Currently tatting...

Once again I was taken captive by an antique pattern found online. What I like most about it is that it's SQUARE! I've seen my fair share of rounds and ovals, but never squares. I am trying to think of a way to attach all of them and make a 'quilt' of sorts. We'll see. The pink and white was my first go round that I did in a size 10. I make myself laugh because I always try a new pattern in a large size and gradually get smaller. The other square is in a size 20 and that's the size that the rest of 'em will be in. I'm going to make all of the squares in white and all the 'Lizbeth colors that I have. I especially can't wait to see how some of the variegateds come out.

I just have to share that on Saturday our family is going to a Micheal W. Smith concert in Dekalb IL!!! My Dad's bank has a suite at the NIU Convocation Center and we got it for the night! This will be Micheal W. Smiths kick-off for his world tour and we are so blessed to be going. It's going to be a fantastic evening!

I have been tatting! I promise!

OH MY! how I fell short of updating ya'll on here! So sorry! It's funny though, I was looking at my Blog Archive and it's sad how once school started, the number of posts have dwindled. However! I got to tat today!! I had started an antique, square pattern a while ago in a size 20 and never finished. Now, I pulled out some size 10 and went to town. It's in a pretty white and pink thread and I'll have pictures up soon. We got a new digital camera, so I'll have to see if I can do something pretty with it.

We were scheduled to have our monthly tatting get-together today but it was the first day in about a week or more that it wasn't raining! So I opted to stay home and help out the family divide a horse-paddock for our boys. The weather was absolutly beautiful! Here are some pictures for you:

Dad and I placing the T-Posts

Me and my beloved sister, Lea

Mommie and me

Harvest time!

October - harvest time. Truly one of my favorite times of the year. It's crisp outside. The trees are starting to break out into colors of oranges and golds. And best of all...the farmers are starting to bring in the crops. Everywhere there is a distant hum of a combine and tractor working together to bring in the bounty.




Our pumpkin stand had it's grand opening last weekend (yes, it's been that long since I've posted any news, my apologies) and I am proud to say that we made a profit! Small, but a profit none-the-less. We are hoping that the weather warms up, and CLEARS up for this weekend, as we will be open as well.


So this is a tatting blog, right? and you are thinking "why does she keep putting pictures of pumpkins on her blog?!" Well, now I shall combine the two in a way that will make you smile:

TA~DA!!! I saw this pattern online and HAD to tat up a pumpkin! It adorns the empty space near our new 'puter, as we kindly call our new computer. It's so cute that I just might have to tat up a whole patch of 'em! :) My dad's birthday, is *ah-hem* 50th birthday, is coming up this weekend and we are gonna celebrate this weekend!

I have so many projects that I've started over this week that I've been off of school! So there are like 4 UFO's (Un-Finished Objects) floating around my desk. AAHH! I still have the weekend...I do have a pendent pattern in the works with a color combination that I'm not quite sure about, but we shall see. The pattern is Yarnplayer's Dream and I haven't done it in a while so doing it in the car was fun! LOL! I had a very special day with my Mom though! I just have to share! It was rainy, chilly and windy so my Mom and I headed to Countryside Gardens! We walked around the outside Quonsets and it was so fun to look at what systems they are using. I got to tell my mom a little bit about what we are doing in my Horticulture classes. A good friend gave me a gift card ages ago so I used it today - I bought 5 cactus/succulent plants and the soil to make my own desert! So even though it was miserable outside my mom and I sipped coffee and had an awesome afternoon together. Gosh I LOVE MY FAMILY! :D

Soon that note, my friends I bid thee well. Have a great weekend and I'll talk to you later!Much love from the Midwest tatter,

Allison

Hello October!

Last weekend was Belvidere's Pioneer Festival and I had such a nice time. There were 4 of us there from my lace guild (myself, Marleen, Judy and Kathy) and did we have the perfect weather!! It was sunny and in the low 70s with a pretty good breeze. So much so, that every now and then someone's bobbin lace pillow would almost get blown away! This festival is about 3 or 4 times larger then Genoa's so we got to share our lace with a lot of people. Not to mention there was great food and awesome things to see.

The picture on the bottom is my version of the pic on the top. I am using a dark purple Lizbeth with the variegated 'Caribbean' from Sarah. I'll be finishing that doily up over the weekend, along with a couple of reports that I have to get done.

I love the expression on people's faces when they recognize what I am doing, and say with a sweet tone of remembrance "My mother (or my aunt, or my grandmother) used to do that for hours!" One lady thought it quite exciting that someone my age was taking up the craft to 'keep it alive.' I always really appreciate comments like that. It makes me feel like I am part of a bigger picture. I was writing a letter to a good friend in New York and we were talking how there is a 'turning of the tide' so to speak. I called it a quiet revolution. I don't know, I just feel like there is a void in the world and we are desperately longing to fill it with 'something.' Or maybe people are tired of the way they are living and want to get back to the old ways, how life was lived back then. Now, everyone thinks that the void should be filled by something different. Maybe it's material possessions for some or to others it could be having many friends and being super popular. There are even heavier things that could fill the void, but I am pretty sure that I know what this world needs. A song by the band Casting Crowns called 'What this world needs' sums it up pretty well:

What this world needs is not another one hit wonder with an axe to grind

Another two bit politician peddling lies

Another three ring circus society

What this world needs is not another sign waving super saint that's better than you

Another ear pleasing candy man afraid of the truth

Another prophet in an Armani suit

What this world needs is a Savior who will rescue

A Spirit who will lead

A Father who will love them in their time of need

A Savior who will rescue

A Spirit who will lead

A Father who will love

That's what this world needs

What this world needs is for us to care more about the inside than the outside

Have we become so blind that we can't see

God's gotta change her heart before He changes her shirt

What this world needs is for us to stop hiding behind our relevance

Blending in so well that people can't see the difference

And it's the difference that sets the world free

That void can only be filled by a certain Heavenly Someone that some people have chosen to completely shut out. How He desperately longs for those who reject Him and how gracious He is when we come back to Him! For me, it's a daily choosing between what the world has to offer, which are things that will pass away, or what Jesus offers, which is eternal. So for the month of October, when the trees display thier prettiest of colors, when Creation praises Creator, let's daily remember that we mean so much to our Lord. Let's live to the fullest everyday!

Blessing for the weekend!

Allison

Getting ready!

Hello everyone! Our home computer finally bit the dust. We have been replacing hard drives left and right and on Friday morning it blew the motherboard; it wouldn't even turn on! So we are shopping for a new home PC and I am updating my blog and keeping up with email at our local library. So tomorrow is Belvidere's Pioneer Fest and I'll be there from 10-5 tatting with my lace guild. I am so excited! I'm going to be working on a doily that Sarah made a while back in a dark red. Mine will be in the Caribbean variegated and a dark purple. (The pattern is called 'Robins round robin or something...) I'll take plenty of pictures and let you know how it goes.

My mom and sister are at a Horse Fest up North today so it's just me and dad on the farm. We harvested a wheelbarrow full of mini-white pumpkins this morning as our farm stand is opening next weekend! Something else exciting!
Well, I have to run home to bring the horses in so I'll catch you all later!

My First Necklace!

Here it is! I had an idea, conjured up a pattern, and *Ta-Da* my first piece of tatted jewelry. It's just a simple line of split rings with beads and a pretty charm. I'm going to wear it to school tomorrow so we'll see if it stands the test of the 'outside world!' It turned out to be just the right length too!




My weekend outside of my tatting adventures consisted of 50 quarts of home-made apple cider! We harvested 7 bushels from our two trees, chopped the apples, poured 'em all into the press and out it come! Well, lot's of test to study for this week so sorry that this is so short!
Talk to you all later,
Allison