It's Beginning to Feel Like Spring!

...or not, considering that it was only about 33 degrees when we got up this morning!  However, I've seen a few trees and garden plants beginning to bud out, so I have high hopes of warmer temperatures in the next couple weeks!

In the meantime, I now have six patterns complete and ready to submit for Palmetto Tat Days 2012 (Blast From the Past), and contemplating a seventh: one which I've submitted for the last two years but which was never selected.  I understand that this year, in recognition of 10 years of Tat Days, for the first time ever, teachers may submit a pattern they've taught at a previous Tat Days! 

I had no pictures last time - this time I do, but they're teasers.  What in the world can they be??

Rainy-Day Tatting!

It's a rainy day in the soggy South!  At least we don't have to be anywhere this afternoon and there's plenty of food in the house, so the skies can rain all they like - we're all set!

There are so many things I want to tat!  I just got the first Tatting Times issue of 2012 and it has two lovely little hearts (one by Martha Ess!), a vintage insertion, and the "Golden Arches" doily, among other interesting stuff.  I also ordered Karey's new book, "Bouquet of Bookmarks," and can't wait to start one!

Work continues on patterns I hope to submit for teaching at Palmetto Tatters Guild Tat Days in September - "Blast from the Past."  I've got six patterns in various stages of completion, but they're all started.  Photographs are being taken.  Thread ends are being dealt with (where appropriate).  I really like all the patterns this year, but as I used one as my annual giveaway at work, I got a little tired of tatting it.  I tatted over a dozen and a half in about 10 days!

It's particularly fun to play with colors on several of them - I found several color combinations I would not have put together otherwise, but which really look good for these particular patterns.  Boy, this is tough to talk about without using pictures!

Kitchen sounds are telling me that dinner is about to be served.  It's lasagne, a huge frozen one from Aldi Foods, but it was already in the freezer and ready to go, and since it's raining out...

Bon appetit!

Goodbye, My Friend...

Others have said it far more eloquently than I; Gina has gone on and we're still here, missing her.  Many of us will mark her passing with a tribute to her memory on our blogs, and there will be a memorial gathering later this evening (as there was one earlier today). 

I ran across a quotation many, many years ago, which I can no longer remember verbatim, but the gist of which is, "The heart speaks loudest when the lips are silent."  I think that will work here as well.

What's New at Our House!

 Summertime...the buzz of insects, lawnmower sounds in the distance, a dusty lane and bare feet.  What could be more perfect?

EXCEPT...that it's not summer, and it's cold, and the dusty lane is not only a sea of mud, it's my flippin' driveway!!

Greenwood is a pretty good place to live.  We don't have a lot of crime, although occasionally we'll read about vandalism, as in rural mailboxes on posts used for batting practice.  We had some vandalism last fall, as in slashed tires.  This really hit home for us - our tires were included in the slashed roll call.  The right rear tire on each truck - yep, not driving either one of those babies!  We replaced David's a week or so afterwards (he rolled on a patch kit until then, which one of our wonderful neighbors shared) and I'm still rolling on my spare, which is a regular, full-size tire and not the cute little doughnut tire.

We quit parking on the street then, and started parking in the back yard - as close to the house as we could get.  And the grass was squashed, the dirt churned up, and when the winter rainy season started, --yuck! 

We are slowly (as we can afford to do it) modernizing our house, which dates from 1937 and was one of the very first houses in our subdivision, which was one of the very first subdivisions in the city.  Back then, this was way out in the country - now it's an "in-town" neighborhood, which is fine with us (city water and sewer, Internet, cable...).  We have now paved our driveway from the street to the foundation of the old garage, which had to be razed six or seven years ago.  We also have a parking pad that we can back into, making it possible to do a quick exit in the morning!

Our contractor is a gem - he even decorated the concrete entrance with a cobblestone pattern!

 So leaving for work in the mornings will be a little easier now, as well as parking after I get home.  And as we all know, every minute saved on stuff like this is another minute to spend tatting!

Have a lovely week, and I'll catch you later!

Super Tat Sunday!

So many of us look forward to this day - the friends gathered around the big screen, the snacks, the helpful advice, the triumphant moment when it's finished, the discussion afterward of what might have worked better, etc., etc.

Oh, wait -- did you think I was talking about football??? 

No, this is Super Tat Sunday - that one day every year when so many of us gather around the computer to see what snowflake we'll be tatting this year, and log in to the Online Classroom to work through it.  There are snacks, laughter, tense moments, fumbles, cries of victory...hmm, that does kind of sound like football, doesn't it?

I've been working on lessons I hope to submit to teach at Palmetto Tat Days this September - which got me to thinkin' (a great Southern expression) - IF you had not been able to take one of my past classes, which would you like to take if it were offered again?  Just curious.  I've taught a lot of classes - would a list help?

And when  not working on stuff for Tat Days, I've been playing Jane's 2012 TIAS game.  Such a cute little goat!  She is certainly talented as well as imaginative!  I just wish she could explain why, every time I pick up the goat to add the next part to it, I'm hearing "The Lonely Goatherd" in my mind!

Adjusting!

We've had several changes to learn to adjust to over the past several months.  First, my company merged with another and we've made adjustments to learn to be a single business entity.  It hasn't been bad at all - about the worst is learning to adjust to the new payroll schedule!  We're paid mid-month and end-of month now instead of every other week, (I'm going to miss those two months each year with three paydays in them!) and have to budget accordingly.

Yes, I'm saving up for Tat Days in September!!  I plan to apply to teach and have four patterns written and being tested, and a couple more that are in the final stages before I write them up.  There is a new angel for 2012, and a butterfly, a bracelet, a wreath, and a 2d bell.  Wish me good luck!

Other than working on tatting patterns, I bid on some 1940s Speedball pens and holders - it's a nice little set.  I was the only bidder, and my bid came in for less (including shipping) than a comparable modern set at Hobby Lobby.  I used to do some pen-and-ink work - we'll see if I still can!  I did buy a new bottle of ink in hopes of winning!

Is everybody working on Jane Eborall's Tat It And See for 2012?  Here's mine - there have been some very funny guesses as to what it is, but it now looks to be the other half of an animal.  David guessed a centaur, but I think he was pulling my leg! 

The top shuttle is one that was decorated by Hope Bates, whose shuttles I've shared before on my blog.  This one has a rose on the other side - it's pictured on the TIAS blog along about Day 3.  The other is a metal shuttle I bought from eBay last year. 

I didn't make any New Year's Resolutions this year, but I hope to blog a little more often.  Some folks find the time to blog daily - I can't, although I've tried - but I'm going to try hard to blog at least once a week starting now! 

I Make Plans - Other People Change Them For Me!

And so it goes...the story of my life.  No new bracelet to show you, in fact, nothing at all (tatting-wise, that is)!  I fooled around with shuttles and thread for a couple of hours, with nothing to show for it but a couple of abortive attempts at a pattern I've been working on for this year's Tat Days.  I've kind of-sort of got the pattern written up, but it needs tweaking before I'd think about submitting it to teach.  Yes - it's an angel!

We did get out of the house for a bit - David gets cabin fever, while I'm content to sit indoors with my threads, shuttles, and needles.  I'm looking forward to springtime - windows open, warm, tatting in the porch swing.  Bring it on!!

Not exactly Fay Wray, is it?

Later today... We've only been past this Christmas display a couple of dozen times since it was set up by a local towing service, but never had the camera with us.  Today, after taking advantage of the 80% off (of whatever was leftover from Christmas, which wasn't much) at Hobby Lobby, we stopped back by home and picked up the camera and took a couple of pictures.  Yes, that's King Kong - usually he glowers at whoever pulls into the parking lot from his perch on the building's roof, but for Christmas they set him out near the highway on this lovely tractor.  Before Christmas, he was holding a candy cane - a BIG candy cane - but evidently the Grinch got it, and now he's got the Grinch!

I'm almost afraid to ask what they're going to display for Valentine's Day!

Is it just me, or is this a mixed message?