Still no tatting to show yet, but I did have a couple of funny pictures to share!

Princess Stinky likes to "help" me do things - especially during the evenings. She's such a *good* little helper.





A contented cat at her pillow. Speaking of pillow - this is the nifty pillow Mark Myers made for me - dig the groovy beaded fringe. Barbie likes it very much, too, thank you. The pink keeps me awake. He gave me that vivid pincushion, too. It's a ball of felted wool. Great pincushion!

The multitudinous bobbins are some I've painted, but mostly ones that Sherry (Celticdreamweaver) has painted for me over the years. They are dear treasures. Sherry's a dear treasure, too. ;-) And she's going to visit very soon and we're gonna play and have fun!



While I'm on the topic of cats, I came downstairs this morning and saw this: Two little innocent cats napping in the livingroom all cuddled up together. I thought, "Awwwww." And took a picture.



Then I went around to the front to get another picture from another angle. This is the result: Devil Cats from Hell....heehee!

And Sherry this is for you!

I almost forgot to post about the Ben Franklin store I visited in Kingsport Sunday. I've never been to one before and boy, my eyeballs almost fell out!

Here is the "ribbon aisle". I've included Raymond in there for scale.










Then I proceeded to take pictures all over the store so I could "browse" at my leisure on the way back home. The cash-register girl said she could see flashes happening all over the store.

They had lots and lots of beady things.....








And lots of other goodies! This is the knitting notions wall. Yes, Virginia, they had shuttles, too! And tatting needles for the needle-y folk, and also books and tapes from Handy Hands! Yay, Barbara Foster!






Alert - tatting content ahead! (Don't faint!)

Here is a little fluttery I started in the spring and haven't finished yet. He's made with the Dutch Needle Tatting technique per To De-Haan Van Beek in Kleurrijk frivolité (translated to English as New Dimensions in Tatting, published by Lacis). If you don't have that book, I highly recommend it. It's value for the eyecandy alone makes it well worth it. I always have a dozen ideas whenever I browse that book. Ah, inspiration!

I need to give the poor fellow another wing and a better body. After I do that he gets a little outline of black. Then he can flutter away!









Oh - this was a sign in Ben Franklin's. I thought it was pretty funny!

Sherry tells me I'm sorely due for a Buhlawg update....This is young Coleman 8 1/2 weeks later....He's a whopping 14 lbs. and some odd ounces. Baby and mama are doing just fine. I just love babies! Sigh.

I've been working on tatting, tatting and tatting, but don't really have anything to show presently. I've mostly been working on things for Tat Days. It'll be here before you know it!







We've been having lots of late spring/early summer storms. I took these snapshots from my office at work. This was one incredible storm. I wish the pictures could better convey the sheer size of the storm clouds. They were beyond huge.




































I snapped this one on my way to work day before yesterday. It was foggy and the sun was rising. The light was bouncing off the mirrored windows of this building and shooting those incredible rays of light through the fog. Whoa.

Bliss!

I promised an update on yesterday's time-killer.

Guess what's in the garbage bag?



Give up? Try for a whole bunch o' bows! I elected to use tulle as it can be brought back to life easily and thus more easily transported that ribbon-type bows. We're having a little awards thing at work and don't have much of a budget for decorations and such.





Some of us had the "bright" idea to make paper flowers. It will take at least six months for my fingers to get un-sticky from handling so much floral tape. When will I remember to apply lotion to my hands before diving into the stuff? Anyway, here are the last of what we needed.









And with it being Mother's Day and all, I had to keep a couple for Mattie.

Okay - This isn't tatting again.....

but I had to finish these guys for my sister, April's, school play. They did Annie Get Your Gun and April needed some prop ducks and medals. This is what I came up with.








I was stumped as to what to use for medals. At about 3:30 in the morning I came up with this idea. I'll see how long it takes you to guess where I found the basis.



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Don't ask why I have that many jar lids in my house. I'm a tatter, remember? We all collect* small, sparkly, shiny things.

Here's little Bertie Wooster with his eyes opened. He displays an uncanny ability to focus for one so young. At least that's what his grandmama says.





After while I'll post pictures of today's timekiller. Hint: My fingers will never recover from being this sticky. Heh.

He's beautiful, and I'd definitely claim him as my own!

However, Janie, I believe it may be frowned upon a bit by the mommy and daddy - This is my niece's baby. So that makes this little one my great-nephew. He's my third thus far.

I'm wondering what they'll really name little Bertie. Hmmmm.

Here's another picture. I know I'm prejudiced, but isn't he purty?!?






Heather and John have just got to be beside themselves. I'm thrilled for them.

The baby is here!

He arrived late Friday evening. He doesn't yet have a name, but he certainly has presence at 8 lbs. 14 oz. and 21 inches in length. For now we're referring to him as little Bertie Wooster.

I can just catch that fresh baby smell, can't you? Mother and baby doing just fine.

Well, Mattie was distressed that I posted her little video here in my little corner of paradise. I've removed it for now, and I hope those of you who got to see it enjoyed the rare bird that is my mother.

She makes me crazy. ;-)

Now you know I come by my insanity honestly.

In penance I post pictures of my yard. Hope, these are for your enjoyment. Spring where the tulips grow.








This is the lilac bush in the backyard.






I love the sky this time of year.




Trees. This is the hill where my dad is buried. Good Old Dagwood is looking down his nose upon all of South Knoxville. He was the one who always told us, "Look at the sky!"

A little story in pictures titled, "It's a work in progress."

Hey, Sherry! - I'm ready for a long winter's nap.

Sherry, this post is especially for you. ;-) More boudoir photos by Raymond.

Nedsel has discovered the joy of crawling under a blanket. Here he is ready for a nap. Unlike Princess Stinky he prefers the foot of the bed as his point of entry.






Princess Stinky has to be at the head of the bed with me. Wasn't it nice of Raymond to take this lovely photograph?







In case you missed my big greasy nose in that photo, he also took a closeup.








Chatty is a daddy's boy. Here he is on Raymond's telephone "chair". I use that term loosely. It's actually a captain's chair from a Chrysler Town and Country van that he propped up on blocks in the kitchen. I hate it. Raymond loves it because it reclines, has adjustable arms, and I feel certain he secretly feels as though he's driving while seated in it. Car seats do not make an attractive kitchen accent. Especially when someone uses my cute little quilted throw I got for our tv room as a slipcover. Gaaa. At least Chatty looks good on it.








When I was a child, my dad built a Christmas village for us. You must keep in mind this was in the early to mid sixties long before all the Department 56 and Norman Rockwell stuff. Every Tuesday afternoon we would go by the neighborhood grocery store to pick up orange crates from behind the grocery store (they restocked fruits and veggies on Tuesdays). We would take them home (all the while the interior of the '56 Chevy Bel Aire would smell like canteloupe and bananas). There Daddy would take them down to the basement and disassemble the crates. He used the resulting slats to carve out these little houses. The houses were modeled after neighborhoods he saw when he was stationed in England during WWII. He painted them what he called "Disney" colors, however. He also did the two paintings behind the village here. The Santa was modeled after Haddon Sondblom's work he did for Coca Cola. He stays out all the time.







Here's another angle. I love the castle. I think it's my favorite of all the little houses. I painted the blue house with the green roof. Imagine that! Daddy let me paint one! With oil paint! And a big person's brush! You have to keep in mind I was probably 9 years old at the time. That was exciting stuff.







Over the years we've collected a mishmash of little figures, trees and other accessories to include in the village setup. They are certainly not consistent in scale, but oh, do they hold memories. And symbolism. I'm going to be setting the village up at my mom's house tomorrow. It's always fun, but at the same time difficult as it always makes her wax melancholic about Daddy being gone and she sails into the litany of her life with Daddy. Don't get me wrong. I miss him horribly also. I'm more of a "suffer in silence" kind of gal, however. Mattie has to hold you hostage. ;-)





I am indeed very blessed to have been raised in my slightly nutty family. Dagwood, especially, was special folk.

Cool village, eh?

What do these items have to do with each other - the boudoir and a Christmas village? Well, having been raised in that sort of household, I've been conditioned to have little Christmas projects going on. I'll never create anything as lovely as the village, but I still feel the need to create. And share. And my favorite place to do a lot of my handiwork is - you guessed it - on my bed. As witnessed here:





As you can see, I have lots of little helpers, too. ;-)

Hey - it's December 6th! Do you know where your Christmas tatting is?


Anyone who knows me can tell you I drag some sort of project, usually tatting, everywhere I go. I simply cannot have idle hands while sitting. I've been known to tat in classes, in meetings at work, and on Sunday mornings in church. The key is to try to watch what's going on more than what's happening with the tatting. Of course, sometimes this can result in unpredictable results. Also, it restricts one to more simple fare as to be able to concentrate on the external rather than the tatting. This is a snowflake that came off my shuttles in church a couple of weeks ago.

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And I also promised to post my version of Ruth Perry's Celtic Snowflake which can be seen here.
Ruth, you are such a treasure for sharing your lovely designs with us. Mine looks a bit wonky here. I was scanning with Nedsel helping (he's the little imp on the left of my banner). It seems he thinks he has to "help" the scanner/printer by poking his head inside, standing on top, walking across the buttons, you get the idea.

Look who came to my house! It's the PussyTat Dolls and their little friend, BriTatney Spears (she's the one in blue)! I do send my robust apologies to Jane Eborall who started the whole TatBead wave, further perpetuated by Martha Ess. Janey, oh Janey has the original Tatbead family posted here. Martha Ess expanded the family a bit, along with Pam Myers, Jessica Kuligowski, and Elaine Law, which Jane graciously posted here. Do try some of these! They're addictive.



















Here's a doodle from a couple of weeks ago. I thought it looked like a tree. Any other opinions? I'm messing with this doodle a bit more.

Ah - as I was looking through Tatday pics, I ran across this one from 2005. What a wonderful evening that was! This is for you, Susie-Q!

Back from Tatdays! I have lots of little projects to show. I'm sticking them all in one picture, however. ;-) Lazy Erin! I had such a grand time this year. The Palmetto gals were ever the most gracious hostesses. In spite of the threat of Hannah, things proceeded in grand Palmetto fashion. As it turned out, we only had misty rain on Friday night (with rain more in earnest while we slept) and Saturday morning. By Saturday afternoon all was sunshine and smiles.

The angel in the upper right corner is Jane Eborall's pattern taught by Riet Surtel-Smeulders. The pink, blue and white angels with the dangly beads are Sharren Morgan's Abbeville Angel. The smaller half-necklace and earrings in the middle are by Nina Libin, as is the larger half necklace (the Blossom necklace from her Lace of Beads publication). I'm certain you all recognize Anne Bruvold's dragons! The dark dragon is a gift from Celticdreamweaver Sherry Townsend and the pink one was made by my dear friend Barbie. She decided to throw in some beads. Both of those threads are hand-dyed by Sherry Pence (Ladyshuttlemaker at Etsy). The colorways are Royalty and Fuchsia - both size 80 threads. I have to say I'm in love with the threads. Who wouldn't be?

The snowflake was an 'on-the-fly' project and needs blocking badly. In fact, all these items need blocking. The pattern is the first one in Lene Bjorn's _24 Snowflakes in Tatting_ book. I'm going to make another with spaces carefully measured now that I know how large the rings of rings turn out. I hope that made sense. Also, I'm going to add beads.

The sorry little bookmark is another attempt at Lobelia. I did three colors this time. I have to say I love lacing with Gutterman silk. Pretty colors and feels pretty to work with, too. I made this on my Bimboburg(tm) pillow by Mark Myers. I'm thinking next time I'll use some blue work cloths rather than pink and red. It got to be a little too much pink to look at all at once. Also, my next project will be some sort of yardage on the Sherry pillow I recovered. I'm thinking a Buckspoint edging. . . something very elementary, of course.

Sherry came to visit before Tatdays and we had a couple of days to play before we went over together. On the way down to Winnsboro, Raymond let us stop at the Giant Hobby Lobby of Spartanburg. It was large, but I was a wee bit disappointed in the bead selection. We have much more here in Knoxville. I was surprised. We did manage to find things to buy, however. Imagine that!