Before I get into updating things here, I'm posting a "quickie" of the wedding. It actually happened! Raymond and/or I didn't chicken out, the weather held out, we had a legitimate officiant, rings went on fingers and everything!

First photo - a man trudging to his happy destiny. Heehee!














Next - the actual exchange of vows - no one told me I still had my sunglasses on. Whoops. It's probably a good thing, though, since I was on the verge of a migraine. Actually I look sort of like I'm about to throw up here. ;-)

The beautiful necklace, bracelet and earrings are a gift from Sherry Townsend. I felt very glamorous wearing them.
















The big "sealed with a kiss" part...















Whew! It's official!















And the next picture which is self explanatory:














And (drumroll, please) THE BABY!!! Being held by my big brother, Rusty.

So Janie Lou Eborall thinks she's the only one who can get kidnapped!

Okay - so I used Jane's Super-Secret-Southern Name, Janie-Lou. However, Sherry T. the CelticDreamWeaver is presently being held captive in Knoxville. I have chained her to a chair in the livingroom and have forced her into hard labor.



We're busy at work - it's amazing how quickly two people can mess up a couch. And it's really and truly incredible how much crap one can cram into a little tatting bag.

Our concentration skills are truly incredible. Observe our intense focus on our tasks at hand. Secret agent tasks only revealed in the distant future to attendees at the 7th Annual Palmetto Tat Days at the White Oak Conference Center in lovely Winnsboro, SC.

















Hopefully some other Secret Agent Items will arrive tomorrow so we can intensely decorate them in time for Georgia-Knows-What. Only with the passage of time will more be revealed...........until then, Secret Agent Erin and Hostage/Kidnap Victim Sherry signing off!

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. ;-)