this weekend's project

I am posting here the shoulder bag that I mentioned in my previous post about the toiletries bag

The size is 16x12x4  I used a 2" wide webbing for the strap as I felt that would be more comfortable with a narrow strap.

There is a pocket in the flap behind the orange zipper ( recycled) can you see the flap?  guess that is what camouflage is for  he he.

I also put a zipper in the top of the bag, to keep contents from falling out

Sorry for the wiggle, it is late at night.

and here is a look at the interior.  I put a pocket on the back side of the bag too.  I used a taffeta type material, so that things will not "grab" the the lining when  you take them out and put them in.

I'm rather proud of how it turned out.

the basic pattern for the bag can be found here  and the idea for the zipper in the top came from here

on a weather note,  we got a severe winter storm again today.  wind from the northeast this time and more snow.  the forecast is for 6+"

in exchange

I finished the reticule and sent it on it's way.

now I will show you the really neat items that I received in exchange.

First, these threads were in the package.  very pretty colors.

 Then, because we had agreed to an exchange of warm, yummy hand knit socks for the tatted reticule,  I was expecting 1 pair of socks, but instead look what I got.......
 

a pair of 100% wool "practical" pair done is Eyelet Spiral 

and  a second fancy pair done in Cashmere.  yes there are beads around the top and ruffles. 

thank you Marybeth,  they will be worn with pride and thanks for keeping my feet warm.

if you are interested in the socks that Marybeth knits, as well as the other items she produces, both for sale and for her charity "Nimble Fingers on the Prairie" where she helps keep low income kids warm with hats, mittens, scarves, socks and other wearables  please visit her blog Socks

Reticule tatting is done

And here it is.
I finished the tatting tonight.  I made the cords on my Lucet, and they are threaded in the beading.  just for looks I stuffed the inside with dark purple velvet.  It hadn't originally been what I was thinking of using for the lining, but might end up being the perfect thing.
Other then the lining, the only thing not finished is the ends of the cords.  I don't yet know how to finish them off.  possibly tassels?.... or if you have any ideas that would be great if you leave me a comment.  So without further ado.....

added later   The bag is 7.75" wide and 9" tall.  I used size 10 Lizbeth in white, in the front I also included pink and green Krenick blending filaments for color.  The back, side joining and beading rows are all plain white.  I used about 1 and 3/4 balls of thread, including the lucet cords for the drawstring.  I think I will put tassels on the ends of the drawstrings.

most of this weekend will be spent at the sewing machine finishing the shoulder bag for farmguy to take on the plane.  and at the computer,  I have about 9 typed pages to accomplish this weekend.  If the Omnipage 15 software works like it should, about 7 of those will be scanned as text in to a text doc.  but if not,  then I will be typing my fingers off.
weather is supposed to be above freezing all weekend.  that will be soooo nice.
Have a great weekend all of you.

blog style change

I decided to do a bit of blog "housekeeping" and felt that by minimizing the background, it would focus  more on the content of my posts, and showcase my tatting. Also it gives me more width for my posts. 


If anything needs changing to make it better, or easier for you, please leave a comment, or if you like it this way, a comment would be appreciated.

Have a really great day.

just finished

I am going to post 2 items that I finished tonight.

 This is Wally Sosa's Super Bowl Snowflake.
I used size 20, but different brands and you can see the result,  they aren't the same.  The yellow is Manuela and the green is Flora.  It looks to me as if the Manuela is a "softer" thread and the stitches "squish" more and allowed me to pull the SCMRs tighter.  The Flora seems "crisper" and I couldn't make the chains match so they don't lay smoothly along the SCMRs.

I haven't blocked it yet, so hope it will look better, but I don't think it will be enough.  It was meant as the hostess gift for the neighbors who had us over for the big game last Sunday.  They served prime rib and since it was the gentleman's birthday, we had cake and ice cream too.  They are originally from WI so wanted to do it in the Packer colors.  I didn't get it started until after halftime, so didn't finish before the game ended.

Life interfered, but I was able to finish the TIAS tonight.  It is an airplane as so many guessed.  I resisted that for most of the steps, because I was used to Jane designing "critters" and it just seemed so obviously an airplane, that it just couldn't be one.    Oh well, I had a lot of fun tatting this,  I may have to do it again, (several times) I have 4 grandsons, and I think they might all like one.






I won't have any tatting to post until I get the reticule done.  I have about 3/4 of the last row done which turns out to be the old standard Hen and chicks edging, and the lining to sew.  I am hoping to be able to send it to the recipient in Monday's mail. 

saturday morning project

farmguy is going on a trip.
for that he needs some luggage and other stuff.
I am going to make the small shoulder bag that you can carry into the plane with you and I was going to make the shotgun shell bag but he found one of those in town that he liked,  it is better then I would have been able to make without a pattern.

So, what to do with the pieces I had already cut out for the shell bag?

I took the first row of stitches out and re-attached some of the pieces and re cut, found a recycle zipper and made him a toiletries bag.  it is 3.5"x4.5"x5.5"

I found the basic directions for this bag here

so, what do you think?

a bit of tatting

Here is day 9 of Jane's TIAS.  I did this tonight.

I also did some more work on the reticule.   There are only 11 more Hen & Chick repeats on the last row at the top of the beading rows.  So, I may get the tatting done this weekend.  Then I need to make the lining. 
I do have a small hmmmm, what to do with the ends of the draw strings. 

I made them with my Lucet, but the ends need to be finished.  Do I just add a small tassel to each end?  Do I do a tatted motif?  and if so what?  hhhhmmmm..  I am not posting any more pictures of the reticule until it is finished. 

One more thing I have on my tatting agenda this weekend is the SuperBowl Snowflake that Georgia Seitz offers each year.  I will be watching the superbowl with company, so don't know if I will get the snowflake done or not.  Click here for the pattern by Wally Sosa.  Wally does excellent work.  this is a very pretty snowflake.  I will have to  choose my  colors carefully.

Learning to Tat

Miranda over at TattingFool  asked for our stories about learning to Tat

mine is very short and very old.

50 years ago, my grandmother (dad's mom) decided that I was old enough to learn.  She taught me how to tat one year when she was at our house helping mom after one of my brothers born.  She also taught me to make bread.
Any way,  She only knew how to make rings, but used them to decorate articles of clothing or handmade greeting cards. 

I have mentioned this before, but her method of tatting was to wrap your hand backwards from how we generally do it. and the double stitches were made in the palm of your hand. 

I tatted for a few years, but it wasn't any big deal to me at 6 or 7 years old so I put it away.  I picked it up again for a bit during high school, but no one else did it and everyone was crocheting so put it down again and crocheted (during study hall, can you imagine). 

After several of my kids were romping around, but before my grandmother died, I asked her to help me remember how to tat.  She was now getting on in years and had difficulty remembering, so I asked my mom's mother if  she had ever tatted.  She remembered haveing done it at one time, but wasn't able to help me much.  I found a book in a stitching catalog and ordered it. I relearned how to Tat and  I was finally able to get back in the groove, this was about the mid 80's. 

Grandma had given me her tatting shuttle,  it was a Detach-a-Spool.  I loved it, still do, and have several that I was able to find on ebay about 12 years ago.  It is hard to believe that it has been that long that I have been a part of the online tatting community. 

I have learned so much from the people online.  there just aren't many tatters in this area.  but I have met a few. 

TIAs

 

This is all the tatting that I got done today.  Day 9 of Jane's TIAS.  Still no clue as to what we are going to end up with.  which is unusual, I usually have figured out what we are tatting by this time, as there are only 2 steps left.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be 20 above.

brrr

it is already -10  tonight
it is forecast to get -20 before morning
windchill is expected to be -40

some schools have already decided to open 2 hours late

hardy and tough we may be, but this is ccccold!!