One of Those Days

Pearls & Lace

Good afternoon, dear readers.

Yesterday, it was the stress and headache of home repairs and today is the dreaded recovery.  My tatting mojo has taken a vacation!  Each time I picked up my needle & thread things just did not work out.  I simply did some mindless foundation tatting to get through the day since designing was not in the cards.

 

Still, I hope to have something really neat to unveil later this week!  I'm working on a special project that is almost to the point where I can share.  There are just a couple more rounds to go before it's ready.

 

Jim will be home soon and I am looking forward to a quiet evening with my husband.  I plan to have something to tease you with on tomorrow's post!  Have a great day & until tomorrow~

Happy Tatting!



Home Repairs

Pearls & Lace

Good afternoon, dear readers!

You know its not going to be a good day when you wake-up to take the dog out & your feet squish on the carpet.  It turns out that the water line to the icemaker on my refridgerator had a pin hole in it.  Well, Jim fixed that then we discovered that the water valve on it was cracked.  A new valve is almost $200.  We shut off the water to the fridge and decided to save up for a new one rather than fork over the money to repair a 15 year-old appliance.

 

I am still steam cleaning the carpet as the leak had spread to the doorway of our bedroom and totally soaked the carpet.  Needless to say, I got ZERO tatting done today.  Bummer.

 

Here's hoping that tomorrow will be a much better day with no wet, squishy carpet or appliances to fix!  Hope your day has gone better than mine.  Until tomorrow~

Happy Tatting!

 

Working Working

Pearls & Lace

Good afternoon, dear readers!

I have been busy working on a couple of design ideas today.  Rosie Fey has done her part by snoozing either in my lap or at my feet.  I do not have anything I am ready to show you yet, but am making progress.

 

We plan to have a quiet weekend at home.  Jim will be carving in his shop and I plan to tat away on several projects.  I also plan to take some images of a few recently finished pieces for your viewling pleasure next week.  We are supposed to have a chance of rain, but hey, this is Louisiana- you never know what the weather is going to do.  Let's hope I have nice enough weather for a photography session.

 

The timer just went off in the kitchen, so I had better go put together the chicken enchiladas for this evening's supper and put the pinto beans in the food processor.  I like my refried beans to be smooth!  The salsa is freshly made and so is the queso.  I'm getting hungry describing it all!

 

May you have a wonderful weekend full of creativity.  Until next week~

Happy Tatting!


More Silk Thread

Pearls & Lace

Good afternoon, dear readers!

The other silk threads arrived this morning and I have been playing with them.  There are several different sizes and I must say that so far, I am impressed.  They do not want to twist up whilst tatting and do not slip too bad when forming stitches.  Here are some images of my new play pretties:

 

 

I LOVE this turquoise silk!

 

 

This pink is nice, too.

 

 

Ecru and grey are always good basic colors to have on hand.

 

 

And here are some other samples in various sizes I've not yet gotten around to trying.

 

Playing with new threads is one of my favorite things to do.  Guess I'll be occupied this evening while watching Swamp People!

 

Jim will be home soon and I haven't even thought about supper yet.  I think it's time for me to mosey on into the kitchen and see what I can whip up so I can return to my thread playing.  Have a great day & until tomorrow~

Happy Tatting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Test Tatting with Silk Thread

Pearls & Lace

Good afternoon, dear readers!

It started out as a dreary, cold & rainy day here in the Piney Woods.  My morning was spent with a warm puppy in my lap whilst I read a Poirot mystery on the Kindle.  It was very relaxing.

 

I did do a bit of test tatting.  In the last pearl order, the company I deal with sent a complimentary spool of silk.  Quality pearls are always strung with silk, and since they know I work with silk thread, I was sent a spool to play with:

 

 

The thread is a lovely icy blue and tats up beautifully!  I have requested samples in various sizes and colors to see how I like the thread as a whole.

 

I've almost finished the Spring Blossom pendant, but still have a bit left to go.  Perhaps I'll get it finished this evening.

 

Well, the sun is finally out and Rosie Fey is really ready for a long walk in the woods.  Have a wonderful day & until tomorrow~

Happy Tatting!

 

 



Spring Blossom In Progress

Pearls & Lace

Good morning, dear readers!

Since the design I was working on gave me such fits, I have decided to put it aside for a while.  The top drilled teardrop pearls are heavy and are causing the tatting to twist and contort in ways I do not like.  I need to rethink this design and tweak the foundation.  For the time being, it will reside in the "box of ideas", which is a lovely decoupaged box that I toss design ideas that don't quite work until I feel a solution is at hand.

 

BUT- my mojo has returned a little bit!  I am working on a pendant design based on the Winter Blossom foundation with rice pearls.  This is where it is at this morning:

 

 

I'm calling this Spring Blossom.  The cute little blue button will be added to the center with a rice pearl accent after I tat the last rounds.

This is how it started:

 

 

Very simple, but when working with cultured pearls, you must remember that they are heavy and require support.

This is the first round:

 

 

As you can see, I made a point to tat closely to the rice pearls for support. 

 

I hope to get this pendant finished today and begin another project that has been floating around in my head for a few days.  Rosie Fey is giving me her pitiful puppy look, wanting to go for her walk.  Guess I'd better take care of her then get back to it.  Have a great day & until tomorrow~

Happy Tatting!

 

 

 

 

 

 



Playing Hooky

Pearls & Lace

Good evening, dear readers!

The counts for the next FREE pattern simply were not working out.  I decided I really needed to take a break.  It was so pretty today that I took the top off of the Jeep, secured Rosie Fey in her vehicle harness and went to the local park.  We went for a nice hike on the wooded trails through out the park, had a picnic lunch and drove around.  With such a lovely day to play hooky, I hope that my creative mojo has been recharged! 

 

Here is an image of some of the wildflowers at the edge of the pond in the park-

 

 

There were some other tiny pink flowers blooming, but I could not get a decent image of them.

 

There is another good thing about today- my pearls arrived!!!  I've been playing with them this evening, dreaming of how I will use them in designs.

 

Well, I am ready for a bubblebath, then I just want to curl up with Jim, Rosie Fey & my Kindle.  Have a wonderful evening and let's hope the mojo is flowing so I can get those counts right!  Until tomorrow~

Happy Tatting!