Not NOW!

Shh! I'm reading Harry Potter.

I'm on page 259.

I took time out late this afternoon to walk to the edge of our field and pick enough raspberries for a pie. They're just starting to ripen and it looks like it will be a good year for them.
I may put down my book again long enough to go make the pie, now that good reading light has faded.

I also practiced a butterfly this afternoon from the tatting calendar for July 19th.

The colors I used made one freaking ugly butterfly. I thought purple & red would work better than this! I didn't put much thought into color choice - just grabbed two to practice technique with. Will have to ask the what thread was used for the sample as it is very pretty.

I'm still using up bags of free crochet cotton I was given, belonging to Aunt Nonnie. It's been over a year now since she passed away and I miss her. It pleases me to be able to finally put some of it to use, now that I've discovered needle tatting.

I don't know the correct way of working two colors yet, so I cheated and ran the second color in behind the stitches on back to get started. I'll go ask for group help on tatting using 2 needles later.

After pie baking.
And another chapter with Harry.

Book 7 KNITTING CONTENT ...from page 21:
Harry remembers asking Dumbledore: "What do you see when you look in the mirror?"
"I? I see myself holding a pair of thick, woolen socks."

Tatting Collage project

Bonsai Fabric Postcard

Not sure if this needle tatted bonsai tree qualifies as motif 9.
Let's say it does since it's a finished item.

From inspiration found in Lindsay Rogers' Tatting Collage book, this is my interpretation of her cover, scaled down to fit the tree themed postcards I've signed up for in a coming swap with 5 members of Postmark'd Art.

The book gives basic instructions for the combination of stitches & patterns found within the book that were used in the collages - not actual direction for each collage.

I'm a JOINER!

25 Motif Challenge

Needle Tatted motifs are turning up everywhere!
I've joined a group that's all about tatting motifs. Pledging to make 25 this year.

(I do pledge to give it my best shot :)
I'm starting a little late!

I made 2 more needlebooks just so I could have some place else to stick some tatting onto. As the queen of unfinished things I'm hoping my 25 motif's translate into #25 finished items. Not just a box of motifs!

I suspect Needlebooks and Bookmarks will be added to sock gifted friends & family far into the future.

Not counting anything twice, I have 8 finished.
Technically, I have 15 basket postcards all finished and 6 have been mailed away already.

I'd be working on my next motif but the Patchwork Press (newsletter I edit for Maine's Pine Tree Quilters Guild) is due out to the printers this week. This computer is so slow in between waiting for things to open or download or print I have washed kitchen & living room windows - inside & out; done 3 loads of laundry, vacuumed and made potato salad for supper.

(@#%&*$ thing!) There's been a great deal of swearing, as well. When PWP is done I will happily go back to some guilt free needle tatting practice.

I'm a Calendar Girl!

July 16 Tatting Calendar pattern

My basket has been added to the Tatting Calendar project.

Today!

Hopefully it's not riddled with mistakes, as a couple of people are testing it, but as of now it's only been tested by me. Awfully bold of someone who's been holding a tatting needle for all of 3 weeks? And had never even heard of the concept of needle tatting until I wanted a basket for a postcard?

(Still no knitting happening, although I got a project out and touched it a few minutes.)

Next Item! Here is the newest fabric postcard I came up with over the weekend, changing the cutout to hold a purple tatted butterfly within a net window. I've done this basic crazy quilt design before, with several different motifs in the window. Felt cutouts of maple leaves, shamrocks & hearts - until I discovered tatting! Will add beads and maybe even a tatted edge to a seam next time, but I'm out of pink seed beads & I wanted to test the first one (NOW!) with a butterfly, just to see how it would look trapped in the net.

A couple of weeks ago I sent one I did for fall swaps last year to the ArtCard Ideas project:

Share your fabric postcard creations online for the ArtCard Ideas 2007 Idea Deck Contest!
We're looking for fun, elegant, wacky, and wonderful fabric postcards as art for a deck of ideas especially for fabric postcard artists.
Postcards will be collected from all over the world and displayed here for everyone to view. Visitors will vote on their favorite postcards, and photos of the 52 most popular cards will be included in the 2007 ArtCards Idea Deck for sale this fall!
There are goodies for the 10 most popular cards, and every winner earns bragging rights, so get a fabric postcard creation to us by August 1!

My card, A Piece of New England in Fall can be seen here in their gallery. I seem to have moved to the bottom of the page. Hopefully it's an alphabetical thing.
Or last - but not least?!

Voting starts August 15th for 2 weeks - and it would be lovely to be one of the chosen ones.

(What she actually means: Shameless begging will begin on the 15th!)

Curse of the Spider Card

Beware! Here there be spiders...

As a member of Postmark'd Art, Round 6 is about to begin for swapping fabric postcards. One of the themes voted on was INSECTS but since it didn't get enough votes to qualify for the top 10 swap groups, 3 of us did one-on-one swaps on our own.

Karen from Illinois reports she received my insect themed fabric postcard last Saturday and thought it quite wonderful:

"It was so exciting. However, something bit me when I took out the mail. Didn't think much about it. I knocked the offender off when I instinctively shook my hand so I missed what bit me. However, within minutes my hand started to swell and turn a beautiful shade of red. Ice did nothing. Kept getting worse. Ended up in the emergency room. Now you have to laugh because the doctor said that he thought it was a spider bite!!!! Had a rough few days but all is well now and I think it makes a great story. "

Her insect themed card to me was of mosquitoes. The day it arrived there were swarms of them everywhere - the worst of the summer by far. We may have to rethink this theme in future!

Needle Tatting; Week 2 1/2 :)

"Light Bulb moments" add up

I'm finally getting the hang of this needle tatting thing - without stopping to decide which way to go at every turn. The basics are coming more easily. The Learn Needle Tatting Step-by-Step book arrived yesterday with my 4 new needles. It's a good thing it's price was equal to the cost of the needles alone as I've learned most of what's in the book from free online sources - before it got here.

I've even come up with a tatted basket by changing this tutorial for a medallion pattern into more what I was thinking of as I searched for a fabric postcard basket theme idea in the first place. The reason my knitting/mom blog morphed into something new a couple of weeks ago!

I may even hold knitting needles today to see if remember how!

Needle Tatting; week 2

Split Ring demystified!

Tried following a tutorial for split rings and was left with broken rings and chains hanging in mid-air. Pretty sure I wasn't doing something right! Posted a question on the Yahoo group I joined and one lady went above & beyond trying to help me out by adding a new tutorial on her blog. I got it!

And made a bookmark of sorts. Kind of looks like a fly swatter! Thought of adding one of the colorful butterflies to it. Butterflies are NOT for swatting though, so maybe not.

But at least it's finished and I worked enough split rings to really "get it!"

My new book arrived. Tatting Collage by Lindsay Rogers would be worth the list price just for the pictures. Even if I never tatted anything from it. But I've already done butterflies & stars from it and that Bonsai tree on the cover will end up on a fabric postcard if when I figure it out. I found it on Half.com for less than list, even with shipping & handling. PLUS the lady included a piece of tatting - still stuck to the #8 tatting needle. Unexpected bonus!