Fall to Winter in the Blink of an Eye!

Well!  We’ve gone from fabulous fall days to winter pretty quickly here in Minnesota!  Last weekend we were enjoying our sandals again, and yesterday we got SNOW.  Ugh - too early for that!  We were just enjoying Halloween decorations.

Our neighbors have a fantastic yard display, and they add to it every year.  This year they added a small airplane - we had to laugh when we saw the trailer pull up with that!  Anoka, Minnesota is considered the Halloween Capital of the World - and we are near Anoka.  The neighbors entered and won 1st place in the Anoka House/Yard Decorating contest - mostly bragging rights, but so fun!

The band plays and the fog rolls - and the cars pull up nightly to have a look!  Fun.  We go out to eat on Halloween - ha ha!

These photos were taken on Wednesday, and then the snow rolled in.

I’m still working on a size 30 Christmas ball cover, but have been sidetracked with another one of my kids’ 30th birthday quilts.  My son-in-law will be 30 in early February, so I’m getting that quilt done before the Christmas rush hits.  I can’t believe all 4 of the kiddos will be 30 in 2018 - I’m not older, so how can they be?  Ha! I haven’t gotten photos of that quilt yet - I’m still working on choosing coordinating fabrics.

And, another button was calling me.  This is a button made from an antler slice - fun to try working around the more oval shape.

Again - the color choosing of the beads and thread is my favorite part!  This thread is plain, but since I have a family of deer hunters, I used orange and a sort of “gunmetal” color beads.  Silly, but I knew what I meant :)

More Buttons

We are having a SPECTACULAR fall weather week here in Minnesota!  Upper 60’s and into low 70 degree temperatures along with beautiful fall color is a real treat - especially knowing that this is it until about April or May.  Sad, but true.  We know what’s coming.

I will get back to my experimenting with the beautiful Christmas ball ornaments, but I HAD to tat another button.  Mom gave me a little stash of pretty buttons to play with, and it’s about as addicting as ice drops for me - such a quick, easy tatting fix.

These beautiful leaves are dropping fast.  With rain in the forecast for the weekend, I’m thinking the trees are going to be bare and brown within days.  Must. Enjoy. 

Loving Fall but Thinking Christmas

I’m sure I’ve said it before, but FALL is my absolute favorite time of year.  Sweatshirt & jeans weather, still no winter coats to lug around - and watching the leaves change color is spectacular! I wish it lasted longer, but a little rain and wind and POOF! we have bare trees for a few months.

I’ve always admired Renulek’s beautiful tatting and patterns for doilies, Easter eggs and Christmas ornaments.  I’ve tried to cover Christmas ornaments, but they just never fit right - so I purchased a couple of Renata’s patterns.  My biggest problem is figuring out which size ornament will work with which size thread! Why is this so difficult for my brain?

This pattern is beautiful, though size 20 thread requires a huge ornament.  I usually tat fairly tightly, so I’m not convinced it’s my tension.  This ball is a bit larger than 3” diameter (it never says on the dang box!) and still not large enough for the tatting to fit nicely.

The bottom piece should also be further away so the bare thread can zig zag up and down.  I’m not getting nicely rounded chains either. The pattern does call for size 20 thread, but the ornament doesn’t look this big on the pattern photo. I need to ask Renata what size ornaments she uses.

Good thing I’m thinking about this EARLY - I need to try some smaller threads and practice some more to make these beauties before Christmas!