Decorated Ball Ornaments

Sometime just after Thanksgiving I found several ball ornaments with Styrofoam centers that are covered with red thread.  I had been thinking about trying to decorate balls like this for awhile so I purchased the ornaments to give it a try.

Wanda Salmans 2014

They turned out well but only one was finished by Christmas.

There were too many other things going on.

Wanda Salmans 2014

This one took the longest.  I completed the first two rounds then it languished, hanging from the lamp shade, half done.  I pinned it to the ball to entice me to finish it.

While watching football this Sunday I was finally able to finish it. 

Wanda Salmans 2014

For this one I cut a plastic card to make a thread gauge and didn't notice that it wasn't a straight cut until I went to finish it off.  I obviously used both ends of the gauge, which were not the same width.  It is much less even than I thought it was. 

The completed ornament still looked good on the tree.  The tree was a small one, too small, really, for this big of an ornament, but the grandchildren just knew it needed to be there.

Now I need to put them away, somewhere that I don't loose them, so they can go on the Christmas tree next year.

"The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Two Snowmen

I had an idea for a snowman the other day.

Snowman doodle  Wanda Salmans 2014

He was a bit of a pain to make - he didn't want to hold still to put on his hat or scarf!  And I lost the beads on the floor several times before he was done.  He remains alone - at least for the time being.  He might get a friend to be worn as earrings someday.

We'll see.

It snowed last week, a wet, heavy snow, just perfect for snowmen and snowballs. We had a couple of the grandchildren staying that day and they could hardly wait to get out in it.  The first thing were snow angels and then a snowman.  A carrot for a nose, charcoal for eyes and buttons, twigs as mouth and arms.  Papa brought out a hat and Grandma donated her scarf.  Then we couldn't go in without a snowball fight. It was so much fun!  The snowman lasted a couple of days, slowly leaning over but kept it together until the kids left.  A few hours later he lost his head, then the rest of him gradually melted away.

Have you built a snowman yet this year?

Two Snowmen

One inside, one outside,

One little, one big.

One lives for ever - or until he gets lost.

One lives a few days when he just melts away.

Both were made in just a short time,

For the length of their stay

They bring smiles to us all.

Wanda Salmans 2014

Dressing up for the neighbors

Well, dressing up a gift for the neighbors.

  

One of my neighbors had a birthday this last week.  I wanted to gift her with something but not something that would just sit around the house and need dusting.  Both she and her husband have health issues so I didn't want to make or bake something that would be hazardous to their health, either.  Not saying I'm a bad cook or anything like that but I couldn't remember what things they need to stay away from - sugar, salt, fat, dairy, red meat - you get the picture.  After thinking about it for a bit I hit on a gift idea - simmering potpourri.  I did a search on Pinterest looking for a recipe or ideas that used things I had on hand and came across one that called for orange rind, apple peel, cloves and cinnamon sticks.

I just happened to have cloves and cinnamon sticks in my cupboard.  I don't always have apples and oranges sitting around but we had just picked up our order of apples and oranges from a local member of FFA (Future Farmers of America) who was selling them as a fund raiser (this is done yearly).  How about that, everything I needed. 

Now to package everything up nicely.  I have a package of lunch-sized brown paper bags that I thought would work - okay, not the whole package of bags, just one.  I didn't want it to be naked, so I dressed it up with a bit with burlap, lace, and buttons, then added a sprig of evergreen (it was fake but it looked nice) and a bow.  I added one of my snowflakes to it but in such a way as it can be taken off and put on their tree.

Instead of sending just orange rind and apple peels I put in a whole orange and a whole apple; dropped in a palm-full of cloves and several sticks of cinnamon.  I printed out the directions and put it in the bag also. 

I thought it came out nicely.  It smelled good just sitting in the bag.

My neighbor really liked the gift and the bag it came it.  I know they'll like how it will make their house smell because I made some up for me, too.  Can I say I helped dress up their house for the holidays, too?

"Remember, the greatest gift is not found in the store but in the hearts of true friends."

Happy about the bookmarks!

 My customer was very happy with her bookmarks in school colors!

Yeah!

© Wanda Salmans 

Bookmark in Bethel College colors Maroon and Grey

© Wanda Salmans

Bookmark in Bethel College colors Maroon and Grey/ Bookmark in Oklahoma State University colors Orange and Black

Following the suggestions in the comments I did not offer solid color bookmarks just these, and the buyer was quite happy with them.  Both turned out well.

Now I can get on to projects.  Like more snowflakes and other Christmas things.

"May Peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through!

Author Unknown

Special Order

Be careful of what you ask for, or what you agree to.

I had most of my bookmarks on a board for display at the craft show a few weeks ago.  A lady looked them over and requested two of the same pattern, one in Oklahoma State colors and one in Bethel College colors.  She wasn't in a big rush but would like them before Christmas.  I said "sure, no problem!"

Bethel College is a local college whose colors are maroon and grey.  I'm thinking that shouldn't be much of a problem.  I didn't have a clue what the colors are for Oklahoma State University until the buyer told me but I didn't think it should be that hard to find them.  For Bethel I planned on going to the school store and checking out the colors; for OSU I thought I'd check on-line or maybe a sports store.

On-line I found that OSU's colors are orange, light orange, silver and black.  No, that's OSU orange, OSU light orange, OSU silver and black.  On their website they tell you specifically the colors and how to achieve them when printing. Oh. My. 

Surprisingly, Lizbeth #695 Bright Orange comes pretty close to OSU orange - at least as far as my uneducated eye can see.  So I made one bookmark in Black and Bright Orange.  We'll find out if the buyer thinks it is close or not.

Bookmark in Fall Colors © Wanda Salmans 1999, 2014

The bookmark pattern is mine.  I originally called it "Bookmark in Fall Colors" because it was made in - wait for it - fall colors.  I didn't have anyone to share it with back then so the name was an identifier just for me.  I posted about it here and included a written out version of the pattern.  Someday I hope to diagram it and post it a little more formally.

Update - pattern added to My Patterns tab 1/6/15

I thought the maroon and grey of Bethel College would be easier to match but I was wrong.  I didn't have anything that really worked for maroon in my thread stash and I couldn't find any thread locally that would work, either.  I did find sewing thread in maroon - actually labeled 'maroon' - that was a match to the school colors but I did not want to work in thread that small!  

So I made an order to Handy Hands for several shades of thread that I didn't have that I thought might come close.  Such hardship to have to order thread but I forced myself ☺.  I bought three new balls of thread, #672 Burgundy, #673 Terra Cotta and #674 Garnet Dk, all in size 20.

The Burgundy turned out to be the closest of the colors.  The hat is from the school store so it must be the accepted color, right?  The spool of thread is the maroon I found at the store, regular sewing thread, and the ball is the Burgundy.  It is still a little bright but as close as I'm going to find any time soon I think.  I have started the bookmark in Burgundy and silver - okay, it should be grey but I think it will work.

I took a special order without asking enough questions and agreed without knowing enough!  And now I'm worried that I should have done the bookmarks in one color instead of two - the one at the show was one color.  I guess I should call the buyer and ask.  Or maybe make one of each in two colors and one of each in a single color and let the buyer choose????

I sure hope they like them!

"The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B."
James Yorke


I am not affiliated with either OSU or Bethel, I was given no compensation for mentioning them or linking to them.  

Snowflakes

Let it snow!

I've been doing a lot of snowflakes lately.  I did quite a few that I knew I was taking to the craft show a couple of weeks ago, but now the show is over I've started making them for family and friends.  

A few of the snowflakes I made for the craft show

Some of these are patterns from previous years but seven (?) were made up this year, usually while
watching TV. Sometimes there was a plan when I started tatting, other times the shuttle went where it wanted.  Some started out going one way but took off on a tangent and ended up differently than planned (the one with four points, lower left corner, as an example). There are some that are not, strictly speaking, snowflakes, as they do not have six points, but done in white and hanging from a tree they give the impression of snowflakes.  Or at least look pretty.  

Every year I try to make one snowflake that will go in the Christmas cards.  This year there are a couple of versions of the same basic pattern.

The original version of this year's snowflake, Sydney

The second version, with a slightly different pattern and different center

It's amazing how small changes can make such a difference, isn't it?

I've added the pattern for Sydney on my patterns page.

Snowflakes sold well at the craft show; I had quite a few and they were displayed well on the tree.  I didn't put out any of my tatted earrings.  I didn't have very many made up even though most are pretty simple patterns.  As there weren't many and I was running out of setup time I didn't worry about putting them out.  But I did wear a pair.  One lady was at our booth early without buying anything but came back later to talk tatting and other things.  She had noticed my earrings and asked if I had any for sale so I pulled out what I had and she found a pair she liked.  It's not often I sell something I don't even have out at a show!

Snowflakes and earrings: sometimes things unplanned turn out well ☺

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination." Jimmy Dean

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Craft show

The craft show was a success!

I was very happy with how the craft show turned out. A lot of people came to the show, many willing to spend money (at least at our booth!) I'm always happy when I sell enough to cover the cost of the booth at a show, and Saturday was much better :-)

My booth a little before the start of the show.  I did a little rearranging and straightening before it started.

I displayed snowflakes and spool ornaments on a small tree. It drew a lot of attention; the picture doesn't do it justice.

A view of the gym after things slowed down a bit.

Usually during a craft show I keep a small tatting project handy to work on during slow times, which also has a tendency to draw people over to see what you are doing.  This show I never had a chance to even get it out of my purse. I wasn't always selling something - I spoke to a lot of people about who they knew/know that tats and the possibility of them someday learning themselves, even a few that actually tat.  I lost track of how many business cards I handed out to prospective students. ***happy dance***

This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the United States.  We'll be having family over to our house on Thursday when we'll be having roast beef, but we're cooking the turkey for another big family dinner on Saturday.  I'm looking forward to seeing family as well as all the food :-)

While going through some of my old tatting papers looking for patterns the other day I found a small photo album that I used to keep small samples of my tatting in many years ago.  I found this turkey doodle with a date of 1992.  It's cute, quick, and timely so I made a few for the holiday.  I think I'll put a pin back on these and give them to a few of my family.  Or maybe use them for table decorations as place markers or something.  They are made with size 20 Lizbeth thread and are less than an inch tall.

May you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

"Not what we say about our blessings but how we use them, is the true measure of our Thanksgiving."

W.T. Purkiser

Wooden spools

I was at a thrift shop the other day and noticed in their notions area a handful of wooden spools with a variety of threads on them.  I love wooden spools - I like their look, they are fun to play with, and they remind me of time spent at my grandmothers house.  At 25 cents a spool, how could I not bring them home with me?

Usually when I do something like this the items end up in a drawer or box somewhere because, though I couldn't leave them at the store, I don't really have a use or place for them.  But not this time!  I had a sudden idea and ran with it.

I thought they would make cute Christmas tree decorations.  I added a bit of tatting that I already had, strung a string through the center and, presto! tree ornaments!

Yes, they are hanging on a Christmas tree.  No, I don't have my Christmas decorations up yet. I'm going to have this tree at the craft show this next weekend, using it as a display for my tatted snowflakes.

I've been tatting a lot recently to get ready for this craft show.  I don't feel like I have enough items for it, but I could be wrong. I've been getting everything together today so I can plan out the layout of the tables but ran into a snag when I found one of my tables was broken. My wonderful husband has done some repairs on it but I can't use it until tomorrow.  Then I'll find out just what I have and how I want it laid out for the show.  I'm hoping to have it pretty much together by tomorrow night.  Wouldn't that be a surprise?

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."

Thomas A. Edison

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Once again

Yes, another lamp shade.

Tatted decorated lamp shade in Lizbeth black, size 20

I have had such fun decorating these lamp shades and the cans they sit on.  The tatting seemed to go quickly and easily, probably due to how excited I was to see them completed; even decorating the cans went quickly.  You see the cans as decorated very simply, which is true, but I have a tendency to over think things like this, but this time I didn't.  I just went with the ideas as they came to me, keeping them simple instead if getting elaborate as I tend to do. 

I've been getting a lot of tatting done, mostly making edgings for cloth runners.  I'm using size 10 thread, which seems huge after using size 20 almost exclusively lately. I ordered several rolls from Handy Hands a few weeks ago specifically for the runners but had to order again yesterday.  I forgot that as size 10 is so much bigger the balls don't go as far as I expect them to.  I have only completed one runner so far but am working on the edgings for a third.  The hardest thing doing edgings for me is it's not really done until it's stitched to the material.   

It's a sunny day today, but cold and blustery.  Yesterday afternoon it was over 70º F but dropped 40º in less than three hours.  We're actually pretty lucky here, there were only a few snow flurries, not like the snow they got farther north.  I've gotten rather spoiled with the mild weather we've had so far this autumn.  It is November so I should expect colder temperatures - just not temperatures we usually see in January!

Today in America we celebrate Veteran's Day.  One of my daughters put together a poster for work to recognize and thank veterans for their service.  As I helped her collect pictures of family and friends who served I realized how many in our family have been in the military.  I want to thank them and all veterans and active duty military for their service.  Their service and sacrifices are recognized and appreciated.

Thank you!

"For it has been said so truthfully that it is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press.  It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.  It is the soldier, not the agitator, who has given us the freedom to protest.  It is the soldier who salutes the flag, serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who gives that protester the freedom to abuse and burn that flag."

Former Georgia Senator and Governor Zell Miller

quote

A little shade

Here is another lamp shade I decorated.  I'm not as happy with it as the Ecru one - the tatting didn't go quite as I envisioned it (and I think I glued it down crooked....)

This one is in Lizbeth size 20 black.  Even though it didn't come out quite as planned I felt it was still usable, I just hid part of the disappointing part under a bow :-)

The flat-backed gems are from my in-laws' 60th wedding anniversary party a few years ago.  We sprinkled each table with these "diamonds" and I could not throw all of them away when we cleaned up.  Plus I had purchased a bit more than we ended up using (okay, way more), so now I have a lot of these left.  I haven't used many of them yet but thought they added a bit of sparkle to this little lamp.

Dressing up the cans to go with these shades has been fun.  I've been cleaning up a few cans to keep for crafting purposes for a while but hadn't gotten around to dressing any of them up until I did these lamp shades.  So far they've come together quickly and I've been happy with all of them.  Reusing tin cans, using up bits and pieces of craft-y stuff, easy and comes together pretty quick - Family beware!  They will probably  be showing up in gifts for all occasions soon!

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine."

Thomas Jefferson

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Happy Halloween!

Spider and ghost

Have a Spook-tacular day!

Seeing the light

Or at least that is the plan.

Every year my sister and I try to do one craft show together; she with sewing and hand embroidery and I (of course) with tatting.  We get two booths together at the local Christmas craft show and spend a day seeing the cool things other people make, visiting and - hopefully - selling a few items.  There are only a few booths that have electricity available and they cost a few dollars more, which we'd rather not pay, so I've been thinking of ways to bring light to our booths without the cords.  We've done the battery powered Christmas lights the last several years, which is great, but there should be other, inexpensive ways to bring more light to the booths if we can just think of them.

A light bulb ☼ came on for me about a month ago - the battery powered lights that are advertised for closets and under counters might just work. 

I bought a package of these push-on lights, and sure enough, they give off quite a bit of light even in a lighted room, especially if they are aimed at something not too far away. 

Then I thought that it would be a little more aesthetic to have shades over the lights instead of them being bare, so I picked up enough little shades for the lights I'd purchased.  The shades were very plain and had to be dressed up a bit - besides, people would be able to see these easily from a distance and be drawn over to our booth, right?  Which was the point in the first place.

I made an edging long enough to go around the bottom of a shade in DMC ecru size 30 as I had two shuttles already wound with it. I put it on a shade (without glue) to see how it looked, then placed it over one of the puck lights.

Oops.  The harp of the light shade hung down so low it hit the puck light, so the light shade sat crooked.

I had to come up with a way to hold the shade up high enough the harp was clear of the light.  I thought and I thought, and I played and I fiddled until I finally came up with something that works.   I'm sure there are better ways but craft sticks, buttons and beads are what I ended up with.  These are for the display only, not for sale anyway, right?  They just had to hold up the shade.

But the whole thing did sit kind of low on the table.  Maybe I needed something to make them taller?

That's when I thought of the tin can. It had to be decorated, too, of course.

I sure am putting a lot of work into the display this year, especially as I'm not sure just how much light will be seen from these in a lighted room - but it's such a kick to decorate those lamp shades!

"In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present."

Fancis Bacon

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Three pigs and a flower

I finally got all the pigs done as well as a flower.  The lady who asked for them was very vague about what she wanted exactly,  I  had nothing to go on except "flower" so I made one with threads I had on shuttles already.  If nothing else she can tell me what she likes about it and what she doesn't.

I'm very pleased with all the pieces except the purple pig, which I think looks a little off.  Maybe I should redo it. 

Yes, I think I should. 

Apologies to Gelett Burgess

'I never saw a purple pig, 

I never hope to see one; 

But if you've ever had a swig, 

You might just swear you've seen one.'

"Purple Cow" by Gelett Burgess

Side tracked

I have a whole list of things I need to be doing:

finish the pigs

make another pig for a friend of mine

tat several edgings for table runners

tat snowflakes

tat earrings

tat more snowflakes

For the last two days, instead of getting any tatting done at all, I was side tracked into putting together a themed basket for an auction.

In our community we have a retirement village that is in part sponsored by most of the area churches.  All of these sponsoring churches were asked to donate a themed basket to be auctioned off at a yearly fundraiser that is later this week.  This basket was brought up at our congregational meeting this last Sunday - and the basket has to be turned in today (Tuesday.)  As no-one else was inclined to do it, I volunteered.  So, for the last two days I've been hustling to find items for the basket and get it put together.

The theme: "Tea"

Yesterday I went shopping for the items I wanted in the basket.  The church gave me a set amount of money to spend and I had to come up with enough tea related items to fill a large basket, enough to make it worth bidding on, within that budget.  I am the only one that made the decisions on what would go in it *hehehehe*

I started out at Prairie Harvest, a local store that is a kind of a health food store but also carries loose teas.  I also bought some of their homemade peppernuts and some colorful candies to put in.  (I bought some wheat free peppernuts for me while I was there - yummy!)  I went next door to Kitchen Corner for a tea infuser and tea bag rest.  Then down the street to an antique and flea market to look for tea cups.  I found a set of two cups and saucers with pink roses on them that I liked, as well as a hanky that I thought would look good in the basket.  Then to a secondhand store where I found a basket I thought would work.  Then to the Dollar Tree where I picked up the filler paper, flowers and cellophane to wrap the basket.  Then to Wal-mart for a few more choices of cookies.

[I was not compensated in any way by any of these stores.  I just went to the ones that I thought would have the items I needed]

Whew! That was a lot of shopping in just a couple of hours.

Then home to start trying to put it together.

This morning I made the tag with the church's name, theme and contents and finished putting everything in the basket. And, of course, it had  be decorated a bit, too.  And then it had to be delivered.

I did include a little bit of tatting.  I found a bookmark I had made a while ago in Lizbeth Pink Cocoa that fit right in with the pink in the cups and hanky.  I also put a tatted butterfly on the front of the tag and a couple of simple tatted flowers on the back.

 This is the back before I added the flowers or included the bookmark to the list.  I added a little tea bag to bring in the basket's theme to the tag.

The tea cups that I found.

The filled basket before I added the cellophane.

The completed, wrapped basket.  I couldn't find a cellophane bag to put it in that didn't have all kinds of decorations on it so I had to buy a roll of cellophane instead.  It was fun putting it around the basket - okay, not really.

I thought it came out well.  I don't know that I will ever find out who will eventually get the winning bid on it, but that's okay.  I had fun putting it together and it's for a good cause. 

Now I need to get back on track with my tatting.  Where did I lay those shuttles down??

"Even if you're on the right track you'll get run over if you just sit there."

Will Rogers

Earring patterns added

I've added the patterns for Small DragonFly Earrings and Leaf with DragonFly Earrings to my Patterns tab.

Thank you Stephanie for test tatting the for me.

Edited: 10/18/14 6:40 PM CST Made a slight correction in the pattern. I think it's right now!  :-)

A tale of two piggies

Well, three actually, but one isn't done yet.

My sister was telling a friend of hers some of the things I've tatted, including a horse, a lion, dragons, that sort of thing, and the friend asked if I could make a pink pig.

Sure, no problem.  How big?  Three inches?  Well...

Flying Pig © Jane Eborall

So I went hunting for pig patterns.  You know, I found there aren't that many pig patterns out there.  But Jane E. has lots of animal patterns so the first stop was there and it's where I returned later.  

The first little piggy was made in Lizbeth #617, Magenta Med is size 20.  As you can see, it's not very big.  My sister thought it was a cute baby pig. 

I decided I would try one in size 10 thread to show her the difference, but I don't have any pink in size 10.  I do, however, have a purple in Cébélia size 10.  This little piggy was a little bit bigger than the other (of course) but still not three inches.  I sent my sister a picture of both so her friend could see what I had.

The friend said she'd like both.  And another small pink pig facing the other way.  And a flower. 

I don't know how big a flower, or if it should have a stem or leaves or anything, but I'll work on it.  And the third pig.

You might have noticed the pattern name is "Flying Pig" but it doesn't have wings.  I was going to make wings but the lady doesn't want flying pigs, just pigs.

If you've made Jane's pig before you might also notice that the center is not per the pattern.  I tried multiple times to do the onion rings and every time I got all four done but couldn't close that last one without breaking the thread.  Yes, I know, she has a pig pattern without the onion rings, but this is what I had printed out so it's what I had to work with.  So I made three rings then changed to the chains.  I was going to do the final pig a little differently - either do a better job on the onion rings or do the no onion ring version - but the lady likes them the way they are, so I'll do the third little piggy just like the first. 

And now I have the nursery rhyme stuck in my head.

This little piggy went to market

This little piggy stayed home

This little piggy had some roast beef

This little piggy had none

And this little piggy went "whee, whee, whee" all the way home.

Wooly Boy Bookmark

I saw this cute idea over on Batty Tatter's blog and just had to make one myself.  This one is made in Lizbeth #142 Turquoise Twist size 20 I think.  I know it's Lizbeth size 20 but the color I'm not real sure about.  I had two shuttles wound in it and thought the bookmark would look good in it, but I'm not sure where the ball is, so I'm guessing.  Whatever the color, he turned out well, don't you think?

I've been tatting a bit and working on patterns a bit but nothing I'm ready to share quite yet.  I'm trying to get motivated to start my Christmas tatting as I know time is getting short for making things for it, but I keep getting sidetracked.  I was asked a couple of days ago if I could tat a pink pig, so it looks like I'll be tatting in pink for a little while instead of white.

While on vacation we saw a lot of live critters.

We saw this little chipmunk at the lookout just past Lake Irene in Rocky Mountain National Park

This big elk was watching over his harem in Estes Park City Park.  Yes, he was only a few feet away from us.

We came upon this moose while on a pontoon boat on the Colorado River as it comes into Lake Granby.  He was trying to catch up to a cow moose that didn't seem to interested.

While on vacation we enjoyed the easy pace of the days, not in any hurry to go anywhere or do anything.  Now we're back in the 'real' world where we have to meet deadlines and constantly keep an eye on the clock.  But while I tat life slows down just a bit, so I'll just have to enjoy my mini vacations as much as I can.

"Time, as is well known, sometimes flies like a bird and sometimes crawls like a worm, but human beings are generally particularly happy when they don't notice whether it's passing quickly or slowly."
Ivan Turgenev
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Dragonfly earrings

On our vacation to Colorado a few weeks ago I never got into a large project, just several small ones.  After the zipper pulls it was earrings.  I had picked up these cute dragonfly beads somewhere and had thought to bring them along, just in case.  The Autumn Spice thread that I used for the zipper pulls just wasn't working for earrings as they were a bit too small for the colorway - when a pair was done they didn't look like they went together if you weren't careful about where you started.  So I switched to Victorian Red.

Dragonfly earrings Lizbeth #670 Victorian Red size 20

I had brought a variety of things with me, hooks, jump rings, beads.  I brought silver beads, silver jump rings - and copper earring hooks.  Oh, well, they are for me so I used them anyway.

After we got home I tried out another idea with the dragonfly beads.  I think these came out pretty good, too.  But even at home I couldn't find the silver earring wires.

Leaf and Dragonfly earrings Lizbeth #684 Leaf Green Medium size 20

I'm sill looking through all the pictures we took on our trip (we took a lot of them).  Here's several from an excursion to find Stillwater pass.  It is so insignificant a pass we can't find it on the map, but there is a 'Stillwater Pass Area' and it was beautiful while we were there.

View of Granby Lake

We stayed at Mountain Lakes Lodge, which is between Lake Granby and Grand Lake.  The cabin had three bedrooms, each with their own theme.  Ours bedroom's theme was birds/birdhouses.  

I didn't get a good picture of it, but there was a picket fence all around the room.

The Lodge is not on any of the lakes but on the canal that goes between Lake Granby and Shadow Mountain Lake.  They - the locals and the proprietors - say there is usually good fishing in the canal but there wasn't while we were there.  In fact, there weren't very many people catching anything that week, but we didn't go there just for the fishing so it wasn't too much of a problem.  We just found other things to do, like admire the trees and watch for wildlife.

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods.  Wash your spirit clean."
John Muir
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Vacation tatting

We just got back from a wonderful vacation to Colorado.  This year we went to the Granby area instead of the Buean Vista area where we have gone for the last several years. 

It was wonderful!  And the trees were absolutely gorgeous while we were there!

I, of course, took tatting with me.  I didn't have a tatting plan when we left home so I took a variety of threads with me, including Lizbeth #136, Autumn Spice in size 20.  I thought it was a perfect choice for making zipper pulls for my purse.  I lost the last original pull on my purse just after we got there, so it was a needful project. I had also taken split rings and hooks, which came in very handy.

The pull on the right is the first one I made, the others are similar but with a few differences.  I thought they came out well, and look great on my purse.

I actually made four pulls, all in the same colorway.  This one went to a friend who needed a pull for a light jacket.  This one is the only duplicate I made, I guess because it was the easiest and I liked it the best. 

My husband snapped a picture of me tatting by the shore of Grand Lake, where he was fishing.  We had just finished hiking to Adams Falls and were enjoying the beautiful area.  There were picnic tables available to sit at but they were in the sun.  It was much warmer there than usual, so sitting in the shade was much more preferable.

The hike to Adams Falls is very easy and beautiful. The following pictures are from our hike there. There are not that many aspens here, having more pines than anything, so the colors from the aspens really stand out.  If you are in the area I highly recommend this hike.

"In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous."

Aristotle

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