crochet thread that was not very nice to work with but I just kept working with it anyway. Please don’t ask me why because every answer I would think to come up with isn’t very flattering toward me!

I guess I will just try to focus on the good news that some of these actually got sent out, the holiday is over and the next couple of holidays are my favorite. I am getting close to having the doodads for Valentines done so please join me in crossing fingers that they will make it in the mail in a timely fashion! I have been pouring over the internet (thanks to all you bloggers out there for providing inspiration) trying to come up with an idea for St Pats but so far it has been a solid week since I have worked on any project at all (that is a terrible, terrible admission and one I am totally not proud of, not to mention it is aweful for my sanity). Please wish me luck with coming up with something before I completely loose any sanity that I have left! Thanks!!