A Week of Thanks

This is the week I spend with my Mom.  Every year the men in the family are deer hunting over Thanksgiving week.  This has been the norm for me all my life.  Others wonder why I "allow" my husband to be hunting over the holiday, but this is how I grew up.  I believe I've only ever seen my Dad once in my life on Thanksgiving.  It's the way we roll!

Mom always comes to stay for the week, and we do some Christmas shopping, visit quilt shops and go out to eat.  We visit with eachother and with Mom's sisters - for this one time each year we just bum around together.  This year hubby is home - only the 2nd time in 28 years he's missed "the hunt".  Being out of a job doesn't allow the annual camaraderie, but we are thankful nonetheless.  We have a roof over our heads, food in the fridge, we are healthy, and have fabulous family and friends.  

Mom stopped at her sister's on the way here, and my aunt sent two tatting shuttles for me.   My aunt always remembers that I tat, and forwards me anything to do with tatting.  These may have belonged to my great aunt, or even possibly my great-great aunt.  Not sure how old they are.

The first one is larger than a Clover, and marked with TRADE-Gloria-MARK.  I have never seen this before, but it seems like a wonderful shuttle to use.

The other one is this blue marbled one.

This one is marked Susan Bates WHITE DOT, and is marked PATENT APP'D FOR.  The ends are loose, or "sprung".  I haven't seen a shuttle like this before and haven't had much time to research it, but I did find a little information by Teri Dusenbury HERE.  I will have to do some more snooping on these shuttles when I have a chance - but these were a fun surprise!  

I also received a Secret Santa gift from the Intatters exchange from Alizandria!  Some lovely tatting, an ornament, and some thread and beads.  I haven't had an opportunity to take photos yet, but will post that next time.  It's so fun to participate in exchanges!

I have only finished this one snowflake - and with mistakes at that.  This will be Motif #5 of my 2nd 25-Motif Challenge.

Motif #5

Snowflake #7 

Festive Snowflakes and Ornaments

Blue variegated thread, size 20

Mom & I will NOT be found shopping with the maniacs at 3 am on Friday.  We will be snug in our beds until we are good and ready to hit the pavement.  No deal is worth fighting the crowds at that ungodly hour for us.  Will YOU be shopping?

Happy Thanksgiving :)

Let it Snow!

 I'm starting on snowflakes just in time - we had our first winter storm warning today, and have a sloppy 8 inches of heavy, wet snow on the ground.  Fortunately it's not a weekday, so the roads should be cleaned up by Monday morning's rush hour.

Motif #2 of my 2nd 25-Motif Challenge

Snowflake #4

Festive Snowflakes & Ornaments

Lizbeth Caribbean, Size 40

Significant Snowfall #1 of 2010

in Minnesota

There were a lot of cars in the ditch, but we still managed to meet for our first tatting get-together of the Twin Cities Tatters.  At least there are two of us interested in sharing techniques and proving that the lost art has been found!  We will be meeting the 2nd Saturday of the month beginning in January, and will always be prepared to teach beginners that want to learn, along with focusing on a specific technique.  If you are interested in joining us, email us at twincitiestatters (at) gmail (dot) com.  Today we accomplished a couple of butterflies for our business cards and enjoyed a lot of good conversation.  Snowbound in a coffee shop sounds pretty Minnesotan, doesn't it?

And, I forgot to post these bookmarks I finished for the Tatting Forums 'One-Bookmark-a-Month' Challenge.  I will count these as Motifs #3 and #4 of my 2nd 25-Motif Challenge:

Motif #3

Spiral Bookmark

Lizbeth Mocha Swirl and Mocha Brown, Size 40

Motif #4

Jon Yusoff's Two-by-Two Bookmark

Lizbeth Mountain Breeze and Off-White from the stash, Size 20

 

Next week begins the mad holiday rush at our house.  The men in the family go deer hunting in Wisconsin over Thanksgiving week.  My Mom comes to stay, and we shop and eat and visit and eat and shop and laugh and shop some more.  We get a start on the Christmas shopping and making our Christmas lefse, and we'll be sewing and tatting.  And so the season begins!