New Member of the Family

Hi Everyone

I would like to introduce you to the newest member of our Family.

Nigel

Nigel is a Standard Schnauzer and is a ball of energy. Unfortunately he is a puppy and needs to be house trained. It is funny how you forget the work that is involved to do this and Nigel seems to be real dumb about this. If you want to feel your age get a puppy because it does not take long before you realize that you do not have the patience or energy that you once did so you really have to remind yourself very often that it is worth it and that you are going to end up with a well behaved loyal companion.

Well it is time for a dog walk so I have to go. I promise that the next post will be about Tatting and how I am progressing with the Jan Stawasz 32 inch doily.

Tatting and Spanish

When we first were planning on moving to Panama I thought I would teach myself to speak Spanish before we moved. Unfortunately I did not realize how much of my time was going to be taken up by planning the move so it did not happen. I have finally reached a point in time where I have decided that I need to make learning to speak Spanish a priority so I am trying to devote 30 minutes a day to doing this. We shall see how it goes with this old brain of mine. 
Now as promised a scan of my tatting WIP (work in progress). The pattern is from the book Tatting Theory and Patterns by Jan Stawasz and the pattern is called Doily 1 and the finished size when tatted in size 10 thread is a diameter of 80cm so mine will be a little smaller because I am using size 20 thread.

Tatting and Monday's Inspiration

"Don't part with your illusions.

When they are gone you may still

exist, but you have ceased to live."

-Mark Twain

Tatting and Thursday's Inspiration

As you can see this doily was the perfect home for this very large piece of Green Calcite.

"Adventure is worthwhile."

-Amelia Earhart

Tatting and Tuesday's Inspiration

"Find ecstasy in life; the mere

sense of living is joy, enough."

-Emily Dickinson

Tatting and Monday's Inspiration

Don't take life seriously because

you can't come out of it alive."

-Warren Miller

Tatting and Weekend's Inspiration

One more row to go.

"What's the use of worrying?

It never was worthwhile."

-George Asaf

Tatting and Friday's Inspiration

"Not knowing when the dawn will come,

I open every door."

-Emily Dickinson

Tatting and Thursday's Inspiration

"The indispensable first step to

getting the things you want out of life

is this: decide what you want."

-Ben Stein

Tatting and Wednesday's Inspiration

This is after 5 rounds.

"Life appears to me to be too short to be spent

in nursing animosity or registering wrong."

-Charlotte Bronte

Tatting and Tuesday's Inspiration

This is with 4 rounds complete.

"No matter how good you get you can always

get better and that's the exciting part."

-Tiger Woods

Tatting and Monday's Inspiration

Over the next 7 days I will be posting my progress on a doily that I made. Sorry but I do not remember where I found the pattern. This is the first three rounds.

"If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then

walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever

you do you have to keep moving forward."

-Martin Luther King. Jr.

Tatting and Wednesday's Inspiration

"Letting ourselves be forgiven is one

of the most difficult healings we will

undertake. And one of the most fruitful."

-Stephen Levine

Tatting and Friday's Inspiration

"I am always doing that which I cannot do,

in order that I may learn how to do it."

-Pablo Picasso

Tatting and Thursday's Inspiration

"I like my money right where I can see it-

hanging in my closet."

-Sarah Jessica Parker

Thursday's Inspiration and Tatting

This is a doily that I designed 2 years ago. I am hoping that life will slow down a little when my partner and I retire soon so that I can finish my book of doilies. 

"You have to leave the city of your comfort

and go into the wilderness of your intuition.

What you'll discover will be wonderful.

What you'll discover is yourself."

-Alan Alda

Some Tatting and a Giveaway

This is a doily I just finished making using Lady Shuttlemakers Silk Hand Dyed Thread size 60 colour Middle Earth. The pattern is just one I made up as I went along.
Below is a picture of the doily that I am giving away along with 50 yards of Middle Earth HDT, size 60. All you have to do to be entered is to leave a comment with your name. Good luck. Deadline is thursday noon.

Due to the overwhelming response to my giveaway I have decided to change it a little to give more people a chance to win. There will now be 3 prizes.
1. The green doily
2. 50 yard skein of Middle Earth HDT size 60 by Lady Shuttlemaker
3. A small skein of Peace HDT size 80 by Yarnplayer

Tatting and Inspiration

I made this doily to match one that a friend bought at an antique store. It measures 12 inches across and is tatted in size 30 DMC Cebelia ecru thread.

"Only in quiet waters do things mirror themselves undistorted.
Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world."
_____ Hans Margolius

Weekend Inspiration

These are the first seven rows of a doily I am making for a friend. I am making it to match an antique doily that she has. "Don't be surprised, Don't be startled; All things will arrange themselves. Don't cause a disturbance, Don't exert pressure; All things will clarify themselves." _____ Huai-nan-tzu

Tatting and Inspiration

This is the first 5 rows of a tatted doily that I am making as a surprise for a friend. The pattern comes from a doily that she bought from an antique store and I am making it so she has a set of matching doilies. "It is necessary to be noble, and yet take humility as a basis. It is necessary to be exalted, and yet take modesty as a foundation." _____ Lao-tzu