Incredulous

I'm sorry but I personally think this is truly WRONG.


How can someone claim this is a rare book when I can buy it new still for $5.99?

Secret Santa update & Vic's bribe

Now that I know that Nancy has received her Secret Santa from me I can post a couple of pictures of what I sent to her.




This is the SCMR Snowflake 2 by Sally Magill on the ROT site here - I just added some beads.







This is a very poor photo of my adaptation of Ellen's December paperclip pattern from Georgia's site here

I also sent her some of the large paper clips as I found them really hard to get hold of, some beads, a ball of thread and a calendar.


In answer to Vic's bribe (see here) my favourite Christmas tatting pattern (thou I haven't done it this Xmas & can't do it now ;( ) is Jon's Rings Only Snowflake with beads here
The photo is Jon's



Must go

OOPSY

just back from the hospital!!!!
would you look at what they did to me!
and i have 6 glorious weeks like this to boot so no tatting........big :(

sorry about the lack of capitals but can't reach one handed lol. got hit accidently by one of our heavy metal cash drawers at work (in sub-post office) on wednesday - it hurt but you can imagine the queues at the moment so kept going - hurt more on thursday and by today (friday) absolute agony so decided i maybe better get it looked at - wish i hadn't bothered..............i don't know whether to be appalled or proud of myself for 2 days at work with an untreated broken radius?


see ya for now

Finally I've caught up with myself LOL

As the heading says.... finally I've caught up. I had 4 Secret Santa's to do (my own fault for thinking I could get 3 done for the intatters exchange and 1 for the tattinggoddess exchange). I LOVE doing them but always worry - have I put enough in?, or too much? I don't want the recipient to feel either slighted or guilty about what they sent to their own partner. I'll post the pattern links and photos once I know the recipients have got them.

Now onto the AMAZING giveaway present I got from Wanda. I truly was lost for words as just one of the items would have been more than enough. As Wanda has shown in her blog here. - she sent me the most stunning doily done in Lizbeth Falling Leaves. It is based on her Arches over Arches doily that she blogged about here.



There was also a ball of Lizbeth Falling Leaves thread and a shuttle.


A great mug and a box of tea for Tatting Tea Tuesdays - only going to be used for extra special occasions as it is far to nice to risk for everyday use.


Three (yes - 3!!!!) books - two tatting ones and a lovely little photo book all about Kansas. The tatting ones were Martha Ess' Holidays on the Block and Just Tat by Michelle Goldsborough - neither of which do I own so I've been spoilt rotten.




And a bag of Hershey's choccies- yummy!

I really can't say a big enough THANK YOU to Wanda

Enough for now - take care

GRRR............& I am SO very lucky

GRRR........................

I have Kaspersky Anti-Virus running on my machine with daily updates and still I managed to pick up a virus!!!!!!!!!! Why am I paying over the odds for broadband which includes anti-virus when the d****d thing doesn't work?

It has been an extremely annoying 4-5 days because this sucker was smart - when I tried to install malwarebytes to get rid of it the evil thing knew and wouldn't let me install the exe file!!!!!! So the forum told me to download it on a clean machine - that would be fine if I had another machine but as the desktop blew up months ago I only have the laptop and it was the one infected. We don't have internet access at work so I was casting about to try and find a solution. Light dawned - I would phone my computer expert friend in NC and ask him. No answer, strange, normally not a problem getting in contact as long as I remember the 5 hour time difference. Anyway, leave a mesage and wait. Phone call next day from my friend Betsy, his wife, he is in hospital!!!!!!!!! Well, I'm glad in a way, according to my Mum, "not good" things always arrive in threes - FIL being 1; uncle being 2 I had been wondering what 3 would be so now I knew and at least this one wasn't terribly serious. It did put me in a jam though - what do I do now?


In desperation I phoned my cousin who knows a little about computers and asked him to email me the file - but NO that would be too clever - wouldn't it? Yahoo won't let you send an exe file by email! But unfortunately the telephone doesn't work the other way round apparently as I sat there like a lemon waiting for the email to come.

So I phoned again and he said he would burn it to disc - Oh please save me from too-smart-for-their-own-good young (just past teenager) men. He decided he knew best and had dowloaded the installation files instead so exactly the same happened - the exe file wouldn't install. So yet another phone call - this time spelling it out in words of one syllable "I just want the b***** exe file"!! We are now in day 3 since I first contacted him! And I ended up going round and standing over him as he burned it to disc to ensure I got the right thing.

Success - the exe file works but hours and hours later I now have 47

YES you read it right

47 infected files!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And of course it took more time to fix but the end is still not here as on reboot it tells me I have "bad image" files!!!!!!!!! Your guess is as good as mine as to what that means. In reality what it means to me is I now have to download Hijackthis, run it (which again takes forever) and fix one line.........................


WORKING COMPUTER - YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But all of this means I am effectively offline for 5 days! Withdrawl symptoms extraordinaire LOL.


To change the subject for the better...........


I AM SO VERY LUCKY.............




I WON Wanda's giveaway ...........



WOO HOO



and then I won one of the runner-up prizes from Aileen too............



DOUBLE WOO HOO


I am SO excited I can't contain myself LOL! Poor postie he'll be lynched when he comes with me impatiently waiting for goodies to arrive! But wait I'll probably have to do as we have more mail strikes expected this week as well :(

I am so lucky to have such good friends online - you will never really know just how much your kindess means.


PS Marilee is also having a giveaway - have a look here

Almost back to normal & look at this stunner

I'm very slowly getting back to normal. Why "very slowly" I hear you ask.........well, within an hour and a half of seeing my uncle in the hospital on the Thursday after I last posted (actually later that very day), I came down with a vicious cold or flu - maybe even the dreaded swine flu for all I know. Whatever, it was it has been (& still is to be truthful) NASTY. The temperature is the worst - just doesn't give up.

DS also got it 2 days after me so just try and picture this - DS hallucinating at 2.30am because his temp was so high (he ALWAYS spikes really high temps when he is ill but I would have thought that by 8 that shold be over by now?!) and me trying to bath him in tepid water when I could barely stand up myself - I nearly crawled into the bath with him LOL. Luckily he didn't get it as badly as me and was pretty much better by Thursday last week. I suppose what hasn't helped me is that I had to go back to work last Wednesday still with a temp feeling like s***.

There is one advantage to it though - as I still have to eat a proper meal 12 days later - I have lost some weight which never comes a miss as I have plenty to loose lol.

Thank you again for all your thoughtfullness throughout this low time - you don't know how much it helps!

I was going to post about lots of giveaways but I seem to have forgotten a few.......I did tell you I still wasn't right! The ones I can remember are Sherry's ongoing supreme generosity which will start again tomorrow.

Aileen's Halloween one here

Krystledawn's blogreader appreciation one here

And lastly but by no means least, you must go and see the talent of this lady, Ginger, here. I have blogged about her before and her creations are simply stunning - you also have a chance to win Noelle at the moment here

Must go for now even though I am sure I've missed someone

Dear All

Please excuse this post as I am sitting here unable to sleep at nearly 3am and I will probably ramble as I am feeling sorry for myself.

Thank you all SO much for all your kind thoughts over Billy's (FIL) death - it really has been appreciated.

Tuesday REALLY was NOT a good day - it started with a phone call at 0750 to say that my uncle (my one remaining immediate relative apart from DH & DS) was being loaded into an ambulance critically ill. That really was the icing on the cake of what was going to be a sh***y day anyway as it was Billy's funeral that afternoon.

I have always found the majority of DH's relatives odd and stand-offish and true to form they didn't break the habits of the last 16 years so I had a truly "great" time at the funeral tea with his aunt looking through me and totally ignoring me to the extent of turning her back on me when I tried to be polite and actually speak to her.
Well I suppose they do say (up here anyway) "There's naught stranger than fauk"!

We went in to the hospital to see my uncle in the evening - that was distressing to say the least. He is having a very hard time breathing and has pneumonia so is having to wear a positive pressure mask to try and superoxygenate him. The mask was distressing him badly as he was truly desperate for a drink but they wouldn't let him take the mask off at all. We didn't stay for more than 15 minutes as it was just to much for all concerned.

He did have a reasonable night and apparently was doing a little better today (well, yesterday now) but that really doesn't stop the worry. My aunt admitted to me today that when he was rushed to hospital he was unconscious and unresponsive and they didn't think he would make it. He certainly isn't out of the woods yet as there is also apparently some concern over his kidneys too.

I think what is bothering me the most is that if he dies just now I really don't know how DS will cope. He was put through things last week that no 8 year old should have to deal with. As we have no family back-up wherever DH & I were he had to be too. He even slept on a fold-out bed across the hall at the hospice. His grandfather's death bothered him but not unduly as Billy was not close even though DS has no other grandparent alive - his other grandchildren mattered more! Why, I have no idea but it was a major problem with me. Because of this he has truly latched onto my uncle (his great-uncle) and he will be absolutely devastated when he goes, particularly if it happens in the near future.

I know I am just being pessimistic but that doesn't stop the worry. Sorry to burden you all with this - just needed to get it all off my chest. Will try to sleep now.

Just a short note to say I probably won't be about very much for the next week to 10 days - my father-in-law finally gave up his struggle at 0755 this morning. Now he's at peace.

How lucky we are.....

Sometimes something happens that makes you realise just how lucky you really are in the scheme of things. That happened to me tonight.

I have been mucking around on the computer brooding, because my DH came home tonight from the hospice after seeing FIL and said that he was doing a bit better today. Forgive me, but I just hoped it was the rally that so many people manage before the end. He is truly suffering now and I get so angry that if our 12 yr old dog (12 today even lol) was suffering like that we would have been able to take the kindest route before it got to this dreadful point. FIL finally accepted that the hospice was the best place for himself only on Wednesday after falling, not eating, going into diabetic crises etc etc etc over and over again and trying to manage by himself with just health visitors for months.

I was wandering around the blogs and from Sarah's blog I meandered onto anothers.

Now we may have, so far this year -

a stuffed washing machine

a knackered fridge/freezer

a broken oven

a blown-up computer

a car that sounds like a diesel when its petrol and will not pass it's MOT in October which will leave us car-less

and no money to replace any of the above

AND a FIL with terminal pancreatic cancer but we are still TRULY blessed and I thank GOD for all that we DO have.

Just have a read of Renee's blog and you will understand................

Loads of Giveaways

There are at least 3 different giveaways on at the moment

1) You'll have to be VERY quick but Ginger at Bearbits in having a 25th anniversary giveaway of the most darling little bear called Peeka Boo - you can see him here

2) Sherry is continuing her Giveaway gala with this weeks prize being her Royal Diadem pattern - I'm going to be very good and not enter this one for two reasons - I have this wonderful pattern and I have already won a skein of thread. Musn't be greedy LOL!



3) And last but not least Aileen is having a Halloween Mystery giveaway which you can find here

WOO HOO!

YAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH SHERRY - I won a skein of Sherry's stunning HDT - now all I've got to do is contain myself until the postie brings it from the USA. Sometimes I think that carrier pigeon would be faster than mail from the US and other times it surprises me - I am participating in the InTatters postcard exchange. I've sent 10 and hopefully will get 10 back - so far I've had 3 back

1) from Barbara (tattabug) in NY, USA (Look at those stunning waterfalls)


2) from Kersti in Dublin, Ireland


3) from Maria (spuriportugal) in Cascais, Portugal (Maria also sent a couple of pages on history about Cascais and the local area!)


Sorry about the quality of the photos but you get the drift!

It is so nice receiving stuff from other countries and seeing what to those that live there are just every day things but to us are "exotic". I can't wait for the rest to arrive.

Next installment will hopefully be about Shirley's shuttle.................watch this space!

Way behind and Sherry's generosity

I am so far behind in updating this - so much to tell I don't know where to start, so I'll start with the obvious.............

Sherry's truly remarkable generosity! She truly is one of those remarkable people that don't come around very often - even though she has been going through a really tough time over the last while she still thinks of others!!!!!!!! Please visit her here and see her extremely generous giveaway

WOOH HOO - HAPPY DANCE

I WON!

I'm getting the stunning new shuttle from Shirley (see here) to test!!!!!!


I'M SO EXCITED - just as well you can't see me bopping around the study - not a pretty sight I'm sure LOL.

I've promised Shirley to give an honest opinion of the shuttle and will relay my feelings here as well after I have told Shirley first. As I told Shirley in my comment to enter the draw for testing the shuttle - my preference in shuttles is for bobbin shuttles in particular my absolute favourite Aero England shuttles, so it will be very interesting to see if I can be converted lol. I must say that by look alone I'm sold on the picture!

Had to try the rainbow quiz LOL

How true is this?

Your rainbow is strongly shaded red.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a passionate person. You appreciate energetic people. You get bored easily and want friends who will keep up with you.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

You simply must have a look at this

This is a really stunning new idea (at least to me, anyway) - it would never have occurred to me to use ribbon. I just wish I could read the blog properly - google translator gives the gist of it but we definitely don't get the full impact.

I have been watching this doily progress - she (I assume she) is doing some stunning work.

Thank you kind people

Thank you all for your help with facebook - it REALLY is appreciated - I'm now spending far too much time there, lol.

My last butterfly arrived and I will post some piccies soon. I am also about to start the new design-tat course - so I'll hopefully have more to show you soon.

Anyone up for a new non-tatting challenge?

Having resisted joining facebook for some time I finally relented a couple of days ago as a friend has been pestering me to play a game - Farmtown. Of course, if you like that kind of thing (& I do) it is addictive! Now I need friends in facebook to become my neighbours - even if you don'y intend to play - if you just start a farm we can be neighbours! Of course because I have ignored facebook for so long I only have a couple of friends in it and now need more - Any takers?

Reading this back it sounds so pathetic - I'm not really begging! LOL

LOOK AT THIS!!!!

LOOK what I found in OUR garden last night - isn't it just adorable! WE already have squirrels (but unfortunately grey ones not red) and now we have a hedgehog too!!!



Just look at that little foot! Unfortunately the flash scared it so I'll have to be much more careful in future!!

Butterfly piccies

Okay, 2 butterfies have flown this way across the Atlantic, the last got off to a latter start but should be here soon.

I got this beautiful one from Jenna in Canada with this card as well and a note.






And this stunning one came from Nancy in MA along with this beautiful card.






Now I have a problem - I can't remember for sure which butterfly I sent to whom!!!! I think the following are right but I'm not certain. I will also show all 3 of my butterflies as they were all posted together and should have all arrived by now.

This went to Vicki in TX, I think! The pattern is one by Kerstin Kall on the Swedish site frivolitesknuten but doesn't seem to be there now.




These went off to Jenna in Canada. The first is Ruths one from her book and the other Ellen's.





And these went to Nancy in MA. The first is Christels from here and the others are doodles.





Sorry about the picture quality but I was rushing to get them away in time.

Updates

I've finally got caught up with myself again! I was frantically trying to finish 3 butterflies for the intatters butterfly exchange - the piccies will have to wait as as yet the recipients haven't received theirs.......so watch this space! And also my DS has just finished P4 so I had 2 gifts to make for his 2 teachers.

First I tatted some earrings based on this post from Krystle and Jane's post here. Thread is Lizbeth Jelly Bean.




And then I did one of Karey's snowflakes (fish tales) from her book "Let it Snow". Thread is Lizbeth Caribbean



I am SO annoyed - before I started on the exchange butterflies I was working on my own butterfly design but quickly realised that it was far too complex to be made in time for the exchange (loads of clunies and other things)- so I put it down and did ones for my three exchange partners. Now, I've finished I thought I'd go back to my butterfly - can I find my drawing? NO! And boy am I p****d! I was really happy with it (the first time this has ever happened with my own design) and thought that maybe I could even go so far as to publish this one! I have the actual tatting that I had started but cannot find the drawing with the actual noted stitch counts on it. I had only done 3/4 of one of the 4 wings when I stopped so cannot even recount as more than a 3/4 of the pattern is just missing!!!!

Anyway on to more pleasant thoughts........look at what I found wandering about with "タティングレース" in google

look at this doily

Isn't that simply stunning!! If you look at the categories section (カテゴリー) on the left and then into "編み物" which incidentially translates as "knitting" you'll find the tatting and see some other stunning pieces.

Optimistic or fantasyland?

I couldn't help but be quite shocked by the following 2 items I've just found on eBay

1) earrings #1 - now at today's rate of exchange €150 is approx. £128 or US$210!!!

2) earrings #2 - and the cherry on top - €180 or approx. £153 or US$253!!!!!!!!!!

Now I realise that what we do is a time consuming, intricate and skilled craft but surely this is just being ridiculous? I personally would expect real gold and precious gem earrings for those prices! Surely there must be a happy medium between "over the top" and unrealistic pricing and so cheap it devalues our craft.

I'll also apologise if I have offended the creator of those earrings but this is purely my personal opinion.

Please voice your opinions as I would really like to know the general consensus about pricing.

A better shot of Jenni's bookmark

I was just about to upload a better picture of the bookmark Jenni sent to me but I found this one that she took herself and I couldn't do better than that so here is the link

Now you can see what I meant about the stunning woven picots!!!


UPDATE: Just realised that you may not be able to see the above if you are not a member of intatters so here it is as well with the relevant info as well.


From: Liyarra
To: Trayna
Pattern: Jen's Woven Picot Bookmark
Designed by: Jen Chioatto
From: Australian Tatters Guild - New South Wales Branch newsletter 2001.
Thread: Manuela variegated 204 - size 20 and white Coats Mercer Crochet - white size 20.

The rest of the bookmark exchange

As I now know that Jenni in Oz has received her bookmarks I'll post the relevant pictures..........


This was adapted from an edging pattern I found on a Russian site (don't have a link handy - to be truly accurate don't even know if it is still active!)


and this was Ellen's butterfly bookmark from Georgia's site (this time as written and not fiddled with by me, LOL!!)

TattingChic's lovely post

I had to chuckle when I read Tatting Chic's post about the goodies I sent her - strickly speaking she is only half right (unknown to her!!!)!! It was "Scottish tatting" as in the fact it was executed in Scotland but if you are adhering closely to the defifition of nationality, it wasn't done by a "true" Scot - I hold dual nationality.

...I'll explain....I am Tasmanian (Australia) by birth and most of my upbringing but born to Aberdonian parents who had emigrated to Tasmania before I arrived. I was always brought up to the fact that I would go to Scotland to finish my education and then go on to a Scottish university so never questioned their reasoning (and I was an only child). My dad thought I was too young to go into boarding school 13000 miles away when I reached 1st year high school level (we are talking about the Australian & UK systems here) at age 11, so it was then decided that I would for my final 2 years of high school at age 16. In retrospect, this was a very good move as my Dad died during my first year in high school. So age 16 I was packed off to boarding school with weekends out with my family here [Mum and Dad's respective families had remained in Scotland - we or I (by myself at age 11!!) had been over on 3 previous occasions for Xmas hol's etc). The plan to be as I previously mentioned until my Mum found out that even though I had only ever held a British passport (got an Australian one later) I would be considered an overseas student at the Universities here and thus, expected to pay overseas fees of thousands of pounds per year. I had such a great time here that I was so upset when Mum told me I was going back to Tassie I hung-up on her!!! To cut a long story short(er) I returned to Tassie got my BSc there but couldn't get a permanent job, so rung my Uncle here a asked about the job situation here - he said great so I came (my Mum had come back to Aberdeen to live after she retired (I was a late child) but had also died very soon afterwards) - I got a job using my degree at the University of Aberdeen very quickly - met my "Scottish-by-birth" but army brat so no-Scottish-accent-either husband and the rest is history..........

As you can imagine though this leaves DS in a house with an "English" sounding father and a weak Australian-tiny-bit-Scottish mother, so needless to say he also doesn't have the local "twang"!! Here I am considered Australian and there I am considered Scottish!! - It's enough to give someone a personality complex, LOL!!

Thank you so much TattingChic & Jane in particular, but all the others as well, for all your lovely comments on their respective blogs - it really is appreciated.

The promised pic's and bookmark exchange

As promised here are all the wonderful goodies that Aileen sent - firstly the tea towel itself.



Then there were packets & packets & packets of beads & sequins & ribbon.


Two wonderful threads.


And candy & chocolate.


This is the whole lot together - Wasn't I an extremely lucky girl!!!



Also I participated in the bookmark exchange on intatters - choosing to send and receive 2 bookmarks. My partners were Jenni in Australia & Kaira in Norway. I am very lucky that I have received both my exchange bookmarks - this very poor picture is of a stunning woven picot bookmark from Jenni (by chance she had done it in my very favourite dicontinued :( Manuela thread & white (I'll scan it later to post a better image). She even sent me the pattern!!!!
Jenni hasn't received mine yet so I won't post it as yet.

The other stunning one was from Kaira in variegated blues & white - isn't it lovely!! The pattern is here.

The ones I sent her was an adaptation of Iris' Eleonora doily as suggested by Marty (see here) and my own version of Ellen Lai's bookmark.