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.