Sewicked’s crafty look at my life

While I was at ConCarolinas I finished the bookmark that I was working on. It’s size 80 ecru and very simple. I’d give it as a nice gift but I stained the thread when it got caught in the metal shuttle. 

These are the bookmark in progress, once I’d turned the corner on the end.
Below are the finished project.
The thread ends became the tassel.

The two ends are different because I made a mistake when I reached the far end. The bead thingy is my striver. So I can see how far I tatted at one sitting.

I finally finished the burgundy silk rose. Now I want to add another, small flower in the center, with small grey/black beads.

I finally finished the burgundy silk rose. Now I want to add another, small flower in the center, with small grey/black beads.

Timing Since I have a blog that I post to daily, do I need second blog? I’ve decided that yes I do. This one will be my tatting blog. I shall post my most recent projects (since I only have space for 7 pictures & one will be of me, that means 6 project pictures). I shall rotate old projects out & post new project pictures.

That means that while my other blog will have a permanent list/record; this one will be temporary. Plus, I think that I will only post once a week or once a month. I’ll try weekly & see how that works out before I come to a definite decision.

Until I upload a picture of my current project, I will post a picture of my first Fair entry; purple hen & chicks edging on a black hankie.

It’s been way too long. But life’s been busy and then my computer keyboard decided to misbehave.

Tatting-wise, I’m working on Alice insertion, in purple Flora 50. I’ve hit a couple snags but I want enough for a hatband by Palmetto Tat Days (1st weekend in June). I still need to fill out my entry form for my bun cover.

Ran Prophet’s Voice (RPGA Living Greyhawk) on Saturday. Only took 6 hours. But it went well. But I forgot to get everyone’s number, so I can’t turn in the results until I get them.

Sunday was Rosemary’s Forgotten Realms game. We cut it short ’cause Rosemary had a headache. So we avoided combat (so she wouldn’t have to draw a map) and stopped early.

Had stomache issues & sleep issues all weekend. Bleah. And now I want Chinese food for supper. Ah well. Not likely to happen.

Tonight it’s Chris’s D&D game. Still need to finish my Spycraft character. Just need to do gear. But that’s gonna take some real thought.

Work is same-old, same-old. Gotta meeting in the morning. Yeah, that’s something to look forward to.

So I spent some time going through my main email account. I deleted something like 75 emails, 10 of them ones marked as unread. I say about 75 because I went from page 41 to page 38.  I really need to go through it some more! Gee, what a shocker.

I had a great time at Christmas & New Year’s. J&L are, in fact, living very close to Aitch (the middle of nowHere). Not literally, but they are so far off the beaten track that their road name isn’t on the map (except the really incredible detailed state atlas L’s dad gave her). My namesake is speaking in complete sentences, though with her soft palate it’s still hard to understand her.

She loves trains & tools. She is so her father’s daughter. She’s also adorable, not that I’m biased or anything 8-}

It was great to see the gang (R, K, L&J, J&S w/ L, & C but A was sick & didn’t come). We had our usual game of Word Association. Wow, we really hit the gutter hard a few times. Well, we’re all adults & the babes were asleep. I did the usual reading for those who wanted them.

Found a neat new book today; Abby Cooper: Psychic Eye, a mystery with a professional psychic as the protagonist. She actively tries to avoid becoming a ‘police psychic’ because she doesn’t want to justify her ‘intuitions’ & try to explain where & how she got her info. But she gets caught up in a murder almost becomes a suspect. The real suspect is after her, thinking that she can identify him.

I think I’m going back to get the sequel tomorrow. There are two of them. *sigh*

Everybody’s feeling the money pinch. R got laid off on Tuesday before New Years. But all things considered, it’s probably for the best. The new manager did not like him. And now his evening schedule is free to see friends & socialize; something that he’s been missing.

What is wrong with me? It’s not even 9 pm & I’ve been thinking about going to sleep for the past 30 minutes. Actually, I’ve been thinking about it longer than that, but earlier it was in the ‘maybe I should take a nap’ phase. I was going to watch Death Takes a Holiday but I decided that was too intense for me tonight. I’d like to see it someday. Well, I need to take my clothes out of the dryer and wrap late Christmas presents.

Maybe I’ll tape Supernatural, it’s a great show but I can’t watch it when I’m alone in the house. I can’t go to sleep for hours. I have to watch something else to calm down the creepies.

Should I be glad or alarmed that absolutely no one has viewed my profile? There’s the comfort of anonymity opposed by desire to be interesting and thus viewed.

I’d better set up the taping, I really can’t watch this show & get to sleep tonight. Oh good, it’s a repeat. As soon as I watch the first few minutes, I’m off to bed & sleep.

Okay, I’m almost finished celebrating Christmas. I spent Christmas eve opening presents at my brother’s house, with brother, SIL,niece, Dad & Stepmom in attendance. I did fairly well with most of the presents. I found some really unique frames, a very soft teddy bear, great cd of jokes, and a book on how to knit. Other than spending time with family, which was great, I think that the best present that I received was the shawl. It’s purple, soft & very warm. It’s perfect for lounging around in, say when I’m updating my blog.

I spent some time with Dad & Kathy on Christmas morning & then drove home. I ate supper with Chris & his family. It was really good food but I was so tired that I ate & ran. It was better to eat & run than to fall asleep driving home.

My secret santa from that tatters’ group was Teresa W. She sent me some great stuff. I only hope that my partner enjoys what I sent her. Apparently it hasn’t arrived yet.

I still haven’t distributed the ornaments that I made for my neighbors. Ditto I didn’t mail out the ornaments, etc to former co-workers, etc. Julie P came by. Turns out she doesn’t work there anymore. She was just picking up her birthday present (which I think that I sent out in October). She gave me 2 great tatting books, some homemade raspberry jam and some bread. I can’t wait to dip into it.

Went to see Chronicles of Narnia: Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. Wow, they did a really great job. It’s been years since I’ve read the books but they definitely hit all the highlights. They even brought up a few things that I’d forgotten. I could go see it again, and I’m eagerly awaiting to see which movie they make next.

Some of the previews were interesting. At least one, I can’t wait to see it…when it comes on Spike TV. It’s called Benchwarmers & it’s a movie about baseball underdogs. It looks pretty stupid & pretty entertaining.

It’s almost 3 pm, I have the day off & the only things I’ve gotten done are to get my oil changed & to type up another session of Mutants & Masterminds notes. I only have 3 more sessions to type up (until Thursday, then I’ll have 4).

Had a cancer scare late summer. I had basal carcinoma (a common skin cancer).

Been playing a lot of RPGA. Been to a number of cons. Been tatting a lot.

State Fair was great but I missed my Fair Day. For the past 15 years + I’ve taken a day off work to go to the State Fair. I try to get there when the gates open & I don’t leave until they set off the fireworks. This time, as I was getting ready to leave the house, I could not find the car keys. I had had them the night before. I searched the entire house for two hours. I gave up & calmed down for a couple hours. I tried again. I finally gave up, depressed & angry.

The next morning I found them in my bedroom. At eye level. They had not been there the day before. Something hid my keys for a day. I told most people that I had had a migraine because it’s hard to explain that you have a gremlin or something in your house that hides things.  A couple weeks earlier it had hidden a notebook belonging to C. He had to re-arrange what games he was playing because he couldn’t find that character notebook.

That means cramps. That means that I miss the thread sale and the writer workshop I was planning to attend today. My bf is suffering from a skin irritation, so he’s uncomfortable too. We’ve been sitting on the couch, watching movies & playing computer games/reading. The laptop’s heat is very nice, girls know what I mean. The only problem is food. There’s very little food in the fridge or freezer. So we had toast for breakfast & sandwiches for lunch. I fixed some tea but it’s still a little too hot to drink, even with cream added.

My friend Steve loaned me a stack of books. Plus I have been spending a little time typing up the notes from the Mutants & Masterminds game. I have 2 out of 9 sessions done. So I have lots to read/type/etc. Problem is that I need to be cleaning. This may very well be the last weekend that I can devote to it until Christmas. Every weekend in October for example, is already tied up. The state fair alone takes 2 weekends. Plus there’s a con to attend & the Ren Festival.

I pulled out my Shadowrun charfic again. Something Steve said has me wondering if I could rewrite it enough to make it a story worth trying to publish. Maybe so, maybe not.

I finished tatting the baby booties for Lisa. Now I’ve started the doily for Karen. The thread’s being a bigger pain that I thought. The filament chooses to break in such a way that I can only cut off the motif & start it over. Bleh. It’s a lovely thread though, red with a silver filament.

I had a lovely visit with Aunt Shirley & Mom. Cousin AJ came by. I finished my Village outfit. It took longer than I thought it would to get the lacing on the bodice done. The skirt took about what I thought it would. I even have a fake underskirt & fichu to wear with it.