Easy Stuff

Well, this will be very a boring post (aren't they all?).  I decided to finally take out the wooden ornaments that I bought last year on vacation and paint them.  I have no idea what I'll do with them aside from throwing them back in the box from whence they came, but at least they're not plain anymore. :-)

 Ugh.  You can't tell, but the snowflake is shiny, too. 

There is also a gift tag almost done.  I couldn't make up my mind about the background color, so I just might be taking out the paints again tomorrow.  You can't tell in the scan, but he's all pearly and shiny, as are the snowflakes (which also have bits of blue). 

Well, that's it for me tonight.  I hope you've all had a wonderful week!

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Wednesday was Crochet Day, I guess

I am sorry that I haven't updated.  Not only am I horrible about blogging, but I've just been trying to sort things out in life (nothing major or anything; just readjusting and catching up). 

My mom called me on Sunday and made a request for a crocheted pouch for her phone.  She wanted something that would hang from her neck and just hold her phone, possibly snug, and it didn't need a flap.  I went over yesterday and made a chain to get the width right, then went around the chain with single crochet stitches to get the depth right.  I measured the height/length of the phone and did the rest in my own dwelling, so I hope it's right.  I'll find out later today. 

 

It's much more blue than shown, but I couldn't get a good picture.  Go figure.  The pouch is (hopefully) sized for her phone (which is huge, by the way) and the strap is fifty inches long.  I measured her and where she wanted it.  Hopefully, it works for her.  I really don't know when I became brave enough to make something without a pattern. 

While I was at my parents' house, my niece made a request of her own: mittens for her daughter.  I have never made mittens.  I've made myself a lovely pair of fingerless gloves, but never mittens.  I made one last night/this morning, though. :-)

 

I used this  pattern.  My wrist hates me and I'm pretty sure it's too big, but it's done.  I'll wait to see how it fits before making a second --and/or a smaller pair.  At least it's done, though. :-)  

Well, that's about it.  Sorry for the lack of content. 

♥,

Stephanie Grace

Brave Little Toaster, I am Not

I decided to make a seahorse today.  The pattern is the The Amazing Jane Eborall's Medium Seahorse.  

 It's tatted in Salmon and Navy blue as that will be the basic color scheme for this nautical set.  I didn't read through the pattern before starting so I didn't take the shuttle switch into account.  Thus, the five beads on Shuttle 2 were on Shuttle 1 at that point and rendered useless. >.<  I learned two things, though: 
     1. Put the beads on Starting Shuttle 1. 
     2. Approx. 2-1/4 yard on Starting Shuttle Two means finger tatting the first half of the last three split rings and leaves a 10" tail at the end (I used a Sunlit Shuttle so the thread came off faster than with a Clover.).  The same amount on Starting Shuttle 1 leaves about 3/8 of a yard on the shuttle.

Good to know, right?  I think so.  I'm kind of obsessed with knowing how much thread to load.  

Oh! I should also mention that I used the un-amended pattern which I printed out years ago.  I was too lazy to make notes last night to see where it was changed, but the only problem I actually ran into was just me putting the beads on the wrong shuttle and ending up with the colors backward from what was wanted. ;-)

My first failed attempt at Sunbonnet Sue left a lot of thread on a shuttle and I've been too lazy to unwind it, so I decided to use it.

 This is one of Nancy Tracy's tatted musical notes.  It was a quick little tat, but I forgot that I downloaded the pattern to decorate paperclips.  I'll try it next time since there's still plenty of thread on the shuttle.  

Well, that's all for now.  Hope you all had a great day! 

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Quick Question

I'll probably end up asking at intatters, but just wondering: Does anyone know of an anchor pattern?  I made something anchor-esque a few years ago, but I didn't write down the patter or anything and I don't think it would be big enough anyway.  I have nothing with which to bribe The Amazing Jane Eborall, and she doesn't currently have one on her website, so I'd hate to bother a tatting celebrity and legend with my measly request, so I hope someone knows of a pattern that exists...  

♥,
Stephanie Grace
(P.S. If The Amazing Jane Eborall reads this, I swear I'm not putting you on the spot; I'm just used to your patterns as my go-to and I know that you have plenty of things that are not of the norm, so I was a bit shocked that a friend asked for a whole nautical theme with your patterns, but neither of us saw an anchor.)  :-* 

Sunbonnet Sue Number Two

Since yesterday's Sunbonnet Sue ended up with a ring wrong-side forward, I knew that I had to do another just to prove that I really could tat her.  I'm still not in love with the pattern, but it tats up so easily (i.e. no natural stopping point so I don't really feel the need to put it down) that I might make a few more.  I guess that depends on if anyone on my Christmas card list voices a fondness for Sunbonnet Sues.  I'm a tad old-fashioned or something, so I'm used to people not agreeing with things that I like.  *shrugs* It happens.

She's done in Lizbeth size 20, Harvest Gold (699) and Victorian Red (670).  I think that I might try silver and blue for the next one again, but with the silver on the outside and blue for the chains.  I'm trying to keep her Christmas-y so I'm avoiding the flowery threads that seem like they'd be a good fit. 

I started a very scary (to me) pattern today, too.  Hopefully, it will work out okay, but thus far it's only confirmed that I *hate* super large rings. (Is there any way to make a ring of 36 stitches look neat?  I haven't mastered that skill yet.)  

Hope you're all having a lovely day.  The Giants are getting slaughtered, so it's probably about to become a cruddy night in my household. :-/

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Christmas is Coming...

I realized that Christmas will be here before I know it, so I've been trying to focus on the little trinkets that I'll include in the cards I send out.  I bought Christmas cards on Halloween ... I'm as bad as the stores when it comes to rushing the holidays.  (Note: I'm generally miserable from now until all this holiday stuff if over.  I don't observe Thanksgiving and I hate Christmas.)

My plan is to mainly make snowflake ornaments, but I also want to do some other ornaments and, hopefully, some bookmarks if I can find a few patterns that I like and can tat quickly.  I just bought Tat's Where I Stopped by Nancy Tracy, but I'm a bit iffy on some of the patterns.  Does anyone have the book?  How do you handle patterns like the leaves bookmark?  I never trust just knotting and cutting, but I also wouldn't want to use glue on a bookmark.  I iz confoozed. 

I have had this pattern printed for literally years.  I've never been brave enough to try it for some reason.  It's a lot easier than I imagined, but I found the directions to be wrong in several places. 

Sunbonnet Sue; Big Book of Tatting, pg. 19

I used Lizbeth size 20 in Sky Blue Medium and Silver.  It's not a bad pattern, but I should have paid more attention.  My initial ring has the wrong side facing forward because I flat-out didn't realize there was no RW before adding the ball thread.  *rolls eyes*  It was my third time starting, though, so I just went with it.  

This is another "December Motif" by Joelle Paulson from leblogdefriole.blogspot.com.  All of the beads are pink, but none of them look like it in the scan --and the seed beads, in life, look white if you don't look closely.  They annoy me.  They're so pink together, but turn white on thread.  >.<  The thread is Turquoise Light --Lizbeth, Size 20, of course. 

Well, that's it for now, but at least it's something. 

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Run In Peace, Nala. :,-(

A little more than a month after receiving the news that Aerosmith passed away, and exactly a month after my thirtieth birthday, I was called yesterday about Nala.  "If you want to see her, you should come now..."  I hate those words.

I don't think I'm ready to truly accept it yet, and I think I'll be avoiding my parents' house for quite sometime as I sit here and hate myself for going down a path that didn't allow me to keep her with me.  Yeah, I know, it wouldn't have changed anything ... but maybe.  Who knows?

I keep reminding myself of the time that she was lost.  She slipped out of her collar, ran toward a street just as a Mack truck was coming, spun away from the tires just in the nick of time, crossed over a highway, clearing the cement divider on her way, and was gone for twenty days.  I drove around, posted signs, all of that typical stuff.  On the day that it happened, I actually told my nephew, "Well, if you see Nala in the yard of your school, you have my full permission to get up, leave class, and run out to get her."  Twenty days later, a friend went with me into the small wooded area behind that school and we found my precious baby.  It's a wonder she didn't play with the kids when they were outside.  I never thought about that.  Weird.  

She lost some weight during her adventure and completely tore her ACL.  She underwent surgery to repair her knee and, while the vet said she had to take it slow, she was running again before I knew it.  The veterinarian also informed us that arthritis was in her future no matter what, even if she hadn't torn her ACL. I have pictures of her shaved leg and the stitched incision, but I'm not brave enough to go through too many pictures tonight.  (Found some on the computer; I didn't think I'd scanned them.)

When she was lost, I thought that I would never her again.  I spent twenty days crying off and on, saying that I missed my baby and I really, truly believed that that was it.  

Tonight, I just keep reminding myself to be grateful for the time since then, for the miracle of finding her and being able to have ten more years with her ... but it hurts because, this time, she really is gone forever.  

  
I'm comforting myself with the belief that, now, she can run again and play with all the fervor that her body could no long muster.  I love you, Nala, always.  Run in peace, my pretty, pretty princess. 

♥,
Stephanie Grace 

*Being the horrible person that I am, I didn't even realize that it's only been nine years since her little excursion.  I really thought that it happened in 2004 because I didn't think I'd known Hubbs for very long when it happened.  I really need to get a better memory.  I still feel fortunate for the time, but now I feel like I was shorted a year that I should have had with her.  

Nocturnal Tendencies

I'll start with the disappointment: This post has nothing to do with owls.  Sorry.  

For as long as I can remember, I have always been naturally nocturnal, especially in the warmer months of the year.  In trying to combat this and be awake during more "normal" hours, I often having what I call a "reset day."  This is when I skip sleeping altogether until the next night.  Usually, these days are not very fun.  I actually do try to sleep, but it doesn't happen.  Giving these days a name is my way of just accepting it as a normal part of my life.  

Often, those days end up being a Sunday (so, yes, I am writing on about one hour of half-sleep, its 9:20PM here, and I probably will not go to sleep until one or three AM.)  Yesterday, I decided that, if I was going to accept the sleep deprivation (which really doesn't bother me; if I'd listen to my body, my natural pattern would be around 36 hours awake; 12 hours of sleep; repeat), I might as well do something... so, I did...

December Motif Pattern available at http://leblogdefrivole.blogspot.com/

 Two Keyed Up Earrings and Pendant sets from Tatted Jewelry by Marilee Rockley

Lacy Treasure Pendant from Tatted Jewelry by Marilee Rockley

I left the Lacy Treasure Pendant plain because I wanted it for size comparison.  Yup, be expecting to see it again. ;-)

Pendant based on Roundabout Earrings by Marilee Rockley

The last one I actually made a while ago, but it was sitting here and I couldn't remember if I'd ever scanned it, so here it is (possibly again).

Well, that's it for me.  Time to figure out if my night should include even more tatting or if my wrist needs a break (my eyes certainly do!). 

Here are so scans of the Keyed Up Earrings and Pendants. 

Oh, everything is tatted using Lizbeth size 10 or 20.  Colors vary and I'm too lazy to look up the names and numbers.  They're quite different from the pictures and scans.  When am I going to figure out how to do one of those right? >.<

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Saturday Tatting

I finished the spring-colored motif/ coaster.  By the third circle of rings, I noticed something staring me right in the face: Apple trees!  I have tatted this motif at least three or four times, but I don't remember seeing that before.  Now, I'm trying to figure out if I need to do this again with red and green or red and brown ... I'd like the brown for the trunks and green for the outlining of the treetops, but that would just be way too complicated for my fragile sanity.  Do you see apple trees, too?

The pattern is one motif from the "Wild Rose Tray Mat" on page 54 of The Tatter's Treasure Chest.  I like this motif, but I don't like them connected.  It's too busy for me.  

I also tatted a little pendant, but I have yet to hide the ends.  The pattern is "Compass Pendant" from Tatted Jewelry by Marilee Rockley.  It was one of those scary patterns that I probably wouldn't have tried if I'd read the pattern before starting, but I'm fairly certain that I've made this before, so I really shouldn't have felt that way.  I kept going even after I got scared, though... How else can one improve? ;-) 

The bead in the middle has a cat's eye effect that I *wish* would show itself in pictures.  I blame my old cell phone.  I love it, but it hates letting me take even one decent picture of anything. -_-  It's a total meanie-meanie, dumb-dumb butt. 

Well, that was my Saturday tatting.  Hope you're having a great weekend! 

♥,
Stephanie Grace
 

Beckoning Autumn

With only a few days left before Autumn begins, it's kind of weird that I grabbed an autumnal-colored thread, but I did.  Usually, I'm more likely to make snowflakes in the summer and dolphins and such in the winter.  I'm backward like that. (Actually, I think it's a mental game that I play with myself...) 

Today, I finished the "Jasmine Glass Mat" from The Tatter's Treasure Chest done Lizbeth size 20, Color #136, Autumn Spice.  I'm not a fan of flowers, so the pattern's name is completely lost on me. 

It was kind of fiddly to tat so it could use a bit of flattening, but I'll probably just throw it in a plastic shoe box and forget about it. (That's my norm.)  Also, look!  I finally straightened George!  He was on his head for at least a month.  Oops. 

I don't think that I'll be doing this one again, but I can tell you that it nailed everyone of my little tatting fears.  I added more shuttle thread (from a second ball which messed up the colorway... Ugh...).  I had to open a ring to fix a mistake.  I had to sew in more than two ends.  I'm telling you, I'm getting brave in my old age!  

It's about 4-1/4" from point to point so it's actually bigger than I expected for a glass mat ... and required way more thread that I anticipated for something so small.  I really need to come up with a better method of guesstimating how much thread to put on a shuttle. -_-  

Well, there's today project.  I started a Spring-colored motif tonight that works as a coaster/glass mat, so I might just have to make one for each season.  We shall see. 

Hope you had a great Thursday! 

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Blue and Silver

One of the first books that I bought when I started tatting was Christmas Angels and Other Tatting Patterns by Monica Hahn.  I always loved the Cloverleaf Bell on page 13, but never completed it.  Every time that I looked at it, the song Silver Bells would fill my head and I'd imagine how lovely the bell would look in silver instead of the white pictured in the book.  

My best guess is that I avoided it because it is done in three different parts (four, counting the hanger).  Until a few weeks ago, I dreaded sewing in ends, so anything that required cutting and tying usually got put on the "someday" list.  Nothing really changed, but a few weeks ago, I suddenly had no problem sewing in my ends.  So...

Ta-Da!

Of course, this made me feel all brave because I actually love it.  Right away, I wanted to make the pattern again.  I started, but I didn't load enough thread onto the shuttle so I aborted the mission.  I did not, however, abort the book.  I flipped a few pages and and decided to finally do another pattern that I've always liked but never finished. 

I do not like this one as much.  I knew that I wouldn't like a star in silver, but I always think that blue and silver are the best Christmas colors, so I had to try it.  I'm just proud that I finished, even after realizing that I wouldn't be in love with it.  I'm definitely going to have to try this one in a gold-toned thread.  For some reason, the ball of silver that I have (Lizbeth 20) feels very dry so tatting with it feels ... weird.  It slowed me down a bit because I had trouble getting some of the rings to close, but this still only took a few hours (I didn't time it).  By the way, I am not blaming Lizbeth thread.  I love it and only mentioned the dryness because my other ball of silver feels completely different.  I've never had Lizbeth feel dry like that before.  Like I said, weird. 

Well, hope you've had a wonderful day!

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

Sunday.  The day of worship.  The day of rest.  The day of football and coupon-clipping!  I'm not a churchgoer.  Football is my weekly sermon and today it was pretty disappointing.  The New York Giants look horrible!  I really hate seeing my team shoot themselves in the foot.  They lost that game on their own.  Really, Arizona didn't win it, the G-Men just lost it.  It's such a sad, sad debacle to witness.  Is it hockey season yet?  

Since Sunday is all about football, coupons, and a newspaper word game, I tend not to get anything else done (hence it is also pizza day --either frozen or ordered).  I did, however, find some recipes to try in this week's issue of "USA Weekend."  They're not for humans, but I guess you can eat them it you want to. O.o 

The recipes are for Tuna Catnip Kitty Treats and Chewy Cat Treats for Cats both created by Joy Wilson of JoyTheBaker.Com.  I would say that they sound yummy, but I am not sure that I'd like the taste of catnip, catfood, or chicken and brown rice baby food.  They do, however, sound yummy--and healthy, for cats.

I had a dream about Aero last night ... just cuddling and holding him again.  It was a great comfort and seeing these recipes today made me which that I could make them for him.  He was always quite entertaining on the 'nip. :-)

On a crafty note, I have not worked on anything in days, but I am hoping to get more of these snowflakes made in the next few weeks so I can be all prepared to send some out with Christmas cards this year.  The pattern is December Motif by Le Blog de Frivole.  They tat up pretty quickly.  I think I've been using three and five-eighth yards on Shuttle Two and about one and a three-quarter yards on Shuttle One.  I wrote it down somewhere... :-/  They all measure around 2" and were tatted with Lizbeth threads in Size 20 with various beads. :-)

  
Well, happy Sunday, everyone!  I hope you all had a day of football, rest, and smiles! ♥

♥,
Stephanie Grace

I Really Don't Have Anything to Say

The title kind of says it all, but I'm trying to develop the habit of writing a daily post, so I figure I'll just continue with another introductory-type post.  Deal with it. :-P  Oh, as an aside, I changed the setting of this blog to "adult content."  In the past, I've been a good girl about cussing in posts, but I want to be able to be me and, yeah, I cuss.  A lot. (The rig is parked out back.)

Now that we've covered that I'm just a potty mouth and not planning to post porn or something, let me introduce you to the turtle part of my happy little trio. 

That's Ozzy with Spank on his back.  Yes, Ozzy is huge (and this was taken nearly three years ago, so he's even bigger now.  If you're a turtle person, you might also be thinking that he is a she.  You are correct, but we don't let him know that because, well, why break his heart?  It's not like there are any plans for mating, so he can be a he if he wants to be. :-P

I also mentioned my pretty, pretty princess, Nala, so here she is, too:

I did not mention my cat, Aerosmith, who recently passed away, but I would truly be depriving you if I didn't show you his beautiful face.  (Yeah, I'm keeping this part short.  Hubbs is right here and, well, I don't like crying in front of anyone.)

I really could go on for days posting pictures of my non-human loves, but it would probably take a full day for you to read and see it all, so I'll just leave it at that. 

Well, I guess this is long enough to post now.  If I get bored later, be expecting another introductory post with crafts that I've done. ;-) 

♥,
Stephanie Grace

Quick Question

What is Feedspot? 

Thank you,
Stephanie Grace 

Introductory Babble

Here we go again.  Here I am, starting over, hoping that I can hold my own attention long enough to give myself a place where I feel comfortable.  My old blog, Knots O' Grace, was wonderful for a while, but things happened.  My health went to crap and, even when I wanted to update, I felt like I had to talk about tatting and nothing else.  Not this time.  This time, I'm going back to basics.  This will be a place for me to talk about everything in my life.  It will be my place to really express myself.  (Hopefully, it will also have a new look in the next few days, but I just want to start.)

For those that have not encountered my insanity before now, I am Stephanie Grace.  I'm a thirty-year-old housewife and I live with my husband, Hubbs, and our baby, Ozzy, a Yellow-Bellied Slider (turtle).  I am also the proud mommy of a Lab/Chow mix--Would that be a Laow or a Chowbrador?--who lives with my parents.  

I'm really a boring person.  Everything basically boils down to me doing three things: I clean, cook, and craft.  Each thing branches out, but everything pretty much fits into one of those three categories.  (Then again, I guess reading and watching television really don't fit, but I do those, too ... Those are totally crafts, right? LOL.)

I'm also outspoken and sarcastic.  I'm really a love-or-hate kind of person.  I tend to say it like it is and I usually ignore that little filter in my head that tells me that I should not say something.  

I'm just me ... and I'm okay with that! :-)

♥,
Stephanie Grace

"Tatty Turtle" pattern available at http://www.tat-man.net/