Pt. Robinson Lighthouse and Lace...

At the beginning of August, we spent a week on Vashon Island in Washington at the Pt. Robinson lighthouse.  We stayed in the keepers quarters...



We played on the beaches, visited the lighthouse, made blackberry jam, watched the sun rise and set, the boats go by...



Enjoyed the wildflowers along the roads and shores...including this beautiful Queen Anne's Lace, so like our beautiful tatting...

I found some time to tat...sitting here looking out the window...

Or here on the porch...

When my little Rosie Posie wasn't occupying this chair...

The house was restored as near as possible to it's 1919 state.  The decor was even in keeping with that time.  I was incredibly impressed by some of the hand work in the home.  There were handmade quilts, crochet doiley's, bobbin lace trim, embroidered dresser scarves, and some tatting...

I was so pleased to see a set of two of these little tatting trimmed doiley's on a dresser in one of the guest rooms.  In addition, there was this little cabinet furnished with the tools a lady of the time would have used to create these beautiful things for her home...

The top drawer housed embroidery threads and hoops, the beginnings of a crochet doiley on the hook, while the drawer that is open had bobbins for making bobbin lace, and a shuttle with a bit of tatting started.  Just an incredible touch that I thought you would all appreciate.  This was and is a truely special place...it was a blessing to spend a week there.

Mary Konior's Large Cross...

Having completed the "Small Cross" successfully, I turned to the "Large Cross" in Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns book...I really enjoy this pattern.  Since it would be rather "Large" if tatted in a size 20, I have gone with smaller thread for this cross...

This one in a melon and green variagated vintage J&P Clark's size 70 thread was the first I made...my husband has claimed this one...

Then I attempted it again in this beautiful lavendar and yellow variagated J&P Coats size 70.  This was a gift from Michelle from her Aunt Rose-E's stash along with the beautiful lavendar rose hankie I have shown (more to come on that).  It's gorgeous thread, and happens to be in my parents wedding colors.  My Mom still enjoys things in these colors, and this will go to her...

Finally, I found this thread in a bag of mixed threads I picked up at the local Arc Thrift store...tucked down in the middle of a larger ball.  It's gorgeous with the dark wine blending into a pale rose.  It had no label, but I believe the thread to be a vintage J&P Clarks size 70 as well, based on similar balls I have seen on E-bay.  I knew right away that I wanted to make something for myself with this one, so here is my cross...

Here is a photo of all three crosses I have done in this pattern to date...I'll count them collectively as #12 in my 25 motif challenge.

I have now tatted this particular cross three times and I still rather enjoy it...it fits nicely into my handbag so that I have something to work on wherever I am...

I found this little case at the local Dollar Tree that just fits a couple of clover shuttles, balls of thread (the small stuff), scissors, the pattern, and a pin for picking out the inevitible mistakes...a nice little bit of tatting to go.  I am lacking a needle though...

What size/type of needle does one use to sew in the ends on this tiny thread?  I have yet to find one that works without great force and potentially breaking the threads.  Everything I have found is just too big in diameter.  Grandma always just cut and tied a neatly trimmed little knot and didn't fuss about the ends, but I rather like sewing them in as the appearance is just that much neater.  Any suggestions?

As you can see from the contents of my little box...I plan on another of the "Large Cross" in the lavender and yellow variagated thread with the chains in yellow this time...Dad will like that one I think.  Oh, that yellow shuttle has a bit of that wine and rose thread left on it.  I'm thinking earrings...

Completed Mary Konior Small Cross...

I left you all last when I had just started this cross, so I thought that would be a good place to begin again...

This is done in LizBeth size 20 Antique Violet Med. and Ecru...The pattern is Mary Konior's Small Cross from Tatting with Visual Patterns.  I added a tail done with a twisted stitch and repeated the arm motif for the top...I love how this one came out...

 
This is motif #11 in my 25 motif challenge.  I finished it about a week after I started it, but between travel, school starting, and a surgery for my husband...blogging simply has not gotten to occur for a couple of months.  I have completed several things that I would like to share...I hope to share more with you tomorrow.

Flowers from the garden...

Just thought I would share some pictures of flowers from the back garden...Sometimes I take my camera out to take pictures, or just my cell phone (the 8 mega pixel camera in my new phone is better than my camera...but I have needed thread and Mary Konior books more than a new camera right?)

Anyway.....flowers are something I love and taking photos of them is a long time hobby. I think I've been taking pictures of flowers since my parents got me my first camera at age 11 or 12...so some 25 years or so now. I don't have the worlds greatest camera right now...but I still think these are fun to play with and share........I enjoy all of the blooming things so much and thought you all might too.

It's been a bit cooler this week...some tolerable days or at least days that don't heat up so fast or where a storm comes in and cools things down a bit...so with the misters running we have been able to spend more time outdoors.  Rosie Posie loves this..."outside" being her favorite place.  We play in the pool, the water table, and the sandbox...we water the flowers and tomatoes and her own little toes, chase the puppies round, and well...you get the picture.  She is busy!

Sometimes I even get to tat a ring or two sitting in the shade of the tree...

Literally...a ring or two...

I barely got to start this Konior "Small Cross" pattern today...but tomorrow is another day...hopefully one with more tatting time!  Actually, I should get off of this computer and tat...the baby is asleep after all her busyness today and I might have a good hour to play with my shuttle and thread before I go to sleep myself!!!

A Gift of Hand Dyed Thread, Tatted Up...

I was the very lucky recipient of some of this beautiful hand dyed thread that Anika who blogs at Tatting It Up made...

I love the thread Anika!

It's such pretty colors...

She was going for Red, White, and Blue...I think she got it...

With a beachy vibe!  The blue is the exact shade of some beach glass I have...Gorgeous!!!

It was hard to decide what to do with this beautiful thread...and I mulled it over for quite a while before deciding on this pattern...

This is Mary Konior's Spinning Wheel Glass Mat done in size 20 HDT created by Anika...

This is absolutely my favorite piece of tatting I have completed to date...beautiful thread and an incredible pattern.  I now know why this is a favorite of Konior's to tat...the pattern is very fun to work and just gorgeous!  This will be #10 in my 25 motif challenge.

I still have a full shuttle's worth of this thread left...what to do with the rest...hmmm....more decisions to be made!  Oh...and I might have fallen in love with HDT and might have ordered some more from Lady Shuttlemaker...she had a Red, White, and Blue called Americana (for my stars) and another color that was based on rose petals that I maybe couldn't resist...

Flannel Receiving Blanket with Crochet Edging...

This is something I enjoy making...it's a simple single layer of flannel, hemmed with a quarter inch hem, with a crochet edging added.  I use about a yard of fabric.  The dimensions aren't that important, I like a nice big receiving blanket...or light blanket for summer.  This one is for my little Rosie Posie...it's been hot here and at 2 she has outgrown most of the receiving blankets we have.  This one is nicely sized for swaddling a little one or covering a toddler.  The butterfly and breast cancer awareness fabric is something my Mom gave me a yard of a couple of years ago...with the intent of a nice little blanket for the baby...it took a while to get to it though!  It was, however, worth the wait...

It turned out beautifully...

I used a size 10 variagated pink vintage J & P Coats thread, actually it took most of 2 partial (but fairly full) balls of this thread...

...making this a great way to use up all of the size 10 thread I have accumulated...

The scalloped edging is something I designed myself.

I felt it worked well with this fabric.

It's 3 rounds, the 1st is simply a single crochet foundation worked right on the blanket.

The 2nd row is 2 double crochet worked in each single crochet of the previous round.

The 3rd row is 10 triple crochet at the corner, skip one, slip stitch in the next, skip one, 5 double crochet in the next, skip one, 5 triple crochet in the next, repeat until corner. 

Sometimes you might have an odd number of stitches and the pattern doesn't quite meet up with the corner, so you can work a reduce one in when necessary by taking the first half of a slip stitch on the hook then slip stitch in the next and pull it through both loops.

This is crocheted fairly loosly to allow for some shrinkage of the thread in the wash...these will go in the washer and dryer and my experience has been that a border that is crocheted too tightly will shrink up too much and cause the blanket not too lay flat at the edges after a few washings.

At any rate...it's fun to do, and I thought I would share how I go about it.  My daughter loves this...she likes the lace I make for her and that makes me smile!

Wildflowers and Mountain Storms...

We took a drive up into the mountains today, just to get out of the heat and away from the city.  The wildflowers were spectacular...of of God's many versions of the lace I, and many of you, love to create...so I thought would share some of the beauty of the day...

My two beautiful girls went wading in a little mountain lake, and played with the lace like foam...

We enjoyed the scenery, the wind in the aspens, and a mountain storm...

...and we went home feeling cooled and refreshed, after so many hot summer days, just having spent a few hours enjoying nature's splendor and God's garden, viewing the lace found in flowers and foam and leaves and butterflies wings...