Trip Tatting

It's late, but I promised tatting so here goes.

My friend B and I traveled about 9 hours from North Dakota to Manitowoc Wisconsin.  Manitowoc is on the east edge of WI, right on Lake Michigan.

We were going to visit B's mom A.  We took turns driving, and while B drove, I tatted.

1. 

Here is a Rosary I tatted on the trip.  It was for A who is 84, so I used size 10 thread.  It is a hand dyed thread I bought on ebay several years ago, and do not know the colorway or the base thread, but it is soft.

2. A's sister, D, also lives in the same complex.  She is 90 which shocked me, as I was sure she was still in her 70's.  She flower gardens along the outside her apartment, plants tomatoes in the designated vegetable areas, and because she had more plants started then room for, dug up another area down the slope from her patio near a wooded area.  She also volunteers at the local food pantry every friday morning, leads the Rosary every evening at 7, sews and mends for people, and in her spare time, sets puzzles and does plastic canvas needle craft.

The plant below is one she has had for some time, but she said it made her mad as it wouldn't bloom, and was going to throw it out, so I took it.  

In the pot along with the plant was one of those clear stakes that florist use to hold a card. So, to pay her for being such a sweet lady, I tatted Sherry Pences' Hope Butterfly and attached it to the stake. D was pleased.

This was tatted using the same thread as the Rosary. 

3. I finished my Tischband flowers

They are tatted in Marilee Rockley's Rhubarb Pie in size 40. The quarter is to show size. Now I have to decide on the leaf color and get them finished.

4. I had some down time and in my previous post showed some thread from Jess at Tat-ilicous.
Here is what I tatted with the Camo-licious

Her name is Huntress.  She is a Forest Guardian.  The thread is a size 40.  Here is a scan of both Huntress and Dawn Flyer, the dragon I tatted last fall.

Dawn Flyer is tatted in size 20.
I have almost finished the 4 book series titled Inheritance Cycle, by Christopher Paolini.  In those books there are 5 dragons,  Saphira who is blue, Thorn who is red, Glaedr who is golden, Shruikan who is black  and one dragon egg that has yet to hatch, so I don't know what color that one will be.  I have a yen to tat dragons in those colors.

5. Once I finished these I started a doily with the second colorway from Jess, Peacock in size 40.

I paired it a ball of DMC in size 40 color # 320 Pistachio Green - Med. The doily is Linda Davies Star Attraction.

And I will leave you with several other pictures I took on my trip.

Lake Michigan

one of the Submarines built in Manitowoc.  This one is now a museum.

Along the road in the middle of the state there is a resident with a sense of humor.  Do any of you remember the TV show Petty Coat Junction?

We actually turned around and went back a couple miles, just to get this picture.

I hope all of you who qualify had a great Mother's day, I was contacted by all my children so that made it a very good day for me. 

Have a great day tomorrow.
now it is time for bed.

I'm Back

Got back from my trip at 9:30 last night.
give me a couple days to catch up and I will post all the tatting I got done.

today's delivery

When I am at work, farmguy gets the mail. it is a 1/4 mile trip to the mailbox.  no biggy, but still it can be a pain if the weather doesn't cooperate.

When I got home today there was a package on the couch waiting for me.
I know what it was, 'cuz I ordered it, he he, but that doesn't begin to come close to what was in the package.

Last week, Jess of Tat-ilicious, offered a coupon deal on her threads through Etsy.com.  I liked the look of many  of her colorways so took advantage of her coupon and ordered some size 40 threads. Here is her Peacock and Camo-licious wound on Bob-eez.
And look at the cute googly-eyed heart that came with the threads.  what  cutie. Jess's tatting in the heart is very precise.  Thanks for the heart Jess.

Thanks Jess,  These are in my Tatting bag.  I am headed out Wednesday for a 6 day trip. and there should be lots of time to tat. The Camo is slated for a project by itself, the Peacock will be paired with some size 40 DMC as it is destined for a doily.

My Tatting bag is by DS9Designs I really like it, very roomy and lots of pockets.

I am also taking Rhubarb Pie so I can get the other 3 flowers for the Tischband done, some size 10 thread (or should I say cable) to make a rosary for an elderly lady, some size 20 light pastel Manuela for an ongoing project, and in my purse is my Beauty Spot hanky edging in Krystle's Wisteria Lane.

See you next week after I get back.

Tischband Started

I have been wanting to start this ever since Umi & Tsuru posted here. 

and since I can understand a smattering of German, and the word Tisch brought that to mind.  I decided to find out what Google Translate had to say.  Tisch can be translated as Table,  and Band, well that is basically self explanitory.  so Tischband can be translated as Table Runner.

and I can see that in the picture posted of the original pattern on Umi's link above.

I have started my version of the pattern.

the thread is size 40 Rhubarb Pie by Marilee Rockley.  yummmm  I think I might have to get some more rhubarb out of the freezer. 

I have benefited from the posts by previous tatters giving hints and tips to make tatting this pattern easier. So, while the pattern calls for 6 layers of chains around the flower center, I have only tatted 5.
and I ran across a link to a youtube video for tatting the leaf. The videographer is Frivole, who is so generous with her video lessons.

here is my week. 
Monday: work, and because of farm things this morning, I didn't get to work until 10:30a.m. good thing my boss is good with a flexible schedule, but then I didn't leave work until 7:30 pm. 
Tuesday: I have a meeting in a city 60 miles away, with the Diocesan Pastoral council so I will not be going to work. 
Wednesday: a meeting in a town 30 miles away, for a Safety Council sponsored by our State Workforce Safety and Insurance Dept for which I am chair of the finance council. so at least I will have a few hours at work in the afternoon.
Thursday: I will have a whole day at work.
Friday: my dd#4 gets to walk in graduation from grad school at a university 4 hours away.  She will still have to defend her Doctoral thesis in a couple months, but she will be a Doctor of Chemistry.  I am so proud of her, this has been a loong haul.  Her first experiments for her thesis several years ago after her successful defense of her Masters were considered failures. that meant starting over in between the teaching she has been doing. Now it has been discovered that those "failures" weren't failures after all, simply a new discovery that wasn't understood properly.  Woo Hoo,  She will be able to publish a paper that will be sighted by other chemists for some time.  Major Woo Hoo.
Doctoral students are expected to publish papers, and several of her papers were covered by grants and the companies who provided those grants considered the work proprietary so she could not publish them. Now, one of those papers has been released and she can publish that paper. so that has helped.  Things have been falling into place for her this year. 

I am so proud of her.

Oh, that means no work on Friday for me either as I will be traveling to see her walk across the stage to get her hood.

Hmmmm good thing this wasn't payroll week.  don't know when I would have gotten that done.

I guess spring is here

according to the calendar, spring is here.  and today is Earth Day.
I remember way back when this got started, it was big, now it is just a mention in the news media and small print on some calendars.

One of the things I got done this weekend, is this....

I started the seedlings for my garden today.  This is a small community garden effort this year.  there will be at least 3 families who are looking to help and get produce from my plot.

None of them will get out in the ground until the 1st of June.  Around here we don't count out frost until after Memorial day.  and believe me,  there have been years where I can remember frost every month except July, and some of the residents of this area can remember back to the 30's where there was a year when there was frost in July.

there are 10 rows going from lower left to upper right. each row has 5 seedling pots
2 rows Kohlrabi Early White =10 pots

Cabbage Premium Flat Dutch Late 5 pots
Cabbage Early Jersey Wakefield 5 pots

2 rows Swiss Chard 6  pots
            Tomato Yellow Pear 2 pots
             Tomato Burpee Jubilee Orange 2 pots
2 rows Tomato Roma 4 pots
            Tomato Oregon Spring 4 pots
            Tomato Burpee Long Keeper 2 Pots
2 rows Tomato Super Beef Steak 4 pots
            Tomato Burpee Big Boy 4 pots
            Tomato Burpee Long Keeper 2 Pots

I will start the Squash, watermelon and cucumbers  in a few weeks.

I am hoping the weather cooperates so I can get in the garden to plant lettuce, radishes, carrots, onions, garlic and more swiss chard this week.

then sometime next week the peas can go in. 

The green beans and corn will have to wait until the middle of May before they can go in.

although, farmguy's wheat is up and he is out planing corn this week, so I suppose..... I could put in all the garden now, but for me the farmers are pushing it. and if it freezes, they will have to replant.

hope you had a great weekend. and lots of time for tatting.

how I fixed my goof

The pattern for the doily goes like this

1. Split Ring
2. Split Ring
3. Ring
4. Chain + to 3
5. Ring
6. Chain
7. Ring + to 3
8. Split Ring
9. Split Ring

but, by not paying attention this is what I did

1. Split Ring
2. Split Ring
3. Chain
4. Ring
5. Chain
I got to the Ring and said "uh, oh, now what. 
I didn't want to un-tat 2 chains and a ring.  that would take more time then I wanted to spend. 

I spent a few minutes fussing at myself for not paying attention.  then realized that I should know how to fix this problem.  Jane's TIAS goat flashed into my mind and I thought "Ah Ha!" I do know how to do this.

Here is what I did.
I used a Self Closing Mock Ring with a Thrown off Ring. and joined to the core thread where the 2 chains come together at the bottom of the ring. and joined to the top of Split Ring 2 where I started the chain.

TA DA!! Yeah! it worked.  and it saved me a lot of time. 

in the close up below, you can see the difference in how the rings lay

but it is not so noticeable if you don't know to look for it. 

here is the doily again, and if you look for the "wonky" chain with JK knots on it in the lower right hand area, you can find the spot.

So, that's my story and I am sticking to it. 

Doretha Tear Drop Doily complete

I have finished my version of the Tear Drop Doily designed by Georgia Seitz for Doretha Albe.

I used Lizbeth size 20 in Fruit Fiz (I remember the color name, but have lost the label, so have no idea of the number)

in my previous post I listed a couple other tatters who have made this doily and inspired me.  Fox has also made this doily.

I was able to get this to complete a circle using 14 points. While tatting this, I was thinking of changing the joining points to allow it to circle easier. I would join the 2 split rings on the sides of the tear drops and not join the top chain. that would pull the center closer and let the outer area curve more easily.  But then again, that might make it too floppy. 

part of this doily was made while riding in the car.  because of not keeping my mind completely on what I was doing, I made a boo-boo. 
the pattern calls for split ring, split ring, ring, chain, thrown off ring, chain, ring, split ring, split ring.
but I did split ring, split ring, chain, TOring, chain.  then looked at what I had done, and discovered that I had missed the 2 top rings.  I didn't want to frog the chain, TOring,chain; nor did I want to cut and hide ends.  but with a small amount of thought I said " ah ha!! I know how to fix this!"   
How would you  fix this?  and can you find the spot? 
leave your thoughts in a comment.  and I will do the reveal tomorrow night.

I am seriously thinking of how to fill in the center.  using Josephine Knots instead of picots does complicate the matter, but I have some thoughts on the subject. Do you have any ideas?  it is a bit unstable at this point.  picking it up it will distort, and you need to adjust it into a proper circle when you lay it down.