Happy New Year!

 Can you believe it is 2026? It hardly seems possible that we have reached another year. I need to start making a list of what I should work on!

I didn't get as many Christmas pickles done as I had hoped, but I did enough. 

These were given to only about half of the family at our family Christmas. I didn't get the notes attached to the pickles, but I explained what they were. They were a big hit. 

Last year we celebrated with my husband's family before Christmas, in a place I didn't have a chance to give out my ornaments, so they missed out. This year I gave those family members wine cork angels and a few of the hymnal angels instead of the pickles. They were well received. 

Wine Cork Angel from 2024

Hymnal Angel from 2020

This year we had an amazing day with family a few days after Christmas, with some extended family members we rarely see. We rented a place with lots of room for visiting and eating. It was so well received that many left talking about doing it again, maybe this summer. What a present!

Less than a week later I spent half the day in a hospital waiting room. My mother had a procedure done while my sister and I spent time visiting and tatting. My tatting was a medallion I started a few weeks ago when I hadn't yet figured out what to do for my Christmas ornament and had only limited thread. I wasn't sure where I was going with it until I got there. 

I did have a few false starts, where I went a little way, decided that wasn't working, cut it off and tried again. But I like how this came out. Not bad for not having any idea where this would go. What do you think?

I have a lot of ideas for things to make this next year. I do have a list. I'm just hoping I can keep up the enthusiasm about all of them. Or at least some of them!

What do you have planned for 2026?

"Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas and progress." 

Charles Kettering

Looking for Words

Happy New Year! I hope you all are having a good start to 2025. It has started well for me, but I’m having trouble coming up with inspiration to write.

I haven’t done a lot of tatting since the craft show at the beginning of December. We had many things going on to get ready for family get-togethers and a trip leaving me with little time to tat. After a while, I also didn’t have the desire to tat. This happens to me frequently after an intense time of creativity. I suppose my brain needs a rest.

After Christmas, my husband and I visited our daughter in Colorado. She and her kids had made it down for the family day, but couldn’t spend more than a full day before starting back. My husband and I decided to visit them before the new year. It was a wonderful visit! We spent most of the weekend playing games with the whole family. We also took a day trip with the grandkids to Estes Park and the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park.

      With the grandkids at RMNP

I did get a bit of tatting done on the drive back and forth to Colorado. Not much, but at least a shuttle was used.

Last of 2024 tatting

While we were gone my order from Tatting Corning came, which was thread I had ordered on Lisa’s 12 Days of Christmas sale. Maybe one of them will be inspiration to tat.

12 Days of Christmas order

Considering the weather here, I should have plenty of time to tat. We started getting icy rain at about 6:00 a.m. today, and it is supposed to continue through the night. Tomorrow it is supposed to snow all day. What better way to spend the time, right?

While we are stuck at home I should probably start taking down the Christmas things, though I’m not really ready to. They all make the house a little brighter. They also remind me of the memories made with them. This year I gave ornaments to my granddaughter and told her to decorate the tree. These ornaments included a stack of tatting, some of which I had just made, including wings for wine ornament angels. She thought the wings made wonderful decorations for the tree.

Angel wings on the tree

While I was busy tatting for the craft show I could think of so many things I wanted to work on besides the Christmas items. Did I write them down? No. Can I remember them now? No. I’ll start something soon, and maybe come up with what I should have written down.

What have you started your new year with?

“I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something.” Neil Gaiman

Hello, 2023!

It’s hard to believe that we are in 2023. 2022 had its ups and downs, with the end coming almost as a surprise. For me, it ended on a high note. My husband had the entire week off between Christmas and New Year’s day. It was great to spend time together without him having to go to work. We were also able to spend time with family, which was wonderful.

Since fall, between making Christmas ornaments and edgings, I’ve been playing with an idea based on a snowflake from last fall, the October snowflake.

October snowflake

I used the same stitch counts as this snowflake but added a couple more arms and did it all in white. I was not very impressed with how it came out.

October snowflake doily

It has a nice enough look, but the arms are not defined well. I decided to make it again, but in two colors, so the pattern is discernable.

October snowflake doily in two colors

I had Lizbeth Cranberry already on a shuttle when I started the center. I should have stuck with one of the other two colors. Both colors are in Cranberry, but the variegated center distracts from the overall look of the doily. This is made in size 20, whereas the white one is made in size 10.

White October snowflake doily in size 10

Both doilies are on the small side, as you can see by the Clover shuttle. I suppose I could do another round to increase the size. When/if I do make another, it will probably be in different colors. There are several minor changes I’d make as well.

I haven’t yet started anything new in the new year. In the midst of making all of the Christmas projects, I thought of other things I’d like to be doing. Did I write those down? No. Do I remember all of them? No. But I know I made plans! I’m not good at New Year’s resolutions, but maybe I should resolve to write my ideas down! It would also be good to remember where I write them down, LOL! One thing I do remember I plan on doing – Jane Eborall’s 2023 TIAS! The fun starts on January 11!

What are you working on? Have you started something new in the New Year?

“My New Year’s Resolution List usually starts with the desire to lose between ten and three thousand pounds.” Nia Vardalos

Happy New Year 2023

Happy New Year 2022

Happy New Year! We’ve made it through 2021 and have entered 2022. Let this be a year of finishing things started in the past, enjoying what is happening in the present, and welcoming new challenges that come to us in the future.

Yesterday here in the middle of the USA the day was cloudy and warm – about 65 degrees F – and today it is cloudy and cold – 11 degrees F at 10:00 AM and still falling. It is also windy, with snow and sleet. What a way to go from one year to the next! I’m glad I don’t live farther north where it is much colder!

Yesterday I spent a lot of time outside with the dog, enjoying the nice weather while it lasted. In the evening, watching the clock tick down to the end of the year I did a bit of tatting. I’m working on the modified wings I used for the tree-topper angel.

Modified angel wings, from the oldest on the bottom to the latest on the top

I started with wings I made last year for the hymnal angels. But the size of my tree-topper angel was too large for the wings, even in size 10 thread. That is what I made the wings in originally, but they weren’t big enough for the tree-topper angel. I made a set from the pattern with a few modifications and attached them to her but I’m not happy with them, exactly. I think they could be done better.

I worked in size 20 thread last night as that is what I had on my shuttles. I’ve made a change, or two, every time I’ve made them. I think they are getting better.

When I started this post I noticed that the one I had made for this last Monday didn’t get posted! Oops! So I posted it today as well as this one. What a way to start the year!

May your new year be full of plenty of time for tatting!

The Week before New Years

Did you all have a wonderful Christmas? I hope you did. We did. We had family get-togethers, presents, a Christmas Eve program, and a wonderful Christmas day. Now we are in that week just before the calendar year changes from 2021 to 2022. Are you ready?

I finally finished the wings for my tree-topper angel, the day after Christmas. But that’s okay, I still have my tree up and the angel is now ready for next year.

Tree-top angel got its wings

I made the wings in Lizbeth # 601 Snow White in size 10. I had wanted to make them in # 602 Natural but I didn’t have any in size 10. I thought the color would go better with the rest of the angel, but this looks okay. I modified my Angel Wings pattern to make the wings come out larger than I made them before. I even stiffened them so they would stand out nicely. I’m very happy with how the whole angel came out.

At Christmas, our families play a white elephant gift exchange game so we don’t have to spend so much on presents, but there are still a few gifts some of us give because we want to anyway. My sister embroiders and always makes something for the women and bakes goodies for each family (the guys and kids don’t complain!) She enjoys embroidering tea towels throughout the year so we all get them at Christmas. The women don’t complain, either. This year they all had gnomes on them.

Gnome tea towel

I love my new tea towel, isn’t it cute? Unlike some, I am not afraid to use the embroidered tea towels my sister gives me. I have them out almost exclusively. She put all that work into them, I’m not leaving them in the drawer!

This year has been unseasonable warm here. We’ve been hearing of snow in some other parts of the country, but here in the middle of the USA we have had warm temperatures and haven’t had any moisture but a few sprinkles in over a month. The weather is supposed to change a bit on New Year’s Day.

Weather forecast for the week before New Year 2021

It’s too far out to know if we really will have any moisture or in what form it will take snow, rain, or ice, or a combination. I’ll take it in whatever form we can get it.

Do you make New Year’s resolutions? I don’t, I just review what’s been going on, what I’ve been doing, and consider if I’m going in the direction I want to be going. I do sometimes make a list of tatted things I would like to make, but I usually lose it. As I’m retired now maybe I’ll post that list on the refrigerator and remember to make a few of the items on my wish list. Check back at the end of next year to see how well that goes, LOL!

New Years’ Day is this coming Saturday. Are you ready?

“Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go. They merely determine where you start.” Nido Qubein

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

Are You Ready?

The New Year is here and with it new beginnings.

Including Jane's 2015 TIAS which starts tomorrow January 7.

Are you ready?

I looked through my shuttle collection and found two that were empty - not that easy as most still have thread still on them from previous projects.  Then I checked through my button stash for a 3/8th inch button - again, not as easy as I thought it would be.  After I found the button I could think about what color thread to use.  As it was handy and I like the color I wound the shuttles with Lizbeth #657 in size 20.

I'm as ready as I'll ever be for this year's TIAS.

Are you?

I've also started the new year by adding a couple of patterns to my Patterns tab.  I finally finished diagramming the Fall Bookmark (aka Bookmark in Fall Colors) I posted about here and here.  I was also asked about the pattern for the wreath I posted about here.  Both are now available.

I don't make resolutions for New Years as I rarely keep them.  This year I'm making goals instead.  The top three (at the moment) in no particular order are:

Update the header and layout of my blog.

Diagram and write out the patterns for the snowflakes I made in the last few months.

Practice taking better pictures for my blog.

These are practical goals that are totally reachable.  I feel I am ready for them.

Are you ready?

"May it be the best year yet for you

And everything prosper you may do." 

2010 is almost over

Can you believe the year is almost over? It's been such a busy year it hardly seems possible.

I look back over the year and think of all places I went, the new things I've tried,
and the people I've met - I must say it was a year well spent. We went on several great trips, both with family and by ourselves, and made wonderful memories. I learned
several new tatting techniques that will open up all kinds of possibilities for
projects this next year. I met some great people in the travels I made this year as well as
locally and on-line, people I hope to keep in touch with in the years to come.

The last week I did some tatting, some right up to Christmas Eve, but then the projects were done or they weren't and it was time to enjoy family and friends. We had
great get-togethers with both sides of our families (the in-laws and the out-laws, LOL!) and
still have one to go. It has been a wonderful holiday season.

I did want to share one more gift I received from my Advent swap partner. She really
spoiled me this year.

Check it out - she sent me Yarnplayer's Layered Ring Christmas Tree pattern! I was thinking about getting this but hadn't yet taken the time to order. She also sent me a tension-adjusting
tatting shuttle! (I haven't tried it yet, but I will soon!) It came in a cute little tin. There was
also a beautiful beaded tree ornament that she made - very nice, very sparkly! Her
son had her include someSpongeBob Squarepants candy books for my grandsons and their families and one for us, too. And a large ball of size 30 white thread. She was very
generous!

I hope all of you have had a wonderful Christmas this year. And may your New Year be filled with wonder and joy!