Apples, Apples, and more Apples!

We went apple picking at the relatively nearby Lusk Orchard in Fowler, Colorado and brought home 75+ pounds of absolutely amazing apple's...

 

 

Beautiful, Gorgeous, Scrumptious Apples...Macintosh, Jonathan, and the old variety of Red Delicious...

 

and so I have been cutting them up to freeze for later, loading the dehydrator, and making this....

 

...and this,

 

 

The jelly is made from the cores and peels...I love making something wonderful and delicious from something that I would have thrown away previously.  I found the recipe here.  It is an absolutely beautiful soft pink from the Macintosh apples I used today and the flavor is amazing.  I think I will make another batch tomorrow in pretty little gift jars for small Christmas gifts, but will increase the final boil to 2 minutes as the set is a little softer than I prefer.

 

Fall harvest opportunities have a way of creating unplanned interuptions......back to your regularly scheduled tatting and other crafting soon I think, I have just two more buckets of apples to go! 

Autumn Splendour...

A few photos from this weekend, just for your enjoyment...

 

 

The color was gorgeous, just at the beginning of the good color, it should be at it's peak this next weekend.  The girlscouts, my co-leaders, and I stayed in a forest service cabin across the road from Lake Isabel...a beautiful place to spend two days!  Fun was had by all...

 

 

This is a view of Lake Isabel I took the last morning we were there.

 

I returned home Sunday, spent the afternoon unloading and putting away the truckful of gear that I took with me.  Monday was simply a day of rest, it seems that no matter how relaxing of a time we have as a troop I am always exhausted when we return.  I think it has something to do with a decided lack of sleep! 

 

Yesterday I spent working at learning to diagram patterns and then on the pattern for the earrings I created last week.  Hopefully I will have that ready to share with all of you later today.

Pretty Dishtowels...

These, also tatted by my Grandmother Stella, I find to be both lovely and practical...not so elegantly done that I am completely afraid to use them...

 

We found a stack of these in the pretty heirloom dresser I showed a while back...

 

I chose this one to bring home with me...

 

This simple ring only edging Grandma could tat just as fast as lightning it seemed...she made yards of this simple trim to add to things...everything from nightgowns to dishtowels was decorated in this fashion...

 

...it's a special touch, but not too much...so one isn't afraid to use it.  I love these, definitely going to have to make a few more in a similar fashion!

Owl and a Stripey bit...but a pussy cat would love them!

Here are two light summer blankets that I made for my girls, perfect for traveling about this summer.  I made these while up in Montana this summer, one for each girl, but never managed to blog about them. 

These are something special, but something usable...these are easily washable, fun to use, warm but not too warm...a kitten would love to cuddle on these, and my little kitten certainly enjoys hers!

 

The edging is the same on both, just utilizing two colors on the owl fabric and a solid color on the striped fabric...

 

These are fun to work up and I enjoy making them...I have another started, this one in a cream and red Christmas poinsettia fleece...I think it will make a pretty throw for on the couch during the winter season.

A Lovely Winter Flake...

This, too, is one of my Grandmother's beautiful works...

 

I would like to recreate this one as I both really like it on it's own merits and love it because it is a design my Grandmother tatted. 

One lovely winter flake, once part of a flurry of flakes that graced her home each Christmas season... She had a silver tinsel tree that she used to cover with white tatted snowflakes, pretty tatted bells, and satin balls covered in tatting...it was simply gorgeous and I wish I had a picture to show you, but I have yet to find one. 

 

I do not know what happened to all of Grandma's tatted ornaments, Dad thinks Grandpa gave them away to various friends. I hope they treasure them...I'm sure they must as each is a beautiful work of art. 

Yellow Flowers with Simple Tatting...

I thought I would share a little more of my Grandmother's tatting with you today as I will likely not get to photographing anything else to share today...

 

I love the style of the embroidery on this piece, just elegant and beautiful.

 

The drawn thread rectangle bordering the embroidery and the simple tatted edge on this piece are exactly right for it.  I love this piece...just gorgeous in it's simplicity.

 

I am off to the mountains this weekend to coordinate a two night overnighter for my girlscout troop and I will not be where I have access to the Internet to post and I may or may not have anything of my own to post when I return. We shall see...sometimes, there is little for me to do now a days as the girls are older and can do most of it on their own...other times, well, they would rather do other things than their own cooking and clean up. 

 

In the mean time, I'll try to leave a couple of things set up to post for your enjoyment while I am off supervising my favorite girls (they have been in my troop since kindergarten and first grade and are now in 7th and 8th, and so they are girls whom I treasure greatly, whether they know it or not)...

Maria Cross & Papillon...

Here is the finished the Maria Cross...

 

I actually decided what to do right after Ladytats made the first comment, saying "If I didn't really need the 2 tails~the cross would be inside between the pages and the tail would show me where~ I would not worry about it and take it out back to the single tail."  That was exactly the right answer...but I was still wondering what other's would have to say and so I waited.

 

In the end, this is in a devotional and does not need two tails.  I was only trying it that way as that is what was shown in the pattern.  It really was supliferous as this will rest inside the pages of a daily devotional, not a Bible or a prayer book where having more than one might be beneficial...and so this cross is finished and will be counted as number 7/25 in the 25 motif challenge.

 

Now, on to other small things...namely Papillon, Frivole's new butterfly pattern...

 

Isn't it tiny and exquisitely beautiful next to the cross!

 

Here it is on it's own...

 

I am very proud of this tiny little piece of tatting...

 

Not because it's perfect (it's not), but because I tatted it at all...

 

I bought the pattern the day Frivole came out with it...but then I didn't tat it...

 

Why?

 

Well, there was a split ring...one little tiny, teensy, itty bitty split ring...

and I had never done one.

 

I've hidden all manner of unnecessary ends to avoid the little buggers...

but this one,

well...it's necessary...

 

That tiny head is vital to the beauty of this elegantly designed little flutter...

 

 

So there you go, my first ever split ring, and it wasn't so bad at all...I think it even came out rather well...

 

...unlike my lock chain which is a bit of a mess and not really a lock chain at all as in my anxiety over the coming split ring I made it with a full stitch flipped and then a full stitch (both sides) unflipped instead of 1/2 flipped and the second 1/2 unflipped as I believe I should have done.  The thread is some vintage J.P. Coat's size 30 that was on the shuttles from this and the previous cross I posted.

 

The butterfly is lovely, and I am thrilled with the pattern...it's just an exquisite little butterfly.  But then, coming from Frivole, I knew it would be exquisite, perfectly explained, and just as beautifully elegant as tatting can be, just as all of her patterns are. (8/25 motif challenge)