Off topic but I'm just so excited!!

For a while now I've been stressed about college decisions. My mom and I went to Rock Valley College where I was looking at a business degree for our farmstand/farmschool. I just didn't get real excited about it. So I've gone full circle now and have come back to Horticulture. I just love plants, Flowers, and gardening. My mom and I went to Kishwaukee Community College on Friday and I was so amazing! Kish has one of the best two-year Horticulture degrees in the nation. So I'm headed to Kish! Hurray! There are so many opportunities for me here and I am so excited! God is so good. Thanks for letting me share!! I can't wait!

Blocking and Starching!

Well I tried my hand at blocking and starching today. I found an old cardboard box and pinned my little creations down while they were still damp. Then when they were dry I sprayed the starch right onto them. So, I'll let them dry overnight and see how they look like in the morning. I wanted to do a test run before I did my sunflower. Thanks for all the tips guys!

3/31
Here they are!!

What to do?

Hey guys, got a question for ya: I made the sunflower doily below and I was wondering how do I make it flat? I scanned the picture so it's flattened by me pushing on the scanner. There is another round that can be added and maybe that will help, but what do you think?

Would starching be the best way to go? What is blocking again? I can't remember, we were talking about it at our tatting get together. Any suggestions??

Hello!

We had our monthly tatting get together yesterday and I finished 2 projects. It was so nice to see everyone again and we do have the nicest chats around our table. I'm on spring break so my goals is to finish the large *Be-Stitched* doily that I've been working on. I've also been making a ton of little beaded butterflies. I don't know what I'm going to do with them yet, but I can bang one out in about 15-20 minutes. They are so fun to make and picking out the bead colors are the best part! Pictures to come. It's a rainy/windy day here in Illinois so I'll upload them soon. Have a great week everybody!

Working on something different...

I've been working on something other than tatting recently, but I think you'll get a kick out of it anyway!
I have a subscription to MaryJane Butter's magazine and in this month's issue she had such a cool idea. In the magazine she took old cotton T-shirts, cut them into long, 1" strips, tied them together, then knitted them into a rug!! I about fell over when I saw this because my sister and I go through jeans like crazy here on the farm and Lea had saved all of hers. So I'm making a rug out of our old jeans! It's the coolest thing ever!!


I've also started on the ornaments for the craft fair and i think they'll be a big hit!




Gotta fly!

Craft Fairs?

Hey guys, I am going to be at a homeschool art fair at the end of April and I was looking through my patterns to see what would be a good sell. I'll probably do a ton of little butterflies (some with and without beads) and bookmarks. So have any of you sold your tatting creations at fairs? how much did you earn? what were your prices? just curious to see!

Tatting a 'wheel'

Hey, anybody every heard of tatting a medallion with a 'wheel' in it? I have a picture of one from an old book and am trying it out. I've replicated the pattern from the photo. (My computer is having issues, so I'll post pictures later) From the diagram it looks that you start it a center ring with very long picots. Then the next round attaches to the center, but you cross your picots. The effect is really cool!

3/29: Here is the picture! i forgot to add it! sorry!

A rainy day without my PC!

Hey all! On Saturday morning my computer crashed so I haven't been able to update my blog. The past couple of days has been so rainy and muddy that we could not be outside or play with our horses so all I did was tat! I got three pieces done and have made a lot of progress on two large doilies.

Yes! I am finally figuring out beads!!


*Be-Stitched* Doily

Two Colored snowflake

Sunflower

Bead picutres and current project

Here's the beaded project that we did on Sunday. I was a couple beads short so I had to tie it off early, but the bead effect is really nice. I'm going try some more snowflakes with beads.

This is my current project. The flower at the top will be repeated around the whole doily - it's going to look so pretty!

Hello again!

Our last tatting class was on Sunday and we started working with beads. It's going to take me a while to be able to it figure out. Tatting with two shuttles is easier then beads for me!! I've got 3 or 4 little projects going right now and will keep you all posted. Here is one that I've started:

Happy Tatting!