It's been a very long time!

I can't believe how much time has elaspsed since my last post! I have been tatting, beading, bobbin lacing and cross stitching. Both the county and state fairs have come and gone. My fair entries did very well and I received my very first comment from a judge!

I have been working on my bobbin lace lessons. Each bookmark is the result of a lesson. The peach and light green contains several different spiders, the white and blue was a lesson in half stitch ground, and the gold and black was a lesson in whole stitch ground. I chose gold and black because it reminded me of bats. It's a good way to use up some of my perle cotton # 5.

Party Pictures

I finally get a chance to post a couple of pictures from the party. It really was a nice affair. In the top picture you can see the happy recipient holding up his bookmark. It is the Clover Bookmark by Kelly Luljak tatted with Lizbeth Size 20 thread. Here is the link: http://members.iglou.com/mantia/crafts/bookmark.html . This is my motif # 3. Thank you Kelly for the lovely pattern.

In the next picture you can see my colleague Alex on the left, one of our graduating residents in the center and me on the right. We shall miss them!

More Bookmarks

This is Jon's overlapping chains bookmark. I made it in contrasting colors because I wanted to really show off the overlapping chains. Here is the link: http://tatsaway-patterns.blogspot.com/2008/08bookmark-with-overlapping-chains.html The thread is Size 30 Star Gem. As always it was a pleasure to work one of Jon's patterns. They are so well thought out. Thank you Jon for sharing! This was one of the bookmarks I gave away at the Graduation Party and has gone with it's new owner to Boston. This is my motif # 2 the second time around.

Graduation Party

Hard to believe the Graduation Party was almost three weeks ago. It was a nice affair. Everybody got dressed up and we had great food and drink, speeches and dancing. This year we had three graduates and each one loved their tatted bookmark! The bookmark is a pattern by Kersti Anaer. I love this pattern. The thread is Lizbeth Size 20. I put the variegated color on the Shuttle and used the solid color as the ball thread. This will be my Motif # 1 for the second time around.

Bookmarks

It's that time of year again where I need to have bookmarks ready to give away. We have three Neurology Residents finishing their training with us. It has already become a tradition that I give each a tatted bookmark at the Graduation Party, which is this coming Saturday. We also have two faculty leaving our department. I already gave one away before I had a chance to scan it. The recipient was very happy to receive it.

Where has the time gone?

I just noticed that the last time I blogged (is that a word?) was over two months ago. Where has the time gone? I have been busily finishing several UFO's because all of my shuttles were tied up! I still have to scan them before I can show them here. The weekend of May 1 and 2 our Lace Guild had a Venetian Needle Lace Workshop. We were working on a little sampler the first day and a half. In the afternoon of the second day we actually started working on our little project. Compared to tatting, needle lace is even more time consuming and slow. But it sure is pretty. I went to Hobby Lobby last evening and noticed that they have some new colors of Lizbeth thread. I bought a ball of the color Vineyard which looks scrumptious. I might have to use two of those freed up shuttles to tat some earrings! Last month one of our beloved Oklahoma Shuttle Bugs passed away. Several of us went to the funeral in the morning and then went tatting in the afternoon in her honor. We shall miss her!

More Bookmarks

I finished two bookmarks this weekend. Both of them are made with Star Gem Size 30 thread. The heart is a pattern from Cathy Bryant's book "Tatting". I added the little ring at the bottom to give it a more pronounced heart shape. The lavender and green variegated bookmark is a free pattern by Jon Yusoff called Chinese Coin Bookmark that you can find on her blog. I had a lot of fun tatting it. Thank you Jon for sharing your beautiful patterns! These are my motifs #24 and #25. Hard to believe I finished the challenge already, ahead of schedule. It has been so much fun participating that I definitely want to do another 25 motif challenge!

Valentine's Lace Exchange

I hope everybody had a nice Valentine's Day! We had a Lace Guild Meeting followed by Valentine's lace exchange. I tatted the Scalloped Heart from the book Tat's Amore by Martha Ess with vintage Size 30 Star 6-cord thread. That is really nice thread for tatting! I put it into a glass heart with some Ferrero Rocher chocolates. We drew numbers and the lady who received it was pleased. I still have to scan the heart I received. This is my motif # 23.

Fuchsia Earrings

Here is a pair of fuchsia earrings I beaded during the last ice/snowstorm. It's nice to have an unexpected day off from work and be creative. The pattern is from the about.com website. Here is the link: http://beadwork.about.com/library/weekly/aa082597.htm

Christmas Ornament

Finally a picture of some beading! I worked my fingers to the bone beading three of these ornaments for my colleagues in aqua, purple and pink. They loved their Christmas gifts!

As soon as I saw this ornament by Lora Groszkiewicz in the October 2009 Bead and Button Magazine I knew I had to give it a try. I used over 160 Swarovski crystals, Size 11 Japanese cylinder beads and Size 15 seed beads. The stitches used are netting, peyote stitch and fringe. Pretty isn't it?