A new step

My Grandmother taught me to make bread when I was about 10, or maybe 8.  So I have been baking bread for almost 50 yrs.
Back in the 80's & 90's, when all the kids were home, I baked 8~ 1.5lb loaves of bread a week, or 6 loaves and 2doz hamburger buns.  Did it all by hand too until the mid to late 80's when I got a KitchenAid mixer.  Wow, was that a big help.

Now with only the 2 of us at home, I bake a couple loaves a week in the bread machine.  It does an o.k. job and I have tweaked the recipe I use.

The pans I used were the long pan size, 12.5"X4.5" that hold 1.5lbs of bread.









My bread recipe has always been evolving.  I am constantly adding various different flours.  I use Dakota Maid Bread Flour milled by our North Dakota State Mill & Elevator in Grand Forks ND. (and aside....We are the only state in the US with our own state owned business and our own state owned bank, going back to the 1930's depression days).  It is very good bread flour and you can purchase it here . 

I also add whole wheat flour made from hard white wheat instead of the more common hard red.  It has a softer flavor.  My husband dislikes whole wheat bread because of the strong flavor, but has no complaint about my using some white whole wheat in my bread.  The flour is milled at Horizon milling in the town of Fairmont ND just down the road about 30 miles from me.  It is available in my local grocery store, but I can not find an online source for it.  You can find other White Whole Wheat flour at King Arthur Flour or at Bob's Red Mill and likely other places as well.

I have also added specialty flours, Amaranth, Quinoa, Kamut, Spelt, Teff, Triticale, Potato, and some others. some worked better then others, some not so much. You can find specialty flours at both of the companies above.  Right now I am using both the Ancient Grains mix and the 9 grain flour from King Arthur Flour.  Not at the same time, but trying the different mixes in about a 1-3 proportion to the regular bread flour. So a 4 C flour mix would be 2 C bread flour, 1 C white whole wheat & 1C grain mix flour, with a couple Tbsp's of Potato that I always add because Potato helps to hold moisture so the bread doesn't dry out so quickly.

Another thing I use is Bakers Dry Milk from KAF.  It has been specially processed to kill the enzyme in milk that interferes with yeast. That is why you should always scald milk before using it in your bread.  By using the Bakers Dry milk you don't have to scald the milk, and wait for it to cool.

Why all this buildup?  Because I have decided to embark on a new adventure, Sourdough.

The entire experience that I have had with starters is the Friendship bread you might have received from a so-called friend at some point in time.  That was not a good experience, I didn't have enough neighbors to be constantly giving starter or bread away, nor did I like throwing away the excess starter, though the chickens did enjoy it,  and we could only eat so much of that quick bread.

I received my Sourdough starter today, ordered it from KAF . 

It has been fed and is sitting and working as we speak. Hopefully it will be ready to be fed again tomorrow morning. 

Oh, do you want to know my recipe?
C = Cup
T = Tablespoon
tsp = Teaspoon
This makes 2 loaves in the long pans, or 2 doz hamburger buns.
1/4C  butter
1/4C  sugar
2 1/4tsp salt
2C boiling water poured over the above, stir to melt the butter, and dissolve the sugar and salt, let cool to lukewarm
1/4 C dry milk
1 1/2T yeast
6C flour +/- depending on your weather
mix, knead, let rise, punch down and shape loaves, let rise, bake at 375 for 35 min or until instant read thermometer registers 190 degrees.  

My wishes for you

May the Blessings of this season rain down upon you and your family, filling your life with Joy, Love and Peace.

Snowflakes for Sandy Hook

The national PTA is looking for snowflakes to decorate the Sandy Hook school for the children when they get back to school sometime in January.

Here is the link to the info  http://www.pta.org/parents/content.cfm?ItemNumber=3459 

Tatting, Palmetto Tatters, and Taco Johns

Our local radio station has run a morning trivia contest at 6:40 am for the past 2+ yrs so far every question has been answered but some have taken a while for someone to come up with the correct answer. Many winners have admitted to googling the answers to the questions. 
The prize is always breakfast at a local restaurant or tickets to a local event. 
I have never called in before because we live 30 miles west of the town.
This mornings question was.... "What is the Palmetto State?"
I knew that one. 
I waited and there was several long pauses the dj's had to fill and only 2 callers tried.  I called in and said " South Carolina"  the dj asked if I had googled it and I stated, "No, I have been there, to the Palmetto Tatters group"  he asked, "What's that?",  and I explained.  He was interested, so I got Tatting on the radio this a.m.

I will be interested to see what constitutes breakfast at Taco Johns.

Catching back up

Just a note to my tatting and other friends.
We are back from our trip and I am now trying to catch back up.

I did get a bit of tatting done on the drive but it was Christmas presents, so can't show anything yet.

Before & after

Last Saturday I showed you a picture of the pots of tomatoes I had set on the stove to cook down.

I figured that was about 40 quarts of cut up tomatoes cooking to soften the skins and pulp.  After a few hours, I was able to put all of them through the sieve.

I should have taken pictures of the pots of tomato pulp and juice simmering on the stove but I didn't.  I wasn't able to do all the cooking down in one session so it took longer to get to the point of canning then I would have liked.

Last evening (Tuesday) I decided it was time to get them canned.
I used quart jars this time instead of the pints from the last batch a week ago, but it still took 3 batches through the pressure canner. 

Here is what I ended up with.

20 quarts of tomato sauce.

There are still some tomatoes ripening in the basement, but no where near as many as I have already canned.  They will soon be all done I hope.

new news about our grandson... things are looking up.  some more doctors get to poke and prod tomorrow, but he may be able to go home yet this weekend.  All of your prayers, and good thoughts have been a big help. Thank you so much.

news and prayers please

Last Friday, our newest grandson was born.  His name is Scot.  Saturday night he was transfered to the nearest large hospital with a NICU.
He has some issues with his breathing. 
Please pray that the doctors can figure out just how to fix the problem.

Thank you.

In the meantime I am still tatting snowflakes, and tonight I am canning tomato sauce.  I have gotten 14 qrts of sauce through the canner, and will start the 3rd batch now.

oh, Scot makes 11 grandchildren for us, 6 girls and 5 boys

This weekend's project(s)

Remember all the tomatoes from the Hoop House?
 All those green ones we picked are starting to ripen. Of course some were bruised or damaged in some way and ended up getting fed to the cows, but last weekend, I started with about 30 qrts of cut up tomatoes and canned 20 pints of sauce and froze another 2 qrts.

Project 1
This weekend, my stove looks like this

The pot on the lower left is a 12 qrt stainless steel stock pot.  The one behind it is a 16qrt and the one on the right is either an 18 or 20 qrt. 

Once the tomatoes have cooked enough so that the skins let loose, I will run them through the sieve and then start cooking them down to sauce. It will take a few days because I can't let them cook while I am at work, but by tuesday eve, I should be able to can the sauce.  Although it might take until wednesday, because we have been invited to the neighbors to watch the football game tomorrow.  Can't leave the stove on when I am not at home.  The pots of tomatoes will go out in the garage when they are not cooking.  The temp outside is below 40 during the day and below freezing at night, so it is just like putting the pots in the fridge.

The tomato sauce I canned this past week was just tomatoes, I put in the recommended amount of citric acid, but did not add any salt or spices.  If anyone has a favorite tomato sauce recipe, I would be interested. 

Thanks

Gotta to stir the pots. 

Project 2
While at the neighbors tomorrow, I will continue tatting lessons for their 9 yr old daughter.  She has been practicing her chains all week.   Yeah! another tatter.

Granola Recipe

In answer to a comment on Jess!'s  Tat-ilicious blog, here is my recipe for granola

Brown Sugar Granola

1 C brown sugar
1/2 C butter or margarine
1/4 C apple juice or water
1/4 tsp salt
5 C rolled oats
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 C nuts or seeds ( I use 1/2 C ground walnuts & 1/2 C ground pecans )
1/2 C dried fruit (optional - I do not use)

In a large nbowl, mix oats, cinnamon, and nuts/seeds.  In the microwave or on the stovetop, melt butter, sugar, juice and salt.  Simmer 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.  Add to the dry ingredients and stir until oats are coated.  Turn onto a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper*.  Bake 7 - 10 minutes at 375 or until oats start turning golden-brown^ at the edges.  Let cool until dry and crunchy.

*do not skip the parchment paper or you will be scraping granola off your pan for a half hour!  the parchment paper can be saved and re-used.
^ Watch closely the last several minutes.  You'll have pale, chewy granola if you take it out too soon, but it will scorch quickly if you wait too long.

I found the ground nuts at the Fleet Farm store an hour down the road.  The grocery store carries chopped nuts, but not ground ones.   I was surprised, as I didn't expect to find them at a farm supply store. 

A very Thankful Thanksgiving

I want to wish all of you a wonderful day.
To those in the US a very Happy and Restful Thanksgiving Day.
To those not in the US a very Happy and Thankful day as well

not my turkey, just an image off the web

I am thankful for so much the list would be very long.  High on the list would be all my Tatting Friends and all the wonderful tatting projects they post.   Thank you so much for all you add to my tatting enjoyment.
May you all have a wonderful day doing whatever makes your heart sing.

Gina TattingGoddess's Seashell pattern

I was checking out the patterns on Gina's blog http://threadsofatattinggoddess.blogspot.com/

I decided to download and save all her patterns so they would be available to me in the future.

I was wondering if any one has tatted Gina's Seashell pattern
http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/2067575/seashell-pattern-from-9-03-1-doc-july-14-2010-5-50-pm-25k?da=y

it doesn't have a picture.  I would like to add a picture to my copy of her pattern, then save the file as a pdf.

thanks


--
Jeanne Lugert
Ladytats   NATA #39
In Tatting as in Life knots are important, they hold it all together.
http://ladytats.blogspot.com/
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ladytatslace

Findings Fortune From Fox

I participated in a thread swap with Fox as did Michelle.

Michelle posted what she received from Fox here.

I thought I would do the same once I had a picture taken.
So here is what I received from Fox in what was supposed to be an even up swap for thread.

I sent her some Lizbeth size 40 Vinyard  Harvest in exchange for the Sea Island Citrus above.  The rest of the considerable haul you see was a surprise in the package.
They will get used, just not right now. My findings stash is growing.
Thank You Fox for all the future fun.

Aerlit Shuttles & Sneak Peek revealed

The Aerlit Shuttles are in and ready for you to order at Handy Hands. 

Several days ago I posted a sneak peek here.

The gift has now been received, so I can show you the whole thing.

The recipient is a published author whose book I have read.  I have her blog listed in the right hand column Green Girl in Wisconsin.  

This is her book

It involves a young gal looking to spice up her life and add to her income by becoming a home party hostess.  A very different concept then any other book I have read.  It was a fun read.  I recommend it.  You can buy a copy from the University of Wisconsin Press

I enjoyed her book and decided to make her a bookmark. 
This is what I came up with

The variegated thread  is Manuela size 20 color 204.  The green is Lizbeth size 20 color 684. 

The pattern is Jane Eborall's Flowery SCMR Bookmark. Click  here to download the pattern pdf.   Here is the link to Jane's pattern pages with so many, many patterns

Since this pattern reminds me of a flowering vine, I had originally thought to do some of the vine in spiral stitch, but that proved not be look very good, so I cut that all off and did the pattern the way Jane wrote it, except for the tail.  That I did do in spiral stitch and added some occasional small rings to simulate leaves. 

Now back to the Christmas Snowflakes and maybe if I am lucky, some more on the Tat-A-Long Lace Mat from Jon's Blog.  Have you looked at the Lace Mats that have been finished?  Jon has a page of all the Lace Mats that have been finished, and at the end of the year she is going to hold a poll of the best.  There is still time to get a Lace Mat started and finished ( I hope).

And don't forget to vote in the Tatting Corner Show and Tell contest

Tatting Corner has a contest

Tatting Corner has a collection of items people have tatted and submitted to their show and tell section of their website.

Come take a look at all the gorgeous tatting and you get to vote for your favorite in each category.

please read the rules, as you can vote only once in each category.

Have a wonderful eye candy day.

Filament comparison

I had mentioned in my previous post that I likely wouldn't post much until after Christmas, but realized that I hadn't shown a comparison of all the different filaments that I had gotten for the snowflakes.

I have now tatted the same snowflake pattern in each of the 3 styles of metallic and want to show you the differences.  I used Lizbeth white in size 40 for each of these.

I thought the scan would show the differences a bit more, but if they are laid one on top of the other, the smallest is the #4 Very Fine Braid and the largest is the #8 Fine Braid.  The size of the snowflake made with the DMC is between the 2.
If I figured correctly before, using  the #4 with the Lizbeth is about a size 20, and I thought the #8 worked up as about a size 15, the DMC is somewhere between.

The color is different too as you can see in the scan above.

I pulled small snips off each so you can see the differences a bit more.

left to right......         #4                     ........DMC                            ...........#8

I like the way the Kreinick tats up, it is more like thread.  The DMC is stiffer and composed of 3 twisted strands, that want to separate at the cut end.   I think I will be ordering more of the #4, and maybe another spool of the DMC but not the #8 it is too large.

The snowflake made with the #8 isn't finished because I ran out of the filament.  There are only 10meters of braid on the small spools.  This was the amount left after tatting the snowflake in the post below.  With the #4, I made the snowflake in the post below and the 1 here.  So I got 2 out of the 11 meter spool.  There are 40 meters on the spool of DMC.

Happy Tatting.

sneak peek

I have been tatting,
it is a gift so can't show it until it has been received.
but here is a sneak peek

it is being mailed tomorrow so I should be able to show the entire item later this week.

it is nearly November here in North Dakota, and we had some snow flurries yesterday.  The hoop house is still standing and the tomatoes are still growing and slowly producing ripe tomatoes. This is a full month after clearing out the rest of the garden after it first froze. So far, so good.

now on to the snowflakes, those are Christmas gifts and some of the recipients actually read my blog so I won't be showing any more of them.  Which means that I likely will not be posting much the next couple months.

We are anxiously awaiting our newest grandchild the end of November.  That will be #11.  It is so much fun when we can all get together, we take up lots of space, but we have a blast.

2 & 3 and things I learned

Here are 2 more Snowflakes I was able to tat today.

and there are several things I learned doing it too.

Both of these snowflakes are made from the same pattern, they have the same stitch counts.  The pattern is Glittery Snowflake by Vida Sunderman from her pattern book, Tatted Snowflakes.

1. The same thread as yesterday's flake,  Lizbeth size 40 white and Kreinik Very Fine Braid size 4 in silver.  but I didn't follow the pattern exactly as I turned the chains the wrong way,  the stitches face out instead of in. What can I say? I was watching the Vikings win again, my attention was a bit distracted.  I didn't realize I had turned the chains inside out until several points had been done, so decided to finish it the way it was.  This was the end of the spool of size 4 Kreinik Very Fine Braid.

2. The white thread is the same, but the silver is Kreinik Fine Braid size 8 also in Silver.  It is a larger braid then the size 4. Combined with the Lizbeth they come closer to about a size 15 thread I think.  This Snowflake is larger, but I did get the pattern turned correctly so the points are more defined.

I like the size 4 braid better of the two.  I will have to get more of that. But it will take a lot to do all the snowflakes I was planning on with I can only get 2 out of each spool.   I do have some DMC metallic thread that is 3stranded and will be using that to compare as well before I decide exactly what I want.  I will have to do that soon as I ordered the Kreinik from Handy Hands. and will want to order more just as soon as the Aerlite shuttles are ready.

as far as the pattern goes, I think I like both of them.

Hope you had a great tatting weekend.
nearly midnight, time for bed.

first one

This is the first of many, possibly 3 dozen, we will see.

This is a doodad snowflake, the pattern is one of Diane's at  Lace Lovin Librarian. 

I blended Lizbeth size 40 white with Kreinik Metallics Very fine Braid size #4 in silver. The 2 threads together are about a size 20.
The doodad is from Fire Mountain Gems #H20-4335FX it is a small crystal in the center for added sparkle.

I hope you are having a very good weekend.

Hoop House finished

It took us all weekend to finish the hoop house.
we figured, a couple hours tops, then we could get some other stuff done on saturday, and then we would have sunday for other things, but nope, all day saturday and almost all day sunday.

We used an old storm window and put it in upside down so we can lower the top to let in ventilation and too much heat out.

This is the west end.

Here is the east end with the door

The door is an old 5' screen window frame, it still has the metal screening in it, so that supports the plastic.
All the rest of the garden you are looking at is done and gone for the year except the swiss chard in the right side of the photo behind the dead marigolds. Haven't covered it, but it must be tough stuff, as it hasn't froze yet.

Here is a look inside the Hoop House, you can see all the tomatoes on the plants just inside the door, the rest of the plants look very similar, I just hope they all start to ripen finally. 

It will be interesting to see if we are still picking fresh tomatoes by thanksgiving, just depends on the temps and the weather.


now back to Tatting, I hope, I need to finish the Lace Mat and start the Christmas Tatting.

More then my Lace Mat and a Trio of FunGuys

This will be a long post with lots of pictures so if you want to take a minute and get a cup of coffee or tea go right ahead, I'll wait.

The frame work for the hoop house, and the tarp we have been using to cover it, but it needs it's clear plastic cover and the ends need to be enclosed.  Right now, we need to take the blue tarp mostly off in the mornings once it is above 40 degrees so the tomatoes can get some sun.

 The hoop house is 15' X 36' measured over the top we needed a minimum of 21'. The plastic we bought is 20' wide, so we wanted to use 2 lengths of 25' welded together, that would give us a sheet of plastic 25' X 40'.  Enough to overlap at the ends and tuck around some 2x4s and bolted to the frame to hold it down on the sides.

But how do you weld plastic together you ask?  Duck tape will only hold so much and it needs to be a good complete seal to hold out the cold.

Well, I will tell you.  I was not able to find any info online other then to buy some fancy epoxy, but I have a neighbor who put a lot of years in working for the Navy and he told me how.

You need 2 sheets of aluminum foil and an iron.
Place 1 sheet down on the floor overlap the edges of the plastic, then place a sheet of aluminum foil over the top.  Heat the iron up to the cotton setting and apply heat.

Below is my sample.  You can see the seams, but you can not pull them apart. I used a 10 second time with pressure, then moved the iron to overlap half way and another 10 seconds with pressure,  that way the seam got a total of 20 seconds of heat and pressure. I laid this all out on the concrete floor of the quonset, open to the cool air, with no sun on it, so if it is a nice warm day and the floor that you use is warm, you might only need 10 seconds because the floor isn't draining heat from the iron.

Here you see 25' of aluminum foil flanked by 2 25' sheets of plastic

I only overlapped the edges about 1"

I unrolled the top sheet of foil as I sealed the seam so I could be sure that the edges overlapped.

You can see the seam here as I am removing the top sheet of foil.

Yeah! it fits with enough at the sides so once we get a chance we will staple the end of the plastic to 2x4s then roll them up to the base of the frame and bolt them together.  Still using the blue tarp because we haven't had the time to build the ends yet. 

you can see the seam to the left of the hoop in this picture.

And why do I want to go to all this work?
Here is why

 I just picked these this morning.  and there are lots more out there. These are Striped Heirloom tomatoes they don't get really red, in the lower left you can see alternating stripes of orange and blush.  These are sitting on a 10" dinner plate.

I had to measure the big one - nearly 5"
Wish I could eat one, but I am allergic to tomatoes, but they sure look good.

This past week, I wasn't able to do much tatting, instead of sitting  in my chair with my feet up, I was sitting in this helping farmguy harvest the corn crop.  The cart holds 900+ bushels. A Bushel of corn is about 54lbs.

for size reference, here is a pic with me in the summer, I'm 5'2"

 This past Sunday, I motored to a small town about 35miles from me named Rutland.   They were holding their 28th annual Uff-Da Day.  A celebration of all things Scandinavian, Romegrote, Lefse, Sandbakkels, Rosettes, Krumkake, and other yummy stuff to eat and see.  They also celebrate vintage and classic cars, many pioneer crafts such as Tatting, Spinning, Knitting, Crochet, home made by hand Ice Cream, buns and bread baked in a wood cook stove in the pioneer house and many other things.

I got to sit for about 6 hours Tatting and talking about Tatting in the Baptist church along with the lady who spins and knits and another who crochets and all the gorgeous quilts that fill the pews and walls of the church..  Yeah, I needed the day.

This is a picture of the beginning of the parade,
it is the Aberdeen South Dakota Fire Dept BagPipe band. They traveled about 2 hours to come play,  it was in the 50's for highs and yet they wore their kilts..... brrrr

looking down the length of Main Street, I am standing on the steps of the 1890 Baptist Church

The Old Parsonage is across the street.  It is now a store selling handwork, eclectic collectables and consignment items.  During Uff-Da Day, they were hosting a wine tasting for North Dakota wineries.  While I was unable to get there for the wine tasting, I have had some very good home brew wines from around the area.

No self respecting North Dakota parade is complete unless there are horses.

just one of the many vintage and classic cars on display.

I found this in the Old Parsonage for $5.50

This doily is 21" in diameter.  It looks vintage doesn't it? Tatted in Ecru.  The gal at checkout told me that these are done by a gal who spends a good deal of time, waiting at the end of fields for her sons so she can shuffle them and their equipment from place to place and she does this to while away the time. 



I was able to finish Round 2 of my Lace Mat

I also showed several people how to tat, sold 4 Learn Tatting with Lacet booklets, told several about Marilee Rockley's Tatting course on Craftsy and taught 2 how to do the flip.

It's about time for the FunGuys don't you think?

#1

backside of #1

#2

another view of #2

#3

my garden gloves to show the size of these guys.

I don't know what variety they are.  It has been very dry here for the past 4-5 mos.  #1 is just outside the pasture gate and #'s 2 & 3 are just inside the gate.

I have never seen anything like them.

This is long enough.  Hope you weren't bored.
Have a great tatting day tomorrow.

This & That and my Lace Mat

I have had a very busy and somewhat difficult last few days, and as it has so often happened in the past for many of us, we receive a moral booster in the mail. 

Back on the 14th of Sept at Tat-ilicious I won a giveaway that Jess was having for her  Blogaversary.

I chose the option Jess gave me of a ball of  custom Messy Jess!-y colorway or 2 skeins of colors she already had.  I chose a ball of Messy Jess!-y

This is the picture that I sent to her

North Dakota Sunset

  I have always loved the sunsets that God has given us here in North Dakota so asked Jess if a thread colorway like this would be possible.  This is what she was able to do for me.

Isn't this pretty? It is a little brighter then the picture shows. It is size 40.  Thank you Jess!

She also sent along some beads... some meaning lots....

Here is a closeup of the Doodads in the bottom center because I want you to see the really pretty one.

Now back to my difficult days.
The past weekend was extremely warm (read hot) here in North Dakota, Saturday was 85 and Sunday got up into the mid 90's.  I am a chilly person, my normal body temp runs about 97, a good degree below normal of 98.6.  but I also don't do well when it gets hot, I have had either heat exhaustion or heat stroke several times.  I think I have mentioned before that the tomatoes out in the garden are not ripening, normally they would be dead plants by now, but there are just too many to pick green and let ripen in the house.  So we have been covering them on chilly nights, but that is a chore and the days are getting colder too so we chose to build a hoop house over the tomato patch.  15'X36'. 

This is what we accomplished. 
Farmguy, our son and a son-in-law were busy combining corn so Saturday I cut the re-bar and collected some of the wooden frame and a few other things and did some measuring in between the laundry and feeding the guys and running parts.
Sunday the guys were back at harvesting, but the neighbors who garden with us were able to come help in the afternoon for a couple hours. We were able to get the wooden base frame put together, the re-bar pounded into the ground and the hoops together and up. 

This evening we got the 2 end hoops up and the connecting pieces along the ridge.  Then covered it all with the blue tarp you see in the right hand side of the picture.
The plan is to use clear plastic like a green house in the next couple of days so the tomatoes will continue growing and ripening their fruit. 

The plans that I used are available online from several different sources.  I combined  ideas from several sources ~  LasPilitas greenhouse , Mother Earth News and some others.

I got over heated - not good.  and then when I was feeling a bit better later in the evening the cows got out.  They are supposed to be grazing in the harvested corn fields north of the house. The electric fences are working very well, but the river is so low, that when they go down for a drink, they simply walk across and then go around the fence and get out.  grrrrr.  The guys were still out combining so I went out to chase cows, fortunately, I could do most of it from the back of the 4-wheeler.



So no tatting was done over the weekend. 

I was able to get some of the 2nd round on my Lace Mat done tonight.

I decided to add a solid color for the chains in this row.  It is a used ball of thread with no label.  I had more of the repeat on the right side finished, but discovered that I had twisted the first round arm when I joined so had to un-tat and straighten it out.

Hope you all had a great monday, and you tuesday will be pleasant with lots of tatting and tea for Tatting Tea Tuesday.

It is time for bed.

My Beginning with Later Update

Tonight I was able to start my Tat-A-Long.

If you haven't caught any other posts about it around the blogosphere, Jon at Tat-a-Renda  was able to get permission to update some long ago patterns by Norma Benporath.  She has been tatting them from the original notations and then is going to post graphic versions.

She posted the first graphic called Lace Mat  and has continued to post some hints and tips in several more posts.

When she posted the graphic pattern, she suggested having a Tat-A-Long.  Many tatters have taken up the challenge.

I finally got caught up on promised items and have been able to start my version.

The thread is hand dyed by Zarina  in Anchor size 50 called Orchid Garden. This thread is so pretty.

I have a solid coordinating thread that I will be adding during some of the rounds. I don't know what the solid color thread is, the label is long gone, but I did the wrap test to check for size and it is close enough that it should work.

If you haven't thought about joining the Tat-A-Long, give it a thought, it isn't too late to start.

Happy Tatting everyone.

Later
This is what I wanted to finish tatting before I could start the above Tat-A-Long.
I was testing the Duchess pattern for Fox.   She has not yet released the pattern, so watch her blog for the release date.

The varigated thread is Lizbeth size 40 in Scottish Thistle # 175
The center is a tatted ring instead of a jewelry finding (doodad or tatament).  It is tatted in DMC Metallic Pearl Size 5 color silver.  I left the tails so I can use them as a hanger.  This may have 8 arms instead of a snowflakes normal 6, but I think it makes a very nice ornament.