Of airplanes, ornaments, and snowmen

Several years ago I gave the white airplane on the right to a friend of mine for Christmas. He had it hung on his office wall at work and I noticed a few months ago that it was looking a bit wilted and yellow. It had  been stiffened a bit but not enough it seems.  The smaller grey plane I meant to give him last year and didn't (he got a tatted ornament just not the plane).  This year I wanted to make sure he got both his airplanes but in a way that would look good and last a bit better.

Airplane  © Wanda Salmans 2014

Pattern found on My Patterns tab

Trying to find a background that worked with both planes took a bit.  Craft paper was the best I could find from my stash of both paper and material.  No worries, my friend really liked his airplanes.

I've gotten quite a few responses since I posted about these small ornaments.  

They are very basic and simple patterns so I wasn't going to write them up, but I decided to do a few to give people that would like to do something similar an start.  You can find the link on My Patterns tab as Christmas Ornaments 2015.

The snowman that I made for myself and attached to a pin is missing in action.

I wore it Christmas day and forgot to take it off my shirt before I washed it.

I'm not sure where it ended up.  I used regular white craft glue to put it all together as it was never meant to go through the washer.  I'll probably find bits and pieces of him in the clothes as we put them on, tucked up inside a sleeve of some shirt or other.  It's too bad but not a tragedy to loose him as I have others but, man! I wish I hadn't done that.

2015 is about to make it's exit.  It's been a thrilling year with the new experience of a cruise and visiting Alaska for the first time; a sad year where we have lost three family members and several close friends over the course of the year; and an exciting year as we've finally done some home improvements that had been put off for far too long.  It could be said it's been a normal year with ups and downs, good times and bad.  As we enter 2016 I make no resolutions that I know I won't keep but move forward with a positive outlook and hopes for a wonderful new year.

What are you looking for in the coming year?

"Every exit is an entrance to new experiences."

Fortune cookie proverb

Merry Christmas!

Color research

Color sample made with Lizbeth thread size 10 in #606 Charcoal & #602 Natural

While making edgings for the table runner that were made this fall I discovered - rediscovered? - that my sense of what colors go together needs help.  Setting balls of thread on material gives an idea if they look good together but not necessarily if they work together for a pretty edging.

For a Christmas gift this year I'm planning on another table runner.  Instead of making the edging and then finding out the colors just don't quite work like expected I thought I should do a little more research and make a sample with the planned colors and then make the decision.

Why did it come out as a snowflake?  It was a good idea at the time??

These colors didn't quite work as expected with the material - good thing it was only a sample! - so more research was needed.

These were done only in one color so they could be put side-by-side with other colors to see how they would look.  Probably a much more practical way to research the problem and find the colors that work the best, don't you think?

"Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."

Wernher von Braun

www.qualtrics.com/blog/research-quotes/

Christmas tree ornaments

This is our Christmas tree this year, the same one I used at the craft show a few weeks ago.  It's about 24 inches tall and is decorated entirely with tatted ornaments.  They can't really be called snowflakes as most of them have have eight points, though a few have more.  I've wanted to have a tree decorated like this for years and this is the first time it's happened.  It took a lot of these little decorations to dress this little tree - there are more than 30 on the front and sides.  I'm glad they were quick and easy.

They may not be snowflakes but they do have at least one feature like them: no two are the same.  Even when the plan was to make a duplicate the stitch count usually changed or a 'mistake' changed the finished ornament.  That one with the blue button on the bottom left? The plan was to be the same as the one in the middle, but the stitch count should have been changed a bit because of the difference in button size - it wasn't changed (enough) and it ended up being finished a bit different.  

When these were first started the plan had been to use only red and green buttons.  Why?  It just sounded good at the time.  Then I got to thinking about Christmas tree lights and all the colors that were used.  So instead of being choosy it became much more random - reach into the button jar and use whatever came out.  I have several button jars, this one contains bright colored, modern buttons, which makes for a bright, happy tree.

This button is a bit larger than the others and it's the only one this size that I made.  No, I didn't plan for it to end up like this when I started but I think it came out well.  It's a little too big to fit in with the other tatted ornaments but it's on the tree anyway.

How have you decorated your tree? Do you have tatting on it?

"O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,

What happiness befalls me when oft

at joyous Christmas-time

Your form inspires my song and rhyme.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree,

What happiness befalls me"

author unknown

Kamryn Edging

 I just love the material for this table runner.  I picked it up at JoAnn's when they had a lot of material on sale for 40% off.  There was lady there that was looking at fall-themed material at the same time I was. We liked so many of the same materials that we went to the cutting table at the same time so all of it could be cut for both of us while it was out.  We had a nice conversation while we were checking out the material. Fellow crafters can be pretty nice people.

 Kamrny Edging © Wanda Salmans 2015

This edging was the last one I did before the craft show and it wasn't supposed to go with this material.  But after finishing it and laying it with the other material it just wasn't going to work; both my daughters agreed with me.  The two edgings and materials were swapped and all looked much better for it.

Kamryn is a very easy edging, with only rings and chains.  Surprisingly it has no thrown rings, split rings or shuttle switching.  It went very fast, which is why it made it to the craft show. (It was the first thing sold, right at the start of the show). I think there are similar patterns out there but I was not following one when I made this, I just started and this is what came off the shuttles.

Kamryn Edging in Lizbeth Fudge Med # 698 & Harvest Orange Med #694

© Wanda Salmans 2015

I'm very happy with how this came out.  Sewing it on went much faster than usual because I took Michelle's advice to use invisible thread.  She had suggested to sew it on with the machine but mine wouldn't work. Maybe the tatting was too thick for the setting on the machine??  What-ever the problem, I had to do it by hand, but the invisible thread mostly made it go much faster even doing it by hand.   Why had I not tried this before???

The last couple of weeks had a lot of things happening around here.  About November 18th western Kansas had a blizzard and ended up with 20 inches of snow (that's a lot of blowing snow out there!); on the 19th we experienced a 4.7 magnitude earthquake that was centered in northern Oklahoma which I felt at our house north of Wichita (Kansas has felt 162 earthquakes in the last month); then abnormally high temperatures for several days, around 65ºF to 70ºF, then an ice storm over the Thanksgiving weekend (lots of power outages due to broken power lines and downed trees).  We are now experiencing pleasant temperatures and sunny skies, which I am thankful for.  

I'm not sure what to expect next from the weather or other natural phenomenon, but I do know what to expect next from me: I will be working on the Round Robin doily I'm doing on Craftree and things for Christmas.  

How about you?  What are you making?

"There is no "buy" there is only DIY"