Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Here is our Christmas 2008 photo! Don't you love it when your hair does something right! HAHA! We had a Youth Leader's Dinner tonight so we got to dress up and we had fun too!
Tomorrow morning we will be leaving to visit my family so I'll be away for a couple weeks. I can't wait to see my sister and my Dad! We are taking our dogs with us too so it will be a fun road trip, pray for clear roads there and back! LOL Upon seeing the low gas prices last week we spontaneously decided this trip! It's so fun to get to be spontaneous sometimes! LOL
I have a couple projects that will be late Christmas gifts since I know for a fact they won't be done and sent on time. That is okay but I want to get them finished ASAP when I get back home. Okay off I go! I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well anytime snow falls in the desert it is monumental! So when we woke up this morning and saw TONS of snow we had to go outside and play! Just yesterday our garden was blooming as normal we've not even had our first frost yet (very odd) so we knew something big would probably happen when it did hit. Still I would never have guessed it would have been this much snow!

We bundled up and went outside to take photos and build a snowman! Then we went for a walk and lucky for us we got to walk in all untrodden snow on our route!

Doesn't he look like the snowman from the movie Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? I love his little chin that just happened to be there.
Then when we got back from our walk in a wonderful winter wonderland we decided to build another snowman for the front yard!

Cute eh? With a pile of snowballs at the ready for him too!

Christmas Tradition with Wendy

This year I made a tatted ornament for our tree so I wanted to make one with tatting for my traditional ornament exchange with my dear friend Wendy!
You can click on any of the photos to see them closer! This first photo is for size reference it is a small red ball ornament that I attached tatting and beading to.

The pattern is #31 in the book Mini Tats in white size 10 DMC Cebelia thread. The beading is not a part of the tatting but separately sewn on. I glued using E6000 on small spots to attach the tatting to the ball and then took beading thread and needle with the tiny size 15 beads going along the picots. I used pearl white, clear, and gold beads along with some Czech crystal drop beads. I just love how it turned out!

Christmas Gifts: Tote Bag

Here is another Christmas Gift finished! This one I made from reclaimed fabric of dresses! One of the dresses I found was a patchwork design and I thought it perfect! I added a reclaimed wedding dress lace applique and a heart charm to the front of the bag.

Here is the back. The handles are just some trim!

Here is a close up of the reclaimed wedding lace applique with the heart charm that I hand sewed on.
I hope the recipient loves it! I wanted it to be simple, pretty, and useful.

YAY Christmas is coming!

I put up my Christmas tree with all my favorite decorations and my precious ones that my friends have made and some that I've made myself too! Click on the photo to see it better!

This year I made a snowflake for our tree! I used plain ol' white glue to stiffen, this one won't be an heirloom...just a for fun one! I'm planning on topping a little ball ornament with tatting for my yearly exchange with Wendy!

2008 Christmas Gifts: Pink Slippers

Well I was looking for ideas for embellished Christmas gifts when I saw these slippers at WalMart! I thought those are prime for anything I'd want so I grabbed 2 pair!

I wanted to do tatting so I looked in my Mini Tats book and worked up this pattern in a variegated Olympus thread.

I sewed on the tatting to the center of the bows and added gold crystal Czech beads.
I'm still finishing up the green pair stay tuned...

Herb Towels: Parsley Finished

I've finally finished the Parsley Towel in the set for my Dad's Christmas gift!
It was worked mostly in stem and straight stitches! I'm glad that this now completes the Herb Set! One gift down...how many more to go? LOL (and I started early this year)

Update

Well I better give you all an update before you start to worry! LOL
Dr. Dorr said Gerard's surgery went perfectly! He stayed one night and was released on Wed. and we came home that night. He's been doing very well and was able to leave with only a cane to aid walking. He is following Doctors orders and putting his legs up and icing as well as all the exercises and walking they prescribed. He says the hip pain as it was before is gone and he is only feeling the sore muscles and incision pain now and says it's not near as bad as the normal pain he used to feel!
I've taken some photos of projects and hopefully I'll get to start blogging them now that things have settled down.

What's going on...

Well I thought I'd write a little post just to let everyone know what's been going on. I've just been terribly busy busy busy!!! We are leaving today for Gerard's hip surgery and will not be back until Wednesday night. It's way cool because of the new ways they do hip surgery are way better than they used to be, no cutting muscle! Dr. Dorr is one of the leading people for it too so it's way cool that he is doing the surgery. So Gerard will be walking right away, even doing stairs! Since we live so far away from the hospital we will be staying in a hotel the night before (tonight) and come home Wed. If you want to know more info here is the link to the Dorr Arthritis Institute.
I have been working on projects and I hope that after we are home from the surgery I'll have time to finally take photos and blog what I'm up to!

Pink Sleeve Edging

Well, I've again decided to take on a personal project of tatting an edging for my clothing and I had the idea to edge a dark pink shirt that has bell sleeves at the cuffs...have I taken on too much...not sure but the cuffs are around 17 inches each! SO I calculated with size 80 thread in this simple ring and chain pattern that I will need about 60 repeats for one sleeve. In the photo you see is 20 repeats, I am marking every 10 with a piece of yellow thread (size 10). I've worked on it while in waiting rooms but my hands get mad at me quickly it seems. My hands seem to be extra sensitive to thread, the size 80 always feels like it is cutting my skin so I can only tat so long before being sore, but the larger threads are no better and rub me raw! Hate that! I love to tat and I wish it would just be comfortable to tat endlessly! LOL

Purple Heart Necklace

Here is another Peacock Heart by Birgit Phelps for another birthday girl in our small group! I used a variegated purple DMC tatting thread, stiffened with white glue and a bail and chain attached!

Birthday Gift Tatted Bookmark

My fellow leader Terri who we both lead our small group at Uturn (youth group), is having her birthday so I wanted to make her something special. She is not the jewelery type so a heart necklace wouldn't have been the most thoughtful. So I thought about what I could do and a bookmark for the books we use to teach lessons to our small group would be useful! So I searched for a sweet simple flower pattern and found this one. The pattern is not the best written pattern out there and I was confused while tatting it so I ended up with a "variation" that I repeated so it is continuous LOL! The thread I used was size 80, one a solid green DMC, and the variagated blue is Lady Shuttle Maker's "Helms Deep". I love that color way she made and the varigation is short and I love that it moves faster than the typical varigation!

I attatched a the tatting to a ribbon with fabric glue since it would have been unstable as a bookmark by itself with my *cough* mess-up-variation. When the book is closed it just looks like a ribbon but...

When the book is open you see the little vine of flowers!

I think she's gonna love it! Now I want one! LOL

A Piece of Heritage

I've had this stashed away in my "To Do Basket" as an idea for a crazy quilt gift for my Mother-In-Law. It is her only photo of her mother (the woman sitting) who died when she was born. So this photo is very special to her. I've been wanting to do this project for some time and today I got the motivation to do it! I will not use the glass in the final project just the frame.

Here is the pieced project! I used colors of gold and I want it to have an old fashioned feel to it. The lace at the top is antique that Jill gave to me! I think it adds to the feel of it!

I also used a print and put the words "the greatest of these is love" in just the right spot! The silkie was made from the old photo that I fixed in Photo Shop since it had a big crack in it before and then Pat Winter made it into the silkie for me!

Herb Towels: Sage Finished and Parsley Started

Well this weekend sitting in a waiting room for 3 hours I finished up Sage! LOL I did stem stitch and then straight stitches for the whole motif and for the leaves and stem I used 1 strand of a green and 1 strand gray and put the two colors together to give the effect that sage gives. Sage kinda changes color from silvery to green so that was my solution to stitch it up as.

Click on the photos to see them closer up. Also the Parsley got stitched in in stem stitch but it wasn't me who did it! We had taken Stephanie (14) with us and she was waiting with me and as she watched me work on Sage she started to get curious (nothing else to do ya know her cell phone wasn't working aka no texting LOL) and she wanted to pull the needle through when I made stitches! LOL So I let her and then it started into more, she asked if she could try doing the stitch!!! So I let her, and then I asked her if she would like to work on one since I had Parsley with me and to my surprise she said yes!!! I didn't have a second hoop but I showed her how to hold it in her hand and stitch anyway. She finished up Parsley for me! After finishing she realized that she had some stitches that were looking funky and I told her they are okay that some tacking will put them back in place but she didn't want to do that (and in all fairness she had been working on it for at least an hour maybe longer) and wants me to do it. So I'll tack the spots that need tacking and finish up Parsley. It was fun to teach her though! LOL At one point after getting a new piece of thread I had told her she needed a knot at the end before she started and she exclaimed "there's too many rules" to which I replied "well if that's too many rules I don't know what to tell you, you can try and stitch witout a knot but this is what happens" and I took a stitch and pulled it though and as the end came right out I said "OH I can't make a stitch!!! There's no knot!!!" LOLLLLL Which sent her into a fit of giggles and having made my point she didn't fuss about the steps I was taking her though! LOL

Green Heart Necklace

All the girls at Uturn (youth group) just ooo and ahh over the heart necklaces, and since we started small groups me and the other leader for our small group decided to use them for birthday gifts for our girls along with a journal. This one is for a young lady who loves green! Our small group name is Love Out Loud with the verse 1Cor. 16:14 "Do everything in love." So the hearts are fitting gifts.
I used Yarnplayer's size 30 "Forest" thread! I loved how the veriagation was shorter distances than other kinds and I like how it turned out. Although I think I like the pendants in size 80 thread better but I didn't have any in dark green at the time but...heehee any excuse to buy more thread right? LOL So I ordered me up some more colors of size 80! So it seems I'll be making these regularly! Unless I find another small heart pattern I love just as much, this one seems faster to do than most. I enjoy how I can tat it up in a day and stiffen it the same day.
I also used a normal 18 inch chain this time, I want those friendship necklaces I made before to keep their specialness. (By the way both girls wear them everyday!!!)
Pattern is Peacock Heart by Birgit Phelps

Herb Towels: Thyme Finished

I've finally finished the Thyme towel now I have 2 more in the set to go! I started working on Sage, but it seems that I enjoy working on these towels in the car so every car trip I get a little more done! LOL

9 Year Anniversary Getaway and Mountian Finds

Since I wasn't feeling well on our actual anniversary (4 Sept.) we waited to do a getaway till I felt better. So this weekend we went up to Crestline and stayed at one of the best places we've found! It's a little place called North Shore Inn! We got upgraded (military discount) to a room with a fireplace and it was so fun! There was sparkling cider waiting in our room when we arrived too! We also shopped around the mountains the next day too! We started in Crestline, then went to Lake Arrowhead then onto Big Bear! It was great to get to drive around and stopping at shops we saw! Here's some of my finds!

The organic tea, tea cup, vintage jewelery, lace runners, and salt & pepper shakers were all from Crestline shops. The red handled sissors, fat quarter (butterfly made from flowers print) and the iron on pattern came from a shop nearing Lake Arrowhead. Lastly the beautiful tea pot and beads were found in Big Bear! And overall lots of window shopping was done! LOL
We also stopped by the Mill Creek Manor Tea Room to check it out, it was closed but we got to see inside and it is one place I'll be planning a trip to! That tea room is SO CUTE! Can't wait till we get a chance to go there!

Herb Towels: Thyme

I started working on the Tea Towels in the car for my Dad's Christmas gift! I'm just using basic stem stitch, but I wish I had done the work in chain stitch. Maybe I'll do one of the others in chain stitching.

Little Pink Tatted Heart Necklaces

Here are the finished necklaces!!! They are SO SO SO CUTE! I stiffened the hearts and attached a bail and then put them on the 16inch sterling silver heart chains! I put them in little white organza drawstring bags and gave them to the girls last night at youth group! They LOVED them! I was so thrilled at their reaction, I'm telling you it was what you hope for when you make something like this as a gift! They adored the hearts and the chain too and put them on immediately and showed everyone all night! They told me that they were looking for "best friends" necklaces but hadn't found anything yet and that these were perfect!

Little Pink Tatted Hearts

I finally got around to tatting up that second heart. Click Here for all the info I posted with the first one. I did them both the same even trying my best to get the variegation to match! I think I did pretty well! I can see differences in the heart though but I doubt the girls will see them.

As you can see they are very very very small but adorable! Now I just need to stiffen them and add a jump ring to the top! I even picked out a cute chain to put them on that is hearts for the links!!! I have to wait for the heart chains to arrive in the mail to see if they will be perfect together though.

Pillow Sham Embroidery Finished

I've got all the embroidery on the Pillow Sham all finished!!! Now I just need to launder it and it will be ready to send off! Boy'o'boy did I do a lot of lazy daisies!!! LOL

Little Pink Tatted Heart

This heart is Peacock Heart by Birgit Phelps in size 80 DMC tatting thread in variegated pink thread. It is very small about the size of a quarter! I decided to make matching tatted hearts for 2 girls in our youth group that are very best friends but one of them is moving away! So I thought it would be nice to have a little something to remember. I know what it's like to have to move away and to have friends move away being that I was a military child! I'm thinking of stiffening them and adding a jumpring at the top so that they can wear them as pendants.

Here you can see it in size reference to the clover shuttle and the size 80 ball.

Thought I would share with other tatters my idea for holding the ball while tatting with it. I put the ball in one of those little organza favor bags, cinch it up, and then put the ribbon handles over my wrist! It's perfect! And they come in different sizes so the small ones are good for size 80 and the larger bags are wonderful for the larger balls of thread. I've had the idea to add a little silk ribbon embroidery and/or tatting to a few and put them up for sale in my etsy shop but I just haven't gotten to it yet!

Progress on Pillow Sham Gift

I got to work on the Pillow Sham that will be a birthday gift for my sister finally! I finished filling in the stems and leaves, and I also added light purple french knots to the center of each flower. I Stem stitched in the heart and key with straight stitch accents in the shading areas. Now it's almost complete all I have left is the ribbon and the petals of all the flowers!
Click on the photo to see it closer.

New Gift Projects

I started on some gifts! I made some Herb Patterns into iron-on transfers using Sulky's iron-on transfer pens and applied them to some 100% Egyptian Cotton flour sack towels. These three will be a Christmas Gift for my Dad!

This cute pattern I also used the Transfer Pens to create an iron-on and also added more of the flowers around the design! This is a moss-green flannel pillow sham that will be for my Sister's birthday. I'm using colors that will match with the monogrammed pillowcase I had made for her Christmas '06. I've already started working on it filling in the stems and leaves of the flowers. I just love using the Q-snap hoop/frame!

Happy Little Tatted Clouds

I've tatted up some very tiny clouds in size 80 DMC tatting thread for and exchange with Simona! Simona is going to add them onto a landscape block that she's working on! The clouds are formed using Mary Konior's Chain Reaction edging pattern worked in small bits to become clouds.
I left the tails unhidden purposefully since they will be added to a crazy quilt block the tails will be brought to the back of the work with a needle and sewn on by hand. It's logical to do it that way so that there are no uneven stitches from trying to hide ends within the work thus resulting in nicer looking tatted clouds. This is how I do all my tatted pieces that will be attached to crazy quilting, if the piece is to stand on it's own then I hide the tails in the work.
I hope you love the happy little clouds Simona and I can't wait to see your landscape completed!

Heart for Elizabeth: Applique Complete

Well here is the Heart all finished into an applique! If you want to see more info on my progress creating it Click Here. Also info on how I turned it into an applique is Here.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!
Ephesians 3:14-19
"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge–that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Heart for Elizabeth: Embellishment Finished

Here is the Heart with the embellishment all finished! Here is the before embellishment post.

This little Tatted Cross that I tatted in a variegated size 80 DMC tatting thread is a pattern that Elizabeth Zipay created and shared on her blog. The pattern is intended for a larger thread size so it was a little difficult to do in size 80 but I did it AND doing it in "front-side/back side" tatting! The tiny little cross is only 1 inch from top to bottom!
I also did two seams with feather stitch in green floss and size 15 seed beads in gold.

In this area I added some lace to a seam with some flower sequins with gold seed beads and also stem stitched the world "Loved" in variegated rayon thread (which was a pain to do it in!!!) and added a little gold dragonfly bead.

Here I took green bugle beads and sewed them on in the shape of an "E" and added a tatted doodle flower that I just made up with the left over thread on the shuttle from tatting the cross and I sewed a gold bead to the center. A basic rings only starting with 10-5 then onto 5+5-5 and ending 5+10 to total 5 rings leaving no space between rings. Simple but cute.

Here I cut out a rose shape from some pale green vintage lace and added heart sequins with milky seed beads.
Click Here to see the finished Heart Applique