A Doll and New Thread

Isn't this doll cute? This is called a "Wagon Train Doll". It is made of strips of cloth (actually bias tape) in a couple of different lengths with knots tied in strategic places to form arms, body and skirt. You are supposed to trim the material ends evenly along the bottom and the ends of each arm but I didn't do that (yet). The apron and cap are simply done with a few gathers and a little bit of elastic (to keep the cap on the head). You could buy dolls like this already made or in a kit that you could assemble yourself. This was a kit, which consists of the pre-cut material, the head already wrapped, the cap and apron, and directions to make it and future dolls if desired. I bought this in Silver Dollar City, Missouri for my granddaughter. Okay, she's a little young for it yet (two months) but she might like to play with it in a year or two! I'm thinking it could be fun to make matching apron and caps for the doll and the granddaughter later on. Even with my poor sewing skills I think I could manage that.

Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I was able to tat for about an hour, with the only interruptions being questions of those that happened by. I went with my mother-in-law to her physical therapy today and tatted while she did her exercises and what-ever. Almost everyone that came in asked or commented about what I was doing. And I still got a lot done! No tea though.

This last week I ordered some thread from Handy Hands for an interesting project. A friend of mine is doing a quilt with a muslin top. She chose a white-ish muslin instead of the more usual ecru colored type. She says it's not a crazy quilt but is supposed to have some embellishments on it and has asked if I would make some tatting for it. As it's not white-white material the white thread I have is a little too bright, so I ordered some Lizbeth in Natural, #602. I ordered one ball each of size 80, size 20 and size 10, and two balls of size 40 so she could have a choice of sizes but all be the same color.

Well, that was the plan.

I don't know how well this will show up on your screen - I had quite a time getting a picture of it - but in real-life there is a bit of a problem. This stack of thread has DMC white size 20 on the bottom, then Lizbeth Natural size 10, Lizbeth Natural size 20, Lizbeth Natural size 40 and Lizbeth Natural size 80 on top. The Lizbeth size 20 is a different color entirely. I know that different lot sizes can be different shades, I expected that. But the size 20 looks more ecru than anything else. I emailed Barb Foster at Handy Hands about my problem, but there's nothing to be done. They've lightened the dye in all the other sizes but haven't had to order more of the #602 in size 20 yet, so this darker color is it. That's why the ball of DMC. It's white but it's not as white as the Lizbeth, so it looks a little closer to the Natural of the other balls. If multiple size thread is needed I doubt they will be side-by-side, so this will probably work.

Oh, well. It's a little disappointing but not tragic. I think I can live with what I got - and the other colors of thread I bought while I was making the order:-)

"While only a rag doll with a few red yarn strands for hair, she has been loved for generations. Parents enjoy the positive memories of their childhood and sharing those stories with their children." Marianne Szymanski

Heart's Honor posted

Check the side on the right. The pattern for Heart's Honor has been added.

Teacup for Tatting Tea Tuesday

Isn't this little teacup with the candle inside cute? I saw it and just had to get it for a Tatting Tea Tuesday post. It's from a candle shop in Silver Dollar City, Missouri. They pour a lot of candles there, in the most marvelous scents! This one happens to be Bayberry. They make the candles right there in the shop; you can watch and talk to them about what they are doing. They also have a dipping station where you can dip your own candles. You actually buy white candles in any of several different sizes (4 inch, 6 inch, 8 inch) then you dip them in different colour waxes for any color combination your heart desires. I had a picture of the ones that I dipped but it seems to be lost in cyber space somewhere. It will have to be shared on a different post.

The lovely little doily the cup is sitting on was designed by the wonderful AnneB (Anne Bruvold), she who designed the Minor Norwegian Flying Dragons. I tatted it a while ago and thought I had shared it here on my blog but I haven't found it, so I must be mistaken. I know it was done in size 30 thread but I don't remember in what brand or color, and measures about four inches across. I'm sharing it now because a friend of mine asked if I would make her one. The pattern for it can be found here. If you are interested in more of Anne's patterns, you can find them at Nuperelle.net (there be dragons!) Some are in English and some are in Norwegian.

This morning I got up and took the pictures of the teacup and doily, several of the dipped candles, then worked on adding the suggestions of the test tatters to Heart's Honor bookmark. I didn't get any tea drank or any tatting done during all that. I did tat a whole ring and chain at my in-laws' house (not of this doily, another project) and then, well, a mess. I was being soooooo careful with my tube of size 10/0 seed beads when I spilled the entire tube of them all over the floor. So instead of tatting I picked up seed beads. The tube says it has 10g of beads and I must have spilled 9.99% of them - there were only about a dozen lonely beads left in the tube when I picked it up. Most have been recovered but quite a few went into my purse, which will be emptied and de-beaded at home.

I didn't get the pattern for Heart's Honor up yet - I had hoped it would be today - but it should be in a few days.

"Inanimate objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories: those that don't work, those that break down and those that get lost." Russell Baker

Branson Vacation

Yes, I was traveling again, this time to Branson, Missouri with my sister. My husband doesn't have as many days of vacation as I do so he had to stay home, making this a girls only trip. We had so much fun! My sister had ordered tickets for several things ahead of time, which meant that on the Showboat we had front row seats and for the Scenic Railway we were some of the very first to board. The days we went to Silver Dollar City were very nice temperature wise - we went Friday and Saturday mornings, the next day was hot and muggy by 8:00 AM. We didn't have time to do nearly everything we would have liked to do, but we did do almost all the things we talked of doing. The one thing we didn't do was get a tin type photo. The one evening we had the best opportunity we were hot and sweaty and I didn't feel like it at all. But we are talking of doing it again in a year or two, maybe making it a family trip with all the kids and grandkids, so maybe we'll get our pictures then.

I made sure I did some tipping (tatting-in-public) while we were there - okay, I wanted some pictures, too: ) This picture is while we were on the Branson Scenic Railroad, taken while we waited for the train to load. I actually did quite a bit of tatting on the train on the way back to the station. I had some very interested people watching me, none of them having seen shuttle tatting done before. I was quite happy to talk to them about one of my most favorite subjects.

We also found a quiet spot to take this picture at Silver Dollar City, which is an attraction just outside of Branson. Though there are a lot of amusement rides there, my sister and I went for the handcraft demonstrations and items there. We were a bit disappointed how few artisans we actually found on-site. After talking to some of the shop people there we found that the only time there are a lot more crafters is during their National Harvest Festival. We'd like to try to go back for that, but it won't be this year.
As I mentioned, I did get some tatting done. It's about a six-hour drive from where I live to Branson, Mo. - that's not counting any stops you might make. As we weren't in a hurry we made a few stops at places that interested us, so it took us closer to seven hours. I started on a bookmark on the way down - I made it long enough to make a bracelet but I had taken out all the findings from my tatting bag - and finished shortly after we got home. I ran out of thread right at the end and couldn't make both ends the same without adding some to the shuttles, which I didn't want to do. So I played around with it, finally settling on a tail/tassel using macramé.

We had a great time the entire trip. There is a lot I'll be sharing with you in the coming weeks. Today I downloaded all the pictures from my camera while sipping my iced tea, which was just green tea with little Mango Peach MIO. Sipping my tea and finishing my bookmark is the only tatting I'll be getting done today for Tatting Tea Tuesday. I have a few more ideas that I would like to do, and maybe some of it will be done for next week.

"If you come home as happy as you leave, you have had a good vacation"

A Wonderful 4th of July

Did everyone have a happy 4th of July? We celebrated with fireworks both Sunday night (the 3rd) and Monday night. We were visiting our daughter's family and went with them on Sunday night to a neighbor's to share the fun. There were several children my grandson's age that had a blast watching the show. As the other adults there were mostly parents, the fireworks consisted of light shows - fountains, small ground lights and the type that explodes into lots of lights in the sky - and very few that made only noise - you know, firecrackers. I don't particularly like the noisy ones myself, and my grandson runs and hides from the loud ones because they hurt his ears.

The evening of the 4th we only set off a few ourselves, but there were a lot going off all over town that we could see and enjoy. It was quite a show!

Monday during the day we went to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. It was a nice day for a zoo visit, a little hot but not bad, and not very crowded. My grandson had a lot of fun looking at the animals.

Here he's looking at the rhinoceros sleeping. A little later we went by the on the train that goes around the zoo and saw then standing up. He thought they were pretty cool either way!


We finished off our visit with a walk through the rain forest exhibit, which is quite an experience. Our grandson really enjoyed having Papa show him some of the wildlife in there. He didn't really enjoy the 'caves' and dark places, though.

I didn't get much tatting done over the last week, first getting ready to go, and then being there - just too much to do! What little I got done was in the car while we were on our way there.

I'm wanting to add some tatting to a handbag I have and found some metal pieces that I thought had a nice potential for adding tatting to them. I had wanted to try using some beads with this, but I don't do beads well when traveling. I've actually started on another piece with the same center but it's not looking as good as I'd like, so it may have to be started over. I'm calling this #21 of my second 25 Motif Challenge.

I'm not sure how much tatting I'll get done this next week, either, as I'll be doing some traveling again. Probably something without beads again, if anything ; )

I missed Tatting Tea Tuesday this week due to a lack of Internet access, though I tatted and had tea :-) I guess today I'll just have to join Cindy at A Happy Bluebird for Wine Wednesday. I'll have a glass when I get home from work, though instead of tatting I'll be cleaning out my tatting bag so it's a little lighter - somehow it keeps aquiring things!

"There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, love of freedom, intelligence, and energy of her citizens can not cure." Dwight David Eisenhower, 34th President