"I can stop any time I want"

"So are you addicted to THESE now?"

(comment by a smartass Stephani)

Okay. They're addictive!
I've made 4 now.
If there's a Whirl Into Spring drawing, I'm ready with my prize.

Because shadow or no shadow given off by pesky rodents in Pennsylvania - I'm ready to bring on Spring. Now.

I've been working on my quilted Puzzle Pieces for a swap set up by Pat Winter Gatherings. Also addictive. I don't know if they'll fit together with other submitted puzzle pieces without purposely tweaking the nearby connecting tabs a bit. Hopefully I'm not alone in needing to revise the pattern of alternating pieces to make them fit.

One alternative I can see would be to ask some entries to leave their edges unfinished. I've been practicing my blanket stitch. I think I may be going the wrong way. All the tutorials seem to work the stitch right to left but after trying the first one and feeling like I was doing it backwards, I wondered why not go the other way. So I did. Seems the same to me.

It's still NOT my favorite stitch! If front is supposed to look as good as back, I've got a lot of practicing to do yet.

(If any Puzzle Swap participants stop by and want to do a one-to-one puzzle swap email me!)

Took a little detour

Found myself in Russia gazing at beautiful stitch work.

I don't remember what word I put in Google the other day. But, This is what I found! Plus her tutorial for the Hex shaped needle books.
I have an addiction for making needle books.
So I made one for myself today ;)

The pictures of the tutorial are so universal I hardly needed to use Babel Fish to translate. (You can enter a web address and it translates everything for pages & pages. Mostly understandable, even!)

I made mine quite a bit smaller, once I realized how much larger 17.5 cm is than I thought. Next time I need to decide on a template size and stick to it. That way back & front might come out more or less the same size - first try. I used a CD as the template for the cover circles and instead of hemming the edge I sewed 2 circles together, trimmed extremely close and snipped a slit in the middle of one of the circles and turned.
Slit is completely covered by insert.
(Way easier!)

This one does have a bit of a design flaw as my stork scissors stick out of the pocket too far. Plus I cannibalized a 6 inch crazy quilt block with the hummingbird already stitched. I wanted to get started right away - instant gratification. It started out as several fabrics with embroidered seams, but the more I cut it down to a smaller size, the more was lost. You can just catch a glimpse of the other fabrics. One of the seams had a pink embroidered chain that stood way out of place without the rest of the block seam work. I snipped off the pink, but the needle marks still show.

But most importantly: I finished a project AND have one less orphan block in the treasure box!

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.

Needle Tatting; week 1

New obsessions

Just like Christopher Columbus "discovered" America, I have "discovered" Needle Tatting!

Sure. Other people already know about Needle Tatting, just as America already had a fair number of residents who should have perhaps slapped Chris upside the head and pointed out the fact that they were here first.

But a discovery is what we make of it.
There's a good chance I'm going to be away from my knitting needles a bit longer.

NEEDLE TATTING!

A week ago today I was searching through some old patterns I had printed off from the net.
For someday. For "when I get around to it."
I was looking for basket postcard ideas and although I never found the one I was thinking of, I came across this one. Printed out in July 2001.

This basket has waited very patiently for me to "get around to it"!

(Although it turns out only the flowers are tatted. Basket is actually drawn onto a note card, so I've free handed a sketch of a larger version to appliqué onto fabric.)

I went out and bought a tatting needle that very morning and have doodled a bit waiting for some how-to books to arrive from the library. There are a host of online instructions & support groups. I've joined one specific to needle tatting and expressed my joy at discovering their secret. Needle tatted motifs may find their way onto a few more fabric postcards & ATC's.

It's vacation week so another "discovery" was made due the fact that we were lost. Tom was driving so we'll call it exploring! We found the Dead River above Long Falls Dam.

Map reading directions: Go to Bingham, Maine; cross the river and turn right. Then just drive.
(Check to be sure the gas tank is full before encouraging the fool to do this!)