Angels and Itchy Fingers

Hello to whomever is reading my blog.  I thank you, I have been gone a LONG time.  I was doing my usual Fall Semester Clinical teaching at the local ADN RN program.  That is not what slowed me down.

It was Angels.

 

My Church did a restoration of it's Steeple this year.  That was quite the endeavor.  We were fortunate to receive a historical grant.  We are an historical building in the historical downtown area of our city.  But, the rest will be pledge commitment and fund raising.

 

I found this "Freestanding Lace Angels" program from Amazing Designs.  It has the most beautiful Lace Angels.

Three of us decided to make Memorial Angels for the Church's Christmas Tree, 100 of them.  I made the Angels, Marcia made the ribbon hangers and labels.  Nelson was our spoke person.  Nelson and Marcia had all 100 'Named in Memory' in two Sundays. 

They are now all hanging on the tree.

A wonderful way to remember those that are important to us at this amazing season.

A successful fund raiser for our Steeple.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas.  May you spend it with your loved ones.

It took Ellie (Elna Expressive 900) and I from September 25 to November 15 to make the Angels.  It takes about an hour for each Angel and I would make two or three most days.  This is a wonderful program that takes about an hour to make an Angel.  

My tatting has been quiet, but I am getting back on track.  My fingers are itching to get other threads in hand.  I hope to have something to show in the next week.  Thank you for visiting.

Fall Garden

It is hard to believe that it is September.  We had our first frost this morning, not a killing frost but a frost.  It was 39 degrees at 6 am and then it did warm up to 60.  Tomorrow it is to be 76 and rain.

 

I have begun to clean up my gardens for the fall to get ready for next season.  My gardens are not prim and proper.  I let the milkweed grow.  This is the reason; the Monarch butterfly.  There are four generations of them over the summer and this is the fourth.  This is the generation that will head south for the winter.  That is, when it gets out of the caterpillar stage.  I found three caterpillars in my garden today.  I have not seen any chrysalis this summer.  They are hiding well.

 



 

Here is the milkweed growing outside the raised garden beds.  There are some that are allowed to grow with the irises.  Not a perfect garden at all but I love that butterfly and cannot disturb its lunch.

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Enjoy your day.  Mine has been grand.

Done and Done!

 

I have finished BOTH of Renulek's 2017 Doileys!  The White #20 thread was finished on August 22.  I finished the Latte Foam #40 thread this morning.  I would have finished it last night but I had already done 3 un-tats due to not paying attention.  I did not want to mess up on the very last section.  It waited until this morning and took all of 15 minutes to finish (with no un-tats).

 

Here they are with the White one laying on top of the Latte Foam.  They have not been washed or blocked.  The size difference is always amazing to me; 18 1/4 inches versus 15 1/2 inches.

 

 

I am glad that they are done.  The last row was a 'quick' row; 12 hours for the White one, 15 hours for the Latte Foam (that includes un-tat time).

 

This is the 8th project (from my book) completed this year and I will use it as Motif #11.  The two will be one very large Motif.  Now, what will be next?

Almost

 

Here is what happens when you let your mind wander.  Sigh.

 

Now to un-tat and then re-tat.

August Travels





Last week we took a four day trip to Wells Beach, Maine.  My husband has been going there forever as his father is from that area.  It is a wonderful place to be.   

I am fortunate in that I can knit and tat while my most handsome is driving.  This is a picture of my picot gauge attached to the small hook that I use.  I put the two together in the car so that they wont get lost.  But, one repeat into tatting on Renulek's doiley, they decided to escape together.  They slid down between the car seat and the console.  I couldn't find them until we stopped 2 1/2 hours later at our usual stop on the Mass Pike. 

Yes, it is duck taped together.  I sat on it once and broke the tip.  I have other picot gauges but I really like this the best.  It is thin.  The new ones like this are thicker.  The Clover ones that come as a set I do like but I don't want to have more than one to loose in the car.

Thankfully I had this "Idiots Dishcloth" to finish up.  It was done by the time we stopped.  I even had the ends sewn in.

Here is row #12 finished on my #40 doiley.  One more row and it is done.

Here is the doiley made in #20 thread.  Row 13 and this is the greased lightening row.  It is going a lot faster than I expected.  I had to remember how to do the onion ring.  This doiley is the first time that I have made an onion ring.  I did make one wrong, different than the others.  I had made four the night before and when I started up the next day I could not remember what I did.  It is OK that it is different.  That means that it was hand made, not perfect but made with love.

 

 Only seven repeats to go! 

Have a grand day.

August?

I cannot believe that it is August already.  I didn't show up in July at all, sigh.  I did do things.  I will begin by showing you row 12 done on Renulek's 2017 Doiley.  This is the #20 done in white.  It was completed about the middle of July and I have am working on row 12 with the Latte Foam #40 but I am slow in tatting this summer. 

 

 

 

I am slow in many things this summer.  I do not know where the time has gone but I have enjoyed it. 

 

I would like to show you "my book".  At the end of last year there were a lot of people on blogs talking about how they monitor their WIPs, UFOs, projects they have begun and are working on (or not working on).  I decided to do something similar, "my book".  Not an expensive one and it is yellow (so that I can find it).  It lives by my handwork chair (usually).

 

 

 

I took two pages and made 20 columns, 10 per page.  The first on the left is the date and day of the week with the month above.  Then I found 15 unfinished projects and wrote their name across the top of the page.  (There is a column for 2 new projects, a total of 17 projects).  The E is embroidery, T is tatting, K is knitting and Q is quilting.  Then, each time I work on something, I put the amount of time I worked on it and sometimes what I did.  You can see under 25 Motif when I completed #9 and #10 in the same sitting.  Under Renulek's Doiley you can see how long it took me to do some of rows.

 

 

Now to July, not much done at the second half of the month.  Hmmm? 



So far this year I have completed 7 projects, big and small, new and older.  There are now empty columns!  I am making sure that I do not have more projects open than columns.  Now on to August.



 

June

June was a busy month.  We began it by traveling to Maryland and Ohio to visit family.  Didn't get as much handwork done in the car as I wanted.  So, I am a little (like lots) behind in what I wanted to complete.

My June handwork and finishes:

I have a new great nephew arriving sometime at the end of July.  Here are pictures of his little boy quilt.  In my mind, boys don't like baby themes, this has a Tonka truck theme.  All boy to me.

His Dad is a policeman in the Houston, Texas area.  I was looking for police theme quilting and found this Texas Sherriff idea.  It is Edge to Edge Quilting by Amelie Scott Designs.  At first I was going to use the brown on the top but I didn't like it.  I changed the top thread to a cream and kept the brown for the bottom thread.  You can see the pattern design on the back.  I really enjoyed this one.

Here is the quilting pattern on the front.

I was able to keep tatting on the Doileys by Renulek.  Both have row 11 completed.  The #20 is 16.5 inches across and the #40 is 13.5 inches across.

Row 9, Latte Foam

 

My Doileys had a discussion and the White one did not want to be completed before the Latte Foam.  White #20 thread gave permission for me to complete Latte Foam #40 thread row 9.  I thanked them very much and have worked diligently since I was last here, about 3-4 hours a day.  This was usually evening work, unless it was raining. (Good thing my sewing machine went for a spa treatment.)

 

Last night at 10pm I was finished with row 9!  I am so glad this row is done.

Row 9, once it moved into my finger memory, was easy to do and, in a way, fun.  The row, to me, just took forever.  Now onward!  The rest of this will seem like a piece of cake, greased lightning, smooth sailing, a summer breeze...... 

Row 10

I was thinking of calling this entry Greased Lightning.  That is what I felt like when tatting row 10.  It moved along so quickly that I was surprised when I was done.  Here is the doiley in size #10.  Now on to row 11.

 

I have been able to tat both doileys on the same evening.  I have tried to give them almost equal tatting time (I don't want one to think that it is neglected).   

 

You can see that row 9 is a MUCH slower tat.  I am glad that I did the #10 thread doiley before the #20 thread doiley.  The repeat pattern is better set in my mind and fingers.

 

Enjoy your day.  We actually had sunshine today, no rain or clouds.

 

Correction:  One doiley is in #20 thread, white and the other doiley is in #40, Latte Foam (I think it is called).

Happy Dance!

Ta Da!  Woot Woot!

 

Eureka! 

 

Totally said in happiness! 

 

One row 9 down, now onward.  Will begin Row 9 with the #40, but, will also begin row 10 with the #20.  (I need moments of less concentration, I think.  Shall see if doing two different row patterns confuses me.)

 

Have a great day.  This one has started wonderfully!

Finished Sandwich

One quilt finished!  This is the quilt that Kathy (my quilting cousin) and I made for our Aunt.  Our mothers were sisters.  My mother was sister #1, Kathy's mother was sister #4.  The sister  remaining is Aunt Mary Ann, the youngest, sister #5.  We decided a few weeks ago to make her a lap size quilt for Mother's Day.  This is the fastest that I have ever completed a quilt. 

Kathy designed the quilt with using a Churn Dash block.  We decided on material that reminded us of our Aunt.  We divided the material and each made half of the churn dash blocks.  (This part we worked separately.)  We then gathered to cut the joining squares and sewed them together in rows with the blocks.  Then Kathy put on the two borders.

Together we made it a sandwich.  Then I quilted in the ditch around the churn block squares.  Kathy then made the wreaths in the empty squares.  We both hand sewed the binding.  I then put the hearts in the four corners and cleaned up the loose threads.

This quilt has traveled between two cousins while being made.  It is now on its way to our Aunt in Georgia.  XXOOXX  Aunt Mary Ann!

Row 9: snip, snip, snip

Row 9 at the end.  It doesn't work!?

 

 

What did I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

Only 9 repeats from the end, sigh.  Mutter, mutter, mutter.

 

Snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip, snip

 

Mutter, mutter, mutter

 

 

Now to fix it and onward, sigh. 

Row 9

Row 9 has me tatting slowly.  To begin, I didn't like the number of ds in the floating rings.  I thought that it made the ring to big and open.  I like it better a little less open.  I reduced the first ds number to 8, then did 6 ds after the join to the other ring.  It took me four starts before I liked what I was doing. 

 

 

 

Then I joined in the wrong picot and made this mistake.  This is just one of many mistakes I have made on this row.  Last night I was watching Call the Midwife and had to un-tat the same section of ring and chain THREE times before I did it correctly.  (I need to pay attention.) 

 

 

I was able to correct it and move on but I am still not tatting quickly.  For some reason (not paying attention), I keep forgetting where I am and muck up with the order of the pattern.  LOTS of un-tatting with this row. 
 

 

I am now halfway through row 9 on my #20 thread doiley, then I will begin the #40.  May I get this set in my fingers and mind so I don't do so much untatting with the smaller thread.  Row 10 is out and Row 11 comes out this week.  How long will it take me to catch up?

 

The weather is wonderful today.  Spent time outside waking up my raised garden beds.  We had to replace one that has worn out after 10 years.  Planted pansies and Johnny Jump-ups, some of my favorite spring flowers. 

Sandwich and the Run Away Doileys

 

Last Monday I went South County to see my cousin Kathy, 45 minutes away.  She and I have decided to make a quilt for someone.  We are making it with a four week deadline. 

 

I hadn't seen her for about two weeks so I brought down some of what I have been working on.  (We like show and tell.)  I brought down my two Spring 2017 Doileys by Renulek (among other things).  I had the White one with #20 row 8 finished and was 2/3s the way around row 8 with the Latte Foam #40.  After show and tell, we went to the planning of the quilt.  

 

The pattern layout idea was already done, the material had arrived and was prepped.  Now we discussed the making of the blocks and dividing of the material and tasks.  My tatting was getting buried under material.  When I arrived home I realized I didn't have it.  I called Kathy and yes, it had been buried.  What is a woman to do? 

 

MAKE A SANDWICH!

 

A Farmer's Wife Quilt Sandwich that is.

 

 



 

 My Most Handsome helped me to empty the dining room of almost everything.  Then he left for the gym (smart man).  I laid down the batting and painter taped it to the floor, then the batting and then the quilt.  Made sure that it was as smooth as I could get it.  Then carefully, beginning in the middle, pinned it.  Now I have a FWQ Sandwich.  I have an idea on how I will quilt it and what thread color I will use.  Just need to agree with my mind.

 

Kathy came up on Thursday and my tatting came home.  Both doileys are now finished and today I begin row 9.  That looks as if it will be a slow row.  The #20 is 11.5 inches and the #40 is 10 inches across.

 

 

 

The quilt Kathy and I are working on is doing well.  We put the blocks together Thursday and she put the borders on to make it a flimsy.  We will sandwich it tomorrow.  Then, after we decide on how the quilting will be, I will be machine quilting it.  Pictures will come.