Look Back at Lace Day 2018

Well, now that the dust has settled, I can look back at the whirl-wind day that was Lace Day.

First off, I had an absolute blast. The ladies that I have the pleasure of making lace with are just a delight to be around. Despite some of our maturing ages, we easily convert to a bunch of giddy school girls when it comes to making, talking about and showing off our lace.

It was wonderful seeing both old and new faces at the event. I know that many people are hesitate to come to such and event, usually thinking it's just a room of little old ladies gossiping and complaining. But for those brave enough to step through the doors, they found a lively group of various ages and backgrounds laughing, joking and having a grand old time.

Here are some pictures from Lace Day for you to enjoy:

Just a small part of out display area.

Arizona State Fair ribbon winners!

Well, of course I had to show off some of my tatting.

We had a ton of books for sale. And no, I couldn't resist. I bought several.

Oh the handmade lace for sale was just drool-worthy.

The lovely Judy, showing off how she makes her Christmas ornament.

One of Judy's Christmas ornaments.

A pillow with work in progress from one of our other lovely ladies.

Now this is how you travel with your bobbins- in style!

Jean's pillow with her current project. Look at all those bobbins!

A close-up of the bobbin's on Jean's pillow.

Mary's envy- inducing travel pillow.

My own lace pillow. Can you tell I love to color coordinate my pillow?

The beautiful Mary surprised me by gifting me with her remaining stash of Lizbeth size 80 threads. Such a generous woman.

I do hope you enjoyed the pictures. I may post more later if you like.Just let me know.

Big Thread Bookmark

I've been making bookmarks lately. I have taken this project as a good opportunity to use up some spools of sample threads that I received in the past from Handy Hands.

This bookmark was done in Lizbeth thread size #3. (I believe the color is Ocean Sunset. Please correct me if I'm wrong.) With such a large thread I finally got a chance to use a larger tatting needle. The piece tatted up rather quickly.

I will admit that I really do like tatting with larger thread. A couple of years back I received a generous gift of ten cones of size #10 cotton crochet threads. No one wanted it, as most tatters prefer size #40. I have enjoyed every minute of tatting with the thread and have even gone out to buy more in various colors.

While the smaller threads make gorgeous work with the tatting looking as if it were made by angels, from time to time I do like the "wow" factor that comes from larger scale pieces. A dainty doily that is normally tatted in size #40 thread, becomes this larger then life show-stopper when tatted in size #10.

So, this bookmark will be added to my ever growing collection. I'll fill you in on why all the bookmarks soon. But for now enjoy the final pic:

Bookmarking In the New Ride

My Boy Toy was in town for a few days on leave. Besides taking care of me as I recovered from a recent stint in the hospital, he also traded in my car, who's lease was about to expire, and got me a nice upgrade.

I was still too weak to enjoy my new ride so Boy Toy drove me around to my various appointments. I took the opportunity to enjoy my new heated seats and tat a lovely little bookmark.

Thread used is Lizbeth 113-Jewels size 20. The pattern was a free one found in the Handy Hands catalog.

The Picot Problem

So, I found a lovely bookmark pattern by Kelly Luljak to make for my daughter's teacher. You can find the pattern here. I was working along on this pattern very happily, until I discovered that I connected a round to the wrong picot.
Do you see it here in the picture. My needle is pointing to it.

Here is a closer look at the mistake.

 I must have gotten distracted or too much into a tatting groove to not realize the mistake until I was several rounds away from it. So what is a tatter to do? Well, my options were:

A) Retro-tat back to mistake, fix it and then get back to work

B) Cut this pattern off the ball and start over again, this time paying close attention to my picot joins

C)Make the same mistake on the other side of the bookmark so it looks like a design element

D) Do nothing and pretend like you never saw it. Besides, her teach is not a tatter, so she'll never know.


Well, I choose answer E instead:

I pulled the thread to make a faux picot on top, which gives the allusion that I made an extra picot at the bottom. I don't know why, but for some reason I am able to live with an extra picot at the bottom. It doesn't seem as glaring of a mistake this way.

Oh, the dirty little things we tatters do. I know there are some Type-A tatters out their just cringing at the tought of what I've done. But I am not a perfectionist and will never pretend to be. Especially when I've learned that a little starch and wiggling can smooth out so many mistakes.

Thread used: Lizbeth size 20 in color # 133 Razzle Dazzle

Goodies from Handy Hands

So a few days ago I requested a catalog from Handy Hands. I use to order from them a lot, but stopped during what I will just call my year long tatting exile.

Now that my exile is over, I figured I'd better start on restocking my pathetic looking stash of thread.

Well, needless to say I was delighted to see the package in the mail containing my new catalog. But I was even more surprised to find all of this stuffed inside the envelope:

Handy Hands Catalog and other goodies

Yup, that's a catalog, a sample newsletter and 3 LIZBETH THREAD SAMPLES!

Have I ever told you just how much I love free samples of thread? If there was a place where I could sign up to be a tatting thread tester, I would do it in a heartbeat. You wouldn't even have to pay me. I'd just do it for the free thread.

If you're curious about the colors I get to play with, here they are:

Lizbeth Threads from Handy Hands

From left to right: #155- Ocean Sunset in size 3, #104-Summer Fun in size 10, #139- Fruit Fizz in size 20

Most tatters are ashamed about how big their thread stash is, but I'm actually the opposite. I have very little in my collection. Maybe I'll take a picture of it to show you just how small and inadequate it really is.

Letting Go Bookmark

I spent this Saturday stuck in bed with a Sickle Cell crisis. Not how I had hoped to spend my weekend. The up side to being ill was that in between my Oxycodone induced slumber I was able to finish a bookmark that I had been working on.

This bookmark will go to a social worker. If you knew what my family has been through fighting with CPS for the last five years, that sentence would shock you. I never thought I would ever get to a point where I would even entertain the idea of giving anything, (other than a middle finger), to a social worker.

But now the struggles I have faced have shown to me the true measure of God's love and has surprised me with my own ability to forgive. So I have made this bookmark to give to a social worker on the day our case will finally and forever be closed.

This bit of tatting is my small way of releasing negativity, letting it go and allowing it to be transformed into something beautiful.  It is a wonderful gift to see how far my faith has come and I give this bookmark with the blessing of mercy and grace.

Bookmark was made using size 20 Lizbeth thread in color #125 Sea Scape.