Baked with Love

When I asked about what other crafts you all enjoy, some of you mentioned knitting, so I hope that you all don't mind that this post isn't tatting-related.

Years ago, I learned to knit.  Then, I stopped.  I don't remember if it was because I'd learned enough to say I did it or because my brother saying something about me being pregnant and scaring the knit out of me!  Well, before we left for vacation, I decided to give it another go, stitched enough to realize that I could do it and then we left.

Odd thing: When I first picked it up, I was all Continental about it since it was just natural to me from tatting.  I thought that I was doing it wrong, found it was okay, and moved on.  We came back from vacation, and I'm all English versus Continental. O_o  How did that happen? LOL. 

Anywho, this is a "Baked with Love" dish cloth designed by Rachel van Schie.  It's unblocked and measures about 9" square right now.  It's the second dish cloth that I finished, but I can't share the first yet.  It's done it light blue yarn, but I couldn't get the color right on my phone --with flash, it was harder to see the raised part, without I lost the color.  The pattern, as well as others, can be found here.  What bothers me about this sudden knitting interest is that I learned it because I kept seeing knitted things that I wanted to make.  Since I started knitting, everything yarn-made that I've seen is crocheted and I can not crochet!  Ugh.  >.<  I crocheted some silly little something that looks like a crown or part of a flower, but that's about it.  I have no patience for dealing with my too-tight crocheted stitches.  So, I shall stick to knitting for now.  Of course, I only have two light blue, one off-white/natural/ecru, and one gray shade of yarns, so I'm a little limited at the moment (and only size 6 and 8 needles), but I shall keep on knittin'.  :-)

On the giveaway front, I'm hoping to have a few teaser pictures tomorrow.  ;-)  (As in, I'll show what's going out, but I won't say who is getting what).  

♥,
Stephanie Grace

The Ozzy Has Spoketh.

Unto me he spoketh, "Eleven, Ma?  Really?  Give them each a little something!"

Thus, I say unto you, e-mail me with your address if you are on this list: (Who can resist those curls?  I just can't say 'no' when he shows the twirl of his mustache with the curl around his ears!). 

01. Diane
02. Michelle
03. Bree
04. SuzTats
05. Shannon_in_love
06. Olga Tatiana Rostkowska
07. Beelizabeth
08. H J Hess
09. Bonnie
10. Webbies
11. tatting-marie

I've made my notes and will try to make everyone happy, but, please, don't be disappointed if you only get twelve yards of HDT and some beads or buttons.  I want everyone to get something without giving Hubby a heart attack with postage costs and/or leaving myself with nothing to play with, LOL.  

I also want you all to know that you commenting means the world to me.  I didn't say 'Giveaway' in the title of that post because I really wanted it to go to people that actually read my blog and ramblings.  Sometimes, I feel like I'm just on the outside looking in when it comes to Tatland and YOU are the ones that make me feel welcome.  I can't thank you enough for that.  

Okay, so since Ozzy decided to be so generous, I'd like to ask that everyone be patient and give me a week or two to get everything mailed since I have to finish stuff, sort stuff, and -of course- work around Hubby's pay schedule... Sorry for the wait.  :-/

♥,
Stephanie Grace

All That Jazz...

...Or maybe not jazz, maybe it's bling. (I can't believe I just "said" bling. So. Not. Me.).  

Again too lazy to re-size.

(From left)
01. I posted this one before, but I added a caterpillar to the bottom.  He came off the sticker sheet while the shuttle was in view, so I figured he wanted to be there.
02. MINE!  I actually kind of love this one.  I used pearl white and metallic silver paints, some flowers cut from shelf paper, and a glittery "S" sticker.  I wanted to use a blue "S", but the blue was the wrong shade, so... yay!  Mine. Mine. Mine.  LOL.
03. On this one, I just mixed lavender paint with pearl and white until it was that color and then added a miniature pressed flower and petals from another pressed flower.  
*On two and three, I also added a layer of white napkin before the pearl/ purple paints.  I'm not sure if it really makes a difference, but the napkin was nearby, LOL. ;-)

I sat with some skeins of HDT that I've had for a year or two (or longer?) today and wound them onto cardboard bobbins and bits.  Then, I grabbed a little plastic box (I'm obsessed with the shoe-box sized plastic boxes, LOL), and well... The "To Give" stash currently consists of:

• Aforementioned HDT.
• Stickers
• Tiny Nail Decals
• Size 70 and/or 80 threads
• Buttons
• A few beads (I didn't touch my bead stash yet, but I had a little envelope with a few beads in it on my table). More beads will definitely be added. 

I have another skein or three of HDT to wind so I can add those ... and beads ... and I haven't even opened my findings and metal boxes.  I also need to look at my boxes of cards since someone is definitely getting a pack or some random cards to decorate and/or use.  My li'l stash of tealight candles might get a good look, too.  I think that, of those who have commented, only Ms. Diane decorates shuttles so she might end up with all the stickers if someone doesn't speak up!  LOL.  ;-)  (Not much of a threat as they're pretty kiddo-oriented, but maybe her granddaughter would enjoy them, so you should all think about your beloved kiddos, too... LOL.).  

I'm rambling.  My fingers got excited when I was typing about the "MINE" shuttle and, well, they don't want to slow down.  Sorry.  

Any complaints/ requests/ suggestions as I'm compiling this stash to giveaway?  The more that goes in the box, the more winners we'll have, I think.  At least, that makes sense to me.  :-P  We're at... eleven(?) comments and I don't think it will get higher, so I'm wondering about consolation prizes.  Maybe beads and at least ten yards of thread for everyone?  We'll see... By the way, if you've commented or do comment of the giveaway post three posts down and read all of tonight's (this morning's) babbling, you can feel free to tell me your preferences about the things that I've mentioned.  I don't want anyone feeling disappointed.  I know that feeling.  It's not pleasant. ;-)

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Winner #1 and More Shuttle Play.

So, I've kind of been itching to pick a winner.  It's really been nagging at me.  I hate waiting.  Well, my brain kicked on and I realized that the list for those who commented on the question post wasn't going to change, so I went to random.org and...

God's Kid, please, send me an e-mail so I can put something together for you!  :-D  

*Note: I still haven't decided if this will be the only winner from that list.  Heck, I still haven't even decided if there will be one winner or more for the actual giveaway-giveaway, LOL.  ;-)  Since there are only nine comments thus far, I'd really like send at least a little something to everyone, but I don't know if I can do that and still have stuff left to do!  LOL.  We'll see what happens... :-)

If you haven't commented yet, got two posts down, read it, and follow the rule to get in on the giveaway. ♥

I'm too lazy to re-size tonight, so this picture is huge if you click on it.  It's all Clovers, though, so I'll go out on a limb and assume you all know the actual size...

 (From left to right):
1. Napkin from Diane and some paint.  I thought the blue would tie in with the dots ... It's pretty ugly to me, but I've adopted "Someone will like it" as my motto as of late. :-)
2. Napkin from Diane and gold paint.
3. Painted sky and green and stickers.
4. Pearl paint and decorations cut from... yup, a napkin from Diane.
5 & 6 are just in the beginning stages.  

Under them is a strip of masking tape, I do that whole, roll-it-up with the sticky on the outside thing so I can plop them onto that without touching the tops.  They stay still until I'm ready to touch them again. :-) If you're really into details, the background has one of the ugly throw pillows that came with my couch and the pattern and yarn for a latch hook project I'm working on.  Foreground is nail decal gems and a Boye shuttle that I got yesterday!  :-D  Ohh... and the backing from the shelf paper that's on the pink shuttle.  I think it'll fail and peel off like it did last time, but... we'll see.  Worse comes to worst, I'll just cut the point-part off and paint that pearl... because I love white pearl.  It goes with everything!

Wow... so much for a short post.  Oops.

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Sure, I've played with shuttles...

I may not have tatted a single stitch since my return, but I have played with shuttles!
 

The first two are Clovers.  The last three are eBay cheapies.  Each of them has an end where the ends don't meet. >.<  Still worth the $1.50 each, though, especially since I wanted them to practice decorating shuttles.  All except the middle shuttle are decorated using napkins sent from Ms. Diane (Thank you!!!) The flower and ladybug stickers are from my mom (Thank you!!!). ;-)

By now, we all know that my cell phone hates me, but I tried to get better pictures of the first two...

This one has nail decal flowers and glitter... Of course, you can't see all that.  Stupid phone.

This has glitter nail polish, too... Have I said 'stupid phone' lately? >.<

 

 

 Sure, I'm new to it and they're not all that pretty, but I'm learning.  :-P  Oh, the shuttles are resting on another shuttle that I decorated.  A Susan Bates bobbin one.  It's painted silver and I used the same floral napkin.  

Just so that this isn't all shuttles and no tatting.  Here's a necklace that I sent to a friend a few weeks ago.  The pattern is Ms. Marilee's "Rhapsody Necklace".  It's done in Lizbeth, Size 10 black with pink size 8 beads and a pink glass pearl.  Of course, in the picture that I took with my phone, it looks green:

 My lovely friend, though, took pictures when she got it.  See!  It really is black!  LOL

Well, that's all for now.  Don't forget to enter the giveaway in my last post!  ;-)

♥,
Stephanie Grace

My Turtle Told Me to Give Stuff Away...

...and, being a well-trained pet owner, I figure that I should listen to the little bugger.  So... Comment on this post to enter.

If you've already gone to comment, you might miss this rule, so I hope you actually read this:  Please comment with what crafts you do.  If you only tat, say so.  If you do other crafts, I want to know all of them! :-P  I'm doing it this way so that I might have more to offer the winner(s) since, well, my tatting thread stash isn't all too thrilling so I probably don't have anything there to offer that most of don't own already.  *If you don't comment about your favored crafts, etc... and just leave a comment, it will not count. 

Winner(s) will be chosen by random.org on Friday, September 21st, around 7pm EDT/ 11:00pm UTC/ 23:00GMT/ GMT -4:00.  Thorough enough?  LOL. No comments after 7:05EDT will be eligible. 

As for the other giveaway, for those that commented on my question [before I mentioned a giveaway], here is my list:

 QUESTION DAY GIVEAWAY LIST
01. E-mailer
02. Bree
03. Michelle
04. Shannon
05. Diane
06. Bonnie
07. God's Kid
08. Beelizabeth
09. CrazyKwilter

I never delete e-mails, so I don't know why I can't find who e-mailed me, but I know that someone e-mailed before anyone commented.  I only included those that commented before the next post which mentioned the giveaway in an attempt to keep things fair.  (Those posts were so long ago that I'm probably the only one that even remembers anything ... and only because I looked back!  LOL). 

Well, there we have it.  If you made it this far, you may as well tell me your favorite color(s), too.  Not required, but it could help me with picking from my stash if you win, LOL.  ;-)

Again, nothing extravagant to offer... I wish I had more...

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Ozzy, the giveaway enforcer.

Just Checkin' In

Not much has happened since my last post.  I mean, sure, I'm now a year older than I was then, but that's not really a big deal. ;-)  We made it safely to my cousins' house and I have been loving every minute of vacation!  The car was packed with a lot of craft stuff on the way down for us to sort through and I told Hubby that at least half wasn't come back with us ... I forgot that I'd probably replace everything that's being left here with other craft goodies!  LOL.  

They opened a Hobby Lobby near where we live the day we left, so that was the first stop of the day, LOL.  It wasn't really worth the stop, but I picked up some Aunt Lydia's size 10 just so that it wasn't a complete waste.  I'm kind of in love with it now.  With Lizbeth, I find myself constantly having to drop my shuttles or put down the project and let the thread sit a while before I can close a ring (even with size 10, so it's not a size issue).  I don't think that I have ever tatted (with shuttle(s)) anything without letting it rest every ring or two!  

Now, I'm super curious about other threads.  Since I have to order everything online, Handy Hands always seems like the best economical choice, as does Lizbeth thread, but I kind of feel like paying more for a thread that doesn't need to rest so much will make up for its cost just by saving me some sanity.  I could be doing something wrong, of course, but it makes me feel better if I think it's the thread's fault.  :-P  Especially when I don't have the same problems with other threads.  To end this rant:  What's your thread of choice, taking both money and sanity into consideration?  

I really wish that I could see and feel threads before buying.  I know that it wouldn't make a tremendous difference and that I'd still be taking my chances until I actually tat with it, but I just think that feeling would give me a better guess as to how it would tat up and seeing would mean knowing the color(s) exactly.  

Okay, this has gotten really long.  Happy belated birthday to me, glad I got here safely, I'll be leaving in a few days (I don't wanna!), and I will check in when I get home --and then I'll definitely be putting together a few little things to send off for giveaway winners. ;-)

♥,
Stephanie Grace