Updates

A while back I posted a small picture of the veil I was tatting for my daughters. Over the summer months I made no progress on it at all. Even now, it is slow going, as I only work on it in little bits and pieces and only for short periods of time. Mostly during the evening, after everyone is in bed, and I need to wind down or can't sleep. Which happens so often you'd think I'd be finished with it by now. Still can't get my scanner to talk to my computer - Aaaa! Here's a photo of it on a red blanket. Sets it off pretty good, I think. If you don't mind the clutter on my desk around it.

I have mostly been working on a tatted mask for my cousin who adores anything Halloween. I tried tatting TotusMel's mask on Instructables, but failed miserably, not once, but

more times than I care to tell. Even though she was so very kind and answered my email questions. So, taking inspiration from her, I made a much less ornate one. I still really like hers oh, so much better. I have to block it/iron it and add the side ribbons, whick I am off to get right after this post. But here's what I started with around the eye wires. I was going to write down the pattern and take pictures along the way so I would remember what I did. But I have decide to never repeat this again. Ugh. I think I am better at sticking with the flat designs.

Finished!

I finally finished this project. I made two sets of Yarn Player's "Carnival" earrings. One in each of my two sisters' favorite colors. One is late for a birthday, the other early, but who cares! They don't read this so I am posting this now before I mail them off today. You can find the pattern here.

I HAVE to get some HDT soon! My tatting never looks as good in solid colors. Oh, well, it is still fun to tat!

This is a MUST see...

Somebody had a lot of fun . . . actually, two somebodies. Watch this video. At first it might seem normal, even a little boring because you don't know the couple involved. But, trust me, you must keep watching . . . you will understand soon.

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/561809/

Makin' "lace"

We (humans) are not the only species making lace. Found this little guy on a bush in my front yard. I'm actually quite proud of myself, seeing as I am DEATHLY afraid of spiders. My kids got very excited and called this a "writing" spider. (Charlotte's Web?)

Just thought I would share since I can't show my tatting. I am making a mess of things. I am trying to do the mask that is online and following the pattern. But I found a couple of mistakes or something. The pictures and written pattern don't always match. After the second round, the thing is looking pretty haphazard. So I took out the wires for the eyes and am going to finish the pattern up. Then, I will sit down with the written pattern and the tatted mask and figure out where in it I can make some changes (increase or decrease ds) to make it fit the face right/better.

Vacation was great!

Just got back from our annual family vacation. We go camping every year and have a blast. This year we got to go for two weeks! Yea! And even better, it didn't rain until two days before we left. And that was only a light rain. WooHoo! We all stayed dry. Except the butterflies (and us when we went to play in the rain). After the rain was over we found butterflies that were drying their wings, so they didn't fly off when we approached. I saw this one on the kids' toy and couldn't resist. The rainknocked down a bunch of leaves, too. This is one of my favorite shots.Nothing is retouched, or moved or staged! The bright orange ball and yellow leaf were sitting right there with this blue black butterfly walking all over it, flapping it's wings. I couldn't believe it let me get this close with my camera! After I finished taking a few shots, my daughter walked over and PICKED UP the ball! When the butterfly stayed right on it, I realizedit might not be able to fly until the wings were dried. She loved it! (I made her put it down after she walked around and showed everyone.)

One of our favorite camping sites is at

Fontana Dam (in NC.) There is a camp ground at the bottom of the dam right on the spillway. Every morning the mist/fog rolls up the spillway in wonderful billowy tufts, so large it fills the whole area and you can't see across the spillway.

One evening, as the sun was setting, the mist started rolling

in early. Just thin little wisps barely catching the last of the glow from the sun. I kept taking pictures of the mist rolling in until the creek was full.

This trip was in the mountains of North Carolina. The views, of course, were great. My children start hollering "the mountains!" as soon as they see the slightest hill we when start our road trip. They get so excited!

P.S. Didn't do ANY tatting -- can you believe it?! I can't, and I was there! But, I didn't even pack it. I knew where I was going was completely "outdoors" and was concerned with things getting messed up and dirty. Plus I knew I would be spending almost all of the time in the lake swimming, on trails hiking, and by a smoky campfire cooking sticky s'mores. So fun times were had by all and the tatting stayed safe and clean at home. But now I am home, and one of my favorite tatters has her new book out....yeah!!! Can I wait for the mail?!!!!