TATS A KOOL CHALLENGE

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-22T17:49:00.000Z

Hi everyone!

To all my tatting friends out there

I have been absent way too long.

BUT

Life happens

and

sometimes you just need to take a break.

I am fine, still tatting.....just not reading blogs or writing them, or even dyeing thread!

I will try to get back to normal next year and be back to my old self.

I have finished 23 out of the 24 Easter Eggs...will show you sometime.

BUT my latest tatting adventure has been with Ruth Perry's Sweet Little Christmas Edging.

I have made a couple of bookmarks in size 20 Flora, but my favourites right now are these Christmas

tree ornaments.

I just cant make enough to give to all my tatting friends , I wish that I could.

I shopped around looking for little bells and was delighted to find these tiny ones in several colors.

The tails without the bells fit better in an envelope tho!

they all add enough weight for it to hang nicely on a tree without stiffening.

They do match my Christmas table cloth to perfection.

I LOVE this pattern, thank you so much Ruth.

Happy Christmas, talk to you all next year.

Easter Eggstravaganza 15!

2011-05-22T18:14:00.001+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Onwards and upwards!

Easter Egg number 15 had left me a bit cold when I first saw it...like so many of the designs in this book! I don't know why these designs didn't appeal to me...must be the lack of colour.

Until I saw what others had done with it.....Barbara Gordon had tatted a white butterfly with a variegated surround. Umi and Tsuru had tatted a variegated pink butterfly with a pale green surround.

Ok then...on to the practice piece....I forgot to make the joining picot on the antennae so mine are a bit too short. the dimpled rings were difficult to close....I could have made them a different way but decided to stick to Kirtsen's pattern...for now!

The rings in the trefoils are not connected so tend not to lie very flat...really needed blocking to put on my tree.

For the next one I chose to tat the butterfly in my Blue Lagoon HDT with flowers round the outside in my Berry Burst HDT and chains in my Daffodil Green HDT all in Lizbeth 40 and it looks lovely and very delicate.

I like this a lot. What a difference using different colours makes.

Easter Eggstravaganza 14!

2011-05-21T19:01:00.002+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Easter Egg number 14 had a new challenge hidden up it's sleeve...

....Roll Tatting.....

something that I have never tried before.

Of course i went straight away to Google to see what I could find out about this technique.

I found instructions from Jennifer Williams and Jane Eborall and a very recent blog post by Jon entitled
Rolling! Rolling! Rolling off the Shuttle

followed by an even more interesting post

Rolling a Stumpy

she points to a video by

Karen Cabrera's video

It was well worth a look but i did find her method rather overcomplicated.

So Off i went armed with this knowledge and of course Kirsten's explanation in her book.

Well

it was really easy..once I held on tight to the roll stitches that I had made.

Karen's video was great for showing how quickly they can unroll!

Time now for some fun!

I tatted the inner chain in My Daffodil Green and the rings in my Just Daffodils HDT.

It looks so pretty, one of my favourite colour combinations.

This one was tatted in Coats Mercer size 30.

Here is a size comparison...

Here is a close up of my roll tatting

I am dying to try it on something else now, Jon's idea of Kersti's Stumpy sounds great.

I have made that before.

The Mary Konior Lupins look great too.

Easter Eggstravaganza 13!

2011-05-16T15:40:00.003+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Number 13 unlucky for some!

But it worked a treat for me!

Made in one round using a split ring, it finishes with three rows of chains.

Thought that this would look nice with the chains in a different colour

This one has them in Coats Floretta 20 in a deep raspberry variagation.

Don't like this thread much as it's a 3 cord thread, but the colours are pretty.

Next thought was to build another dessert!! using my own HDT.

I started with my Vanilla Ice Cream in the center.

The chains are in

my Raspberry Juice,

Blackberry Juice

and

Blueberry Juice.

All the solid colours from my Berry Burst thread.

Looks prettier in real life without the white background.

I didn't even get time to block these last two, but they came out pretty firm to start with.
Multicoloured ones really make the inner round stand out don't they?
I think this design would be lovely on the tree with a jewel hanging inside it.

Easter Eggstravaganza 12!

2011-05-15T17:40:00.000+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Number 12 has bugged me for some time!

It wasn't the tatting that was the problem

it was finishing off the egg with a final round of crochet.

It's not even that I don't know how to crochet, I haven't done it for a long time,but I was sure I wouldn't have forgotten the basics.

I guess it was just that the instructions didn't make a lot of sense to me, even tho' they were perfectly correct.

I intended to scan the first round of the egg with it's fringe of picots round the edge...looked pretty.

I had measured the picots with a picot gauge to get this fringe even enough to crochet round. I used 9mm measured horizontally.

But I forgot!

When I saw that Barbara Gordon has succeeded then I was eager to pick up my discarded egg again!

My problem begins with.....do I need to use a extra thread to crochet with or is it really as simple as Kirsten says.....

well yes it seemed that it really was that simple....

so my next problem was...what do I do when I get to the end and have a final loop on my crochet hook????

anyone got the answer????

My final loop actually is just lying there not attached and not sew in and it hasn't come undone.....but that's not really good enough.

I contemplate putting in a magic thread to pull it thro'...but that wouldn't work with a loop!

Do I have to sew it in with matching fine thread.

Anyway at the moment I am not feeling like making another one!

Does look pretty tho'!

Another great lace trip!

2011-05-08T17:52:00.000+01:00

Interrupting the Easter Egg saga on this blog to bring you........

Last week I had the pleasure to go along to Dingle in Co Kerry with my Lace Guild to take part in a 'working exhibition'!

This was the Festival

Representatives of all the Celtic nations were there...from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and The Isle Of Man.

During the week there was singing and dancing in the streets...not that we saw much of this...we were there to work!

Click on the photo to get a better view of the programme for the days we were there.

We settled in for the day in this beautiful venue do go and have a look especially if you are interested in stained glass windows.

During the morning a TV crew were there to film part of a programme featuring us.

Then in the afternoon it was open to the public to come and look at us and ask questions. There was a talk on Kenmare lace and the showing of an old TV programme....you can read about it in the photo above.

The room we were in was dedicated to Nano Nagle founder of the Presentation Sisters and was beautifully decorated with murals. You can see that on the website too.

Wowee....watched the TV programme last wed and I was actually on it.

Just had to photograph the TV screen and also make a movie of it with my camera.

You will know which is me as I was the only one tatting!

We have quite a lot of interested members of the public asking questions.

One guy made me laugh

"I think you must be a rebel!" he said

"Why?"

"Because you are the only one using colour!

How true, I really am not traditional enough for the group!

This is my work area.

We had to take something to show and something we were working on. Sorry that I can show you what the others took or them at work.

You can see the easter egg that I was working on and also some bookmarks that I made....will show them another time.

I did have white tatting too...Marilee's Arches doiley.

You can also see my pieces of unfinished Carrickmacross lace, my favourite lace after tatting.

It was the day of the Royal Wedding and we were delighted to see the beautiful lace dress that she wore.

It made our day.

There was a craft sale going on outside with all sorts of lovely things including hand made furniture...all made locally.

That evening there was a parade, the Irish contingent were well represented by some young leprechauns!

Tatters keep asking about the whereabouts of Feargal, I honestly don't know!

Maybe he was here before me.....sign spotted in a local shop!

Lots of local fish was eaten and some handmade Ice Cream.

On our way home we stopped to look at the s bronze statue of Tom Crean the famous antarctic explorer.

Behind him you can just see the famous Inn (with the blue chimney).

A stay at a friend's holiday house by the sea and some garden centers and a few more seedling maples to make in to bonsai and it was a lovely weekend.

Easter Eggstravaganza 11!

2011-05-07T21:30:00.000+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

On to number 11

This looked easy until I took a closer look at how it was made.....it was just a bit tricky to keep one stitch flipped...nuff said...!

Tatted in Flora 20 I used beads from my selection pack of silver lined size 8 beads.

I thought that I had chose all turquoise beads until i came to tat in the daylight last weekend...more about that later!...and found that there were two different greens also in the.....so I continued in the same vein to make it look natural!

Haven't got round to tatting this one again either...but it would look lovely in.....and.....and......

Easter Eggstravaganza 10!

2011-05-06T18:09:00.000+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen
Number 10 looked STUNNING
but is it easy to tat?
This was my first time tatting with 2 shuttles and 2 balls.
The big problem was the ball threads getting tangled.
This needed a little help from some transparent tape sent to me by Tatting Goddess a few years ago, wind a piece round the ball and it sticks to itself and can be removed easily. I have no idea what it is called or where to get more.
It also needed a great deal of organisation to switch from one colour to the next placing the shuttle and ball out of the way......and a great deal of concentration at first to make sure that the chains lay on top of each other in the correct order. I got this wrong in the very first chain but think it's a great feature to make a specific top to the egg motif!!

The rings are joined through each other and by the time I got to the last two sets of rings to join I was stumped as to how to do this....I untatted these rings at least 4 times and then put the motif to one side in frustration.....was going to ask for your advice!
But last night I saw a comment that Barbara Gordon of Barbara's 25 motif challenge had left for me on my Egg No 1 post, saying that she was also tatting all the Easter Eggs in the book.
So I zoomed over to her blog and low and behold there were joys galore. If you like my egss then you will love hers too. She has got further than me and finished 15 already.
Thank you Barbara for your inspiration to keep going.

Thank you also for giving the answer to my problem. You have to tat both rings at the same time....not easy....going backwards and forwards to each ring to tat a bit more and get the joins interwoven thro' each ring.
I can assure you that it's every bit as difficult as it sounds.
But the result is stupendous.

can you see the error at the very top......makes a great hanger!
I can see this egg in many different colourways ....will i be doing it again....like Barbara not anytime soon!!

Easter Eggstravaganza 9!

2011-05-05T15:03:00.000+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

If I was beginning to get a little jaded then Number 9 raised my spirits...

it's a little cracker.
I HAD to tat this in 2 colours at the very beginning.

Flora 20.

Second one is in Lizbeth 40 in my Berry Burst with white and lemon.

I am afraid we are back to food again!
It was meant to represent Berry Burst dessert with vanilla ice cream topped with custard!
Then of course I wondered what it would look like with the colours in a different order....
so here is dessert No 2.

This one has the fruit in the middle in a solid block with the ice cream and custard round the outside.
I am hard pushed to say which of these I like the best. I like the solid block of Berries better in the middle but on the other hand I like the contrast on the outside of the one with the custard in the middle.mmm!
Funny how that contrast makes that one look bigger as your eyes are drawn to the outside.
These eggs have a natural tendency to curve upwards so I had to squash them on the scanner...and then photograph them to show this curve which is very pleasant.

With the center filled in this would make a cracking little hat pattern.

Easter Eggstravaganza 7!

2011-05-04T12:28:00.000+01:00

mmm this was scheduled to be published before No 8...

oh well, better late than never!
Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Number 7 tatted in plain Fora 20 looks like an egg to me.

Decided to tat it in three colours for my second attempt.

Really shows up the design and the silver lined largeish beads add that bit of bling.

Nice one!

Easter Eggstravaganza 8!

2011-04-29T18:53:00.001+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Egg number 8 ......

was a pain to tat! All those twisted chains.

By the time I had them finished I had had enough.
It's just the same as No 7 but twisted chains and another layer of them.

Sorry but I haven't repeated this one...yet...tho i do think it would look pretty in different colours.

This is in Flora 20 and the whole egg is a bit too big for me at 3.5inches top to bottom.

Looks pretty tho' now that I see it on the screen.

Easter Eggstravaganza 6!

2011-04-27T17:54:00.002+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

Egg Number 6 looks pretty basic when tatted in one plain colour.....

.....but when tatted in a variegated thread it zings.

It's Lizbeth 20 in Caribbean and matching Turquoise. The toning silver lined turquoise beads really sparkle even tho they aren't faceted.

The pattern tatted in one colour takes about 3.6m on the shuttle and 2.5m on the ball.....unless you want bigger picots.

They measure about 3inches top to bottom and I think would be nicer in a finer thread for my tree.

Easter Eggstravaganza 5!

2011-04-25T18:13:00.003+01:00

Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

I must admit that when I first got this book I was not all that struck by it. A lot of patterns looked much the same as a lot of other motifs only blocked to be egg shaped!

But once I got into tatting the patterns numerically instead of cherry picking my favourites, they began to grow on me and I wanted to give it a fair go! I won't have time to tat every design several times as I would like to, but I will tat as many variations as time allows.

I hope it won't be quantity rather than quality!

No 5 looks pretty ordinary until I began to tat it and then its beauty hit me.

Even my trial is lovely.

I should have scanned this against a black background before I stiffened and shaped it.

I suppressed the desire to take it in reverse to see what it would look like!

Mmmmm! I thought what about making this look like an egg with the yolk in the center and the white on the outside.

I made the picots graduated to make the white a bit more fluffy.

But it's not egg like enough....thought process gets going....why not give it and eggshell.

Cool idea...so I got out an egg and compared it to my new selection of browns in my Gingerbread range.......and Cinnamon won.

Added some beads to fill in the yolky center a little.

Changed the stitch count of the yolk quite by accident...wondered why it had little peaks in the middle and added an outer round of cinnamon chains.

Now I need to know what it would have looked like if I had tatted the correct/original stitch count!

It looks so like a cream Easter Egg

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

This design has so much more potential to explore.

The outer round of chains finishes it off to perfection.

Stiffened and shaped....but not the third one

As as addendum to this....my lassies were tatting this design (from their books) when two of them shrieked

'Oh No'

They had both joined the rings together in the inner round. One of them hadn't got very far, the other had several rings made and was blowed if she was going to untat!

We told her that it wasn't a mistake, rather a new pattern!

She went home having got this far...

.......and returned two weeks later with this little beauty.

Isn't that lovely and the mix of yellow and orange beads is beautiful.
the little Easter chicks were impressed too.

Easter Eggstravaganza 4!

2011-04-24T17:37:00.001+01:00

Here comes Egg No 4 from Tatted Easter Eggs a great little book from Kirsten Wind Hansen.

Trial in Flora 20.

Second one in Lizbeth 20...Autumn Spice and Salmon with gold beads.

This one has one less repeat of rings and chains because I miscalculated my thread amount....looks nice tho'. Smaller that the first one as well because Lizbeth 20 tats up smaller.

Shaped and stiffened they look rather odd!

These are definitely going to be flattened!

Most of the eggs would look great in a finer thread.

Easter Eggstravaganza 3!

2011-04-23T17:25:00.001+01:00

On to Easter Egg No 3 from Kirsten Wind Hansen's book Tatted Easter Eggs.

First try out...

Second one...

...in Flora 20 Orange and my Wedding Teal Blue and little goldey brown beads. Wowee! doesn't it look different.

Easter Eggstravaganza 2!

2011-04-22T15:19:00.002+01:00

The second design the the book Tatted Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen is very much like the first one.The difference being the addition of an extra ring at the base of the egg and josephine knots all around the edge.

Great practise doing josephine knots. I prefer to use the second half stitch for these and to pass the shuttle around the thread after every five half knots.

First trial looks like this ....

I must admit that the additional ring at the bottom really foxed me! Try as I might to remember to make it after I had tatted the one above I forgot and on the second attempt I still forgot! So the ring is stitched on with fine thread.

For my second one I was dying to use my new batch of Raspberry Ripple with Vanilla...

This one does look prettier in real life....hard to capture. this one is tatted in size 30.

I did stiffen and shape these...

This shows the colours much better.

Thank you so much to those who took the trouble to give their opinion on whether to shape the eggs or not. I tend to agree that they would look better flat hanging on the tree and have flattened my no 1 eggs.

Funnily enough when I asked my tatting lassies for their opinion every one said 'shape them' and are going to shape theirs.

In size 20 they take about 3.75m on each shuttle.

Easter Eggstravaganza 1!

2011-04-21T16:34:00.000+01:00

Happy Easter to all my friends

I intended to start writing this series of posts well before Easter but as you all know time runs away so quickly.

This is our last tat day and one of my lassies brought us all Easter chicks from her trip to Holland.

Gorgeous aren't they?

IsDihara asked if we have special chocolatey goodies for Easter here.

We have the usual Eggs, either shells only or filled with cream/toffee etc. Also lots of Chocolate Bunnies and Chicks.

Back to tatting.....this year I resolved to tat something from the multitude of tatting books that I have never used

This time it was the turn of another of the wonderful books published by Akacia

Tatting Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen

There are 24 designs in this inexpensive book. Black and white photos and great diagrams but the minimum of instruction for each design...except for the instructions at the beginning of the book.

I intended in my own silly way to tat my way through the book in order starting at number one and finishing at Easter or when I ran out of enthusiasm...which ever came first!

There is one design which particularly takes my fancy and my friend urge me to skip ahead to it.....should I, will I...

So Staring with

Easter Egg No 1

Once again I am doing trials of all the eggs in the same thread...I love doing that...not only to it let me work out how much thread to use when I use my good stuff...but it lets the design show through on each different pattern.

Once again I must say

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY PHOTOS TO TRY TO TAT THE PATTERNS

A LOT OF TIME AND EFFORT HAS GONE INTO DESIGNING THEM
PLEASE IF YOU LIKE THEM

BUY THE BOOK

This is where I show you my first mistake!!!

I made too many rings in the central section, didn't realise until I was this far round in the outer section and wondered why it didn't look right!

Memo to self...look more carefully at the diagram!

Second try in a pretty melon and light green Flora 20

Third one is in a cherry coloured Flora 20 with Robin's egg blue Flora contrast and Rainbow Ruby beads size 11. The beads made the whole egg come out a little larger.

For my fourth egg I used my latest dye batch of Berry Burst HDT. I had been asked by a friend in UK to dye this again. It's quite difficult to dye due to the intensity of the colour, getting even and complete penetration of the dye is difficult and it has to be perfect for me!

The beads are purple lined the thread is size 30.

The eggs made in Flora 20 measure about 2 inches.

Thread used was shuttle , 3.6m and Shuttle 2.2 m when using all one colour.

There will be more eggs in Berry Burst later .

It's very much a summer fruits colour.....raspberries,redcurrants,cranberries,loganberries and strawberries, add in the purples of bilberries and blackcurrants and then the blues of blackberries and blueberries.....gosh making my mouth water again.....how come my dyeing seems to be mainly about food!

I stiffened the eggs on a polystyrene egg and hung them on my tree.

I am not sure if I like them shaped or not...what do you think?

This is day one of my Easter Egg tree....the real eggs on the tree I showed first in 2009 follow the link to see them....not sure if I ever showed you the others.

Two more Teapots!

2011-04-17T19:16:00.000+01:00

My Tat Lassies brought in two more finished teapots that I don't think you have seen.

Both are Martha Ess's Shamrock teapot.

This one in a very pale green and a medium green, very pretty.

This one is very dramatic, with a very dark green contrasting with my Daffodil Dell HDT.

Apple Blossom time AGAIN!

2011-04-16T17:59:00.000+01:00

Remember my Bonsai Crab Apple Tree.....the inspiration for my Apple Blossom HDT way back in 2008...gosh looking back at that post I had forgotten that it looked that good.

By 2009 it was only a shadow of it's former self.

2010 and it had survived the Bonsai Table collapse of the Autumn of 2009.

BUT this year it looks superb.....sorry to bore you with even more photos...but I couldn't take my eyes off it. We had such a hard winter....but it must have suited this little chap....either that or it has loved being on the NEW Bonsai table.....sorry I still haven't got round to showing you all about that achievement....but I will...eventually!

Sadly it's now past it's best, but how glorious it's season is.

I must, I must dye more Apple Blossom thread, it was just gorgeous.

I am having renewed enthusiasm for my little trees in all this glorious weather.

Meeting The President!

2011-04-13T19:00:00.001+01:00

Yesterday our President came to town for a very special event.

I have told you about...and shown you photos from our dearly beloved wildlife park lots of times.

We are one of the top 5 tourist attractions in the country...and we are SUPER.

The conservation elf is on the Board of Governers so we got to be invited guests.

It was very much a whistle stop tour for a very busy lady...we were lucky to have her.

She came,met everyone, toured the park...

on one of out tourist trains.....this is the other one,especially loved by the children....like me!

She gave a superb speech....it was touch and go if the rain would hold off..

she couldn't believe how much freedom and space the animals have.

The park does a wonderful job. liitle Rua the baby red panda is going off to start a new life soon and hopefully help to make more red pandas!

Next she unveiled a commemorative plaque alongside beautiful bronze cheetah sculptures.

This is just in front of the new entrance/extension...on the park side. cant you see the curtains in the first photo? the people who work in the offices have cheetahs just outside their windows...real cheetahs!

The extension also includes a new gift shop/cafe complex with outdoor seating. Just opposite is a new enclosure with Meerkats and Mangabey monkeys, which can be enjoyed along with a cup of coffee.

Look at the stunning natural woven fencing.

She shook hands with so many people and posed with little children who had had their faces painted and their mums.....and me too(shook hands that is!)

Sorry that I can't show you lots of photos.....

but here she is elf chatting with the conservation elf.

She was so genuine....we are so lucky to have her as our President.

Sadly she had to leave after only a short visit and we all had to continue the celebrations without her.

A ride on my favourite train and a yummy buffet and a walk back past the animals....

can you see the Ring Tailed lemurs who enjoyed the day too?

Super, super day.....we will be back to the estate on sunday for the annual Rare and Unusual Plant Sale...and on Easter Sunday with the grandson now two and a half who adores all things train!

Goodies Galore 2!

2011-04-09T18:53:00.000+01:00

Next to show is a box of goodies from Ridgewoman in New Mexico.

A while ago I won a give-away on her blog for guessing the origin of the name of the gorgeous pussy, Pippa who is the star of her blog heading.

The box itself is a gift....

.....before the excitement of wondering what it contained....

I couldn't even remember what the prize was...but I think it was some HDT and a shuttle.

That HDT sure looks nice.

It is Yarnplayer's Sugar Maple dyed on Cotton Floss, that's a new experience for me.

There was also Yarnplayer's Forest in size 50. One of the very first colours that I got from her to tat geckos. That's a while ago!

OK I will open the box and show you the contents...

....drool over all those goodies...I did!

The shuttle is one of the new Boyle plastic post shuttles with a pick....going into my collection (and to use sometimes for pleasure of course).

Two lots of ribbon, great for mounting tatting on to make bookmarks.

3 eazy bobs...is that how it's spelt..it doesn't have the name on the bobbin....another new novelty to try.

2 lengths of very unusual beads...for jewellery and a bag with more beads in..little hearts and some findings.....a ball of Valdani dark green floss...will go with the Sugar Maple.

Oh and a ball of Lizbeth 40 in lemon yellow....that's already been used for one of my latest projects.

Almost at the end.....for Feargal there was a Serape for cold nights round the camp fire. Donnacha gave this up without much of a fight!

Tadgh says wherever you are Feargal...eat you heart out 'cos he saw it first!

Did you see the gorgeous tatting at the front, a snowflake and a medallion for the Serape...how how we loves to get our hands on someone elses tatting.

Oh so pretty.

Finally there sitting on top of the box on the Serape is the cutest little bear.

It's turquoise from a mine in Arizona and is a fetish 'mmm maybe with mystical qualities' common in Indian decoration. Can't read where from it looks like S.W.Arnes but couldn't find that on Google.

She said that she had fun stuffing the box and she sure did stuff a lot in there..it was like Christmas again.

Thank you so much.

Goodies galore!

2011-04-08T11:38:00.000+01:00

I haven't showed you the other lovely piece of tatting that I received at Christmas....

....from my good friend Sally (from Tat's Heaven).

It's sister Jane's Flurry Snowflake that she designed for her Christmas Give-aways.

very Christmasy in these colours.

Thanks Sally for thinking of me.

More goodies to show next time.

Happy Tat Day!

2011-04-03T13:38:00.000+01:00

International Tatting Day 2011

A Red Letter Day

the Rules are...

Tat only for yourself,

Wear something tatted

Eat Chocolate!

Well my Tat Lassies

CAME, brought CHOCOLATE,WORE, TATTED....and ATE.....

mostly we ate and talked!!

This was the table before we started work....

The Teapot Tree has been transformed into an Easter Egg Tree.

The chocolate is piled up,mmmm!

Chocolate and caramel pie, and..and...and...and.. is your mouth watering?

Hope you all had a great day too.

We tatted Easter Eggs...

....watch this blog for an Easter Egg Eggstravaganza coming soon.

Two more Teapots made their debut appearance.

Shamrock teapot in beautiful soft spring colours

...and another lovely Celtic Button teapot..

...as well as her finished Gingerbread man....remember from a previous post how cute he looked..

isn't he stunning?

Overflowing with teapots!

2011-03-31T15:14:00.001+01:00

teapots fell off my shuttles.

This is another favourite, it's very pretty.

Lilac tiny buttons,pink sparkly...anoth lilac sparkly would have looks better!
It does look a bit sickly sweet in the scan , much nicer in reality.

Threads are Raspberry Ripple with Vanilla and matching Ripple Pink and Parma Violet.

This one I think looks extra pretty because I added some bling....some silver lined pale pink beads.

I scanned it the wrong way round by mistake so you get to see the back view.

Raspberry Ripple with Vanilla has become one of my favourite threads...so I had to dye some more to keep up my stocks. I even dyed matching Vanilla solids and an even lighter version. I find that it is essential for me to have matching solids especially when I work in anything thinner than 20. In 20 I will usually find something to match in my huge stash of Flora.

Spurred on by my addiction to beads....my next Teapot has transparent beads colour lined with white.

This one is very striking too in Flora 20 poppy red and white with tiny white buttons and a goirgeous metal button.

Another metal button for my final teapot....for now!

Another very different colour change.....

...a seascape, rather a rough sea this one, with dark blue tiny buttons, pitted metal button. the threads are my HDT in Coral reef and Wedding Teal with silver lined teal beads to add sparkle. White thread show the tips of the waves.

Martha is always delighted when I make her designs with my tat lassies and I usually send her photos of what they make.

They had never tatted with buttons before so it was a challenge, only two of them finished the teapot so far.

Jackie made two....

This very pretty Delft one dedicated to her homeland.....

....and one using green tiny buttons, from the selection that I gave them.

Marjorie tatted this lovely one in Lizbeth 20 with cream buttons.

There are more still to come in.

Remember my showing you my silver and crystal jewellery stand that I bought recently.

Well it has been turned into a Teapot Tree. can you see 3 different teapot designs...all by Martha Ess...my Teapot Queen.

It usually stands in my hallway in front of a mirror so I see much more of the teapots all round....very hard to photograph.

One more different teapot to show you...but it isn't finished yet!

Teapots are topping!

2011-03-27T17:39:00.000+01:00

This last bout of enthusiasm came about after I received a beautiful Christmas gift from my dear friend Martha Ess.....it was her brand spanking new design.....Celtic Button Teapot.

I had to have this pattern!

Fortunately is was to be published in Tatting Times the tatting periodical of Karey Solomon.

It was a good job that I am a subscriber. You should be too....this is a stunner.

My trial attempt was in Flora 20 in my special trial colour of burgundy with fawn, as the fawn matched some tiny buttons that I had in my stash. A super set of earthy toned buttons.

It's an easy pattern to tat once you get the hang of joining into the buttons.

the only problem that I had was where to join the last round to the inner sections.

Martha says the first join can be to any chain in round 1......but she wrote the pattern for a 4 hole center button and with a 2 hole one and IT DID MATTER....well if you want the holes in the button to be horizontal...and I did....like Martha did for my gift.

So it was back to the drawing board to figure out exactly which chain I should join to. That done and I was away to buy more tiny buttons.....and even some really nice buttons for the center(s)!

I found that 4 hole buttons were hard to find.

Thought on this teapot were that I would prefer to get more definition with a dark outer round.

What do you think?

Baby pink tiny buttons(not my favourite...but I couldn't get buttons with umph...in a hurry!)

Center button is Mother of Pearl. Thread colours are from my ChocoRaspberry series....raspberry Sorbet and the darker Raspberry and Chocolate Mousse with a pale pink Flora 20 (I think)....oops no it's actually white!

This one has to be my favourite..it just sings!

Tiny matt chocolate buttons from my stash and a pretty red 4 hole button.

the threads used are my HDT's Flame Lantana and Chocolate Sauce.

My teapots are all in size 20 so far.

Just to show that I don't always get it right.....

this round had only 7 rings instead of 8!

This one was an alternative center...for another time!

Which do you prefer???

I think it fair to ask you not to try to work out the pattern for this teapot from my pictures.

This is not the aim of this blog.

Martha put a lot of effort into designing this and her rights should be respected. Do go to the source of the pattern yourself.

One last teapot for today then I really must go and drink some to revive myself!!

Something different with pretty lilac buttons and a gorgeous sparkly lilac center button. You really can't see how pretty it is.

Threads are my HDT Sweetshop with matching Parma Violet from the Sweetshop collection and a toning Flora for the outer round.

I will be back soon with more colour variations in this pattern...yes I did rather get carried away.....and even more tatted by my tat lassies....who drool over and buy...everything design that Martha produces.

Happy St Patrick's Day and Time for Tea!

2011-03-17T11:40:00.002Z

I can't believe that it's over a year ago that I test tatted Martha Ess's Shamrock Teapot for her Book 'Tatted teapots' and showed you here.

Spring is really in the air, the weather has been glorious for the last few days,the most beautiful pink skies at night, daffodils in bloom.

So I re tatted the teapot to give to a friend, had to be exactly the same as I couldn't bear to part with the original.

Well of course if you know me...you will realise that by this time I was thinking...

WHAT WOULD IT LOOK LIKE IN DIFFERENT COLOURS???

Maybe a different green..more real shamrocky and for the surrounding flowers...well they had to be daffodils didn't they!

My Just Daffodils was just right!

I had lots of greens in Flora,Coats Mercer and Cebelia and even DMC in 20 to choose from...and picked one in Flora.

SO here is my

HAPPY ST PATRICK'S DAY

Greetings to you all.

I couldn't resist adding a few beads...I thought that the handle looked lovely...but the lid seemed a bit 'feeble'!

I am in 'Teapot' mode at the moment and decorated my new Art Deco silver and crystal tree with teapots.

These new ones are a little too big so methought to tat it again in a 40. Just Daffodils was there waiting for me in but darn I didn't have a solid green.

But I did have both in a Coats 30....so here goes...not quite finished yet but I added more beads to the lid...what do you think???

The two large Teapots...

....and the beaded teapots in 20 and 30.

My Daffodil Green is darker than the Flora that i chose and gives more definition..I think.

Yeah forgot to post this...and yo and behold I have finished my teapot.
It measures 5.5 in from handle to tip of spout in size 30 thread.

Mmm the beads on the lid give the lid a squarish look...is that good or not?

I am in Teapot mode, lots more to show you....next time.

have a happy day.

After the Zoo!

2011-03-14T18:07:00.000Z

We continued up to the very North of Ireland to Derry, constant rain, freezing cold.

Stayed in a beautiful old Country House Hotel.....even President Clinton has stayed there!

It would have looked a whole lot prettier in the sunshine.

We were in a new annexe.....see the upper dormer room with the two windows open. A huge room with a six foot bed and sofas.

The first house was built in 1622,burned to the ground in 1638 during a rebellion, a second house built in 1661 was also burned to the ground by a retreating army.

Rebuilt again in 1739, this time they had more luck!

The house is packed full of history and character, round every turn there is something to enjoy including two splendid chess sets laid out to tempt you to move a piece.

The gardens must be lovely in the sunshine, It stopped raining just enough to get some photos.

There were Grey Squirrels running up and down the trees!

The funny thing about staying in these gorgeous Hotels in March is that we may be the only people staying there. Such is the recession.

We would have liked to have walked round the historic walled town of Derry but it was just too cold.

So it was a drive up into County Donegal (another first for us) to the most northerly point of Ireland to Malin Head.

As children we listened to the radio as we didn't have televisions. After the news came the shipping forecast, I can here the drone of the voice now as he reeled off the names of the most far flung coastal points of the British Isles. he would give the windspeed and direction and whether it was moderating in the near future.

The names were all so intriguing and now I have visited a few of the, Malin Head is one that I well remember.

The weather was atrocious, gales of sleet from the east sweeping across the road so that we could hardly see through the windscreen. Sleet piled up at the side of the road.

The road up to the head was spectacular...

The weather changing every few minutes.

At the end of the road we drank a cup of coffee,it was too windy to even think of getting out of the car....no wonder this spot was picked for the shipping forecast!

WE didn't even get a peep at what the view was beyond these information boards.

See the sleet at the side of the road.

To one side of us was the watch tower..

Hope you can read some of these details.

Good bye watch tower!

Goodbye County Donegal.

Brrrr!!!

Next day it was a long old drive from the almost the very top of Ireland to almost the very bottom.

The further south we went the warmer it got...but it was still raining.

I was glad to get home!

Now back to tatting!!

Yup! More Time Out!

2011-03-13T13:44:00.002Z

This will be the last trip for a while...maybe until MY birthday treat in September...maybe not!

We were on the road again this week...very tiring!

Way back in 2008 I wrote about my trip to Belfast Zoo, you can read it here if you would like to get the background details to this post.

Very briefly (much more fun to go back and read tat post tho'.....the house elf donned one of his other hats and transformed into Conservation Elf.....for the annual Research meeting at Belfast Zoo.

The roads are fantastic now, if very boring.....motorway...including 4 toll roads all the way to Belfast.

Compared to the beautiful dry spring like weather of last week, this drive was like going back into winter. It rained most of the time.

After an overnight stay in Belfast and a mornings shopping .....more beads of course....and a delightful find in my constant search for hangers to display my tatting.

A Silver and Crystal Jewellery Tree from Past Times......

Then it was off to the Zoo. It was bitterly cold and rainy so I didn't see much of the animals this year.....I never even got to write a post about our great trip north last year...what a pity...you would have enjoyed it.

There were a couple of new gigantic wood carvings.

Ring tailed lemurs....

and..

this fabulous Meercat......don't think he is a wood carving.

There were some interesting conservation presentation.

The most interesting to me was about our native Red Squirrel.

The Red Squirrel is quite a bit smaller that the grey with a bushier tail and furry ear tufts.

You may not know this but the Grey Squirrel was introduced into Ireland from North America in 1911 at a wedding party in an estate in Co Longford! No doubt it was very appealing...

BUT...

During the last 100 years they have been spreading all over Ireland.

Although the Grey Squirrel is a very pretty animal it is regarded as a pest in Ireland.

It is bigger, more adaptable, and more aggresive that the Red.

It can eat the tougher acorns and beech nuts.

But it can also eat the favourite food of the Red Squirrel...hazel nuts, when they are not ripe enough for the Red to eat.

Thus in every area that the Grey moves into....it out competes the Red.

That together with constant reduction in the available hazel woodlands means that the Red is doomed!

Many conservation groups have been set up to help the little squirrel....particularly to provide food in the winter..as if the squirrel is not well fed it does not reproduce in the spring.

They set up cages with food inside and an entrance only large enough for the Red to enter.

the poor little Red also catches the squirrel pox virus that the Grey is often immune to.

The Grey Squirrel is only about 50 miles from our area and will no doubt arrive within the next 10 to 20 years.

The beautiful dainty, little Red Squirrels which have been in Ireland on and off since the Ice Age still inhabit our Wildlife Park.

Now that I am dyeing brown threads, I have no excuse not to dye one to tat a Red Squirrel...the beautiful Squirrel tatted by Tatman comes to mind.....well it never actually left my mind...was always on my 'to do' list. Anybody know any more Squirrel patterns....I have the one in Inga Madsen's Animal book.

Read all about the fate of the Red Squirrel here, this was the very area we were in last week and we saw the Greys.

More about the rest of my trip tomorrow.

Time out!

2011-03-06T19:20:00.000Z

Yeah..I know..I am always taking time out....but I do take my tatting!

Don't always do any tho'!

Some of you like my history lessons...so here goes....another one.

Three years ago we decided...the house elf and I that since birthdays were no longer something to look forward to, maybe we should do something about it.

So twice a year we go off for a couple of days on a special hotel offer somewhere in Ireland.

There are great offers for 2 nights B&B and a dinner!

What could be nicer than to wake up on your birthday in a lovely place, eat an enormous breakfast, open your pressies, have a leisurely day being a tourist, getting to know a bit more about where you live and finish off with a gourmet meal.

We almost close our eyes and stick a pin in the map..open them, but if we did that, we would probably say ...nah...let's not go THERE.

So this was his third birthday treat and we chose the east coast and the beautiful vale where St Kevin founded a monastic settlement in the 6th century.

Arriving there in the March chill,our Hotel was only a stones throw from the famous round tower.

Round Towers are characteristic of these early settlements.

The story that I always knew was that the monks would keep a look out at the top of the tower where there were windows facing North,South East and West.

They were watching for an attack by the Vikings and would give the alarm for the treasures of the monastery to be brought into the round tower and the ladder to be pulled inside,as the entrance was about 12 feet off the ground.

Lots of monks would also hide inside the tower.....not a very wise thing to do if the tower went up in flames.

This is what it would have been like inside the tower...

...and at the very top in the cone was a bell. (sorry about the reflection ion the glass).

It's now thought that the Round Towers were simply bell towers. The four windows at the top were so that the sound could travel in all directions.

The towers were very tall so that they could act as a guide to find your way home.

The cone on the top of this tower was rebuilt in 1875.

The monastic cathedral is in ruins.

You can just see the tower at the right edge of the photo.

A very small church is still standing.

This is what the settlement might have looked like.

See the little church on the bottom right.

St Kevin chose the most beautiful place to settle. There are two lakes fed by a small river.

This is the lower lake...

....but it was in the hillside surrounding the upper lake that Kevin built his cell.

Wow, what a view to wake up to.

There are such a lot of other touristy things to see in this area.....haven't been there for years....

and the beautiful town where the famous TV series was set.....did any of you watch it?

......and the Church from the same series.

You can see how glorious the weather was.

A super birthday was had by all...and the food really was very good.

More about the Gingerbread Boy!

2011-02-24T17:53:00.002Z

I made the Gingerbread boy with my tat lassies...tho only two were brave enough to try him..after I had explained all the pitfalls...and hopefully jumped over them!

Today they came back!!!

Jackie had made hers in my Gingerbread in Lizbeth 40..

and he is DIVINE!

Remember that I said that this was the one that I had hope would be my 'piece de resistance', but that he didn't turn out well.

here is my one and Jackie's one side by side.

Look how much smaller he is...it's amazing.

I was so sickened by my result that I had decided that my Gingerbread thread was best used in small doses, along with my other Spice threads as it just looked too busy......but in the smaller size and done well!! it looks wonderful and not at all 'busy'.

The way that she has done the icing..similar to my last attempt looks so good.

He is so cute and shows the thread off to perfection.

he really does look good enough to eat...and he makes mine look even worse!

I almost have to tat him again!

The other Gingerbread man also came in with Carmel but he isn't finished yet.

But

we all thought that he was so cute that we almost said....

Don't change him, he is perfect as he is.

Doesn't he look different

very Teddy Bearish and furry.....and very surprised...maybe because she had discovered a discrepancy in the pattern....the instructions give 12 rings in the head and the photo shows only 11!

Jackie and I tatted 12 but Carmel went with 11 which makes his eyes closer together and I think makes him look more surprised,

Gingerbread Boy!

2011-02-22T19:11:00.001Z

I first saw Gina Brummett's Gingerbread Boy in 2005

but

there was nothing in my thread stash that would do it justice...so I archived it in my 'to do' list...which get longer every day.

A good selection of browns was urgent if I wanted to tat all the animals on my list.

But

it had to wait.

Until

I finally got my act together and dyed the ChocoMango series of thread that I showed you before Christmas.

First as I always do I tried the pattern out using one of my 'boring' threads, just to see how do-able he was and of course how much thread he took(essential for me).

Gina's pattern is good but written in a rather long winded style and without a good diagram.

I know that she is going to update it when she gets time....but she needs encouragement as this is a good design.

I enlarged the small image to fill a sheet of paper in the hope that it would help.....and it did.

Sometimes it was hard to figure out what joined to where and I did make mistakes! as you will see.

I would love to see it re written with a series of diagrams and then it would be easy peasy.

My second attempt was to have been my dream Gingerbread boy,in my dream Gingerbread thread, but he had a bit of an accident in the oven..well that's my story and he came out a little disfigured! poor little chap..he will find it hard to run away!

In truth I just didn't join his legs in the right place.

So on to number 3,

this time I used a solid colour...my cinnamon HDT for the body with the Gingerbread thread for the body outline.

He is a little beauty, thanks Gina for a great design, I just love the white icing, he is good enough to eat. This time tho' I maybe brought the icing in too tight under his chin, what do you think.
Thanks Gina!

More about the Caribbean!

2011-02-20T15:30:00.002Z

So glad that you found the last post interesting.

Expecting to see some tatting

ok then

had to tat something in Lizbeth Caribbean 20

Beautiful, I love this design looks good in any colour combo.....I have shown it before...many times....

here and here and here,and even here and here!

The Geckos are up and running along the beam...

...and there is room for MORE!

I couldn't resist a look at eBay last night and there are lots of Caribbean Geckos for sale and we were right..they are made from recycled oil drums...that's brilliant. Also found the Brown Wooden Gecko type that comes decorated with multicoloured dots Aborigional style. They are hand crafted in Bali.

It's great to be able to buy genuine handcrafted souvenirs.

While in Martinique we got to gorge ourselves on our favourite vegetable Taro, also called Dalo, we can get yams,cassava and sweet potatoes here nowadays but have never seen taro outside the pacific islands so it was a joy to see it in the Caribbean....but we did buy ornamental taro plants last year in a garden center here .

We came across a vegetable we had never seen before...'Christophine'

Apparently used like courgettes, we had it' au gratin' and it was very pale green...and good.
Just found the recipe here.

Also came home with a packet of Columbo spice mix....a Caribbean Curry speciality.

More tatting soon, I promise.

Winter Sunshine!

2011-02-17T18:37:00.000Z

I can't believe that it's the middle of February already.

My resolutions have all gone astray.

After all the bad weather of snow and ice,

(I have never seen Ireland look as pretty as on our drive to Galway for Christmas)

.........wind and rain,burst water pipes, the excitement of Christmas quickly turned into dreary, sunless January.

BUT

with the aid of 100,000 airmiles about to be lost....saved over what seems like several lifetimes,

we finally cashed them in and flew to Martinique for some winter sunshine.

Turned out to be a great choice...being French it is in the European Union and uses Euro..great!

Martinique conjours up so many names in my head, so many areas I have never been to..

The Caribbean

West Indies,

Antilles,

Windward Islands

I spotted a bracelet tatted by God's Kid in my Coral reef thread.

A lovely design by Dawn McLaughlin.

She calls it Wandering Blooms, but in my thread it looks so like tropical waves to me.

I LOVE to see what people make with my thread.

Martinique is not too touristy, we stayed in a stunning spot overlooking the Atlantic side of the island.

Our room was huge furnished in French Creole style with and enormous 4 poster bed.The view from the balcony was splendid, a complete panorama of islands.

Highly recommended.

The main crops of Martinique are Vanilla mmm! Bananas....each bunch inside a blue plastic bag?

and Sugar Cane.

'Twas the sugar cane that was the most fascinating as it is used not for sugar production but for making RUM!

There are almost a dozen distilleries on the island and each can be visited!

We only got to see 4 but each one was so different.

Martinique rum is called 'Agricultural Rum' and is different from 'Industrial Rum' made elsewhere in that it is made from whole fresh sugar cane. Other rums are made from molasses left over from sugar production.

One distillery lies at the foot of a volcano..it last erupted in 1902, you can read about it if you enlarge the display photo.

This one had a water wheel to drive the crushing machinery.

another had its own windmill.....

.....yet another showed a wonderful creole homestead...

Ahaa so this is similar to our bed in the Hotel

I was interested in the beautiful beadspread....

a tape lace.

Each distillery told the history of Rum Distillation from the transport of the sugar cane from the fields

weighing, crushing and after 24 hrs the fermentation and distillation begins.

Sorry I could go on about this all day....and then there was the tasting.....mmm, my favourite was a Orange Rum liquer called Shrubb.

needless to say our suitcase was a little heavy.

Back at the Hotel we had a tame Anolis lizard that came to share our biscuits.

He had to stay behind but we did come back with more Geckos! surprise surprise!

Well we had finally found a home for the Gecko that I brought back from Spain....isn't it wonderful when that happens and it's no longer classed as 'clutter'.

It found it's home on a beam in our upstairs lounge and now will be joined by...

...and...

...and our favourite...

The last two are 3D made of metal in Haiti, maybe of recycled cans.

They are all about a foot long.

Oh...did I tat while I was away......no....the light was too poor at night...well that's my excuse....I took a break but am getting back into it now as I hopefully return to normal!

More tatting coming soon.

Christmas 2010

2010-12-22T17:36:00.000Z

I have got so far behind with everything tatting,

I do apologise for not keeping up with my blog reading or writing about the things that I have promised to.

My resolution for 2011 is to do better and get back to normal...whatever that is.

Thanks so much for everyone who enjoyed my Gingerbread post, I will have more pictures to show next year!

We have had the most outrageous weather ever known, we are not used to -5 deg C and that's much rmer than most of the country.

But at the moment we have to turn our water off until after the thaw..whenever that is..so I must get this posted NOW.

To every one that I couldn't send a hand made card to I

love you all, hope you all have a great Christmas,talk to you in the New Year.

Chocolate and Gingerbread!

2010-11-24T18:55:00.000Z

Before I start there is something that I intended to say yesterday about ChocoMango,

It was dyed using the same principles as ChocoRaspberry and ChocoLime, but when I saw it, it reminded me of Yarnplayers Tigers Eye......there is no way I want to copy someone else's threads.

Luckily I have some of that thread...I tatted a gecko in it.

Phew...it's similar but very different I think...the yellows are different and she has a darker more grey brown as the darkest shade...not chocolatey at all.

Hope you agree Yarnplayer?

So you are waiting to see the new colourway.

Here it is!

The 'inbetween' colour I was going to call Caramel Mousse ...

until I saw it ..washed and dried...for the first time.....

and it shouted at me....

GINGERBREAD

well actually it shouted at me

PARKIN

but... you probably wouldn't know what that is........more on that later...

I tatted my favourite heart...

OK back to the Parkin...

I lived in Yorkshire until I was 12 and every year around this time...in fact just when I was outside in my dye studio...there was Bonfire night. We didn't celebrate Halloween in those days.

November the 5th.

Very near to us was a field where all the kids...and adults used to build a gigantic bonfire. You would see then dragging branches behind them going down the street. It was a time to clear out anything that would burn.

Kids would be out on the streets wheeling along a 'Guy' that they had made and dressed in old clothes, shouting "penny for the guy".

I am sure that you will all know the story of how Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London.

You can't imagine the excitement..waiting for the bonfire to be lit. We would watch from the bedroom window to see a glow in the sky.

Especially when it was raining and we would wait to see if it would be lit at all....if it wasn't then dad would usually go out with an umbrella and try to light our fireworks in the garden.

When we saw the glow, we would all four of us go round to the bonfire, carrying our precious few fireworks. We each lit our own fireworks when there was a lull in the activity.

The Roman Candles, Rockets on a stick that you placed in a bottle to light and the Sparklers that we could hold, it was magic.

We made sure that we kept checking the ground to get out of the way of the jumping crackers that would be moving erratically around or the bangers that would make us jump out of our skins.

All so very dangerous, it would happen now.

Mums would take potatoes wrapped in foil to cook in the ashes and dads would poke them into the bottom of the fire.

Mums would also take trays of 'cake'.....sounds idyllic...well that's how I remember it!

The day after would would go around collecting the empty firework cases to see how many we could find.

Our cake would always be Parkin...real Yorkshire Parkin...Sue Hanson are you there? do you remember this?

It's a very very sticky kind of gingerbread made with oatmeal. It was so sticky..and before the days of non stick cake tins..there would always be a lot left on the bottom of the tins.....just right for scraping out with your fingers!

This is my mum's original recipe, just as she made it.

YORKSHIRE PARKIN

10 oz Self raising flour

5oz medium oartmeal

9 oz Golden Syrup

3 oz melted Margarine

5oz Brown Sugar

1 teaspoonful Bicarbonate of Soda

1.5 teaspoonsful of ground Ginger

1 Cup of boiling water

Just mix it all together and pour into a greased and floured tin( about 10" by 8" I think)

Bake in a moderate oven 350 deg F if at the bottom of the oven, 325 degF if at the top.

bake until risen and firm (or it will sink!)..about 40 mins.

Cut into squares.

I can smell it now.

Back to the thread, well still in Autumn mood I had been tatting Tatman's Cat on a Broom

.......and in my new threads.....

I was stunned by the result, loved he way the ChocoMango showed all the lovely colors in the broom. Each untwisted thread in the fringe is solid colour the dye really did dye all the way through.

Wondered if Gingerbread might be too 'samey' for the cat..but it complemented it beautifully. I think.

I LOVE IT.

I have dyed some of the individual solid colours...not many as I totally ran out of brown dye ...used such a lot to get saturated colours.

Here they are....

Turned out to be a Spice collection....these are just what I wanted for tatting animals...one of the things that drew me to dyeing in the first place.

So from Gingerbread we have Ginger, Cinnamon and Cloves....and a stranger slipped in there!

I misread my recipe for Ginger and ended up with another shade altogether. showed my friends and they loved it. said I should keep it and call it Nutmeg!

Was hoping to show you a collage of little butterflies in all the colours. but still haven't dyed them all!

maybe tomorrow!

Hot Chocolate for Christmas!

2010-11-23T17:04:00.000Z

Interruption to my travels because I just HAVE to show you my latest thread!

I tried to get myself back to normal (whatever that is!) but shunting myself out into my dye studio.

My mind said whaaa!

whats that all about?

You remember...dyeing thread in gorgeous colors!

Yipee! said my mind...but how do we do that....how could you have forgotten!

Ok mind lets start with something that you know......remember the Hot Chocolate series.....

ChocoRaspberry and ChocoLime

well there was another one that I tried out.....and loved...but didn't have time to complete.

I am now proud to present the results of a heck of a lot of work....taken me forever! at least a month to get it perfected.

Inspired by yet another yummy bar of chocolate.

Do I need to describe ChocoMango to you or are you already drooling! (Hope so!)

The Chocolate sauce you already know and the Mango is a delicious ...well mangoey colour and the colours in between...well more about them later!

So hard to show you the actual colours.

Of course I had to tat my favourite heart...

Hearts desire by Susan Fuller

The left one is in Coats 20 and the right one in Lizbeth 40 which i am trying out...it tatted up beautifully.

Here it is again tatted in Chocolate Sauce and Mango

Next to tat was of course...a Spinning Wheel glass mat...much beloved by Lace Loving Librarian and me...and many others.

I did actually send Lace Loving Librarian and Steph (from Steph's Tat Stuff)

these are tatting image that they sent me and they kept is all quiet for all these months and months..thanks lassies.

Aren't they super?

At this point..there is one thing that worries me.....a manufacturer of tatting threads is looking for ideas for colour combinations and I would hate to think that some bright spark might suggest the hard researched color combos worked out by me and by the other thread dyers. I hope that tatters are more honorable than that. nuff said.

The next question is...will I live long enough top use all this thread!!!!

Remember the derivatives of ChocoRaspberry and ChocoLime.......Raspberry and Chocolate Mousse, Raspberry Ripple with Real Vanilla, and Antique Bronze.......well will show you tomorrow(hopefully) what Chocomango spawned...and it's gorgeous.

Exciting Times Part 2!

2010-11-17T16:51:00.000Z

Sorry that it's taken so long to get back to Part 2......Life! mmm next day turned into 6 weeks or more!

When we woke up and looked out of our window there was frantic activity going on.

The road along the beach front was closed to traffic and stalls were being set up.

While along the walkway nearer to the hotels, canopies were being errected over trestle tables....for the lacemakers..whooeee!

By the time that we got out there....the lacemakers were setting up their displays in earnest.

Mostly they were bobbin lacers from all the guilds in the region.

You can't even begin to imagine how many there were...each guild displaying their banner.....

or the quality of the work they were producing....

..... It was such a sight to see...

Look at the long pillows like we saw on the sculpture...and the fabulous way of keeping the bobbins together in bags. Even tho bobbin lace may have hundreds of bobbins, only two pairs are in use at any one time.

We were given several table to work at and we worked on Carrickmacross, Limerick, Youghal laces as well as Irish Crochet, Mountmellick Embroidery and probably much more.....

I of course worked on my tatting watched by Tadgh....working on Yarnplayers Arches doiley.

He was delighted to be there ...until he had a bit of a shock.....he was so embarrassed...but he refuses to talk about it!!

There was a great deal of interest in our lacemaking and my tatting drew admirers, and helped a few lacemakers who were struggling with tatting.

I gave out little flower bookmarks and received a pretty butterfly in return.....

...from this lovely lady....

..... her husbands tie was made of bobbin lace.....made by him.

Every lacemaker was given a plastic beaker of 'hot chocolate' and some local 'sponge fingers' to dip into it...if you wished.

The chocolate turned out to be pure melted Belgian chocolate and was like molten lead....even after dipping all my sponge fingers into it and walking around looking at stalls...I still burned my lip drinking it!!! yummy tho!

As well as lacemakers there were vendors of lace making supplies....

I did come home with a stack of bobbins, some hand carved some mass produced...for my bobbin lace career....still in it's infancy...but i do know how to do it...if I can remember that is!

The place was buzzing ...all morning..

...until sadly in the early afternoon...they all packed up and went home...I wished that they would have stayed all day.

Everyone was so happy...except poor little Tadgh who didn't come out of the hotel until it was time to leave!

Please do not use any of these images for any purpose...they are copyright.

I may even get to show you Part 3, our day in Barcelona

maybe......sometime

Exciting times! Part 1

2010-10-06T16:42:00.000+01:00

Gosh it is almost a month since you saw a blog post from me...and even then I was away having adventures.

It has taken me a long time to settle down again, four adventures in about 6 weeks was too much.

You read all about the wedding....a couple of weeks after that I was off to Spain with my Lace Guild.

A year ago our Chairman happened to be holidaying on the Costa Brava....near to Barcelona...when she chanced upon something to excite her.......near to 300 lace makers...making lace....on the sea front.

Remember she took us to Northern Ireland last year...well this was an opportunity not to be missed....and she had soon arranged that we would visit ....and hopefully take part.

About 50 of us from Southern Ireland and Northern Ireland arrived in Lloret De Mar in early September...ready to soak up some sun, before cold, cold days set in...do lots of shopping and make some lace!

The view from our tiny hotel balcony was fabulous.

Tadgh was loving it.

Even more gorgeous at night.

The day of the Festival was the National Day of Catalonia....celebrated throughout the region which wishes to be independent from Spain.

Just behind our hotel was the old town...beautiful.

The influence of Gaudi was everywhere.

The night before we were treated to a spectacle of Catalonian dancing. We watched them setting up the area.....

knowing that when we were too tired we could continue to watch from our balcony.

There were several groups of dancers, a wonderful sight.

Throughout the area were wonderful statues.....

of dancers...

...and also of lacemakers....can you spot the lacemaker in the bottom left...the statue covered in graffiti!

I determined to restore it to it's former glory with a little computer magic!

She is a Bobbin Lacemaker using the traditional tall pillow that we were to see later.

Lots of shopping.....a visit to a tropical garden...

....look real Flame Lantana....remember that??????....

Shopping was a delight in the company of friends....we shopped til we couldn't take any more!

Look at this shop selling nothing but fabulous pure white cotton.

You wouldn't I know expect me to come home with out a gecko....they were everywhere.

This one is all mosaic and mirrored glass and is huge.....2ft long...phew he just fitted in my suitcase!

I bought him to hang outside but the DIY elf thinks that he would disintegrate!

I couldn't resist this little resin gecko...only 4in long.....

...or this little Gaudi style fridge magnet...only 3.5 ins...he lives on my cooker hood with his mates.

animal Gaudi style that you could imagine.

Some more fab purchases I have yet to photograph.

Now we were ready for the main reason for coming....the Lace Festival. there was just about every

Tell you about that tomorrow!!

No 30 again, Elephants!

2010-09-12T18:35:00.000+01:00

A quick change to Elephants......

while we are still in Zoo mode!

Elephants were No 30 in my Tatted Animal Challenge, tatted way back in 2008.

You can see them here .

this is elephants revisited.

Those elephants were accompanied by real elephants in Dublin zoo.

This time it's elephants from Chester Zoo that have st me off.

The elephant enclosure was massive and superbly landscaped....I wouldn't have minded living there myself!

Who wouldn't with a swimming pool like that!

How different they look when wet or dry.

So mmm! have I got any suitable colours to tat them in......would like it to be Size 10 to go with the Rhinos.

Light grey might be good...

Or maybe light brown....

Or slightly smaller in Coats Red Heart in what looked like a dark grey...but is actually a grey green.

Or finally a different grey in Red Heart.

Cute or what. he came out a little bit different.

Of course the resident expert asked if I could make them with two ears. Not a bad idea as I have the two winged pig hanging in a ring.

They all wanted to go to the zoo!

One little fella nearly got left behind.

The pattern is in Martha Ess's new book, More Critters on the Block.

One of my friends said that the book was going to be worth it if only for the elephant!

In size 10 they measure 7cm/2.5in.

using the modified shoelace trick method took

Sh 1.5m, ball 4.6m

In Red Heart 20, measures 6cm/2.25in and took

Sh 1.25m, ball 4.25m

By the time that you read this I hope to be in Lloret de Mar in Spain, near Barcelona, with my lace Guild at the Lace Festival.

Safe!!!

2010-09-10T16:10:00.001+01:00

IsDihara is one of my best tatting buddies, and I have been in cohoots with her as she hatched her plan for Palmetto tat days.

You can read all about it here.

This is then gist of it.....

......she has been responsible for the discovery of a cure for that dastardly bacterium/virus/microbe....

that causes Necrotizing filitis.

Ok so big deal !

Well you wouldn't think that if it statred eating your precious thread!

This thing takes no prisoners!

So what did she do

but

sent it over to me (not on purpose I can assure you!)

Was I scared??

You bet I was!

Is that scary or what!

My stash is HUGE.

So as soon as I got home from the wedding, I had to tat the cure as fast as my shuttles would go.

Which is pretty fast!

My first Thyme Leaf is in my favourite varg' Flora 20,

BUT WAS ONE LEAF ENOUGH?

Maybe if I tatted it with a stem......a long one.....I could hang it up near my stash!

Good thinking!

This one is much prettier in real life. It has the added protection of dew drops.....

.......bet you didn't know that!

I tatted this one from the bottom up...so my ends could make the stem....

.....another magic trick!

It's hanging near my stash

Think maybe I should tat some more .....

...just to be on the safe side!

Animal No 34. Rhinocerus!

2010-09-07T19:27:00.000+01:00

If you have been following my blog you will have already seen these Rhinos on my Rhino Mania posts.

I just want to bring them all together under my Tatting Animal Challenge.....the original purpose of this blog....together with a few details.

Size comparison... the white Rhino was tatted in Hakelgarn 15 from Germany.

Fawn and Grey Rhinos in Coats Red Heart 20

All the rest in Flora 10.

Thread used for size 10 using shuttle and ball (modified shoelace trick method).

Shuttle 1.35m, Ball 4.5 m Eye bead on ball.

they measure 7cm/2.5in.
They are from Martha Ess's new book.
More critters on the block
An absolute gem.

Warning
Tatting this Rhino is addictive!

Last of the Rhinos!

2010-09-06T18:57:00.000+01:00

Our hunt for Rhinos today takes us to Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet Mall near Chester....one of a growing breed in the UK.

The shops showcased dozens of small Rhinos decorated by the schools....as well as a few full size ones.

Grandbaby was enchanted again at each shop window, he had to go in and touch, they were just his size.

Outside the mall was The Ladybug.

Then there was The Wallower

He tries to keep the bugs away by covering himself in mud. can you spot the Oxpecker pecking at his hide?

My Rhinos are again being influenced by all this....

This is Blueberry wearing a very smart tatted jumper in stunning colours of Flora 10.

His partner Rose decided to wear flowers.

Rose and Blueberry LOVE flowers.

So does Goldie who decided to wear a flower behind her ear Tahitian style.

A good/very poignant one to finish on...

While Stocks Last

.......lets hope that our beloved Rhino....and all that he stands for in our world,

survives all that man has thrown at it.

LONG LIVE THE RHINO!

We only got to see just over a third of the Rhinos. If you really want to see the others and learn more about Rhino Mania go to...

www.rhinomania.co.uk

We're all going to the thzoo!

2010-09-05T18:59:00.002+01:00

A trip to the zoo to see the Rhinos was a MUST! especially for the little laddie.

It's got the cutest monorail.....

There was another train decorated like a snake.

This beats a little train on the ground.....didn't go on it tho'.

Chester Zoo is the largest in the UK and very different from when we last went...when daughter was same age as grandbaby is now!

It is still famous for it's beautiful flower beds, but is now very much a modern conservation zoo......which is now the main purpose of a zoo.

They have 9 Rhinos. Mostly African Black Rhinos with one Indian Rhino.

Grandbaby was enchanted. He must have thought it strange to have seen so many brightly coloured

Rhinos....how does a small boy cope with the world!

We saw something else that I am going to tat from Martha's book, but that's for later.

I was also fascinated but the group of baby Vasayan Warty Pigs....

Earlier in the year on our trip to Belfast Zoo we saw the adult that had come from Chester Zoo....waiting for the arrival that day of it's mate to be from Rotterdam Zoo.

Zoos and Wildlife Parks (like ours) do such a wonderful job.

There were Rhinos to spot....

This is Ecko.....covered in the most gorgeous graffiti.....

Isn't he something.

Then there was Splodge.....

Splodge had the greatest influence on my tatting.

Rainbow Rhino jumped into my mind!

He is tatted in some size 10 Rainbow Bright that I dyed to make Lucet cords. The only size 10 I have ever dyed. Now I need more colours in size 10! This one has the longer horn of a Black Rhino.

Had to make more of these....

This is one of the freaks of HDT......they all came out almost identical!!!

the flowers are made with the length of thread left over after each one.....all the same too.

One last Rhino to see at the Zoo.....this one is on the roundabout on the approach to the Zoo... not easy to photograph!

He is called Liverpool's Loveliest One

and refers to the latest fashions hanging on the silver limbs of the tree.

Cheshire shopping rocks!!

Our last look at Rhino Mania takes us shopping...

see ya there.

Even more Rhinos!

2010-09-04T18:39:00.001+01:00

It was becoming increasingly obvious that we weren't going to see all the Rhinos in Chester,

there are 62 of them scattered around the city and it was getting near to train time.

I addition to the large Rhinos, 116 miniature Rhinos...about a quarter of the size of the big ones, were distributed to Schools all over Cheshire West and Chester.

These were to be seen in shop windows....I wouldn't even begin to show these to you!

Onwards on our trail,

Safety Sally

This Rhino is from the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, the design resulting from a competition at Christleton High School.

Apparently she will be sending Bluetooth safety messages to all who come to see her.

Grandbaby was keen to learn all about the 6th Sense Campaign!

The final Rhino that we saw in the City was....

Guardian

he protects the walled city of Chester.....but who is going to protect him???

We all hope that he will not become a part of history.

My own little team of Rhinos has been joined by......

Lavendar....

....and.....

.....Violet.....

both tatted in size 10 Flora....I think this a great size for the block tat animals. the have faceted crystal eyes that sparkle.

Violet and Lavendar are great friends and like to make the other happy.

More tomorrow as we hunt for more Rhinos.

More Rhinos in a beautiful city!

2010-09-03T20:01:00.001+01:00

Chester is a beautiful city,

A walled city, the walls were built built during it's Roman occupation 2,000 years ago.

Nowadays it is famous for The Rows.

Built over 700 years ago this two level shopping extravaganza lines both sides of on of the main streets.

In this square was....another Rhino....

Rhino Mosaica inspired by the tiling found in Roman ruins around Chester.

At the end of this street you can just see the Famous Eastgate Clock (the one that Rhino 'O' Clock was based on).

It's said to be the most photographed clock in the world. Built to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1897.

This is Regal Rhino, isn't he stunning.

This is Hollyoaks Omnibus honouring the TV soap.

Chester also boasts a Roman Amphitheatre......currently under renovation.

Standing in it is Rhino Romano, described as 'naturally armour plated, pre-dating the Roman Empire by many milennia...this uniformed foot soldier could well have been their military mascot.'

You can see part of the city walls in this shot.

Still covered in soapy suds from his wash, this Rhino...Almost wiped out shows the painter wiping out the Rhino and the colour that it brings to our world.....very apt.

More tatted Rhinos from me.....got to get the tatting bit in for you. If you have read this far then you deserve it. If you enjoy these posts please leave a comment.

These two are made in Red Heart by Coates of India size 20, they are exactly the same size as the Hakelgarn 15 that I used previously.

Getting the hang of this design...but oh they look so boring and bland beside the Rinos we have seen today.....mmm...methinks some colour!

See ya.

Rhino Mania strikes!

2010-09-02T20:11:00.001+01:00

We had been hit by RHINO MANIA!

We saw Rhinos everywhere!

But it was much later in the day when we found the tourist office and all the info...and a trail map!

The tourist office was a delight with it's own Rhino

Rhin 'O'Clock....inspires by the East Gate Clock in the City Center.

While the 'oldies' had a restful coffee, grandbaby ran around and around within the safety of the railed area.

Just across the road was the stop for the open bus tour...the bus was an absolute gem.

But back to the Rhinos....

We will NEVER be able to see all the Rhino's.

Seems that there are 62 Rhino's to be seen in and around Chester.

55 artists have been responsible for their unique decoration.

The idea is "to bring art and joy to the city, it's people and visitors".

Hopefully people will learn a little more about these endangered animals.

At the end of the summer most of them will be auctioned to raise funds for Chester Zoo's Black Rhino field conservation project in Kenya and Tanzania, and also for the Hospice of the Good Shepherd in Cheshire.

Back to our trail.

The Rhinos are kept in top notch condition, this one was having a wash on this idyllic summers day.

This one is Deeno.....showing radiating love.

It's hard to covey to you the beauty of these creation.

This guy was a stand in for someone who had gone into the 'pits' for treatment!

Ok, Ok so what animal was iIdying to tat when i got back home and Martha's book arrived!!

Could it be, could it be....

The Rhino!

This is my first one...a White Rhino....tho' he does look a bit grubby but the White Rhinos aren't white anyway!

He was tatted in a Hakelgarn thread that I bought in Germany a few years ago. It's a size 15 a size that I rarely tat with.

As a first attempt he suffered from the absence of an ear and a second horn.....the next one will be better.

Ok so the tatting has got your interest!

Tune in tomorrow to see more Rhinos (tatted and otherwise)and see something of the city of Chester.

Rhino....What Rhino!

2010-09-01T20:43:00.005+01:00

My little grandson's favourite book was Rhino..What Rhino!

It tells the story of a group of animals that are always getting into trouble.....and always laying the blame on a rhino...who MUST have done it.

the answer is always

Rhino, what Rhino.

There is only one Rhino,

and he's in the......

At which Grandbaby pipes up

thzoo!

He can fill in any missing word in the story at 22 months. I wonder what he makes of it.

So you are asking where is this leading...

well...

.........after the wedding we stayed with daughter son in law and grandbaby in a converted stables/courtyard near Chester.

One of the plans for the week was to take him to the zoo to see the Rhinos...they have 9!

But, before that we decided to take him(and ourselves) to Chester on the train....only an 8 minute ride but the train was so full that we had to stand by the door.

He knows exactly when he is out of his comfort zone and said his little

"no"

but to no avail this time.

Imagine our suprise then when the first thing we saw when we came out of Chester Station was.....

drum roll...tat da...

A Rhino!

This is the Rhinestone Rhino...did you recognise that quiff of hair...yup Elvis!

Moving on we headed down towards the River Dee and the Grosvenor Park where the little laddie could have a run around and who should we spot but Blossom.

Different on the other side..

.......with scenes of Chester.

No sooner had we left Blossom that we found....

Black Rhino...

..and on the reverse......White Rhino!

Both deemed to be extinct in the wild.

By this time grandbaby was so excited and didn't want to leave. he ran round and round the black and white rhino.

Finally ~~dragged~~ coaxed him away.....also saw a Grey Squirrel....pest and menace to our native Red Squirrel.

Down by the River there were...guess what....more Rhinos!

First there was Charity who has a Heart of Gold...

....followed by.....

LAWrence the legal eagle!

Then we spotted....

Cestrianoceruous...this is the correct name for the people of Chester.

he is showcasing some of the city's major attractions.

Moving away from the River there was yet another Rhino outside a restaurant.

This is Otis.....painted to show how the scorched earth of the habitat of the Black Rhino resembles the urban legend of Rhinos stamping out bush fires. Its a HOT topic!

Unioceros has lost one of his horns to some dreadful fate.

Someone HAS to investigate!

It seems that Chester has Rhino Mania!

Tune in again to see more Rhinos and learn more about Rhino Mania and to see what animal I chose to tat from Martha Ess's new book....More Critters on the block.

I know that you will NEVER guess!

Queen for a day!

2010-08-29T14:40:00.001+01:00

What does the mother of the Groom want from his wedding day.

She used to be the woman in his life and now like her husband handed over his daughter to another man, it's her turn to hand over her son to another woman.

She hopes that that other woman will look after him and that he will look after her.

There is an old saying that goes.....

A son is your son 'till he takes him a wife,

but your daughter is your daughter for the rest of your life.

My son has always refuted the truth of this and is determined to prove it untrue.

We shall see!

He is getting a good woman for a wife...and she a good man...but then I am biased.

So what do I want on his wedding day?

I want him to be proud to say...

that's my mum!

even tho' I know he will only have eyes for her.

I bought my outfit a year ago as I hate to be hassled at the last minute by shop assistants and time.

But like another mother of the groom reported.....I tried it all on...and changed my mind.

Why...

well it was just too ordinary.....and potentially too hot for the summer wedding I was hoping for.

And

I wanted a bit of drama!

How many chances in life are there for this,

very few.

And so I bought another outfit and accessories......in midnight blue....

only

to change my mind again.

I tried on Greek Goddess in my favourite turquoise covered in beads, which was divine, but a bit too OTT....

and finally fell in love with a similar style magenta silk maxi dress.....

more Celtic Princess!

and I love it.

By the time I had been through the pampering of hair an make up...I hardly recognised my self.

Believe me I will never look this good again!!!

So here goes with the photos....

The fascinator was gorgeous. The hairdresser told me that she had fixed my hair so that it wouldn't look flattened on one side when I took the fascinator off.

Who said anything about taking it off!!

Full length view.

Looking at these photos I began to wonder....how much have we changed since our own wedding.

Now....

...then!

Wowee! 43 years ago.

What a simple wedding it was. My mum made my dress...bridesmaid's mums made theirs. No evening do's in those days, we got into our going away outfits and off we went.

But honestly it was just as good.

My new mother in law had chosen the identical outfit to my going away outfit..in a different colour. She was mortified as I hadn't let on. Of all the outfits she could have chosen...I didn't mind at all, great minds think alike.

The photographers were brilliant, a husband and wife team both with cameras taking different shots.

She was so funny, instead of the usual 'say cheese', out popped a puppet to make us laugh. She had a tickling stick.....if all else failed...seen on this photo. Grandbaby was NOT amused....he wasn't amused by much that day! Refused to lay a finger on the ring pillow....poor little mite.

Where we were 2 now we are 7.

The Wedding Breakfast was superb....the tables were all composers...labelled by her mum. We sat at Puccini.

It all looked so pretty. I must be the only person who also photographed the food!

The speeches were the funniest I had ever heard. Tears of laughter rolled down my face. Hearing your son described to perfection by his best man is a once in a lifetime occurrence.

Then we danced until midnight.

Enjoyed every minute.

Gave away 17 lucky horseshoes before I chickened out. The teal and the pink were the favourites, and they wore them on their handbags.

It was worth every double stitch of all the stuff that I (and you) tatted.

It's often said that a wife completes a man.....but in this case he really did need her to complete his collection!

Spot the latest one!

Married! One happy day.

2010-08-28T10:31:00.000+01:00

As if the cake with the teal trimmings wasn't beautiful enough, the little people on the top had me enchanted.

Specially commissioned from photos of the bridal couple and their choice of clothes...they are too cute for words.

When they were taken off the cake and I could really see the details, I couldn't stop photographing them.

The detail on the dress is amazing, including beads...but the groom knocks me out...even to the specs that he normally wears with the white sides.

See what you think when you get to see the real couple......yes, yes I know that's what you came here for!!!!

Here he is the man of the moment!

Here she comes.....

A really lovely ceremony and it was all over.....

....and out to greet the guests.

Compare this shot of the back of the dress with that of the cake people.

Oh! how good he looks in that hat!

He finally took off his hat!

Now I know you are all going to say.....what did I look like!!!

that will have to wait until tomorrow, or i will never get this blog post posted.

Pre wedding preparations!

2010-08-19T15:11:00.001+01:00

After you have asked her to marry you and thought of a date.....the next biggie is WHERE to celebrate it.

My son always wanted to be married on a beach.....but the rules for a civil ceremony in Britain are quite strict....there has to be four solid walls!

Does anybody know why???

So they chose Sandhole Oak Barn in the beautiful Cheshire countryside, very near to where I spent my teenage years. A short while ago Battatter sent me a tatted Cheshire cat not knowing that I actually am a Cheshire lass (as well as by birth a Yorkshire lass).

This cat had a big influence on what I would wear for the wedding!

and my big smile !

Nice to get a tatting bit in!

I presume that Sandhole was once a working farm that has been turned into a wedding venue...great idea.

We...who needed to be ~~pampered~~ poshed up...arrived at the venue at 10am. The wedding wasn't until 2pm.

The brides father occupied his time by photographing the animals that were dotted around.

At this point it was almost raining!

The little pair of nesting ducks didn't seem to mind....they were already married!

The wedding venue had been created on the edge of the lake in the form of a large custom built oak barn.

Behind the doors you can see is the spot for the ceremony with the lake behind them....remember this for later!

Further along is the area for the wedding breakfast with sets of doors opening on to the deck, on the edge of the lake. Can you imagine how pretty this would have looked with blue sky and sunshine?

This is the courtyard at the entrance to the barn...all very prettily landscaped.

The original buildings have been converted into guest accommodation.

The wedding suite was stunning with it's own kitchen, living room and garden....what a pity that there is always another wedding the next day..so you can't stay longer.

Time to take a peak in side.

The area for the ceremony with it's grand piano was soon laid out. Doesn't it look pretty with the teal ribbons on the chairs.

As soon as the ceremony is over, the chairs will be whisked into the reception area and in the evening this are will be opened up to become the dance floor.

In the reception area...even the baby's high chairs are decorated.

In the reception area, the Wedding Bears were already waiting.......

........surrounded by matching swarovski crystals......

but

there was another couple waiting as well....

standing on that beautifully coordinating wedding cake were.......

We were all ready

more tomorrow!

Post wedding blues! and a new book.

2010-08-18T16:22:00.000+01:00

Oh dear....it's all over....all that anticipation.....

it was WONDERFUL!

You were all there with me....in thought.

Will tell you more in the coming days.

Had a great holiday too...will tell you more.

Came home with a rotten throat infection, typical when you let your guard down after an event...and forget to take you preventative meds with you! Who thinks of getting a cold in August!

But

Postie brought something wonderful today...

Martha Ess's new book.

It's an animal tatters treasure trove.

There is one design in there that immediately took my fancy....but you will have to wait and see!

I haven't tatted for nearly two weeks....last tatted on the ferry going over....finishing horseshoes!

Wedding Stuff. Part11.Do you take...

2010-08-08T14:30:00.007+01:00

Lily and Cristo....do you take this bear.......

.....I do. ....

I now pronounce you bear and wife

Tadgh moves quietly in to turn back the Brides veil....

At last we see her in all her beauty....unveiled!

You may kiss the bride!

Tadgh moves in with the confetti....he is the wedding co-ordinator!

I seem to recognize this confetti from the stag night .....mmmm! so who was it who got GB blotto????

......let the party begin!

OUT TAKE
I just have to show you this out take of what goes on behind the scenes!

Poor Cristo he just didn't have it in him after all he has been through.

MARRIED AT LAST!

Wedding Stuff. Part.10 The Stag Party!

2010-08-07T14:30:00.001+01:00

I will draw a veil over the goings on at the stag party....

sufficient to say that when Lily Bear came down for her breakfast...

she found Cristo Bear ( for that is his name) flat out on the kitchen floor...

absolutely blotto!

Oh bear! was she mad....he is going to need those lucky shamrocks!!

Come on Lily cut him some slack! It's only one night!

(In case you are wondering why she is still wearing her wedding dress coming down to breakfast!!

She says that she is NEVER going to take it off!)

The two of us and the two of them!

2010-08-06T14:34:00.000+01:00

This is a card I made for hubby for our 43rd wedding anniversary in June.

I thought this image was beautiful.

So here we are..the two of us ~~trudging~~ strolling along, on our way to our son's wedding.

I hope that they will be as happy as we have been.

Hubby thought this was even cuter that I realised because the two hedgehogs look like two Tenrecs.

He has a pair of Tenrecs...you will have to google Tenrec if you are interested...long story.

Enough to say that they are not related to hedgehogs but to elephants and hyraxes!

And a card for them.

Wedding Stuff. Part 9. All finished!

2010-08-05T14:30:00.001+01:00

All finished ready to pack in tissue in separate packages for the bride to open.

I just had to lay everything out.

Gosh I am staggered!

Tatting Rocks!

Wedding Stuff. Part 8b. Even more Horseshoes!

2010-08-04T14:07:00.000+01:00

Well nobody shouted STOP or if they did I didn't hear them! Well someone did...but it was too late!!

My tat lassies made me promise not to try to tat a horseshoe for every female at the wedding.

I wouldn't, I couldn't, I can't!

But it would be nice.

I don't know how I am going to tackle giving them out.

I would love it if they all wore them on their handbags. I think I will take a pack of little gold safety pins with me.

A gesture of Good Luck for the Bride and Groom and for all who wear them.

I will try to give out as many as possible before the day...and then who knows if I will have to courage to be a lucky Horseshoe peddler.

Any ideas???

Here are some more, getting more colourful.

Gold beads with green ribbon with a gold edge, purple iris beads with a purple ribbon, turquoise green ribbon with silver beads.

Rose pink ribbon with rainbow ruby beads, blue ribbon with silver edges with purple iris beads which have a tinge of blue, red spotty ribbon with silver beads.

This is the crop so far, not including my one makes a total of 24.

Can you see the larger on in the middle with the gold ribbon in size 15 thread.

The tiny one at the bottom with blue beads is in size 80....too big for Lily Bear who needed size 100, less rings and a smaller stitch count.

Now I have to go and tat more....I HAVE TO.....got deep teal ribbon, lilac ribbon, the pink ribbon with the silver edges is the lastest! Shuttles are loaded to tat more on the ferry.

Slow down life you are going too fast!

Wedding Stuff. Part 8a My Final Project!

2010-08-03T16:32:00.003+01:00

This is the last thing that I am going to tat...honest....well not ever! I hope not.

Last year I tatted Nancy Tracy's Horseshoe to put inside wedding cards.

I loved the effect of adding beads and a ribbon...so thought it would be nice to make one for the bride...just like Lily Bear has.

Silver beads and gold ribbon, tatted in Size 15 that I bought in Germany some years ago, the tatted bit measures just under 3inches.I don't know if she would carry it or not.

Then I thought wouldn't it be nice to have one on my handbag to match my outfit.

Tatted in size 20, measures a little over 2.5 inches. Silver beads and ribbon as near to magenta as I could get. the bag is leather with a pewter finish....how do they do that? It even came with it's own cloth bag to store it in until the next time.

I liked that so much...that I had to make one for the bride's mum....this is a guess to match her outfit.

orange ribbon, heamatite beads.....maybe should be a pink one.

Then for the three bridesmaids.

Two different turquoise ribbons and two different silver lined turquoise beads.

Oh dear I am sure you can see where this is leading.

This is becoming an exercise in colour. Not the colour of the thread, that's all white but the colour combos of beads and ribbon

and I can't stop!

Two for the Bride's sister and the Groom's sister.

Both with a dark blue ribbon, one with silver beads, the other with Montana shiny beads.

Still couldn't stop!

maybe my female relatives and a friend would like one, that's another 8.

What would they like, what will they wear?

Silver beads, gold beads, silver ribbon, gold ribbon.

Turquoise beads, two colours, silver lined and transparent, two kinds of silver ribbon.

Haematite and silver ribbon, silver and a pretty new blue ribbon with a silver edge, turquoise and gold.

While i was making these, my best brownie/guide leader friend told me that she has breast cancer and had a mastectomy a couple of weeks ago. We have been Brownie leaders together for 10 years until she decided to reopen the Guide company as he girls were now that age. She is a wonderful leader.
She was starting chemo this week..so what should I take ..
inspiration....changed the ribbon in one of the horseshoes for a pink one..

She was in amazing good form...very positive, a Guide really does smile and sing under all difficulties.
She said she would take the Horseshoe with her to chemo and pin it to her to her T shirt.

Am I out of my mind
more horseshoes to show you tomorrow.
They are so easy to make, I can make two in one evening. ...more speed tatting.
But what will I do with them all ????
I am stuck in a horseshoe rut, you wouldn't believe that I bought more ribbon today in gorgeous colours to match my beads.
They look so much prettier in real life than they do in the photos.
I need someone to shout
STOP

Wedding Stuff. Part 7c.Something Borrowed!

2010-08-02T15:57:00.000+01:00

My friend Suneeti was worried that poor little Bride Bear wouldn't have something borrowed for her wedding.......and she came up with a brilliant suggestion.......

...why didn't Lily Bear (just discovered that this is her name!) ask her sister Lindy Bear (who was the Bride Bear at my daughter's wedding)....

.....if she could borrow just one little flower from Lindy's wedding veil!

Aw! isn't that a sweet idea?

Lily thought that was awesome!

so...she sent a message to Lindy who said she would see if she could find her veil....she thought it was in a box somewhere up in the attic.....she is so sorry that she can't come to Lily's wedding....

it's all the bairns you see!

She sent the flower by Express Bear Mail and it arrived this morning....and was on the veil in an instant.

Lily chose the spot where it would be discreet but still be seen, especially the diamond!

Now she is really happy. All it took was a simple tatted flower.

Long live tatting!

So the two little bride bears are linked like the real brother and sister.

Wedding Stuff. Part 7b. The Bride is ready!

2010-08-01T11:33:00.005+01:00

She is ready to rock and roll and a happy little soul, despite the impression of her that I have given!

One week today she will be married.

She asked me to apologise about the pictures ....that she has decided to keep her veil down over her face until she is married.

"He is not going to see me until then" she said.

Then you will be able to see her too!

Bears are very traditional!

She LOVES the exquisite edging!

Tatted in size 100 thread with Mill Hill petite beads.

Gosh I have never used 100 before and the petite beads are wonderful...the hole is still big enough to go on to size 100 and 80 thread, it wouldn't go on to size 20 for me.

I will buy more of these and will try to tat some tiny snowflakes. It wasn't all that hard to tat with 100, I even unpicked a few stitches but wouldn't want to have to open a closed ring!

She LOVES the Lucky Horseshoe!

She says she needs as much luck as she can get!

something old..the blue thread,

something new the tatting,

something borrowed???

something blue...the thread.

She LOVES the designer necklace!

Also in 100!

Looks like she is easily pleased!

You can see how much this photo is enlarged as it show the thread count in the satin.

Normally it looks perfectly smooth.

She LOVES the bow on the back of her dress.

She LOVES her dainty earrings!

She LOVES her head dress!

Just right she says..nothing too fussy about my veil either.

She LOVES her bouquet of Red Roses!

They look enormous but it's just the perspective.

I did have to explain to her that I wasn''t going to fly in fresh roses from who knows where....too many air miles!

And

The would fade and die, even if she tries to preserve them...

...these she will have for ever...

she was convinced!

She has forgotten about the Ring Pillow and The Wedding hankie!

THE SHOES......mmm!

She didn't LOVE these!

She says that are not dainty!

I say that her feet aren't dainty!

She is not amused.

What did she expect.

They are beary platforms with silver ribbon, tatting embellishment and some diamonds! and they do the job, you can just see them peeing out from under her dress. her train hangs perfectly and she doesn't look as if she is going to fall on her face!

"No one will see them" I say ,

she replies

"HE WILL"

aw!

She did give permission for me to lift her skirt..."just a little" she said.

Could I have done better for her wedding outfit??

If you enjoyed this series of posts...do please leave a comment, I do so love to read them.

She LOVED this comment

So she is a Bearzilla Bride…hummm Ah well, it IS her day…I'm sure she will be unbearable when she blooms in bridal beariness. I can bearly wait to see her bearing when she is satisfied with her dress. bj

Stay tuned ......

Wedding Stuff. Part 7. THE BRIDE!

2010-07-31T20:13:00.000+01:00

Isn't this what you have all been waiting for

The star of the show!

Well

I can tell you for starters

that this one is a little madam!

I think it must be the eBay training....they teach them to know what they are worth and to look confident!

From the minute that she came out of the box, she has know exactly what she wanted.

She informed me that this was a designer wedding dress!

but

that it needed some exquisite lace to turn it into a dress to die for..

and

was I up to it!!

I asked her "who do you think you are"

and

she told me...

"I am Groom Bear's Little Princess.....

and I deserve the best!"

So, she gave me a list...

.......first of the things that she didn't ~~want~~, like all that much....

1.I hate pink, especially when teamed with that yellow and blue!

2. The dress is far too plain, just is not classy!

3.I am really a simple bear!!! so no frilling up my veil!

4. No artificial flowers!

....and what she ~~wants~~ would like.....pretty please!....

1. A bouquet of specially imported Red Roses.....for my love for Groom Bear!

2. An exquisite edging for the train of my dress.....the finest tatting with silver beads if possible....lots of them!

3. A designer necklace!

4. Some shoes!

5.Something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue!

6. A Ring Pillow!

7. A Wedding Hankie!

Number 4 puzzled me as Bride Bears don't normally wear shoes.....

she confessed that she had stood on her tippy toes when she was being measured for the dress and thus it was actually too long!

I know the feeling BB...when does anything ever fit!

She said that the train was trailing on the floor and looked crumpled...and would be even worse when it gets the exquisite edging!

I guess that list is pretty much like most Brides want.

She will show herself tomorrow!

Wedding Stuff. Part 6 The Groom!

2010-07-30T15:49:00.003+01:00

This has been the most fun for me.

I have to take you back to my daughter's wedding again.

I was taken by a pair of wedding bears....I LOVE BEARS!

So I thought it would be nice to customize them in the wedding colours.

The Groom Bear got a burgundy hatband and feather, Swarovski crystal burgundy buttons and a burgundy flower. He kept his grey suit as the real groom was to wear grey tails. the waistcoat colour looked good and I didn't know what was to be worn.

The Bride Bear swapped her bouquet for cream and burgundy roses and a burgundy ribbon, and a headdress of the same roses and ribbon. Her dress has a medallion of dimpled ring hearts like on the ring pillow, and her waistband was a cream ribbon. Her veil was scattered with little tatted flowers with bling crystals in their centers. Her veil was edged very simply.
They were gorgeous!

I was itching to do this again for my son's wedding but despite searching the shops I couldn't find the bears again...they must have been discontinued.
I was disappointed.

Suddenly it hit me
eBay
and lo and behold there was a pair of bears for the taking, was this fate?
Oh the agony of bidding!
Yipee! I won them.
So let's take a look at the Groom...

Apart from his hat being perched rather perilously on his head he looks very smart.

This time the real groom will be wearing black top hat and tails so this was a bit more of a challenge.
I haven't been near a pot of dye in a couple of months...but this should be easy...shouldn't it.
Took all the stuffing and card out of his hat and had to take his outfit to pieces as the shirt and waistcoat were attached to the jacket and so were the cuffs. Stitched the sleeves back on with white thread. so they wouldn't fray .....well it's all going to be black isn't it!!
Into the black dye they went.....
......imagine my surprise the next day when the black due washed clean out......
of the grey satin collar and lining....and the grey and white thread!!

Of course I should have realised that a cotton dye doesn't dye polyester!!!
A second dyeing produced a richer back....his hat band went a deep blue!

The groom will be wearing a champagne waitscoat and a teal cravat and hankie made by his mother in law to be.....
so
I made Groom Bear a waistcoat from the raw silk I had for the Ring Pillow and a teal ribbon cravat.Stitched it all back together in black thread this time
Matching buttons of Swarovski crystals, teal hatband and a red rose and he is ready.

Doesn't he look such a toff!!
Every time I look at him I see my son!
Doesn't the contrasting collar and lining and stitching look great.

A great comment came in about the last post..saying that the Leps will be wanting to be a part of the wedding party!
Well didn't I catch Tadgh sprucing up Groom bear. Decided that he would be his personal dresser for the wedding. Can you see what the little blighter slipped into the waistcoat??
Tadgh said that there had to be Irishness there! and that Groom Bear would need a bit of good luck!!

Wedding Stuff. Part 5d! Bookmark Marathon!

2010-07-29T13:23:00.003+01:00

It has been like running a marathon

but I won!

I received another envelope of hearts....thanks a million Suneeti...that did help a lot.

So I knew what was left to do....of course I did get carried away...as usual!

I kept coming across Treble Clefs and Hearts in unexpected places and finally thought what the heck, I will tat 'till I drop!!

That should probably have read 'till my fingers drop off.

I can speed tat and these hearts I can do in my sleep!

Found that I could tat one heart in about 20 mins, that's if I breathe at the same time!!
and could tat 11 (5.5 pairs!)in an evenings TV watching.....jeepers that 3 hrs 40 mins!!

I must have clocked up an extra 25 pairs...and then my fingers fell off! ouch.

94 bookmarks

the 4 at the bottom are for ME!

They are a motley assortment, of colours and shapes and sizes......but then so are wedding guests.

I think every one is a winner, thank you so much my tatting gnomes, I couldn't have done it without you....or the designers Jane and Sherry for their inspiration, .

Even the glueing and sleeving took days.

But now I can concentrate on my fun project.

Pause for a birthday and a party!

2010-07-28T18:12:00.002+01:00

Not related tho!

Daughter's birthday yesterday, this is the card I made for her.....3D Decoupage.

She texted...."Took my son for an ice cream",
First time I have heard her call him that. he is 21 months now.

Sent a tingle down my spine.

The party......my summer tat party......tat, talk, tat then eat.....preferably outside. Showed them all the things that I have made for the wedding and they advised on alterations to my outfit.

The new display stand for my little trees is finished at last and it's like little friends have returned to their home.....more about this after the wedding when I promise you a blow by blow account....If you think you can stand it.

The whole area in front of the stand has been 'done up' and it's BEAUTIFUL.

I set up a table and chairs there with the umbrella into the washing line hole and WOW.

Then it started to drizzle.... I had booked this good weather weeks ago so finally the weatherman remembered and the sun shone fit to crack the stones.

How I love my party with my tatting friends ..they are the best.

Wish you all could have come....they brought such goodies.The house elf made yummy Broccoli and Stilton soup. Someone even brought a mackerel smoker to have hot smoked mackerel.....but it didn't work. Well can't have everything.

I am on cloud nine.....

Have to get back to earth and concentrate on the last lap....getting to the fun stuff!

Wedding Stuff. Part 5c.....Today's job!

2010-07-23T17:52:00.002+01:00

Thanks to everyone who commented what a great idea this was....and how nice it was to have participation from other tatters.

It's like a big warm hug to have such friends out there.

Today

was the time to lay them all out and see how many I have.

At the top are the finished ones ready for the plastic sleeves, in piles of 10.

Next row are in process of glueing, hearts are on and waiting to have the Treble Clef glued on.

Then I come down to a few more recently arrived hearts to glue on as well.

Finally...horror of horrors 15 bookmarks with no hearts

oops!

that's bad!

Next to them are a pile of Treble Clefs to spare,

that's good!

as I want to make some extras.

So it's back to tatting hearts....while waiting for the dentist for a start!

I will knock off 15 pairs and more...easy peasy....I do have 2 weeks left....almost!

and I will be able to make hearts to match the new treble clefs in the 'gone wrong' Turquoise Teal...which is gorgeous.

Byee, must get on!

Wedding stuff. Part 5b

2010-07-22T18:26:00.002+01:00

Did you guess what I was making???????????????
Well
My DIL to be sorted out what she wanted to be given to all the wedding guests as 'favours'....and so I was most surprised when my son asked me....

Would I make bookmarks like I did for his sisters wedding?

Wowee! he likes his mother's tatting so much .

Well it seems that flattery will get him anywhere!

What would you have said!!!

OK so let's go back in time 4 years to her wedding time.

My very good friend Jane Eborall had told me that she had made intertwined hearts for her daughter's wedding and sent me her design...and even offered to help me make them. (Which she did!)
What more can you ask of a friend.

An unbelievable number of hearts later and a lot of printing, stamping, cutting and glueing and I had about 130 beautiful bookmarks made and put into plastic sleeves.

They even did double duty as place cards as I had the names printed sideways on the reverse.

Cool or what!
I was so proud of these.

Her theme was Burgundy and Fuchsias.
It was a good job that I had made extras to keep as after the meal her day andIi got up for a photo shoot....when we got back our bookmarks and wedding souvenir CD's had been cleared away and put into the bin! and were never seen again.

This time the theme is Teal and Music.

80 + bookmarks to make

what have I let myself in for!

First job was to dye some thread to match the colour of the Bridesmaid's dresses.

Being a thread dyer of course I wanted a variegated thread.

It took oh! so many trails, I had to keep going darker, darker, bluer, greener!!

I had a tiny tiny piece of material to match...a very dark teal blue.

Finally I arrived at two threads that I really liked...a green teal and a blue teal. Neither of which were like the sample of material.....but this wedding is going to have a lot of dfferent teals anyway.

What the heck I thought, the bookmarks don't have to be all the same!

This is a 'Hope' butterfly by Sherry Pence in my teal green that I never showed you. It's one of my favourites.

These are the two threads and my favourite Hearts Desire by Susan Fuller.

Impossible to show you the true colours.

I did end up with a third variation ...a beautiful Turquoise Teal...when the green washed right out of the thread I had had the dye made up so long with all the trials!!

I was so taken aback....beautiful but unrepeatable...easily that is.

I had offers to tat hearts for me from Suneeti and Isdihara and they worked like trojans.

We tatted over 170 hearts between us.

The next thing to think about was what to put at the bottom of the bookmark with a music theme.

I was just about to buy a music rubber stamp when Sherry Pence showed her Treble Clef design.

Woopeee! How cool....

BUT

I didn't really think that I would have time or the stamina! to tat 80+ treble clefs....

My trojan tatters rose to the challenge and were joined by Fox and my tat lassies here.....

and so a sample was sent to the bride...

and she liked it!

During our tatting, one of my friends came up with a modified version using chains instead of the folded ring. We couldn't decide if the chain should run down the back of the clef or in front so we I ended up with a huge variety of clefs using Sherry's original and Jackie's version.

I hope that Sherry doesn't mind us modifying her design.... I really don't like messing with someone else's design.

Tomorrow....I really can't put it off any longer I must see if I have enough!!
See you then!