Worth a look?

Found this link and thought I'd share for those of you that do quilting, sewing, etc...  Valdani thread is also in there, but 3-ply.  It appears to be mainly an embroidery or quilting site...  


http://www.hannahspinkeep.com/

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Clash of Seasons

The beloved, self-proclaimed 'Old Git' (I think OG stands for Outstanding Genius, but whatever...), Jane asked for some sunshine, so I loaded some thread on some shuttles and thought, Yeah, I can do something....

Yes, it looks more like a star than a sun.  If I would have thought about it more, I would varied the chain lengths, maybe made more, etc...  I am, however, thinking this could easily be manipulated in a Christmas star, right?  Do you see it? By the way, be kind: The sun really is just a big star, after all. ;-)

Now, for the clash!  Before Jane's post, I was trying to cool off.  I really hate spring and summer.  They depress me.  So much sun and it's so hot and it makes me feel all dirty.  I mean, really, what's worse than stepping out of a shower and feeling dirty ten seconds later?  Thankfully, my weather forecast is looking good: Air Conditioned for at least the next 90 days!  LOL. ;-)

So, here's what I was doing:

 Thread is LizBeth size 20 in white.  Pattern is Elegant Snowflake from Tatted Snowflakes by Vida Sunderman.  I am in love with this pattern!  I went with the suggested thread amount and had a lot left on my shuttles, so there will be math involved when I tackle this one again.  :-)

 This one is tatted with blue perle cotton.  I can't remember who sent me this *blush*  I've had it for a while but never used it because it's so pretty that I didn't want to waste it.  The pattern Ribbon-Floss Snowflake from the aforementioned book.  I enjoyed it, but I pulled an 'oops' and tatted over the tail in the beginning ring so had nothing to knot at the end for security.  This will end up on a card or something... or stiffened, maybe?  Something that will make it secure. :-)

I know that I said I was hoping to announce the giveaway this weekend, but I still haven't sorted all of that out.  I'm thinking I might hold off until the shuttles I ordered come in.  I'm good with decorating them, yet, but I think I'd like to include one or two... maybe?  We'll see. In the meantime, I'll start putting things together.  :-)  

Love and Happy Tatting to all!

♥,
Stephanie Grace
P.S.  A HUGE thank you to everyone that has commented/responded lately.  I'm behind with e-mails, but I'll get on that tonight, hopefully! ♥

Answers :-)

First off, thank you all for responding to my question.  It's good to know that I'm not talking to myself (At least when I'm offline, I look like I'm talking to my turtle... On here, I have no such cover-up!).  ;-)


It was interesting to me that many of us seem to stay silent for the same reasons:
1. Saying 'Beautiful' or 'Wow', while genuinely our response, seems to be trite.  To elaborate a bit more, I think most of us also think using synonyms thereof are still just... the same.  
2.  That said, and what I didn't mention in my post was being unoriginal.  We stay quiet because what we want to say has already been said by someone else.
3.  Laziness and/or Lack of Time.  I'm grouping these together because, well, lack of time leads to laziness and laziness leads to lack of time.  With so many blogs to follow, even just typing one word on each one, every day, would be quite a time-consuming task.  


I truly didn't mean for this to turn into a poll-type-thing, but I'm one of those people that notices patterns (I swear I don't obsess about it, LOL), so I thought I'd share my findings.  :-D  It's also made me want to make more of an effort to at least say something when I visit a blog.  Sometimes, I feel like the person that shows up late, in the ugly dress, and I don't want to ruin the party, but I think I need to get over that.  Even if I just say, 'Hey! I came, I saw, I loved it!', it might just make someone's day... who knows?  Copy and Paste will be my friend if I really just use that over and over!  LOL.  We mean it every time we say such a thing, but we feel like we're not coming across as genuine.  Sometimes, just taking a second to give a virtual pat on the back means more than the actual words, right? Beside that, they don't have to respond if they don't want to.  ;-)


That said, I've decided that, once I put things together for a giveaway, there will be a winner from only those that commented or e-mailed about yesterday's question.  :-)  I love you gals!  (And was floored by a few... I mean, really, to know someone that you admire reads your blog?  It's mind-blowing!).


There will be another open for all followers, especially since some people may have passed up commenting because of good ol' Reason Number Two, but I feel like those that took the time to help me feel less insane yesterday/today deserve a giveaway of their own.  I'm hoping to have the prizes sorted out this weekend, but we'll see how that goes (whenever I 'announce' something, something always seems to come up... Ugh...).  I'm warning you: It will be nothing extravagant.  My craft cubbies look loaded only because of my love for plastic organizing boxes.  My stash is bare bones compared to many that I've seen, but I will try and make it worth the commenting, I promise! :-*  If it's not, just let me know and you will all wait until I have better offerings.  :-P


I don't want to do to two posts in a row without pictures, so here's my kitty, Aerosmith!  Sometimes, you just know when your furbaby doesn't want the channel changed! ;-)

Happy crafting & tatting and love to you all!


♥,
Stephanie Grace

Question for ya...

I ramble a lot, I know that, so I tend not to comment on blogs because, well, I feel like just saying 'beautiful' doesn't cover my thoughts (even though it usually does).  


Anywho, I've realized that most comments here come from the same two or three people (whom I cherish and love dearly --THANK YOU!!!).


My question is: Does anyone else read this blog or visit once in a while?  I want to put together a giveaway, but if I really only have three followers, it seems easier just to mail each one a little something instead of having just one 'winner'.  


(*Note: Mom, you don't count, dear... Sorry.).  ;-)


Thank you!  :-*


♥,
Stephanie Grace

New Hobbies Part 3 of 3 & Tatting!

I'll be honest.  I blame Ms. Diane - The Lace-lovin' Librarian for this next venture.  Seeing her go through her gorgeous shuttles and her sharing some 'blinging' tips on her blog (Thank you for pointing that out --how did I never see that link?), made me salivate to the point of envy! :-P  My shuttle collection has reach 5 and they're all so plain!  I've been unable to convince Hubby that I simple must have new, pretty shuttles, so, here's what happened:

Bad picture --Cell phone hates me and, in my excitement, I didn't care that it was too dark for a picture.  :-P

What I used:

Vinyl shelf paper that I picked up Michael's last year for around thirty cents. :-)

A little pearl accent.

Clay roses that I made a while back.

"Triple Thick" brush-on gloss glaze by DecoArt (A.C. Mom couldn't find her Mod Podge and I was too antsy to wait, so I had her send over the tub of this stuff.).  ;-)

The roses were only used because I went into my organizer looking for a flat clay accent.  These screamed at me, though, and were sick of being neglected.

My cell phone didn't hate me as much today while the sun was still up. ;-)   I really thought the roses were going to fly of the first time I tatted with this shuttle, but the pearl got in my way more!  O.o  Go figure.  It's no where near perfect and I'm sure it'll fall apart on me next time I use it, but I'm pretty proud.  :-P  (As an added 'Yay' this project used up things that were sitting in my craft cubby being neglected.). 

A HUGE THANK YOU TO Fox FOR THIS SHUTTLE!!!  Not only did her generosity help me get comfortable with shuttle tatting (I cherish my Clovers!  I thought I'd love bobbin shuttles, but, nope, these are my favorites so far!).  :-D  Thank you, thank you, thank you, Fox!!!! ♥

And, now, some tatting!  LOL.  A friend asked for a dragonfly so a dragonfly she received...

The pattern is one of the amazing Jane's.  I had to take out my needle for this, though, because I just can not seem to manage a split ring on the shuttles --yet!  :-P  

Well, I got a bit hooked (and had more requests, LOL), so...

...And then I got caught up on Ms. Margaret's dream catcher pattern and, well... I think I'm all caught up...

Oops.  That's a lie.

Mr. Tatman's turtle was also completed!  :-D  I made a huge mess of this little guy last time I tried him, but it was smooth sailin' this time!  Isn't he adorable?  I wish I had threads to match my turtle's coloring!!!

Well, that's all for today.  LOL. 

Happy tatting to all!

♥,

Stephanie Grace

New Hobbies? Part 2 of 3

To me, you can always tell when someone enjoys what they do when they want to share it.  By that, I don't mean show pictures, etc... I mean that they'll give some supplies or teach someone how to do what they do because they want to share their enjoyment of the craft.  This was the case with a wonderful woman on Facebook who saw my cross-stitched 'S' and thought it was missing some sparkle.  After a short (haha! I say that like there was no rambling...) conversation with her, I was suddenly stalking the mailman waiting on a package.  Why?  She wanted to share her craft with me!  

I am SO glad that she did!  I'm in love with it!  

Before this, I'd never tried beaded needle point.  I thought for sure that I'd be a bloody (literally) wreck after just a few beads, but there was no blood at all!!!  :-D

In side the package, was a gorgeous strawberry kit and an starter kit using an initial.  Being me, I dove right into the strawberries, but I wanted something to show right away, so...

I'm still debating how to use it, but there's my 'S'!  :-D  I love that the beads were hematite-ish!  I love hematite! ♥

Yesterday, I FINALLY finished the strawberries!  In my excitement, I forgot to scan it before framing it, but whatever. You get the point.  :-P  This was not only my first time beading, but also my first time ever using a stamped pattern.  It was a bit confusing (especially since I swear the package picture is all done in one red shade), so there are mistakes, but it's done and I love it!  

Cruddy picture (my cell phone hates me), but I absolutely enjoyed this project!  It was so refreshing for me to do something that required no thinking of a plan of attack.  Very relaxing!  I can't wait to do more! Hubby probably doesn't realize it yet, but this means I'll definitely need more kits --and makes growing my bead stash even more crucial!  LOL.  

Okay, okay, enough rambling.  

Happy crafting and tatting to all!

♥,

Stephanie Grace

New Hobbies? Post 1 of 3.

I've learned something about myself this year: I don't know how to take things slow, LOL.  I just dive in head first and hope the doggy paddle can save my butt from drowning.  Don't believe me?


#1. My mom is a very crafty person and I was raised in a home filled with her various crafts and supplies (hence me dubbing her 'A.C. Mom').  Quilling is something she's done off and on, but I never really tried it.  One call to A.C. Mom and bam! I'm quilling.  Of course, though, I dive right in.  No beginner patterns or children patterns for this chickadee!  No, no, no!  I had to dive right in and try something beyond my inexperienced skill set.  

See that... That is not a circle.  Ugh.  At that point, you'd think I'd go to the basic patterns, but, nope, played around more..

After those three, I got inspired, I guess.  I completely stopped using designs and patterns and just did what I wanted, what the paper told me to, LOL...

Lesson learned from this: Sometimes, I'm much better off if I just go with my instincts instead of trying to follow someone else's design or pattern.  Sometimes. ;-)


I'll be back soon to do the next two posts, I promise (I should be back in an hour, but who knows... LOL). 


Happy crafting and tatting to all! 


♥,
Stephanie Grace