Getting ready for Christmas

‘Tis the season to be very busy! If it’s not getting the house decorated and ready for guests it’s getting food or gifts ready. For those of us who craft our Christmas gifts, it’s also trying to get them finished! At least that’s me. How about you?

Back in October I started thinking of what I wanted for my yearly ornament that I give to family and close friends. I was early this year, not even waiting until December to come up with one. But I had so many different ideas about what I wanted to do I am still behind!

I have a whole box of old hymnals from our church that I thought I could utilize for ornaments. First, I made this folded paper angel, which came out very nicely. It doesn’t even take much time to make. 

Music paper angel with tatting

I used two pages out of a hymnal to make it. The tatting is done in Yarnart Camelia thread, very simple rings and chains. Without the thread hanger, this angel is six inches tall. I love it. But just how do you put this in a Christmas card? I needed to come up with something else.

Several of my other ideas I barely started before I realized that they wouldn’t work or would take too much time. Most of them were mixed media of some sort, on the order of the angel where I tried adding tatting to paper and other backgrounds. I will probably revisit the ideas later.

Even when  I thought I had an ornament that would work I couldn’t make up my mind.

Christmas tree ornaments for 2018

I decided to make trees. But I could not make up my mind just how I wanted to make them. I came up with a forest of trees, each one different from the rest. They are in at least three different threads – size 10 & 20, and two different shades of green. I sprayed them with Stiffy to help them keep their shape.  As they blend in a lot on most backgrounds  I sprinkled them with fine glitter.

Yes, I know, there are Christmas tree patterns out there, but I try to come up with something myself each year. I enjoy how they look all together here, though I’m not so sure of a few of them individually.  But it doesn’t matter, these are going out in the Christmas cards the way they are!

Charles N. Barnard
“The perfect Christmas tree? All Christmas trees are perfect!”

Little trees

I am working on the ornaments that I put in Christmas cards to close family and friends. I also get side-tracked a lot.

I found a cute little tatted tree in a box I was looking through the other day and then saw another one in the Facebook group Tatters of Lace that was almost the same thing. While trying to empty a few shuttles I found one with green thread on it and thought that little tree would fit the bill to empty the shuttle. But of course, I couldn’t find where I had put the tree I had previously found OR the pattern on FB. So I did what I usually do and made one up myself. It is not quite the tree on FB, and I’m not sure just how close it is to the one I found and lost.

Little tatted trees

As I was cleaning and preparing the house for our Thanksgiving guests I had a thought about the tree pattern. Wouldn’t it be cute in fall colors as earrings?

Little tatted tree earrings

I thought they came out well. I could have tried matching up the variegations a bit to make the match a bit better, but I was in a hurry to get them done.

Fall tatted tree earrings

And I didn’t get them done in time to wear. Not for our Thursday dinner, nor for the other dinner we had Saturday. I did get them done by the end of the weekend and wore them Sunday around the house.

I wore them around the house on Sunday because we didn’t go anywhere at all. We had planned on taking our daughter and grandkids home that day but we had blizzard-like conditions, with several inches of snow blowing sideways, cold temperatures, and extremely bad driving conditions.

We were able to take the family back home on Monday with minimal road issues. We did have to take another day of vacation, but it was a better choice than trying to go through the weather on Sunday.  On the way out the roads were still ice covered in areas, making driving a bit problematic still. The roads were much better coming home later in the day.

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Now it’s time to get ready for Christmas.

Are you ready yet?

“Holidays – any holiday – are such a great opportunity to focus on bringing the family together.” Lidia Bastianich                                                                                         https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/lidia_bastianich

 

Gifts

Paperclip bookmark gift

One of my aunts just had a birthday. She has enjoyed paperclip bookmarks I have previously given her and recently indicated she would like more.  What could be a better birthday gift?

She was quite happy with these. Unlike a couple of other paperclip bookmarks I have made before, the tatting on these will stay up-right on these most of the time.

My mother-in-law passed away several years ago. Recently my father-in-law started going through his possessions as he prepared to move out of the house. There were a lot of tatted items I had gifted her that he no longer had a place for. This collar is one of them.

Tatted collar

I’m not sure just how long ago I made this for her, maybe 15? 20 years ago? I know it is made in DMC Cebelia size 30 Ecru (I had a lot of this thread).  The pattern is in a book that I cannot locate at the moment so I can’t tell you exactly where it is. I have looked through the patterns listed on Craftree, where there are several that are very similar. The center edge does not match the patterns I located there.

She wore it several times I know.  I washed and pinned it out when I got it. I am trying to decide which shirt I should put this on. I definitely plan on wearing it.

I have been tatting a lot, just not posting. I have so many things I want to do I have a hard time staying with one project long enough to finish it. I am working on the ornament I put in Christmas cards. After much adjusting and tweaking, I have it figured out – I think!

Thanksgiving is this week – how time flies! My side of the family will be our get-together at our house. I have so much to do to get the house ready! I’d rather be tatting than cleaning house, but I don’t have a lot of choice on what I have to do.  I mean, we need the table to eat at.

Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving.

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.” William Arther Ward  https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/william_arthur_ward_676240?src=t_thanksgiving

Searching for a square

I had an idea the other day where I wanted a tatted square. I reviewed some of my pattern books, looked through patterns and projects on Craftree, and paged through pictures on Pinterest. I didn’t see any that was quite what I had in mind so I started doodling.

1st try at a square

I do better designing with thread in my hands than I do with either pen and paper or computer screen. I can envision the end result better and I can change things up as I go to see what works and what doesn’t. My first try was in size 10 thread. You can see where I made a few changes as I went along. It ended up okay, but there were a few things I was disappointed with. 

2nd try at a square in size 20

I was a bit happier with my second try in size 20 thread, though it still wasn’t quite what I had envisioned. I made a couple of these squares, adjusting the stitch count slightly, which made it closer to my ideal, but still no.

3rd try at a square in size 30

I tried a third time, now in size 30. Making thrown rings off the center chains changed the look a lot, which changed up what I ended up doing on the outside round, too.  This square made me much happier, though the center ‘poofed’ up a bit. A slight stitch count change and blocking flatted it out a bit.

Three squares

The change in thread size is quite obvious here.  Which one do you like the best?

6 squares together

Here are six of the small squares joined together. Even with all the thread ends still attached and not blocked I was pleased how it was working out.

9 squares together

I am satisfied with it now there are nine squares together. With the strings trimmed and having been blocked, the patterns created by the joined squares are visible. It looks better at a distance I think. (Not due to bad tatting but to see the patterns!) You can see how small it is in contrast to the regular-sized Clover shuttles.

9 squares with an edging

The joined squares didn’t appear finished so I added an edging around it and blocked it again.  It looks completed now. I can see I wasn’t directly above when I took this picture, it doesn’t look as square and even as it actually is.

The finished doily is 5 1/2 inches across made in size 30 DCM ecru thread. Why in such small thread? Because I have several balls of it that I have thought I should use for something.  I suppose I could join a few more squares together – a lot more! – and make a tablecloth or something.

Maybe not. That would take me forever!

“A good goal is like a strenuous exercise – it makes you stretch.” Mary Kay Ash

Pink vacation doily

Pink vacation doily start

I started this doily on the trip home from our Colorado vacation this year. The thread is size 10 Lizbeth #621 Dusty Rose Light. I hadn’t realized it was size 10 when I grabbed the ball before the vacation, but I was glad it was. It made it much easier to see and work with while traveling, as it was cloudy and rainy almost all the way home causing the light to be a bit uncertain. The larger size thread and the light color were great to work with in those conditions.

I came up with this center, not certain it was just a center. When I got this far I decided I’d try another round, see where it went.

Pink vacation doily round 4

My aim while tatting this was to keep it simple, something to keep my hands busy and still see some of the passing scenery without having to think too hard. I know that the scenery along I80 in western Nebraska isn’t all that interesting, but you never know what you might see when traveling. This fourth round fit the bill of not having to think too much.

Then it was a question of “is this done?” I decided the answer was “no” and tried another round.

Pink vacation doily 5th round

This round was easy also, the most complicated part – besides keeping the count right – was the Josephine rings and they aren’t hard.  I think this last round gives it a nice finished look. The size 10 thread leaves it at about 5 1/2 inches across.

I want to do this in size 20 though that will make the overall size smaller. I suppose it can be a coaster instead of a doily.

“Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs.” Susan Sontag
www.brainyquote.com

I resemble this remark 🙂