Legacy

Nichole Nordeman has a song called Legacy

I don't mind if you've got something nice to say about me

And i enjoy an accolade like the rest

And you could take my picture and hang it in a gallery

Of all the who's who's and so-and-so

That used to be the best at such and such

It wouldn't matter much

I won't lie it feels alright to see your name in lights

We all need an 'atta boy' or 'atta girl'

In the end i'd like to hang my hat on more besides

The temporary trappings of this world

I want to leave a legacy how will they remember me?

Did i choose to love? did i point to you enough

To make a mark on things? i want to leave an offering

A child of mercy and grace who blessed your name

Unapologetically and leave that kind of legacy

I want to live my life, not only to leave a legacy as a Christian witness...but to leave a trail of tatting behind me.  I'd like to be remembered by the tatting made for and given to people.  I'd like to have tatting students who will be better than their teacher and go on and share tatting with the next generation.  This whole little "rant" came into my heart because I received an unexpected package (contents below) in the mail from an acquaintance who sent me a friend's mother's tatting stash upon her friend's mother's death..."no one else will ever use it, and I know you will."  I thought, what if, upon my death, there was NO ONE to send my tatting stash to?  What if tatting was then "truly a lost art"? What if tatting died with ME?  I want to leave a legacy!

Christmas Exchange-Sue Anna Scribner's

I entered into a Christmas exchange through a facebook tatting group.  This is only the second time I've done an exchange of any kind.  I'm afraid from what the pictures of what I've seen, and from what I received that I "shortchanged" the person whose name I received.  I am ecstatic with the contents of my little postal box.

When I first opened my package....glitter went everywhere from a green and red polka dotted gift bag, which is what I opened first--out slid shuttles.  There were all kinds of shuttles, brand new Aerlit shuttles in three colors--with extra bobbins (I haven't had a chance to try them yet), a decorated clover shuttle, and a pop-a-bobbin shuttle! (something I'd only dreamed of owning!).  I could have stopped right there, but there was more!

There were 4 e-zbobs of size 3 lizbeth thread  and 3 packages of hand-dyed thread.  Also tucked away inside was a package of jewelry findings.  And then the personal touches...tatted earrings, tatted snowflakes (and the pattern), a bobbin lace bookworm bookmark, delicious handmade lipbalm and a personal letter.  At the very bottom of the box was a Nina Libin kit to make more jewelry.

Thank you Sue Anna Scribner for being a wonderful, generous person and making my tatting Christmas so merry this year! 

Church Ornament

I have not updated my blog in months and months....so I'm going to just jump in right where I am at now...


Our church was asked by our Church Association to make an ornament for their Christmas tree that "represented" our church.  My little church asked me to tat an ornament for them.  I agreed only if another lady would write up how my tatted ornament represented our church.  Below are our efforts.  The design is my own, which I will publish here at a later date.  The thread is Lizbeth, size 20, #671 Christmas Red.  The beads all came from Hobby Lobby.

First Baptist Church
Braggs, Ok.

Explanation by Donna Hall

Ornament tatted by Patricia Cobb 

How does this ornament represent our church?

The foundation of our ornament is clear glass. Glass lets light both in and out. It is the desire of our church that our lives will be as glass, letting in the love of Jesus and reflecting that love back out for all the world to see.

Our ornament is decorated with beads held together by knots. Those knots represent the unity that holds our congregation together with a tight bond of love and support for each other.

The red thread represent the blood of Christ that was shed for us so that we could be redeemed through salvation unto eternal life in Christ.

The silver beads represent those "gray hairs" of wisdom and knowledge that we gain as we study God's Word and apply it to our lives.

Each spring butterflies remind us of a new beginning. The butterflies on our ornament represent our new birth in Christ when we accept Him as our Savior.

Our ornament is filled with hearts representing the uniting of our hearts in love for each other and for our fellowman.

On each heart is a favorite scripture reference chosen by the individuals who worship together in our church. It's through God's Word that we find healing for our broken hearts and strength for our faltering spirits.

 

Finger Lakes Tatting Group Seminar 2012 Part 1

     On April 13-15, I was once again blessed by the opportunity to attend the Tatting Seminar put on by the Finger Lakes Tatting Group.  The theme this year was HEARTS.  We had such a blast, not only on the trip going and coming, but on arrival in New York.  Everyone was so welcoming.  We got there early (Friday night), and were able to participate in a lovely pot-luck supper.  This was a wonderful chance to meet new friends and catch up with old ones.  Saturday morning at registration, I received a fantastic goodie bag!  This year's bag was pink printed with paler pink hearts with a blue border.  Inside was one of the necessities of tatting:  chocolate and THREE types of thread (two samples of Lizbeth and some hand-dyed size 10).  Also inside was a small tulle bag decorated with a tatted heart, and a tatting bag, just the right size to hold a project (this bag was made from one of those popular cuff patterns.  There were a few "little additions" that just made things perfect--two hematite donut shapes (we got the pattern to cover these in one of the classes), some heart-shaped foam stickers, and heart-shaped gem stickers, a wooden heart shape, a heart-shape glass bauble and just in case you are tired of hearing the words "heart shaped"....some wood aster seeds and a very tiny basket!  The size 10 hand-dyed thread and the basket are part of next year's challenge.  This goodie bag was a great way to start off the weekend!

Summer Evening Doily

News alert!  Many of you have prayed for my son, Calen, who has been serving in Afghanistan.  He has returned from his deployment safe and sound.  Thank you for your prayers.

One month after Ryan Emmons  got married, his younger sister Rachel did too.  It doesn't seem possible that Rachel is that old, or her groom, Jon Driver--I remember him, about 7 years-old in my Bible class at Camp Good News.  Watching them grow up has been a pleasure and a privilege--and now they  start a new segment of their lives...well enough rambling... This is the doily that I made for Rachel and Jon.  It is from Traditional Tatting Patterns edited by Rita Weiss and is called Summer Evening.  It is made from Lizbeth thread, size 20, colors 601 (Snow White) and 604 (Black.)  This was my first completely Frontside/Backside project and it measured 10 inches when it was finished. 

I'm one of those people who can't visualize something until it is completed (this means that all my readers should pity my husband when I want to rearrange the furniture).  If I were to do this doily again, I would do all the repeating motifs one color and the other rounds a second color.  I think also, that fewer picots in the second color's rounds might look better.

Leap Day Earrings

On Leap Day 2012 (February 29), Georgia Seitz' Online Tatting Class had a special tatting event.  The pattern was by Nina Libin, the creator of Beanile Lace (see her work and some free patterns at http://www.beanile.com/ ).  Nina was the guest teacher that day.  She talked us through her pattern, Hearts #3.  Although most of her patterns are traditionally done with metallic thread, I did mine in Lizbeth, size 20, color 671 (Christmas Red).  The beads are Bead Treasures brand from Hobby Lobby--size 11, color Opaque White Luster.  These earrings go great with my red and white striped dress!

Corona Doily

      It's been a pleasure to watch Ryan Emmons grow and mature through years at Christian Youth in Action.  He started as a student, moved to jr. staff and then became an instructor.  We have also served on staff at Camp Good News together for several years.  He found the young lady (Denise Waits) of his dreams and prayers at college, and on February 4th he married her.  Congratulations to Denise and Ryan Emmons!  I prayed for your marriage as I tatted this doily for you.  It is from the book Contemporary Tatting New Designs from an Old Art by Judith Connors.  The pattern is called "Corona A Sunburst."  It is made of Lizbeth, size 20 colors 612--Golden Yellow Light and 683--Leaf Green Light.  I've used this color combination before (see post--Flowerpiece Doily, March 1, 2011). and I really like these two colors together.  This was my first experience to do all down joins and front-side, back-side tatting instead of traditional tatting, and I'm afraid I wasn't perfectly consistent.  The doily measured 9 1/2 inches across when it was finished. 

Amusement Doily

What a way to start a New Year (alright, I know it's March--but New Year's Day 2012 was when I finished this little doily!)  It is a fun pattern to tat.  The title of it is Amusement Doily and it is by "Creations by Celtess" (I wish I had a real name to put here.)  It is done in Lizbeth, size 20, color 115--Springtime.  It can be found at http://www.allcrafts.net/fjs.htm?url=web.archive.org/web/20000824105730/http://www.celtess.net/Tatting/Amusement.html

Christmas 2011 Dragons

     One of my youngest son's Christmas presents in 2011 was a black hooded jacket with a green dragon on the left side.  He came back a week later and asked for another dragon for the right side.  The red dragon, (sorry, no close-up picture) I sewed on "backwards" to give it a slightly different texture than the green.  The green dragon was done in DMC 5 color 4050.  The red dragon was done in DMC 5  color 498.  The fire for both was made out of Lizbeth size 20 color 100, Falling Leaves.  The thread was looped through the "mouth" and then I picked apart the strands of the thread and cut it into the shape I wanted.  Then I applied Fray Check, after it dried, I glued it to the jacket with fabric glue.  The patten for the dragons is by Anne Bruvold and can be found here  
http://nuperelle.net/drager/monstre/MinidragerEng.pdf

Christmas 2011 Part 2

My son requested this one, he has a black tree, decorated with Star Trek and Star Wars paraphenalia.

I don't want to bore you with all the Christmas ornaments I made last year (I made a total of 24 of them) but I did want to show you a few more They were all made with Lizbeth thread, and all the beads came from Hobby Lobby.  They were all adapted from a pattern by Nancy Tracy.  The pattern is available at www.be-stitched:com/pattern0907ornament.asp 

Tattinggoddess

When I discovered tatting on the internet, I found three people who changed the craft for me.  They were Georgia Seitz, Jane Eborall and Gina Brummett.  Gina was known to the online tatting community as Tattinggoddess.  She was a gifted and prolific tatter.  She also designed patterns and shared them willingly.  Her blog was an inspiration to me.  Sadly, Gina passed away this week.  I encourage you to have a look at the beautiful things she created with a shuttle and thread, her work can be seen at

http://threadsofatattinggoddess.blogspot.com/

Christmas Ornaments 2011 Part 1

Any one know how to get my text farther up the screen than this?

My mother was a very artistic, creative and "crafty" lady.  One of the many things she did was make beaded necklaces using traditional Native American bead patterns.  She passed away in 1979 and I have had a box of her beads in storage for over 30 years....every time I thought of them, I felt guilty--they should be being used.  So this year I got them out of storage and pulled out beads that I thought I would be able to use, then took the rest to an Oklahoma Lacemakers Guild meeting and put a "free, if you will actually use them" sign on them.  They were all gone by the end of the meeting.

These three ornaments were made from Momma's beads.  The purple one I made for myself.  The red, white, and black ornaments are in Bacone College (now University) colors--where my father taught for 33 years.  I gave those two to my father and sister.

These are adapted from a pattern by Nancy Tracy.  The pattern is available at www.be-stitched:com/pattern0907ornament.asp  My ornament's thread is Lizbeth 20, #633 Purple Dark.  The other two ornaments are Lizbeth 20, #601 Snow White and #604 Black. 

Siobhan Doily

     I started this doily in May...got tired of working on it in August and put it in my UFO (Unfinished Objects) drawer.  I started working on Christmas Ornaments in September and in late October, I needed a break from them and pulled this out to work on, I finally finished it the first week in November.  I liked it so much when it was done that I have another one started and it is my stand-by project to work on when I'm between projects or need to work on "something different" for awhile.  This next one will have beads instead of the decorative picots.

     The pattern, Siobhan, is Judith Connor's.  It can be found in her book, Tatting Adventures with beads, shuttle and needle.  The thread is Lizbeth, size 20.  The thread color is #644, Boysenberry Dark. The doily measures 17 inches across.
      The doily took 2 full balls of thread, plus a little off of a third ball.  I think it would have taken less, if I had figured out earlier how much thread it takes for the individual motifs.
     

Crystal Angel

My mom's birthday is November 1st.  This little crystal angel was my gift to her this past year.  The wing pattern is by Christa Burr.  The pattern and the crystals are available from Unique Expressions--gsgroh@yahoo.com. I bought a simple ornament stand at Hobby Lobby to display it.  I used Lizbeth thread, size 20, 601 Snow White.

Cross Bookmarks

My sister and her family live in a multi-generation home. In October, her father-in-law passed away. I have this strange empathy for children when there is a funeral--too many times the adults get all the attention.... All that to say I made these crosses for my niece and nephew and asked that they use them to remind them of all the good memories that they have of their grandfather who served the Lord with all his heart.

They are made out of size 20, Lizbeth, color 601 Snow White. The patterns are Monica and Pernille out of the "Tatted Bookmarks" book by Lene Bjorn.

Butterfly Bookmarks for the Girl Scouts

****If you are having trouble with your own blog, or leaving comments on a blog, try opening the blog in a different browser--mine is refusing to "behave" in Internet Explorer.

I had a lot of pieces of DMC 5 thead (my favorite bookmark thread) so I made these easy bookmarks. The butterfly bookmark pattern is by Marilee Rockley and is at yarnplayertats.blogspot.com. These tat up so quckly, that you don't feel like it is any effort at all. My niece's local high school Girl Scout troop is going to Europe to the International Girl Scout Conference next year. I gave these to them to use as they please in their fundraising.

Emmy Liebert Edging

MONTHS SINCE A POST!! I'm sorry. No excuses, but a short explanation. Since October, pneumonia twice...a low-grade fever from October through the present...Many specialists visits and lots of various types of tests (that equals $$). Major surgery on Dec. 23rd (spent Christmas in the hospital). Waiting for a culture that won't be ready until March.... still recovering, and still feverish and sick.

But this has given me some extra time tatting. So in the next few posts, I'll backtrack and show you some of my past month's tatting.

This is my working of the Emmy Liebert edging that they did in Georgia Seitz's online tatting class Monday evening. The thread is Lizbeth 133 "Razzle Dazzle."