Cleanup In The Shuttle Aisle

I don’t actually have a shuttle aisle, but I have a messy craft room that needs to be cleaned up. While going through things in my craft room I came across a bag that had a lot of miscellaneous itmes in it, including a bunch of shuttles. I need to “clean up” all of these so I can use them for other things!

Shuttles and other stuff

Almost all of these shuttles were partially wound. Some of the threads I recognize and can match, but others are shades that are not so easily done. So what to do with them?

Some shuttles had more thread than others. There was enough on most to do more than single ring flowers and four ring butterflies, which are my go-to for snippets of thread left on shuttles. The little flowers and butterflies can easily be added to cards and notes. I did finish off a couple of shuttles with these.

Flowers and butterfly tail ends

But the ones with a bit more thread I put on buttons. The two small buttons are just doodles, simple things just to get around the button. These work well as accents on bags and collars. Or just to do with no purpose other than the joy of making them.

Buttons and doodle

The two-color button is trying to recreate the decorated grey button that I did a couple of weeks ago. I made a couple of changes that seem to change the overall look of it, not what I had in mind. But I ran out of one of the blues. And I have a lot of threads that are shades of blue. It may be hard to match it and finish it.

The metallic doodle was not started with shuttles found in the bag. This was an idea that I got when I found the doodad in the middle as I was looking through other things in my craft room. I started it before I made last week’s decorated button. I haven’t decided if this is done or not.

I really need to do more cleanup in my craft room than I need to with the shuttles. But the shuttles are more fun!

“You never know what you have until you clean your room”

Brrrr!

It’s cold! I’m sure that a lot of you are also in the deep freeze here in the USA, as most of the country is seeing record cold temperatures. At 3:30 p.m it is a breezy -1 degree F with a feels-like temperature of -19. And that is warm compared to some places farther north. At least we still have power. I understand the power company here is going to start rolling blackouts tomorrow to save energy. Wonderful.

I’m home today due to some of the machines at work not liking the cold temperatures, causing work to be canceled until tomorrow afternoon. This has given me time to work on my blog, right? I keep getting distracted by all the birds at the bird feeders. There are a lot of them today.

Birds and squirrel in the cold

Yes, there was a squirrel visiting also. But many more birds and they keep coming. I’ve seen Blue Jays, Cardinals, house finch, Red-wing blackbirds, sparrows and others that I’m not sure of. I’m new at bird watching, but it is entertaining.

Cardinal in the cold

I’ve taken so many pictures today that I had to stop to charge the camera. So I finally can take time to type this up.

I have tatted a bit, and I have plans to do more.

Decorated button in blue

This decorated button is in Lizbeth #320 Steel Blue in size 20. It is one of the metallic threads and is very hard to take a good picture of. It either washes out because it is so shiny, or it looks dull like regular thread. After multiple tries, this is the best I could do.

The button is 1/4″ across (about 12 mm). I had thought I was going to tat a heart for Valentine’s Day, but it didn’t come out that way. I like it anyway.

I hope all of you in the deep freeze are staying warm.

Brrr!

Decorated Grey Button

I’ve still not decided what project I’m going to do next, so I keep doodling. I doodled around most of the weekend without accomplishing a lot. A little, but not a lot.

I doodled with the grey button I started last week.

2nd round on decorated grey button

I thought on this a while before doing the second round, then gave it a try. The picots that attach the first round to the button on a bit loose making it interesting to block. It is still a bit frilly, which will probably correct itself with a little bit of water and a flat surface.

I started a couple of other doodles but didn’t get to a good stopping point on any of them. Maybe later this week I’ll get one of those done.

Like other parts of the country right now it is cold and white here. For the first time in years the temperatures are supposed to stay below freezing for over a week. The snow makes for some pretty pictures, if you can see them while in a nice warm place.

Black Kettle Creek in the snow

While I can I will stay inside and enjoy the white landscape and the cold from inside where it is warm and maybe get some tatting done.

Is it cold and white where you are?

“The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love.” Margaret Atwood

Nothing as planned

Since I finished the 10 point coaster I’ve not decided what I want to do next. I keep thinking I should keep a physical list, maybe digital, of things I want to tat, but I haven’t yet. When I’m in the middle of projects I think of all kinds of things I want to do when I’m done, but when I’m done I go blank. And that’s where I’m at now.

I’ve been seeing a lot of decorated buttons lately, and I have several buttons that would be good centers. I did work on one, without any pattern or plan. It doesn’t look bad but it didn’t turn out all that great.

Decorated button in greys

I miscalculated stitch counts so my (vague) idea didn’t come out as I thought it might. I’ve been debating with myself if I should do another round and see where that takes it, but I’ve not decided which side has won yet, to do it or not. It is made in Lizbeth #607 Charcoal Med and #190 Silver Ice, which did not come out well in the picture.

I also started a little something in a couple of the Lizbeth Metallic threads #311 Silver and #320 Steel Blue I recently got from Tatting Corner. I had another vague idea about what I wanted to do with these but very soon took a wrong turn.

Metallic doodle

When I realized my thoughts had gone astray, I went ahead and finished it, sewed in the ends. I might use this as an accent on a card or something, no reason to throw it out. This picture doesn’t do the metallic threads justice at all, they work well together. I’ll be using this combination again.

I like working with the Lizbeth Metallic threads but threading a needle with them to sew in the ends is somewhat problematic. You can see in the picture how they separate. Which makes me glad I have a Clover needle threader.

Clover needle threader

Using this makes threading a needle with the metallic threads easy. I keep it on my tatting tool keeper all the time even though I don’t use it often.

Tatting tool keeper

I use this tool keeper instead of a chatelaine. All the tools are on a badge reel, so I don’t have to take it off to use any given tool and it doesn’t hang in the way when I’m not using them. I also don’t drop anything on the floor and lose them, lol!

I do not make anything for mentioning Lizbeth threads of Clover tools.

“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.” Gloria Steinem

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/gloria_steinem_121278