Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day....and today is even February 14th.  I know, I know that doesn't happen very often that I post my holiday pictures on the exact holiday but for some reason I was able to get the projects done and in the mail by the day.   I am afraid not all of them will be received by today but at least it will be close.

I actually made 18 of these ornaments and I am going to call these 5 in the motif challenge.  I found the pattern for these fun little hearts on pintrest but you can find the pattern directly on this bloggers site here.  The pattern is very repetitive and they work up fairly quickly.  I used a size 10 thread from Artiste and the color is tropical pink.  You can find the pattern for the little beaded do-dad at threadabead.

I actually tried 4 other hearts before I finally settled on the one I did.  Below are motifs 6,7 and 8. I used a skein of thread that I had gotten from Goodwill so I am not sure what it is.

The heart on the left is a pattern from Bergit Phelps called Sweetheart and it can be found here.  I really like the way this one turned out but the pattern wasn't super repetitive and I needed a patter that would be easy to remember in my head because I knew I would be taking this project with me to California. I would imagine I will be trying this one again.
The heart in the right is a pattern by Betsy Evans and she calls it small tatted heart.  I didn't love the way this one turned out and the pattern was quite difficult to remember so I took a pass on this one as well.

I knew before I started this heart that it was probably going to be quite large but I tried it anyway.  This pattern is very repetitive but it would require tons of stiffening and after the fiasco with the Christmas trees I did I decided to steer clear of this one as well. The name of this heart is Tat Chat heart and I found it in the web archive.  Its a pattern by LaRae Mikulecky and you can find it here.

I really like this little heart by Irene Woo called Butterfly Heart. I found the pattern in the web archives and it can be found here.  The rings in the butterfly are fairly large with lots of stitches making it very difficult to close so I knew I didn't want to fight it with every ornament so this wasn't it either.  I will probably be trying this one again with a better, stronger thread.
In case you were wondering why I didnt trim any of my ends off on these, well the answer is simple...I use the ends to attach a tag to the project listing the name of the pattern and where to find it.  My memory is not the best...old age is creeping in on lots of levels, and this seems to be the best method for me.

I hope you all had a really good day, at least surrounded by people you love!

Merry late christmas, NAMM, hubby turns 50

It has been a super crazy busy last couple of weeks! I was very blessed to be able to go to California with my hubby on his business trip to NAMM which is one of the worlds biggest music industry conventions.  It is basically a musicians/music lovers paradise dream come true. This was my 5th year in a row being able to go and each year I have met lots of my musician idols including some of the biggest names in 80s butt rock history.  It rained almost the whole week we were there included terrible flooding in some areas so we spent most of the time indoors.
The best part of the whole trip was being able to hang out with my step daughter and her hubby and her new baby.  Our new grand baby turned a year old on Christmas day.  What a complete joy he is and we are so very proud of his parents for being so awesome!!
We were gone a whole week and we came home to find our refrigerator and freezer had quit working and the moles outside had completely ruined our front yard. At this point there are more mole mounds than yard, it is very frustrating and makes me so sad. Thankfully the reason for the appliance fail was a tripped GFI in the kitchen, but unfortunately we lost at least $300 in food.
 Some of the other business included throwing a 50th birthday party for the hubby and then taking him to a fancy steak dinner once we got home, going to our companies annual get together and working several shows at the casino. I didn't get a lot of tatting done due to the craziness but I did finally get most of the Christmas cards shipped off so its time to post pictures.

I found this tree pattern at be-stitched.  This was actually a pretty fun pattern to stitch. It is a very repetitive pattern and I wanted the "needles to look like natures" so I was very sloppy with the picots.  This was the first project I did that required a stiff blocking because of the position I wanted to put the angel on the tree and the super large picots. I tried several different methods and finally settled on glue and water.  I tried using a corn starch pattern that I found online and as you can see by the tree on the right I either did something wrong or the starch pattern doesn't work with colored thread.

The starch turned the green tree whitish and it wont come out. I didn't try using sugar because some of the people I sent them to have pets and I have heard that the sugar can be a temptation to the pets. The spray on starch that I usually use didn't stiffen it enough. It actually took some trial and error to get the glue starch figured out. To get them stiff enough I had to use quite a bit of glue and very little water and I had to remember to peel them off the plastic paper they were drying on and turn them over half way through the drying process to avoid the build up of glue that happened to the back of them. I found the best method was to first iron them so the picots laid flat and the painting the glue mixture on the trees with a paintbrush.  I ended up making 16 complete ornaments with a total of 19 tatted trees. The worst part of these was by far the stiffing, it seemed to take forever so I was very glad when they were all completed. It took a really long time to get them all out in the mail, in fact I still have 2 more that need to go out.  With any amount of luck they should go out within the week...Wish me luck!

25 Motif Challenge Complete!!!

I guess its safe to say I have officially made it physically through the holidays but I still have not accomplished all the holiday tasks I set out to do.  I cant even remember when it was the last time I actually enjoyed the season.  For the most part it is just stressful and full of anxiety.  This year seemed to be even worse.  We knew that we wouldn't be spending it with family and we knew there wouldn't be any money to be able to do any gifts.  I actually worked really hard to at least do a little tatting project to send to family and friends.  I had them all done by Christmas but low and behold I still haven't gotten them all put in the mail.  I got so frustrated that I didn't get them out in time that I just put them all aside and didn't finish sending any of them out.  So I have spent the last couple weeks kicking the crap out of myself to the extent that it has pretty much paralyzed me into not wanting to do anything.
Well before Christmas I went to try to finish my blue doily I was working on to give as  gift but I ended up finding that I missed joining a ring in the previous row. I found it after I had went past it by 3 big motifs.  I set it aside and let it just about drive me crazy trying to decide what to do with the mistake. I had seriously thought about just leaving the mistake alone and just finishing the doily so I could use it as  Christmas gift. I let it frustrate me so badly that I ended up not getting it done.

I don't want to post a picture of the little tree motifs I did for Christmas cards until I get them all sent out ( I know... I am super lame being so late with them!)  I will try to get them sent out tonight and post a picture later.  I had actually gotten all the Christmas ones done well before Christmas so I moved onto making snowflakes.  I needed something simple and repetitive to help keep my mind occupied and that would cause the least amount of stress.  Had I thought of snowflakes before I got halfway through making the trees I would have done snowflakes for the cards (another something to stress about and kick myself about).
I am only one motif away from completing the 25 motif challenge.  I was thinking that my blue doily could complete it but I am still working on the silly thing.  So I guess I will finish off the challenge with this  snowflake. I saw something like it on pintrest but the link was a dead one so I decided to just try one like it and make up my own counts.  The second one I tried I changed the counts a bit and wasn't paying too close attention and got way off on the counts while doing one of the arms so i decided instead of tearing it out I just kept going and made the next arms match the mistake. It is quite weird looking but after all...no two snowflakes look the same right?

Challenge completed.....and with weeks to spare!!

I had so much fun doing the challenge that I believe that I am going to go for another round. It has given me something to focus on when I cant seem to slow my head down from spinning. It has given me something to strive for when it has been difficult to look toward the future.  I have already got a good start on it. Below are motifs 1,2 and 3

I saw a picture of these little snowflakes on pintrest and it wasn't hard to figure out the pattern. I was using cheap Aunt Lydias crochet thread in size 10 so the ring with the bead on it was very difficult to close and very hard to keep tension on so I don't love how they turned out but they are kind of cute none the less. They work up super fast so I may have to try to find some Lizbeth thread and so some more of them.

 Here is another snowflake whose pattern that I referenced from a picture that I found on pintrest.The pin said it was found on the DMC site but I couldn't find it so I guessed at the counts. This one is fairly large measuring just over 5" and they are pretty floppy so they are going to have to be more heavily starched.

I only made one of these little snowflakes whose pattern can be found here at Tats all called Betsy snowflake.  I don't like how the middle bunched up so so I didn't try another one. 

I want to thank all those who help out to keep the 25 motif challenge going! I would imagine it is a pretty huge task but believe me when I say that I appreciate it more than words can say!

Happy Thanksgiving a bit late!

Happy Thanksgiving....a couple of days late!! 

 I hope everyone had a very enjoyable thanksgiving.  I know this holiday is about spending time with the people you love the most so according to that I guess I did just that only you would have to change people to person.  It was just me and the hubby spending the day together again this year. I am very thankful that I wasnt completely alone but it is a very sad holiday to not have family around. It sure seemed like an awful lot of work to do a full on Thanksgiving dinner for just two but after eating leftovers for two days in a row it seemed to make it more worthwhile. 

These are the little motifs I made for thanksgiving.  

As I was making the little ghosties for Halloween I left the little pumpkin (actually an apple pattern by Mark Myers) that I decided didn't look like a pumpkin, laying out on my table. The more I looked at it the more I got to thinking that it wouldn't be too difficult to change the stem to make it look more like a pumpkin instead of an apple.  So the orange part is from Marks pattern and the stem is my first attempt at doing my own pattern.  Doing a split ring at the top made it a bit more dimensional.  I made 9 of these little doodads and I am going to call these number 24 in the 25 motif challenge. Looking at those two numbers together just made me realize I only have one more motif to go to meet the challenge! WWWHHOO!!

Row 7 and 8

Well its been another long time between posts but I have stayed busy with lots of crafting. I finally got the baby announcement cross stitch pattern all stitched and ironed and now I just need to mount it. It took quite a while to get all the information I needed to complete it and now I am dragging my feet on mounting it. Framing my cross stitch projects is probably my least favorite thing about the whole project but I know I need to just hurry and get it done.
I have been working on lots of tatting projects but I don't want to post a picture of them until I get them shipped off in the mail. In between working on my holiday motifs I have worked on my doily a bit.

 I really debated on ending it after completing row 7 but my shuttles were still pretty full of thread so I went one more row.  Part of the indecision was whether or not I am going to be able to figure out row 9. Row 8 went fairly quickly because it is just chains and rings but looking at row 9 I am not sure I can figure out how to join step 4 to step 1 and then go onto step 5. I don't think I want to end on row 8 so I guess I will just start row 9 and see if I can figure it out.

Happy Halloween!

 I just realized that i forgot to hit the post button on my Halloween post so it is a day late...just like most things in my life right now!!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays.  Things have changed quite a bit in recent years due to my kiddos being all grown up and me moving away.  I still decorate the house (even though nobody but the hubby and me sees it) and we carve pumpkins but I sure miss sewing costumes and planning parties. The hubby had to work tonight and so far we haven't gotten any trick or treaters again this year so it looks like I will just end up tatting and watching Disney Halloween movies.
The good news is I found a pattern to use for the holiday motifs for the family, the not so good news is I was behind in sending them out again so most of them probably didn't make it in time. I didnt love the pattern when I first saw it but in the end I think they finished ornaments turned out ok.

 I ended up making 10 of these little ghosties and I am going to call them number 23 in the motif challenge. I found the pattern by Mark Myers on his web site.  He has tons of really fun patterns and I am very thankful that he is willing to share. I wish I could tell you where I found the beaded bat n' pumpkin pattern but I made the original one years ago so I have since forgotten where I found it. I first made the pattern all in white but I didn't think the face showed up good enough so I did the rest in 2 colors.

             I hope everyone has a very happy Halloween!

21 and 22 pumpkin motifs

It has been a really long time since I have posted anything! I knew it had been a while but after looking at my last post it is much longer than I had thought.  Time is just flying by and not in a good way. I have always heard that happens once you get older but it is even more true when you struggle with depression and panic attacks and anxiety disorders.
I actually had a really bad epiphany about the cross stitch I was working on for the new baby.  I had chose to do it in 18 count because I didn't want the finished project to be too big.  But I woke up in the middle of the night and got to thinking that the pattern has a spot that you stamp the babies foot prints on and there may not be enough space to put them because I used such small fabric.  It is going to be even worse the longer I wait, the baby was born in August so I am sure she is probably growing like a weed.  I have been furiously trying to get it done so I have a higher chance of them fitting.  I am stressing out pretty good because I picked the pattern for the fact that you can personalize it even further with the actual footprints.  The family lives in Nashville so I cant check to see if they are going to fit.  Pretty much every little thing about this project has been a pain. I really don't like anything about this thing so I am trying to get it done and get it out of my sight.

I have taken a few breaks away from the cross stitch because Halloween is coming quickly so I want to get my holiday project for my family done as well.  I first tried out a few pumpkin patterns that I found on pintrest.

The one on the left is one I found on youtube. The video is in a foreign language and didn't come with a written pattern but the video flashes the counts on the screen so it was easy enough to follow.  It was done with a needle but it is super small so not exactly what I was hoping for. You can find the video here.
The pumpkin on the right is a pattern by Mark Myers that is actually an apple pattern but Le Blog de Frivolet did it with orange thread as a pumpkin. After looking at it for a while I realized the stem is not quite correct for a pumpkin so I searched for another pattern.  I did end up finding another Halloween pattern but I cant post it yet because I want the project to be a surprise.  I am going to call these 2 lil pumpkins motifs 21 and 22.
I have also worked on my doily a little bit but not enough to bother taking a picture. I am waiting to hear back from my friend about some of the babies info I need to finish the cross stitch. In the mean time I am working diligently on trying to get the Halloween motifs done before the holiday hits.