No Tea, No Wine, No Tatting

I missed tatting on Tuesday with Tea, on Wednesday with Wine, and on Thursday, Friday and today.  I actually accomplished some other things though.

I made a batch of Strawberry Rhubarb jam.

I did a little sewing.

 I spent some time with a cute 2-year old.

And I made a little humorous art when the bathroom toilet had to be replaced. [Imagine questioning look from hubby when I said, "Wait!  Don't throw that out!"]

It adds some color to the edge of the vegetable garden :)



I did some planting to brighten up the deck.

And added some color in the yard until the perennials start blooming.

And I finally accomplished some weeding.  Which is still not done.

But the weeding is never done.  Yuck.  I put the weeding off as long as I can. 

Weeds are easier to pull when they're a foot tall anyway. 

And tonite we'll watch some fireworks over the Mississippi River during the annual Father Hennepin Festival.  Father Hennepin crossed the river here in 1680, and was captured by Sioux Indians.  The area was settled as the City of Champlin, and they celebrate each year with this 3-day festival.  Father Hennepin was a priest and explorer who explored the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River.  He brought Niagara Falls to world attention, and our own St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis - which are the only waterfalls on the Mississippi River.

And that's why I STILL have not completed my doily. 

Soon.  Very soon.

Irises vs. Finches?

My funny "Aha!" moment story.  (Well, maybe it was a funny "Duh" moment.) 

I love seeing the birds in my yard, and I'm always trying to capture good photos of them.  So, when I saw 3 or 4 pretty little finches in my irises, I grabbed the camera to get a shot of them.

I slowly crept around so as not to scare them away.  Can you see the 3 finches?  I was rather proud that I was able to snap a few photos before they flew away.

Once they flew away, I went to see what they were so interested in.  Bugs in my flowers? 

Upon closer inspection, I found this:

Duh.  While I was snapping photos of these "cute" little birds, they were destroying the iris buds, pecking to get to the tender center.  And to think I was carefully sneaking around to not scare them away while they were actually ruining the flowers!  I guess the joke is on me.  If it's not the deer, it's the finches!

Handmade Tags

Since I usually make many things to give away as gifts, my daughter suggested I start putting tags in these handmade things.  The idea sort of inspired me, but I really don't make things for recognition, or to have a business. 

Still, the thought intrigued me, and what the heck?  It shows I put my heart into making something.  Besides, why not?  It gives each item a little extra flair :)

I started looking on Etsy for tags, (I LOVE Etsy) but then I thought, "hey, dum-dum, you make everything else, why not make your own?"  Besides, it would be a little more cost-effective, since I'm not doing it for business purposes. 

Easy-peasy.  Get some transfer paper to run through your printer and buy some twill tape by the yard.  Set up a Word document to print columns of whatever you want your tag to say, and print - remembering to print the MIRROR IMAGE. Iron onto the twill and Voila!  Tags for your handmade items.  Now I need to figure out some kind of tag for tatted items, since clearly I will not be adding this kind of tag!

So then I had an offer for FREE business cards.  (The F-word that gets me every time.)  So I thought again - why not?  I put my blog address and my email on them.  What for, I'm not sure, but they're fun to have.  

  What will I do with 250 business cards? 

Wine Wednesday?

I LOVE having vacation with no plans.  Just staying near home and doing whatever I want.  Well, anything I want within reason. 

Yesterday I took a little trip to visit my folks, who live about 2-1/2 hours away.  I brought along my Glee CDs and my new Adele CD, and sang at the top of my lungs for most of the way from eastern Minnesota to northwestern Wisconsin.  I brought tatting to share and we spent the day digging in fabric and thread and doing a little sewing. And yak, yak, yak.  It was a fun visit with no real schedule.

Mom quilts.  A lot.  All the time.  She makes beautiful quilts, and has an abundance of finished quilts and oodles of fabric.  (I follow in her footsteps with my oodles of thread.)  She was showing me some recent quilts, and I expressed my love of a Christmas lap quilt's fabric.  "The binding isn't done", she said.  "If you want to finish the binding, you can have it."  Didn't take me long to say "Really? Heck yeah, I'll finish it!"  It's a beautiful lap quilt that will be fun to have out at Christmastime.  I was really attracted to the lighter green for some reason - it adds a shade of color that isn't typical of Christmas.

And it's quilted beautifully.  It will be a treat to get this finished - and better yet, I have until December to do it!

So, my doily needs finishing and I have hankies to tat edges for.  Not to mention some other various sewing projects and this quilt to finish.

 But hey, I'm on vacation and I can do anything I want. 

Right?

Maybe it's time to start Wine Wednesdays.

Progress

I am making progress on the Mary Konior Flowerpiece doily.  The pattern seems pretty straightforward and easy to follow - and I think I'm getting more confident in my tatting ability.

I was concerned that I couldn't get the chains very even, so I tried to be very conscious of my tension.  Improvement is always possible, but I am pretty happy with how the chains look.

The only thing I really wish I would have done is put Jane's "blipless join" to use on the chains. I don't like seeing those little blips!  Otherwise, I'm really quite thrilled at how this doily is looking.  And I do like the look of ecru thread with a color accent :) 

Being successful at a doily that I truly think looks nice and neat really makes me much more interested in trying more patterns. I really recognize the new confidence when I find myself saying "I should have" or "it would look better if".  Doily patterns are not looking so daunting anymore.

Next is a hanky edging - with beads!  I am forcing myself to finish this doily before starting anything else, however.  I really don't like having too many unfinished projects waiting for me - it's just too overwhelming!