Birthday gift

I made this cross bookmark for one of my Sunday School students who's birthday was this week.  I had planned on making it several weeks ago but that was while I was getting ready for the craft show, so it got put off.  Then there was the week before Thanksgiving trying to get some neglected cleaning done before our daughter's family arrived for the weekend.  Then there was Thanksgiving and all the get-togethers and dinners.  Sunday morning arrived and it wasn't done yet!

Luckily I woke early, even before the grandchildren, and was able to get started on it.  I kept making mistakes on stitch counts and joins, and then the kids got up.  Just a few more distractions while I hurried to finish it before church.  Amazingly, I did it.

This is made with Lizbeth size 20 in #641 Lilac Dark for the rings and #633 Dark Purple for the chains.  The pictures, at least on my computer, come out looking like shades of blue, but trust me, they're purple! I'm pretty sure she'll like it as purple is her favorite color.  

I say pretty sure because after all that hurrying to get it done, her family was out of town for the holidays so she hasn't seen it yet. Oh, well, it's done.  Much better to have it done and her not there that the other way around!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend with several dinners and lots of family. We don't see much of some of the families that much anymore, which is sad.  Fortunately we still try to get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas and most are able to make one or the other, and if we are lucky, both.  Hopefully some that couldn't make it for Thanksgiving will be able to come for Christmas.

Now things have settled down a bit, at least for a few days, and I can think what I still need to make and do for Christmas.  Unlike Diane I haven't been getting any snowflakes made.  She has made some beautiful ones this year.  I need to get motivated and make some myself.

"A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer."

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you! May we all take a few minutes out of our day of family, food and football to remember what we are thankful for.

"Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude."

E.P. Powell

A little ingenuity

The craft show was last Saturday.  We didn't do too bad, though not as good as we'd hoped.  but all in all it was a fun day.

I did run into a few issues.  I've done craft shows before but I wasn't selling jewelry or anything attached to a card like I was this year.  There it was, Friday night, we've set up the tables and other displays in the show hall but not our sale items - we planned to put those out Saturday morning - when I realized I hadn't planned on how to display the earrings and wine glass charms.  I had spent time attaching them to cards but hadn't given a thought to what I was going to do with them after they were attached!

I start wandering around the house trying to think of what I had to hang them on, my mind a blank.  It was getting late and I was tired and getting a little frustrated.  I thought of putting several strands of wire in a picture frame but I would still have to prop or hold up the frame and that was the problem.  I figured I could lay out a few on the tables here and there but that wouldn't do for all of them.  

Then I had an idea.  Do you see it?  Can you guess what it is? (I know, the picture is pretty blurry)

Does this help you see my wire cooling rack?  And an ankle weight.

I found a wire display stand, like you would use to display a book or plate on a table top, but putting anything on it tall enough to display the earrings made it topple over.  So an ankle weight around the legs and covered with a piece of cloth, then the rack wired to the front legs of the stand.  A little garland around the top, and I had an earring display stand. 

Then I had another idea. 

There on the left back - it's a spool tree, to hold spools of thread.  I only used two sides but it did lift a few earrings up so they could be seen. 

My sister and I are talking about trying another show, maybe in the spring.  If/when we do, I'll have taken the time to come up with a little better display idea.  But they worked for this time.

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." Albert Einstein

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Variations on a charm

I have continued making charms for the craft show coming up this weekend, but I've also been making a few earrings.  These earrings are just a little more elaborate than the wine glass charms, but still just chains around a doodad.  With beads.  

The colors are not showing up true to life.  The four on the left are Christmas Red, Lizbeth # 671, the center two are Navy Blue, Lizbeth # 654 and the four on the right are Burgundy, Lizbeth # 672.  They are all in size 20. 

As most people seem to like silver jewelry instead of gold right now I've been doing most of the charms and  earrings in silver.  I have made a few things with gold centers and beads because they just look so good in them.

I've not been checking out too many blogs the last week or so.  I just get sucked in and go from one to another and totally loose track of time.  And I'm a bit short on time right now!  I've tatted a lot of the charms, now I need to put the rings on them.  And do some more earrings.  And a few other things I'm wanting to get done for the show.  Then there are a few things I can't not do, like cook once in a while, do a little laundry, that type of thing.  The good news is I've taken this week off from work to get some crafting done.  I'm not sure just how much I'll actually get done, but certainly more than if I was having to go to work. 

After the craft show is over I'll be concentrating on getting things done for Christmas.  And  cleaning my house, which has been very much neglected.  I have thread, beads and other miscellaneous crafty things all over the place - imagine that!

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." C.S. Lewis

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Charmed

At least my wine glasses are.

I've been doing a lot of tatting lately but not everything has come out like I'd like.  The wine glass charms are one thing that I think has come out well.   I showed them to my sister the other day when her son, who was there as well, said he thought they were pretty cool.  This surprised both his mother and I as he doesn't usually notice such things.  

He asked if he could take a picture of them to send to his girlfriend.  Hmmm, like I had to think very hard about that one. 

I've made sets of them in jewel tones and autumn colors, four colors in a set.  I'm thinking these will work very well for Christmas gifts this year.  A lot of the nieces and nephews are in college, or at least that age now, and wine glasses with wine glass charms would work well as gifts, don't you think?

They also make cute, easy earrings.  I still had some thread on my shuttle from the blue ones so made two more and put them on earring wires instead of the rings.  When I wore them to work the other day one lady said she definitely would like a pair.  I asked her what color she wanted.  

I made two sets using two different centers and let her choose.  

My sister and I are going to do a local craft show in a few weeks where I hope to sell some of these, too, both wine glass charm sets and earrings.  We thought business cards would be a good idea, in case there were any special orders.  We used to do several craft shows a year but haven't for quite a while now.  Lately we've been talking about trying to do a couple of local shows, just for fun.  We can't use the same name as we had before because we had a third person with us which fit the name, but it doesn't now.  Do you know how hard it can be to come up with a name we both like, fits what we do/may do and isn't already taken??

I have to thank Sharon and her Design-Tat class for the designs on our business cards.  We plan to print our own as we don't expect to need a lot, but they needed some graphics to be more than just words.  I looked online for free graphics that would fit our name/theme and couldn't find any I liked.  There are a lot of sewing ones out there, and a few tatting ones, but, but - not quite right.   So I made the graphics myself utilising the knowledge I learned in the Design Tat class as well as the software program that I now use for my tatting patterns   I think they came out pretty well if I do say so myself. 

One bad thing about making these are that they are very quick to tat.  How can that be a problem?   It means I'm hiding a lot of ends frequently.  I've taken to making the charms/earrings in batches then sewing in all the ends.  My fingers have gotten a little sore.  I've taken to using my little jewelry pliers to pull the needle through - very carefully.  I've already broken one needle. The good news is my fingers are not as sore!

"Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes."  Oscar Wilde

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