Cat, Contractions, and Christmas.....(24/25)

As you can see our newest addition, Snowflake, is getting ready for baby to come. I think that she will be very disappointed when the car seat contains a crying baby. Snowflake has definitely become a member of the family. The kitten adores her...maybe a bit too much!



I finally finished my tatted item for the Christmas exchange at InTatters! Now to get a box and actually mail it. We had a false baby alarm a few weeks ago and I was concerned that I wouldn't get it finished in time. Tatting with contractions is interesting! Thankfully baby has decided to stay put for the time being so we were able to enjoy Thanksgiving. The due date is this week so hopefully baby will make his/her presence known soon.

I've been tatting up some quick items to give as thank you and Christmas gifts. This is a quick tatted heart in Lizbeth Christmas Delight designed by Birgit Phelps. I also played a bit more with cabone rings and came up with these Christmas ornaments. One is Lizbeth Christmas Delight and the other is Lizbeth Angel Love. I think they look like mints. I really enjoy these cabone ring designs and put Jon's tatted rings book on my Christmas list.



I've finally finished up my family ornaments for the year. I tatted 6 Makena balls. 4 of them are finished, but I'm holding onto 2 of them and hope to try out a new stiffener on them. Someone at InTatters mentioned Fa-brick as a stiffener and this is on my Christmas list as well.




Now to sit back and wait for baby to come. Happy tatting to all!!!

More Makena (16/25)

Here are the finished Makena that I have made. The turquoise one is made without beads, but the others have beads at all of the joins. Speaking of beads, what size crochet hook do you use for 11/0 beads? I'm having trouble with the thread on the chains splitting when I add the bead, but it is the only hook that will fit through the bead. Any ideas?

Yes, these are stiffened. Don't look too closely because I do need to clean up the extra glue. They keep their shape, but can be reshaped some after the balloon is popped. I need to make or find some small boxes to give/store these in so that they will keep their shape. A word of warning, 2 year old daughters love to play with these items and can make it so they don't look like a ball anymore!

I don't remember where I got the balloon pump, but I use it to make balloon animals. As long as you can stand the noise of twisting the balloon, making the animals is fun and not to difficult.

I will be making more of these for Christmas gifts, so you will see more in the future.

Makena(16/25)

Here is what balloons and tatting have in common. I used the balloon to shape a tatted ball. Here is the picture before the balloon was popped. I would have an after picture to share, but the kitten got a hold of the ball and it needed to be redone after she enjoyed it. This is the pattern Makena--the pattern is found here. And the donation for the pattern goes to support a great cause--The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. This ball was tatted in size 20 Lizbeth Country Turquoise Medium. The worst part was getting the balloon blown up correctly inside the tatting. I have already started this pattern again in a dark red with silver beads for some Christmas gifts. I'm starting early this year on getting my presents finished since the end of the year is going to be a whirlwind. I'll show you them when they finish drying. By the way this is the perfect pattern to tat while playing games with company. I finished 2 this way!