Amazing Giveaway...

Oh, no...not me.

LadyShutleMaker is having another Random Monday Mondo Giveaway event. This time the lucky person will get one of her handmade ceramic shuttles.

{Waiting for the sounds of thud, from everyone passing out, to stop}

It's true. If you'd like a chance to win one of these absolutely unique, and uniquely beautiful shuttles, click on the link:

Heart of Anne's

This little heart is from the talented Anne Bruvold. It's not a difficult pattern, and can be used many different ways (doily, table runner, earring, pendant) with or without beads. This one is made with Bermuda Red thread hand-dyed by my sister on a Cebeliá size 30.

Slowly, slowly -- I am tatting. It hasn't been easy. Staying up until one or two in the morning means I too often really do tangle up string. Work has been a lot of work lately. I was there day and night for a while so I only got to tat when I got so creeped-out at work that I had to leave. I work in an old mansion that's been converted to an office. It's creepy to be there at night when nobody else is around -- just in case there is somebody else around. My office is on the second floor in the back. I have a lovely view of an alley.
People seemed interested, so I've put in a larger picture of the mansion (which can be clicked to become even larger). My niece calls it "The Haunted House Where You Work." My office is to the right of the chimney, around the corner, and about midway across the back of the house. The reason it's creepy is that it's not in an area where there is a lot of after-hours activity. I have to go out to my car on the opposite side from the chimney where someone could hide in the alley and the security lights don't come on until you're already all the way down the back steps! Across the road (from the chimney side) is a Junior High School and an empty office building (it was the Obama HQ a few years back). Across the road in the front is some kind of apartment building, I think. I've never studied it much, but don't see people there very often. Besides that, sometimes people forget to lock the door when they go. I usually go down and check, but it's creepy because we've got all those big windows and people can see me walking around in there by myself. Fortunately, I don't have to do late nights very often, and sometimes I can take my work home instead.

Thank You!

I just got the best thank you card ever. The card was hand-made, the thank-you sincere and the photo included was totally adorable. The best part was the other treasure included. Hand-dyed silk thread. Isn't that great?! The scan doesn't do it justice but the colors are blue tones -- my favorites.

Thanks for the thank-you!

Bling-a-ding-bling

Some people are obsessive. Not me, of course. Somehow all these shuttles in my possession have been gussied up with bits of tissue paper, cloth, stickers, and whatnot. Weird how that happens, huh?

Exchange

No, no, not the kind you do after you get something and wonder what in the world the gift giver was thinking. Really, who wears garters with bells on them? Wait ... I got distracted.

This exchange was a trade of generosity. The Christmas Exchange over at the Tatting Forums was a lot of fun, and I was lucky enough to have LaceRN as my "Secret Santa". Wow, does she know how to pack a sleigh -- well, okay, a nice tin. Isn't this a great tin? I love snowmen -- they all look so happy. I got a really magnificent hand-made card, too.

That's not all though -- the inside was packed! It contained a whole skein of Christmas HDT, an entire ball of Lizbeth size 20 Christmas green mix, and a ball of Coats & Clarks blue size 70 thread. Nice variety and colors, right? Then, to go with the thread she tucked in two shuttles. Ah, but not just ordinary shuttles -- look closer. I've got decorated, blinged, fancy-dancy shuttles. One little pink clover with sparkles and gems and one substantial, holiday-appropriate Tatsy. For garnish on the thread she packed in a whole tube of red Czech glass beads. Now these aren't wimpy little seed beads -- these are "notice me!" accent beads.
The two little glass charms certainly charmed me -- they're frogs! Frogs! Have you got that? FROGS! I collect frogs! I've got a whole shelf in my room full of frog figurines; I have frog ornaments for the tree, I've got stuffed frogs; I have a variety of frog earrings. Frogs -- I love 'em!
(I've saved the best for the last -- but it's rather like not noticing the elephant in the room, eh?)
Tatting from another tatter is especially valued -- we all know how much work goes into it. See my butterfly? It's bright, cheery and very SCMR. :) Okay, the other two elephants are obvious. Two (yeah, TWO) beautiful ornaments. These are made in size 10 thread and fastened to the ornaments with large pearl-headed pins. Only the size 10 thread would do for those pins and only those pins would work with the size 10 thread. Now, that's something I've got to try. I don't know why size 10 never occurred to me before. These ornaments are really miniature showcases for tatting. The knots are visible and the construction stands out proud. These ornaments are ones you can show a non-tatter and say, "See? THIS is tatting." Thanks, LaceRN!

Happy, Happy...

New Year!
I was going to go all philosophical about new beginnings and whatnot -- but my feet are too cold. So, I'm going to tell you this instead:

I'm a winner, a happy, happy winner!
Or at least I was a winner -- now I'm an owner. :)

Way back at the end of November Lace-lovin' Librarian had a drawing for some very pretty little bags. The random number generator generated my number, randomly. As my niece would say, "Like, Random!" The postman finally got around to delivering my little package and I'm finally getting around to showing you what I got.

It's soooooo cool, yeah, really!

It's a really pretty yellow-satin fold-over bag with a zipper. That's not all though. It was stuffed with tatting things! There's a sample of Sulky thread (a very pretty blue -- which is my favorite color), a ball of Coats size 70 white tatting thread (I see tiny little snowflakes!), a lobster claw hook and charm (that's going on my down coat -- I lost the zipper tab last year and never found anything to replace it -- but I'm going to add some tatting), and a most beautiful decorated Clover shuttle. Just look at that shuttle! The pattern looks vaguely oriental and I love it!

Thank you so much, Diane. It's good to be Random!

Happy Holidays!

No matter what you're celebrating -- even if it's just being off work for a bit (I'd like to celebrate that every day!) -- I hope you thoroughly enjoy this time of year.
Yes, where I am it's dreary looking (actually raining!), it's damp, and cold. BUT...I don't have to work after today until it's a whole new year; my sister and her family are flying in from Maryland today; we're all healthy; and the year was good enough that Santa Claus is coming to our house. Lots of things to celebrate.

There are tatting things to celebrate too. I won a drawing at the Lace-Lovin' Librarian's website and received the most wonderful little packet of goodies. I was wondering if the "Royal Fail*" had invaded our USPS, but they did manage to deliver a very pretty yellow satin pouch with a shuttle, some thread, and other goodies. I'll have to post a picture after the holidays. (I'd like to claim I'm having technical difficulties, but it's really that I'm having organizational difficulties.) I got a beautiful tin tied in a silver ribbon from my exchange partner at The TattingForums. I'll get a picture of what's inside on Christmas day and post that later, too! I'm certain it's good stuff, though!
Finally, I've got pretty shuttles to use now -- that should make all my tatting prettier, right? I'm anticipating some good days of tatting and chatting with family. I wish you all the same.

*Check out the continuing mis-adventures of the English post at Jane Eborall's website!

Flurry of Bling

This is the Flurry part -- Jane Eborall's Flurry Snowflake in bangles. It's really a great pattern (and even easier when all done in one color so the SLT can be skipped ... lazy, that's me). It looks wonderful in the bangles -- even if I did have a bit of trouble getting each spoke at 60 degrees from the other. The one done with Lizbeth's red, green and white thread is a bit wild, but I like it anyway.

"So...where does the bling part come in?," you ask with great trepidation. Yup. I did it again. The dollar store yielded up lots of pretty patterned tissue paper. Of course, it's rather seasonal. TA-DA! Holiday Shuttles! And, yes, those are a couple of little Clovers on the right end. I think the Aeros are easier to cover because the paper can be tucked under the sides. It has to be cut with much more precision for the Clovers. I like the striped one on the left side the best, but the minimalist blue snowflakes is a close second.

Addicted to Bling?!

Addictive, that's what it is. These rather speak for themselves, but I have discovered I like tissue paper better than paint. That gray one on the far right (the one with the red jewel in it's little bellybutton) is covered with silver tissue paper. It doesn't look much different than the plain gray Aero, except for the shine, until you turn it over and see it has Snowflakes on it. :)

Continued Bling and Snowflakes

Here they are for a closer look. (There are only 7 of them, this shows both sides of each shuttle.) The three on the left are unpainted -- that's the native gray showing through.
The green vines on the far left shuttle were made with two shades of extra-fine Sharpie markers. It has a big yellow chrysanthamum (at least that's what I'm pretending it is) on the opposite side. The flower and leaves were painted with acrylic paint then accented with Sharpie markers.
The purple and green stars on the second from the left are shiny metallic stickers with more Sharpie marker lines for accents with shiny little half beads stuck into the shuttle divots.
The third from the left is covered with tissue paper, stripes on one side and dots on the other. The flat half-beads stuck into the divots sit pretty flush with the shuttle body. This one is the easiest to use. Maybe because I only used two coats of decopodge -- or it could have been a better shuttle to begin with -- or even, it could be that the tissue paper makes it feel sturdy but still light. I don't know, but I like it. (I don't like it as well as the beautiful shuttles I got from LaCossette though.)
The next three were all painted white -- but it took two coats and a bunch of touch up to get the gray covered. That's too much paint and it doesn't look that good on close inspection. The flowers are stickers with Sharpie marker stems and leaves. I had to peel away part of the paint and decopodge on part of the winder end of the red and purple flower one, because I couldn't put the bobbin on it. It looks a bit odd with that bit of gray showing.
The frogs are somewhat raised stickers, also accented with Sharpie markers. That black blob on one side is supposed to be a little fly. This one is the second hardest to use because of the raised character of the frogs. The thread doesn't slide over them from the back -- but if you tat with your fingers behind the center of the shuttle, as I do, there's a perfect finger spot on this one.
The blue one on the far right has shiny silver star stickers on it -- and at least three coats of blue paint. It's painted on the inside as well. That was not a good idea. The bobbin doesn't turn well in this one, but it's still workable, and I think it might loosen up.

I know they all work because I tatted these with them:

You all must recognize Jane Eborall's Flurry Snowflake. This is the greatest snowflake pattern I've run across in a long time. It's pretty. It looks good in lots of colors (these are my sister's Bermuda Red and Singing the Blues in size 30). It uses beads (shiny, I like shiny!). It's all worked in one round. It's uses the shoelace trick in the cleverest way ever. I even think it will fit in the bangles I use if I just make one of Jane's long beaded picots at the top of each point.
You know, sometimes I think the world doesn't know what it's missing because Jane hasn't got braincell number 4 in permanent residence. If she can be this clever with just number 3 -- she could clean up the world with number 4! I really, really like this pattern -- can you tell?