Giveaway & Life as I Know it Postponed

Thank you all so much for reading and commenting on my blog.  I understand some people were having trouble commenting--if you notified me in another way, I have entered you  in my " giveaway," I started this giveaway while recuperating from pneumonia-- which hit hard and I didn't bounce back from as quickly as I have in the past ( I know it takes weeks to get to 100%-- but I'm talking just breathing halfway normally!

This week my laptop decide that it was giving up the ghost. My husband is the IT person for the high school where he teaches computer repair--you know the old story of the cobbler whose kids had no shoes?  Need I say more?  **Actually-- he is working on the machine but between teaching, preaching and helping run the family farm, well there are only 24 hours Ina day.

Today I ended up at urgentcare where the dr confirmed my self-diagnosis of cellulitis in my right leg ( slowly spreading to the left).  I'm under orders to sit/lay with my legs elevated.  Heating pads provide added healing.  I'm taking oral antibiotics on top of the two lovely shots I got.  Tomorrow I have another antibiotic shot to look forward to.  Right now I have a very red, swollen leg that hurts and is extremely sensitive to touch--my understanding is that is good news--what I am told what we are trying to avoid is any break In the skin (whether caused by the swollen skin cracking or by getting a bump or a cut.  Apparently my skin in this condition will not heal like normal and a wound can take months to heal or ( I do hope this is that 1 in a milion thing--fatal).  SO, I have a list of those eligible for my giveaway BUT will not draw names until my computer and I are back on our feet.

Thank you for understanding my " internet friends !!

100/Palmetto Tat Days Part 1

Thank you to my readers!  I started this blog so that I would have a record of my tatting, but I have made many online friends because of it.  Thank you for allowing me to share my life with you!  On a personal note--I came down with pneumonia (third time this year) last weekend.  God is so gracious that I was healthy for my trips this year!  My little drawing will include:  Some duplicate tatting books that I have, a few really old Workbaskets that were my grandmother's, a tatted item, some handmade items, a few tatting tools, maybe some non-tatting items....hopefully a nice collection of things that will brighten your day.

Memories from

Tatting Angels Among Us--13th Annual Tat Days

September 4-5, 2015

Above: Cynthia S.  Erin E. and I were roommates this year

Cynthia and I met back in 2010, when she advertised that she was going to the Finger Lakes Tatting Conference--and "Would anyone like to share expenses and ride with her, she was traveling from Oklahoma to New York?" I emailed her and found out that she lives about two and a half hours away from me.  I took her up on her offer, not knowing anything about her except that I had seen her name on the "tatting" internet for quite awhile.  (She teaches the beginners online tatting class and is a monitor for the group "newshuttlesandneedles@yahoogroups.com").    My thought was, "After all, she had to be safe because tatters were not ax murderers!"  So in April, I jumped in the car of someone I had officially met 5 minutes before and headed off to New York.  (Since then, someone has asked on one of the tatting sites, "I'm teaching tatting in a prison--does anyone have any suggestions for tools I can take into the prison with me?"--So warning!  Ax murderers might just be tatters!) 

Cynthia is one of the most outgoing and generous people I know.  We are extremely alike in so many ways...and extremely different in just as many ways.  I think we really enjoy and look forward to the other's company for the small amounts we see each other scattered throughout the year.  Along with short assorted visits during the years, we have now traveled to Finger Lakes each successive year, as well as to Georgia for Tat days this year, as well as in 2011.  I am already ready for our next adventure!

Cynthia also met Erin online, and asked me about Erin rooming with us.  "The more tatters the merrier!", in my opinion!  Erin was an enthusiastic,  fairly new tatter who was attending her first conference.  I hope she had as good a time as I had this year!

After an almost brutal (long hours in the car with a very few, short breaks) car trip, Cynthia and I arrived at the Georgia Baptist Conference center.  I think we were the last to arrive on Thursday night.  We missed Thursday night dinner, for which we had reservations.  More than that, we missed the additional little Thursday night class that we had been looking forward to attending.  We received our goodie bags (NICE tote bags!!) and moved everything into our room.  Then we went downstairs for a little fellowship with the few tatters who were lingering around.

Later that night, we went through our goodie bag--1) an awesome tote bag--nice fabric, pencil pocket, big front pocket, side pocket for water bottle, and good zipper. Going around like a clock--at 12:00 is a blue tape measure, and one of my little containers made out of pop bottle caps.  At 1:30 was a "Bell Angel Kit" by Vicki Clarke.  At 4:30 was a red plastic container that held post-it notes, paper clips and rubber bands and a little star shape ("What was the star about?" I wondered.  Well the theme for next year is "Tatting is Out of This World").  6:00 is a Handy Hands thread sample. 7:30 was a little purple net bag with a tatted angel with a purple crystal in the middle.  The tiny bag held peppermints and a square of dark chocolate.  At 11:00 were two ink pens and right below the 12:00 items was a tiny little bag with a a small card which read "From the last best place--HOPE" along with the cutest little tatted angel.

These ladies have it together!!  You ought to see the way things are organized, it is a true class act.  Along with the goodie bag, you receive a a folder and a name tag.  The name tag has your name on the front, as well as your city and state.  There are little colored blocks across the bottom of the tag that show which meals you have paid for.  On the back of the name tag is the schedule for the weekend. On the outside of the folder is YOUR class schedule (class, time and room)  Inside the pockets of the folder are all the patterns that you need for your particular classes.  Paper-clipped to the notebook were all the tickets that you needed.  (If you bought a kit for a class, there was a ticket that you took to vending, where they handed you your reserved kit.  Each person got tickets to vote on the tatting items that were brought to exhibit--there was "Best of Show", "Best Theme" and Most Creative -- these you wrote the number of the exhibited item on the back and dropped them in the voting box.  Each person also got one free ticket to put into the drawing for some of the items donated for the scholarship fund.)  We also had a tag paper-clipped to the notebook, I didn't discover until later that this was to put on our tote bag to identify it from all of the other lovely green tatting tote bags!


The last thing in the bag was the official "book" for Tat Days 2015.  This 48 page, 5x8 inch book is a "mini-guidebook" to Tat Days.  It includes bios of each teacher, a list of the teacher assistants for each class,
a schedule, and list of participants and their contact information.  There was a nice section that covered the rules for the Silent Auction and how to vote on the items that people had brought for the Tatting Display.  There were acknowledgments for everyone who helped make Tat Days a success (THANK YOU!!!)  Touching my heart, was a lovely tribute to three great tatters who have died in the past year and the impact they made on our craft---Bobbie Demmer, Terry McGuffin and Judi Banashek.  I never met any of them, but have benefited from the generous sharing of their knowledge and skill.  A lot of work went into this book!

About midnight I climbed into bed...ready for a few hours sleep--Early Bird class at 6a.m!  Join me for Friday at Tat Days 2015 in my next post!

Reusable Ribbon Tutorial

Not quite tatting related but...

Many years ago there was a show on TV called “THE HOME SHOW.”  They had great craft ideas!  I saw this “Reusable Ribbon Bow” on that show.  I made many, many of these bows out of adding machine tape for big, beautiful, bows to put on the end of church pews for several weddings.  Later I made quite a few of these to use on packages within our family. 

Recently in a conversation with a friend, I remembered these bows and promised to show her one.  Wouldn’t you know it!! I could not find a single one of them!  (I think “the Borrowers must have taken them—anyone remember those books?)  Well, I sat down and “tinkered” with some ribbon and came up with a workable ribbon bow….now time to replenish my supply!  To get a printable pdf of this tutorial CLICK HERE

Reusable Ribbon—Tutorial

By Patricia Cobb

10 feet of cloth ribbon ¾ inch wide (I bought a 5 yard roll for $3.99 at Hobby Lobby)

Stapler and staples

Fishing Line or strong cord

2 pieces of Cardboard (or something similar) for both ends of fishing line.

Fraycheck

 

1.  Fraycheck the ends of your ribbon.  Fold the cloth ribbon in half.  “Anchor” one end of the fishing line with a small piece of cardboard.  (I wrapped mine several times around a (¾ x ¼ inch) piece of cardboard, and then stapled it. 

 


2.  Staple this piece of cardboard inside the ribbon (staple is parallel to the fold)   ¾ of an inch from the fold.

3.  Place the remaining staples – alternating diagonal directions… (   /   ,   \   ,   /   ,   \   and so on…   ).  Make sure you catch the fishing line inside each of the staples!

4.  Place 2 staples 2 inches apart.

5.  Place 4 staples 3 inches apart.

6.  Place 4 staples 4 inches apart.

 

7.  Place 4 staples 5 inches apart.

8.  Anchor the last end of the fishing line on a piece of cardboard large enough that you can wind the fishing line up on it.

TO USE:
Pull the thread taught, a few “staple widths” at a time.  

Start near the beginning

Work your way towards the middle

Work all the way to the end

When the ribbon is formed, wind fishing line up on cardboard.  Tape piece of loose end “anchor” cardboard onto package.

TO STORE:

Remove from package.  Remove tape.  Unwind thread and pull ribbon out flat.  The ribbon may be stored folded or flat.

Coasters for a Hostess Gift

I thoroughly enjoyed the Palmetto Tat Days!!  Cynthia S. and I traveled together to Georgia from Oklahoma and then back again, talking and laughing all the way!  Now--to finish all the class projects!!

Years ago, I made a coaster out of a micro-fiber cleaning cloth from Dollar Tree.  It was a project from one of the Finger Lakes Tatting Conferences (see post from April 24, 2011).  You should see it now!  The cloth has excelled at soaking up various liquids off of the glasses that have sat on it (as well as the occasional spill)!  Although it gets washed on a fairly regular basis....it will, I'm afraid, never be white again--but is a discouraging shade of beige.  The lovely edging, which was once the beautiful vibrant colors of a HDT--is now faded to a splotchy pastel.  However, it's bedraggled look--it is my favorite coaster, and has a permanent place on my craft table.

all small

all large

I decided to make a set of coasters for my aunt, once again using the Dollar Tree micro-fiber cleaning cloths.  Aunt Dorothy has always encouraged me in my tatting, and is one of my most grateful recipients when I give tatting as a gift.  She helped Cynthia S. and me cut down on our travel expenses to the Palmetto Tat Days this year, by allowing us to stay with her at her retirement facility in Arkansas for a night (both coming and going.)  These were a "thank you gift" in appreciation of her hospitality.

all variegated

all solid

I thought I would "cut corners" by using the coaster pattern from the Handy Hands catalog.  If you notice, this year's coaster pattern is NOT the same pattern that has been published the last few years.  I started out, following the pattern for this year's "Simple Medallion Coaster" by Kendera Goodnow and also for the "Sand Dollar Coaster" by Sandy (from a previous year's Handy Hands catalog).  I could not get either of these patterns to lay flat, so I started over and left out one repeat on each pattern  This allowed both motifs to lay flat.  My aunt's favorite color is green--so these are done in DMC 5, colors #319 (solid) and #4045(variegated).

one of each

I'm not sure how "clever" an idea this is...
I wanted four coasters.  I did two of each coaster design in each of the two DMC colors.  Then I sewed a large coaster motif from (color A) onto the side #1 and a small motif from (Color B) onto side #2.  This way, by flipping the coasters--you can have: 1) a set of solid motifs [2 large, 2 small], 2) a set of variegated motifs [2 large, 2 small] 3) a set of large motifs [2 solid, 2 variegated] or a set of small motifs {2 solid, 2 variegated]  or....5)  mix and match and have one of each type.