On Vacation

 We are currently on vacation with friends in Pagosa Springs, Colorado. I have brought tatting with me - of course! - but I haven't had much time to tat. There have been too many other things to see and do. I did finally make a pair of earrings. 

The first earring started out as something else but I wasn't able to pay enough attention to what I was doing to continue. I decided I could get a set of earrings done by stopping where I was.

I thought they came out pretty good, even though there are a couple of spots I'm not happy with. But on a galloping horse a mile away you can't see them. 😄

When we aren't out and about seeing the area or watching the deer outside where we are staying, we play a lot of cards. We've been vacationing with these friends almost every year for over 10 years.  At the end of one vacation we're already wondering where we'll go the next. It's wonderful to have such good friends!

While here, we visited Chimney Rock and Great Sand Dunes. At Chimney Rock we made it all the way up to the Great House. I'm so glad we brought our walking sticks! At the Sand Dunes we made it up the first dune, quite a walk in that much sand. We've definitely got a lot of exercise in the week!

We have several more days to enjoy the area and time with our friends. What are we going to do next?

"In the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed." Khalil Gibran https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/khalil-gibran-quotes

Kansas State Fair 2025

 My husband and I went to the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful day with fantastic weather, just right for walking around the fair. I did not enter anything this year, too many things going on. But I did check out the Domestic Arts building to see what was there. It was almost shocking - there were only three entries of tatting. In the past there have been more. One entry was a pair of needle tatted baby booties that were wonderful! The booties took a top ribbon. There was a frame of several tatted sunflowers that was nicely done. The third item was an interesting doily. 

I almost missed these items because of where they were hung - very high. I did see a little more tatting on a beautiful crazy quilt.

I thought I got a good enough picture of the ribbon that I would find out who made it, but it came out fuzzy. 

This quilt has tatting on two blocks.

See the start at the top left? I noticed that first.

Then I saw this motif. It was nice to find them on the quilt. I thought there was another piece of tatting on another block, but it was machined lace.

I was very happy we went on Sunday. Monday it rained all day, sometimes heavy. The local news on TV showed glimpses of what it looked like at the fair, and it did not look fun. There was so much rain that the grassy parking lots became so muddy they are unusable until maybe Wednesday evening, if it doesn't rain again. 

We had something over two inches of rain at our house. Our yard became a swamp!

Places a couple of counties north of us had upward of nine inches in just the one day. I am so happy we aren't up there! We did see a partial rainbow as it began to clear before the sun went down.

Today was warm and sunny, a nice change from yesterday. The water around our place is mostly run off - as long as you don't walk out to the low spots. 

Fair season means sunflowers can be found everywhere. They are great to lift your spirits when it is rainy or sunny.

These are wild sunflowers, found in the ditch down the road from us.  There are a lot of wild sunflowers found anywhere that isn't kept mowed. There are also fields of larger ones, grown for the seeds. We drove by several fields of the large sunflowers, and by the Kansas Sunflower Maze, where they are grown for people to walk through and enjoy. Whether wild or purposely planted, seeing them always lifts my spirits. 

The chance to enter the fair is a year off. Maybe I'll plan better and get something made to enter next year. What a way to lift your spirits!

“Step into the joyous chaos of the state fair and let your spirit soar.” – Unknown

Cleaning Up

 When I am busy, I sometimes leave cleaning up for later. Which can become much later. The last several months have been very busy for me, with unexpected calls on my time and attention. My house in general, and my craft space in particular, have seen the results on my inattention. Now I'm trying to make up for my busy-ness by doing the things I should have already done. It seems like I'm sinking in a swamp of things that need to be done!

My table after I cleaned off a layer!

I have taken time to do some tatting, whether I should or not. The tatting you see on the table is from the start of something new I am trying. I had thought to add more to it, but didn't like where it was going, so stopped and started with something different.

It does make a great bookmark!

I'm happier with my next try. I know, they look nothing alike! True. I changed my mind. 

Some people are good at designing on paper or on the computer. I get my best ideas when I have shuttle and thread in hand. What comes out might not be what I want at the time, but it doesn't mean it's a waste of time. I might like it later!

As I'm in the middle of designing and have all kinds of ideas floating around in my head it is very hard to put my tatting down and do what has to be done around the house. The good thing is I can take it with me while I am being my mom's driver. While I wait for her, I can be tatting and not even feel guilty about it!

"If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."        Wayne Dyer

Australian Adventure Vacation Bible School

Our church's Epic Australian Adventure vacation Bible school was a big success! We are a rural church in the middle of several small towns, with children coming from miles around. We were excited to welcome 40 children, most not from our congregation.

We decorated the fellowship hall the Sunday afternoon before VBS started the next Monday evening. We got our ideas mostly from the Internet. The decorating crew was members of our congregation, including some of the kids. They were so excited to help, and for us to use their ideas.

    

This was the main wall. The kids chose where the silhouettes were placed. 

This was one of the trees in the classroom where I taught the Bible lesson of the day. 

This was the tree in the other corner. The 'stumps' were five-gallon buckets with paper on them, borrowed from another local church. These were the seats for the kids. We did get a few comments that they weren't that comfortable.

I dressed as their adventure guide. 

This corner of the room represented the Great Barrier Reef. 

The sign-in table was decorated with bamboo. They have bamboo in Australian, right?

My granddaughter made pipe cleaner chameleons for me. I moved them around every day.

One of the local libraries had this cute cardboard camper they let us borrow. Everyone liked how this corner came out. The kids loved having their pictures taken driving the jeep.

The first lesson of the week was how God called Moses with the burning bush. The kids loved our burning bush - an electric 'fire'. A tabletop device with red and orange cloth 'fire' which was lighted, with a fan inside to make the cloth stand up and wave. We put fake leaf garlands around it. It looked amazing!

We had a great week. The kids were enthusiastic and enjoyed the activities and the singing. From listening to them talk to their parents on the final night they got a lot out of their time spent with us. They went home excited about what they had learned and singing the songs that went along with the lessons. Some were already asking if we were going to do it again. 

I'm not sure how much like Australia we made it look, but it definitely was different than normal! We even left the decorations up for the next Sunday so the rest of the congregation could see them, too. 

Putting on the VBS was a lot of work, but well worth it. I'm just glad I won't be in charge next year!

I didn't tat much at all that week because I was so busy. I didn't even get to the earrings I wanted to make. Instead of having the kangaroo charms with tatting, I wore just the charms. Unfortunately, what I did tat was for sympathy cards. I made a second cross due to another death in our congregation. 

I am back to having time to tat and have started several projects. Nothing to show yet, but I'm excited about them.

I just saw yesterday that the Lacemakers Guild of Oklahoma posted about their annual Lace Embrace in Dewey, Oklahoma on October 4th. My sister and I are planning to go. It sounds like fun!

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 ESV Bible

 

Christmas Bells

 While I have been busy with vacation Bible school issues, my sister, Elaine, has been tatting for Christmas. You know how it is, if you are making Christmas ornaments or gifts, you have to start way early to get them done in time. My sister has been looking over patterns to use for her ornaments for several months already. She decided to use my Christmas Bell pattern for some of them. (I'm very flattered).

Check out these cute bells! She added charms that reflect the interest of the different recipients instead of jingle bells. I love how they look with the charms. 

Elaine has also been trying out my Christmas Ornament 2023, which incorporates charms or beads, too. We have been searching through our beads to see what we have between us that she might like to use. The ones she has shown me look great.

Elaine has had time to tat, I've been too busy to do much. After the vacation Bible school - which went great! - I've had other things I have been busy with, keeping me from doing much tatting. I did take the time out to tat a cross for a friend of mine whose father died a couple of weeks ago. Some things are important enough you just take the time to do.

I made my Graduation Cross again. I like the look and it's easy to do. 

I'm now doing post-vbs work - making sure all the thank-you notes are written, organizing all the receipts, figuring out what to keep and what to get rid of by recycling or donating, and cleaning up the mess I left of my desk. I'll be sharing pictures soon. Not of the mess, of the vbs decorations, lol!

"In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable."    Dwight D. Eisenhower