Got my shuttles but not real pleased

First of all in my excitement to begin shuttle tatting again, I blame myself for the unhappy mood I am in!!

I ordered shuttles from joann.com 1st of all I payed more than handy hands (shoulda shopped around 1st but i was too excited) 2nd of all they sent my order wrong... I had ordered a plastic one with the bobbin to try it out, 2 red ones and the plastic tortise shell ones. Well they sent me 2 plastic with the bobbin and 1 red one I did manage to get my tortise shell ones right probably because they came 2 in the pack... I also had ordered clay and stuff from there about 2 days after I ordered the shuttles it took them a whole week to process my order for the clay when the shuttles took only 1 day to process. I am not real pleased with joann.com at the moment my mom also ordered fabric fromt here at the beginnig of the month and has heard nothing from them I am not slamming them its just my personal opinion. i am glad I got my shuttles and will use them :)


Here are my new babies


I do have 2 other shuttles I ordered from Etsy 1 from LADY SHUTTLE MAKER I just couldnt hold off ordering my favorite blue one any longer lol and a small wooden hand made shuttle from SISTERMAIDE WOODWORKS. I just cant wait to get my goodies lol

Ok hubby will be home soon and then it will be supper time...
I wander what I should tat next??

todays dissapointments, tatting, mail, & beauty

For some reason I am having troubles with my lungs it started this afternoon UGH!! I cant breathe I got me some good pain in the chest and cant stop coughing, I just love this crazy weather one day its freezing the next its about 65* WONDERFUL!! lol

I was supposed to be getting a package in the mail today I had ordered myself some new shuttles and actually they were supposed to be here Friday but still NO I am so dissappointed. I know they will get her but still I was really counting on them today :(

My design i am working on is coming along wonderfully, As I go i can see a difference in my tattings its improving I think I am going to call this design Patience I am hoping to have it done tomorrow BUT with the kids home who knows LOL

I did get mail today I had ordered thread right before Christmas from KLMATTOX and to my surprise it came today she even gave me an extra ball of thread because of the delay in shipping. I was nto worried I knew it was the holiday.

When we went to get the mail it was sort of sunny out and i got a few nice pictures but this one really caught my eye I love mushrooms and fungi all growing on trees and stuff so this was right up my alley lol

Shuttle Adventures....or...Mis-adventures

I got up early this morning and really started to progress with my shuttle

Stay tuned to see what this will turn into... As always I tried to make something from a pattern and just couldnt stay focused on it Soooooo I decided to make a new design :)

the shuttle is one of my clay ones I am making I really like it.

Heather

Trading is fun...

I had ordered off of Sherry aka Lady Shuttle Maker some of her georgous HDT and we decided to exchange books. I got mine in the mail about a week before Christmas give or take a day or 2. Havent gotten around to post about it. It took me a bit longer to get hers out because I had to finish my last book. Hers was sent right before Christmas I thought she would have gotten it by now. Darn mail HA HA!!! Anywhoo I got her butterfly book The Exquisite Collection of Tatted Butterflies and Its AMAZING I cant wait to start on then I want to get more familiarized with my shuttles before starting anything as beautiful.
Thanks Sherry!!

Went to Wal*Mart today and..

...well I just couldnt wait for my sculpey to arrive in the mail I bought me some I plan on making some clay shuttles and beads and other things I can think of. I made some clay shuttles YEARS ago and remembered how much I enjoyed the relaxation it gave me. I dont really know if I am going to sell many of these yet until I get better at it.

Here is what I done so far...

This one is mine and is one of my favorites The leaf in the center was carved with a knife.

here is my favorite one and 2 others. I am still practicing I had fun though :)

starting on my personal vow...

I vowed to start using my shuttle more and I AM :) I havent used it in hmmmmmm years not sure really how many but its been atleast 3+

It took me a bit but I got real confused with the chain at first but in no time i was back at it. I am using my least favorite shuttle too. for some reason I just dont like the metal shuttle with the bobbin, it just dosent cooperate properly for me I ordered a plastic one in hopes it will be a bit nicer to me :)

Here is what I am doing at the moment juts a practice piece I still need to get comfy with it again so my stitches arent that pretty.

Now maybe I can do some "real" tatting as some of you have put it LOL ;)

I am gonna try to leave my needles alone for awhile and work with the shuttle more its becoming more comfortable as I go.

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On another note our Christmas was just a day, it didnt feel real special because my 8yr old son had to misbehave horribly last night after Santa came. I am not going into detail because its just not nice what he did it made the day rough for us all. I just want to forget it this year will go down as one of the "rougher" years hoping 2009 will bring better luck and more positivity in life. I know others have it worse and have more problems, we handle what we can.

hope everyone had a good Christmas

HUGS

Heather

Merry Christmas

Just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! I am super busy today getting things cooked and ready for tomorrow. The pumpkin pies are in the oven and smelling awesome and I am about to make the pumpkin cheesecakes here soon. I did both for Christmas because hubby dosent like pumpkin pie but loves my pumpkin cheesecake LOL I needed to have some pie so I made 2 for me and the kiddos I am sure there will be no problem getting rid of them LOL
We had ice over night and its not too nice out there it took hubbly longer to get to work today and Ned didnt even want to go out he was slipping and sliding.
Well better get back to my kitchen *sigh* seems like I live there most of the time lol
Heather

Gearing up for the next 25 Motif Challenge

Yes I am excited to start the next challenge of course I may not be able to do a whole lot until the end of April due to work at the accounting office, tax season will be in full force (biting nails) lol
If you havent heard of it and want to see what its about just go to the 25 Motif Challenge Blog it was so fun to do
This time I am making a vow to myself to USE MY SHUTTLE for atleast 25 of the motifs I plan to do it more than once
I am a needle tatter that is how I taught myself to tat 5 years ago. I have used the shuttle but shied away from it because I just wasnt real confident in myself using it and just left it. I even as a gift for myself ordered me some new shuttles. I hope they arrive before the new year so I can play with them a bit before going back to work. I think its time for a change and a new set of challenges. I have 4 successful (in my mind they are successful I have sold atleast 10 of each so to me that is a bit of success lol) books out with my latest Motifs A Many being my best one and since Friday i have sold 13 of them I was impressed with myself :)
Here is a list of challenges I have set upon myself for 2009
--Using the shuttle more
--teaching myself the split ring with the shuttle
--teaching myself the split chain with the shuttle
--learing to do Encapsulation the 'right' way (I tried it and it looked good until the end mind you i tried it with the shuttle and using the needle not that great of a way to do it LOL)
--hopefully writing another book of neat designs
--getting my holiday gifts and ornaments done early ((ha ha)) I have said this for the past 10 years do you really think it will happen?? who knows?

Meet Scotty and Rose

I had posted a long while ago that I was going to make these for my kids and finally did today and was so excited to give it to them early so they got it a bit ago. They loved it and are playing with them now. Ned is a bit jealous that 2 other dogs have joined his palace lol

This is Rose and Scotty they are Shaggy dogs that have now joined our family.

As you see Ned isn't too impressed right now

He awoke from his slumber and realized he wasn't alone, he's a bit worried here that he is no longer "boss"

After I reassured him that he will always be top dog in this house he was a bit relieved

He then resorted to a bit of flirting with his mommy to keep his TOP DOG position :)

Here he is explaining the rules of the house to Scotty

Now explaining to Rose

Shannan and Rose

Nathaniel and Scotty

Paper weight and Necklaces

My daughter wanted necklaces for her and her friends I was up until 1:30am doing these I crocheted the necklaces for them and the pink motifs are stiffened with glitter and the butterflies as well as the motif are from my newest book. the only thing I did differently was the clover is turned out because i was tired and it was being stubborn so I left it like that lol it looks neat



this is the butterfly from my book in the paperweight. its not quite as I wanted it BUT its still nice my daughters teacher from last year was the recipeint of this

Jon's 'Quantiesque' snowflake in gold (and other's)

This is Jons Quantiesque Snowflake in gold and white HDT I call it fools goold (yes 2 o's were typed on purpose) lol the 1st pic is of them stiffened with some glitter on them the 2nd is one unstiffened.

The next snowflakes were ""SUPPOSED"" to be Quantiesque snowflakes too BUT I ran out of time so they are "sort of" Quantiesque lol

If your reading this Jon I hope I didnt terrorize the pattern too much :)

The 1st is round 1 and 2 just 2 isnt woven in its attached

*Sigh* ... of relief

You know how I said it was down to the wire well I completed tasks for Christmas for the kids' teachers with 30 minutes to spair!! OMG I do this each year I always say I will be done ahead of time LOL
I just wrapped the last little gift my daughter wanted necklaces for her and 2 of her friends so I was up until atleast 1:30am and got up at 4:30am so I am a tad bit tired this morning!!
I am driving the kids into school today with thier packages and goodies for their party I really wish they had a whole day of school today! I need a day to relax HA HA!!
With tomorrow being Christmas Eve I will be as busy as a little bee.
I will be posting pictures later I need to look proper to go to the school so I guess I better run a brush through this hair and put on normal clothing not my comfy pj pants LOL
I gotta mail out books and go get a few last minute things and that is it!!
Until later...

Motifs ~ A ~ Many -- NOW AVAILABLE

After troubles upon troubles creading the PDF file Its now ready to purchase

I had alot of fun with this book!

35 patterns of motifs in a full page book enclosed in a protective folder, you get a book mark, and picot gagues.

Motifs ~ A ~ Many

Book w/ shipping USA $20.00 Book w/ shipping out of US $22.00 PDF Book $13.00

Getting down to the wire...

UGH!! It seems the closer it gets to Christmas the more over whelmed I am becoming... Tomorrow is our celebration at my parents house I am doing something special from my sister brother and I but I am not saying a work incase mom come sneaking in LOL!
I haev several more teacher gifts to make and wrap up among the ""Other"" gifts to wrap. Tonight I finally got my familys things wrapped it took awhile as I am very exhausted. I had to go into work today for the day to do the more unpleasent things and it wiped me out because of my lung issues and the amount of dust and things flying around :( so I been coughing up a storm tonight. I need to just decompress I feel like since I got home at 3 I been at it with a small break inbetween to eat some supper. the special thing I worked on for my mom took me approximately 4 hours start to finish. After we are home then I will show and tell :)~
I am sending my kiddos to bed here soon and I need to just soak in the tub with some relaxing music and my favorite bubbles, that i can imagine my dog will come in and want, he is one strange pup he loves to eat bubbles from a bath ROFL, he is a one of a kind weirdo LOL
Yesterday (thursday) Dave took me to get my christmas presents I got me a roaster that is kind of like a crock pot and a small deep fryer (i am not allowed to use them yet though:() I only wanted the roaster thing but he insisted to buy me the fryer also. He spoils me at times and i love it.
I got me some more thread today so after Christmas I can dye to my hearts content well not really because I am heading back to work until april so I will be scarce for awhile but should pop in occasionally :)
well I am wiped out and plan on an early night
Heather

Jon's 'Quantiesque' Snowflake #2

Yes I enjoyed it so much last night i had to make one today and plan to do ateast 6 more to finish up gifts

I used a needle instead of 2 shuttles on this and the previous one

This one I used my "many colors" HDT and white for the 2nd round.

I am SOOOOOOO loving this pattern, Thanks Jon

Now off to finish the book I was working on.

Heather

Jon's 'Quantiesque' Snowflake

This was such a joy to make and I couldnt believe how easy it was to do.

Go to Jon's BLOG for the pattern

I used some of my new HDT the lemon lime freeze

I really wanted to finish this tonight I stayed up its now 12:06am LOL its been many a years I stayed up this late tatting HA HA!

Happy Holidays

The Ice and Snow we had last week

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?