Christmas came early this year!

I'm sure many you know about the fabulous give-away at Yarnplayer's blog a while ago, which I won! With so many entries (well over a hundred!) I never expected to win, because my luck abandoned me several years ago. When I was little I always won something at lotteries, but not anymore... Well, I certainly won't complain again! :)

I was barely awake this morning when the doorbell rang, so I didn't bother to get up. My mother-in-law answered the door, and shortly after my boyfriend came in carrying a big box. That got me up in a hurry! I sat on the bed and unpacked all the things and squeaked like a child at Christmas! I've been doing the happy dance all week since last Friday :)

Here's what was in the package:

Marilee's latest book Up and Tat 'Em. I've been drooling over this for a long time and can't wait to try the patterns in it, especially the Atom pendant. Ooh, and the book is signed, too! I love it when my craft books are signed, it makes them extra special :)

A toy dump truck! I'm giving it away to a couple who are expecting a baby boy in March, even though he probably won't play with it for a while yet :)

Thread! Lots and lots :) Ten 50 yard skeins of her hand dyed thread: "Bluegreen Pastel"(40 yard skein) size 10, "Corsage" sizes 10 & 20, "Pizazz" size 20, "Summer Trail" sizes 20 & 80 (eek!), "Nectarine" size 30, "Peace" size 20 + corresponding solids in Light Pink and Light Yellow. A most awsome collection of colors! :)

Two new Clover shuttles and two steel crochet hooks, sizes 0.4mm and 1mm (12). The largest hook will be part of a Christmas present for someone who wants to learn tatting. I won't mention any names, in case people should read this blog by accident :)

And she even sent a Christmas card! With camels! My favorite animals in the world (after hedgehogs, of course!) :) Thank you so much for this wonderful gift, Marilee, I love it!

Now I only need to find something to tat with all this lovely thread! It has to be something special. What can you make with 50 yards of size 20 thread? Does the thread last longer in the smaller sizes? I'd hate to start something that I couldn't finish... Any suggestions? :)

Two Christmas presents :)

Wow! Can't believe it's been almost a month since my last post on this blog! November just flew by... I haven't really tatted much during that time, because I've been busy crocheting and making some patterns for the holidays that I wanted done before the beginning of December:

Well, life calmed down a bit when these Dudes were finished, and I've had time to make a few Christmas presents :) First I made a cell phone bling for my mother. She loves pink and purple, so I made a butterfly with Lizbeth 20 "Sea Shell" (#114) and added some pink beads for sparkle:

Haven't quite figured out what's the best way to attach the butterfly to the phone yet, so I have left the antennae uncut in case that works best. I'll have to see what I can find in the craft store tomorrow... The pattern is "Birte" from Adelheid Dangela's Tatted Butterflies.

One of my aunts said she wanted a beaded angel to hang in the window of their new cabin, but I couldn't find a pattern that made an angel large enough (and for which I didn't have to buy loads of expensive new beads), so I decided to tat one and add as many beads as possible:

I need to weave in the ends, but it is done. I may need to stiffen it with some glue to make it hang straight, because it's quite heavy with all those beads.  The pattern is Marjorie's Angel by Martha Ess, and the thread is Puppets Eldorado (size 10-20) in white. I strung the clear beads on the thread and tatted them in, while all the blue beads were added for the joins.  I decided to make some changes to the head and halo to avoid doing split rings. A couple more ends fo hide, but worth it! I'm quite pleased with how it came out, and I hope my aunt will like it too :)

Emptying shuttles

All my shuttles (all forty or fifty of them!) have thread on them from some project - I'm just useless at calculating how much thread I need and I always end up with way too much left on the shuttle. I needed some empty shuttles, so I sat down and made a few things from the little thread leftovers. I didn't want to join more thread from a ball, so I made up these things as I went, using rings only:

The black one is made with some Perle Cotton size 20 and green transparent seed beads. The blue & white is made with Flora 20, color #55. The tiny black & purple one is made with Valdani variegated (size 70/80) in "Black & Indigo". This is one of my favorite color combinations, and I really wish this thread would be thicker so I could tat with it more easily, I'm still not used to tatting with such thin thread. I don't know if many people have heard of this thread before, but I get it from Roseground. Check it out if you want :) The white pendant with green beads is made with size 40 thread, don't know the brand. The reason it's asymmetrical is simply that I ran out of thread and had to skip the final ring. I managed to open the last ring, but picking up the stitches proved far more difficult, so I gave up and decided to leave it as it is. Works well enough for a test design, right? :) It didn't come out well on the light background, so here's a better view of it:

The green pendant was an attempt to redo the design of the white one, but I ran out of thread even sooner, and it became a totally different shape. The thread is Coats Opera I think, size 20. I really like the designs of the two pendants, and I'm considering making them into earrings or something. That should solve some Christmas present problems :)

Some shiny new things, a tatted heart and a contest

The other day I got my first Tatsy shuttles. I ordered them from Snowgoose. I have seen on InTatters that some people have had some trouble with this store, but apart from one small issue, I had no problems with the man. The issue was that the store has listed this shuttle, which I really really wanted (and it was the main reason why I made the order in the first place), but I got an e-mail saying they are no longer available. Boo hoo :( Does anyone know where to get one or two of these? 

(Picture borrowed from the site) 

I've seen them around on people's blogs and wanted one for a long time...

Anyway, along with the unavailable Inox I ordered some Tatsys (Tatsies?) because I decided it was time I tried them out. I opened my package (a really cute little box that was just barely big enough), and my mouth just fell open... I have seen the size of these things on pictures, but when I held one in my hand I could only laugh! 

Seriously, how can anyone tat with these monsters? I think perhaps they can be good for tatting with rope or something :p Though I must admit, I bought them because I figured they would be good to use as ball shuttles, especially when the pattern requires the use of two shuttles only for small portions.

Also in the package was this little plain shuttle:

I had this in my shopping cart at one point, but I was so sure I had changed my mind and removed it before placing the order. Apparently I didn't :p On the site it's named "Perlac", but I think I've seen it labeled as something else on other sites. Who knows? Many different producers make the same shuttles in different countries, so...

And I've finished tatting something! A heart from Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns:

It has taken me a long time to do this, because I found it a bit confusing and frustrating. Why can't she put in the pattern when you need two shuttles? I started this when I was waiting at the doctor's office, and I only had one shuttle with me, so I had to do the shoelace thing to change directions of the chains, which made the chains all wonky and twisty :/ It just will not lay flat... The thread is Puppets Eldorado, size 20-ish in dark red.

Finally I have started a new project (surprise!). There is a contest on IsDihara's blog, where you are to decorate a chocolate box with tatting. The prize is 25 balls of Lizbeth of your own choice from Handy Hands, and the shipping is free! That is just too good to pass up, so I've decided to give it a go. I have found a suitable box and covered it with decoupage, now I just need to figure out what to tat. More about my entry later... By the way, HERE is the original post about the contest. Good luck, if you should choose to enter :)

Good news!

1 - I had my Biology exam today, and it went great! I got a B :D I'm quite pleased with that, even though I think I could've got an A if I hadn't hesitated on a few of the questions, the answers of which aren't even in my book (I have checked!). Since this was just a final exam and not following a course, the students are free to choose between two or three different books with the same basic contents and varying detail information. All I could say was that what they were asking for was not in my book, but still all my answers were correct... That sort of bugs me a little, but most of all I'm just relieved that it's over. I really don't like oral exams :/ But, afterwards my boyfriend surprised me with a bottle of wine! So tonight I've been enjoying a glass of red and tatting happily away on the snail from Tatted Animals :) Trying out the Lizbeth "Razzle Dazzle" for the shell. Looks promising so far!

2 - When I notified Roseground that two of the Lizbeth balls I got were the wrong size, they apologized and shipped the balls in the right size, and I got to keep the wrong ones! Bonus :) So now I have "Christmas Green Mix" and "Country Grape Swirl" in both size 20 and 40. Sweet!

Happy tatting to you all! Hope I'll have more new tatting to show you soon :)