Mom's necklace is finished.

I have finished the necklace for my mother.

It's inspired by Sally, from a star pattern by Jane, in Lizbeth 20. I hope Mom likes it - 'cause if she doesn't, I'm taking it back. I think it's pretty, if I do say so myself.

My friend Mrs V gave me some nifty gifts. The little boxes are for holding beads - they originally held dental crowns! (Mrs. V does dental work.) And the darling little kitty is a needle minder with a VERY powerful magnet. Me likey!

Larry got a bit of further bad news on Friday. While his injuries are healing nicely (thank heavens!), he has missed so many of his paramedic classes that he has to start over. Again. The next class starts in September. Larry is pretty morose and has been having a bit of a pity party. ("Why does everything happen to me!?!") I'm ok with a pity party, as long as it only lasts for 30 minutes. Then buck up, son.

Enough of the pity party. Here's a bit of what's growing in my yard.

Gladiolas!

And lilies! It's been a lovely summer so far...

Other doin's

A bit of tatting has been accomplished.

My old favorite, Mary Konior's Large Cross from Tatting with Visual Patterns, done in Lizbeth 142 (turquoise twist) size 20. My cell phone camera does not do justice to the vibrancy of the colors. I'll block or press it tonight. This is for a church friend, a recent widow.

BTW, if you are considering going to Palmetto Tat Days this year, this may convince you. Take a look at the pictures of patterns here! Some are mine, as I'll be teaching. One of mine is at the top of the list! (I love Dinky the Cat - too cute!)

Larry is doing a bit better, mostly since his demon mother pried him out of bed. I'm taking him back to the orthopedist tomorrow. He's pitiful. 

Things are growing in my yard.

 

Container grown tomatoes. Larry, Moe and I don't like these raw, only cooked. DH adores tomatoes any way he can get them.

Look carefully - those are plums on our tree!

And things are blooming.

Butterfly bushes, planted in front of our dining room windows. That way they become entertainment for the cats. Vader loves butterflies.

The occasional rose is blooming at the base of the plum tree. We have salmon colored ones elsewhere.

 

Some pretty fleurs Mother brought me last year, sitting on my front steps. They survived the mild winter.

Hosta thrives by my mailbox. Hmm, the Stooges need to edge the curb and sidewalk here.

Hope things look good where you are....

 

Hurrah!

First off - I'm going to be teaching again at Tat Days!!! I'm so pleased to be doing this again. If you've never been to Tat Days before, you should seriously look at coming. Really. It's the most fun! Did you ever go to summer camp? Did you have a good time? This is summer camp for tatters!

I've finished tatting a bracelet for my niece. It's the same pattern I showed you earlier, but with the change of beads it looks totally different. I like it! I'll make matching earring.

As you might have realized, we have Critters at our house, and not all are the ordinary, domestic variety. The other day our friend Bubba brought us this box turtle. He was afraid it would be killed where he found it. Here it is in Larry's hand.

Isn't this the cutest little critter ever? We're taking care of it for a while to help the little guy get bigger. (DH used to be a registered Wildlife Rehabilitator, and he knows about such things.) Then we'll let this fella loose out in the woods. Box turtles can live a long, long time.

We have more beauty blooming in the area. The Southern part of the US is known for magnolia trees, and we have bunches around here.

There are two sets of magnolias flanking the front of my subdivision. These are about 25 feet tall. Magnolias have large glossy evergreen leaves and big white blossoms.

Not a professional photo - I took this. Really.

Here's a blossom up close. The blossoms are really big, can be plate sized when fully open. This one is about 8 inches across. And see how pretty the leaves are? You can see why these are used in decorations all year round.

Here's a neighbor's clematis on their mailbox. I should get some of this - I like clematis.

Tonight we are taking Curly out for dinner. It's his 20th birthday!

What's happening in your part of the world?

 

Spring is sprung

It's officially Spring. Much sneezing happening, though the pollen count is down some (thank heavens!). Want to see what's blooming near me?

These trees are blooming  all over. Not sure what they are - crabapples, maybe? I like them.

I used to have some of these when we lived at another house. Don't know the name, but I'm here to tell you, don't ever plant these next to your home, as they grow fast and take over. (The prior home owner made this error.) Bees love it. Doesn't smell great though.

Azaleas are everywhere. You can get azaleas now that bloom twice a year, which is great.

Really, everyone has them. They're a great shrub. A major pop of color in your yard.

The classic dogwood tree. They are wild here too, very hardy.

Here's a dogwood up close. Four creamy white petals. They get red berries on them that birds love, and the leaves turn reddish in the fall.

We have pink dogwoods too! Pink ones are not wild, it's a developed color.

Here are the pink dogwood blossoms up close. Dogwoods are slow growing and the wood is very tough.

These are early blooming hydrangeas, big balls of flowers. We have many more types in all colors that bloom in the summer. My little town has a hydrangea festival in June.

And finally - a portent of summer, an early rose.


I hope things are lovely where you live...

I'm in heaven

I got a lovely thing in the mail yesterday.

I know you all remember Angela's Traveling Book Adventure, a generous book sharing done by Fox. You sign up for the book, and get a month with it, then send it on to the next person on the list. I'm on the list, but it not my turn yet. Martha Ess has her own version of this book sharing, known as Mary's Traveling Book. And oh, what a treasure it is. This month is my turn with this book.

OMG OMG OMG. I'm so happy. I have the other 3 Mary Konior tatting books, but not this one. Tatting in Lace. It's like gold in my hands. For those non-tatters, Mary Konior was a gifted, prolific, and very creative tatter.

Mary seems to have had a wry wit too - in this book, she quotes Ben Johnson when he says. "Next to mere idleness I think knotting [tatting] is to be reckoning in the scale of insignificance; though I once attempted to learn knotting. Dempster's sister attempted to teach me it, but I made no progress." To which Mary remarks dryly, "Presumably he couldn't manage 'the Transfer'" (what we refer to as 'the flip'). Heh.

I was also interested to see that she teaches tatting in the same way I do - by teaching a chain first, using two colors of thread. I teach by taking 2 colors of largish thread (size 10 or bigger), knotting the ends together, and starting on chains. That way it is very easy to see 'the flip'.

I have to say, the book is in utterly pristine condition. This is the hardest to find and most expensive of Mary's books. Martha, you are very trusting and O so generous. Thank you! It will be hard to pass along....

In other news, I've been very busy this week with Curly. Though he's doing so much better, he's having to answer for some very bad deeds that he was arrested for a year ago. He's got a worthless court appointed attorney who won't communicate with him, and is not even looking at the charges properly. Ugh. Curly has a court date this Wednesday, and I'm getting another attorney to represent him for this one occasion only. I hope we can get things settled at that point.

But it's spring here! We've had warm days and lots of blossoms. There are banks of Bradford pears blooming everywhere.

Like in my neighborhood. Several of my neighbors have lost Bradford pears in the past year, due to the trees splitting. I like to see these trees, but I won't have one in my yard.

I do love forsythia. Growing up, we had a hedge of it. It's so cheerful.

I don't know what this shrub is, but it's pretty. It's nice with the yellow-tipped hedge behind it.

These pretty flowers are in front of an assisted living home near my home.

And lastly, for those who need a Vader fix...

He has a new bed in front of the fireplace. And he likes it.

Things I've discovered recently

There is such a thing as too many beads in tatting. They made made it hard to close rings on an item.

This is Mary's Christ Mass tree, in the new Lizbeth Leaf Green Dk, size 20. I think this is going to end up as a pin.

Vader thinks he's scary when he has his mouth open. Aren't you afraid of his teeth? (DH was pulling on his tail hair a bit, teasing him.) C'mon, you know you're afraid.

Also - Vader now answers to "Bad Thing" and is proud of it. It makes him feel regal.

DH is somewhat better, and his therapy has been cut to half days. He has been so grateful for my help he bought me these roses, something he has only done spontaneously on one other time in our marriage, about 25 years ago. This was very sweet of him, and I'm so glad he's feeling better. (Sophie doesn't care about roses.)

And lastly but perhaps most disturbingly, I found out that Moe can pick locks. He tells me that all the Stooges can and have picked the lock on my desk at one time or another. I have misplaced the key to my desk, and Moe helpfully picked that lock for me, using a paper clip.

Lock picking is a skill that warms the cockles of a mother's heart - rather, it would if I was Ma Barker.

Um, thanks Moe.

Dogwoods

Eye candy for Isdihara - pink and white dogwoods.