Someone on the lists was looking for a pattern for a canoe. I have done a boat but it is more of a gondola. There is a story behind this picture.

This is what happens when you are reciting poetry while trying to choose thread within hearing distance of Lily Morales (loopylacer.com).

It started with a guild retreat. We were at a conference center in the mountains. Lily made everyone a backpack type bag as part of the goody bag giveaway for the occasion (she was nuts!). Anyway, those attending were challenged with decorating it by the next event. (About a year away) My original idea was an owl in a tree branch, in keeping with the theme. But as I was musing on a suitable thread for the owl I starting saying poetry - it's a habit I picked up from my Grandmother.

So, here I'm muttering "the owl and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green boat." Lily heard me and said "Oh! Oh! I have the perfect green for that!" And, well, the rest is history.


What you see here is not mounted on that backpack. I took it off and put it on a black backing so I could enter it in the Orange County Fair. It won first place that year. (2004 if I remember correctly). After that, I had it framed and gave it to my mother (with the blue ribbon) for Christmas since she collects owls.

Now for the credits:

The Boat, Moon and Water are my own design.
The Owl and the Pussycat belong to Jane Eborall and the patterns can be found on her web page.

http://www.e.n.e.btinternet.co.uk/

THANK YOU JANE!!!!

I've been on another trip, so I have a bunch of motifs to post at one time again. I forgot to put the tape measure into the pictures this time, sorry.



This first motif I actually didn't do while I was traveling. I started it before I left and finished it after I returned. You can see why. I don't like the idea of juggling and chasing beads while sitting on a plane. Dorcas Newkirk gave me this very colorful Manuella with beads to match. I had to do some looking to come up with a pattern that would be suitable for just 12 beads. When I first tried this pattern, I used the beads in place of the outer chain picots, but I didn't like the way they were laying. Just too big. I finally increased the stitch count enough to I could get the beads into the rings themselves. The thread is Manuella size 20, color M202-04. The pattern is from the September 1971 Workbasket.


This next motif I did do on the plane, with just one big bead, it was easy to deal with. The thread and the bead was given to me by Sharol Thompson from Boulder City, Nevada. The thread is DMC Perle Cotton Size 8. The pattern is from the August 1990 Workbasket. It is not a pattern I have in my own Workbasket collection, Sharol sent it along with her thread. It actually calls for a bead to be used in the pattern. I'm not sure if you can see from the scan, but the bead is decorated with pretty little flowers.




Elizabeth Zipay from Schukil Haven, PA gave me this multicolored thread. It is Altin Basak Size 50. The pattern is from the May 1948 workbasket.




This is the last thread exchange motif that I got finished during my trip. The thread is Perfect Quilter color 085. The pattern is from the November 1960 Workbasket. It was given to me by Lori Oliwen-Kluger of La Cresceta, CA.




The rest of my trip was spent working on this years ornament for my holiday cards. I'm doing Jane Eboralls Celtic Wreath this year. There is a bit of story to go with this. My trip was to visit my brother and his family in Michigan. While I was there I listened to my nephews orchestra rehearsal. My niece, Maribeth, was sitting next to me watching me tat the first round of the wreath. I finished the round and on a whim gave it to her. She promptly squeezed it over her little hand and wore it as a bracelet. (It just barely fit). The next morning she proudly showed me the bracelet I had made her for her birthday along side the one I just gave her. I was just thrilled, so I quickly wound some more thread (I didn't have much with me, but I did have lots of beads) and made her another bracelet. I used the central split ring of Jane's bracelet and alternated it with just plain split rings to make a really pretty bracelet in blue thread with gold beads. I finished it just before I had to come home again. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Maribeth with all her tatted bracelets. I should have. We were a bit rushed that last morning to get me to the airport on time.

I do have one of the clan.From left to right in the back, my father, me, my oldest nephew Andrew, my brother's wife Kim, my brother Mike. In front, my niece, Maribeth, my youngest nephew Samuel and the character on the end, with the super big grin, is my second oldest nephew Jonathan.


While I was there, we put together a little hoedown and played some fiddle tunes. Probably a first, fiddle tunes on a French Horn. (The only strings I deal with are the ones that move my valves.)

I had a great time.

This thread was given to me by Valerie Ho of Singapore. She said it was called Enjoy, 100% Cotton Lace Yarn in Size 40. It's made in Turkey. It tats very nicely, but didn't feel as stiff as a cordonnet or as soft as a cebilia, so I decided to take it apart. It separated into 2 strands then those 2 strands separated into another 2 strands making it a 4 strand thread. Very interesting. The pattern is from the January 1969 Workbasket.

I've been on a business trip so I've had a lot of time to tat while on the train, in my motel room, and the conference itself when the discussions got a bit tedious.

Here are a bunch of motifs made with threads from my last exchange.




This is the 2nd thread given to me by Jon Faizon from Malaysia. It is Olympus size 40. The pattern is from the July 1980 Workbasket. I actually finished this before I went on my trip, it's just been laying around on my desk waiting to be scanned.





This very colorful thread is the Valdani pearl cotton that is taking the tatting world by storm. It is one of 2 threads I received from Dorcas Newkirk. The pattern is from the September 1954 Workbasket.






I seem to have a number of very colorful threads for this post. This thread is YLI Quilting Thread. The color is V73 and is called Maui Sunset. I received it from Teofana Petkova of Texas. The pattern is from the October 1961 Workbasket.






This is the last of the motif's from my business trip. It is Altin Basak Size 50, color number 3053. Clyde Page of Ontario, Canada sent it to me. The pattern is from the June 1972 Workbasket. Clyde was quite generous with his thread, otherwise I wouldn't have chosen such a large pattern. This was also one of the more poorly written Workbasket patterns. I had to do a lot of guessing and looking at the picture to get it done.

I got a note that the link to the maple leaf pattern was incorrect. This is the correct link:

http://www.frontiernet.net/~TammyRodgers/mapleleaf.html

I've also fixed it in the previous entry.

Sorry about that.

Gee, I've finished it; and before the end of August too. I won't stop though, this is a good way to share all threads I have received in my thread exchanges. The downside of this blog is that all the pictures are the same size so you don't get an idea of how fine or thick the threads are. I'm thinking of adding a small scale of some kind to show what size the finished motif actually is.



Motif 25!!!!!!!! This is the second thread sent to me by Stacey Houston. It is also King Tut. The color she wrote down was also 912 so one of them is not correct. I just looked at Debbie Arnolds site (ds9designs.com) and I'm thinking that it is color 972 instead. The pattern is from the April 1974 Workbasket.

UPDATE - Stacey just sent me a few color samples. The color is actually 973.




This next motif is outside of my 25 challenge, so I'm going to stop numbering them. This is the first of 2 threads sent to me by Jon Faizon from Malaysia. It is Hakelgarn Size 20. I don't own any balls of this thread yet. It tats very much like Manuella. The pattern is from the October 1975 Workbasket

Motif 23:

This is the third thread given to me by Diane Jenkins. It's called Solar Active Yellow. It is supposed to turn yellow in the sun. It did change colors in the sun a little, but it was more like an ecru to me than a yellow. I tried leaving it on my dashboard all through lunch, but it didn't get any more color to it. The thread is the size of sewing thread and feels (and catches) like silk. I had a hard time getting the rings closed because the thread was catching on itself. The pattern is from the November 1975 Workbasket.



Motif 24:

Stacey Houston from Everett, WA sent me this sample of King Tut Quilting thread along with a maple leaf pattern modified and diagrammed by Tammy Rodgers. The original pattern is from the February 1975 Workbasket. The modified pattern can be found at

http://www.frontiernet.net/~TammyRodgers/mapleleaf.html

The color (number 912) does very well in making this leaf look like a fall leaf.