Knitted Christmas Holly Cakes and Fluffy Doughnuts

 Hi,
Today I am doing a christmas fair in Cheese and Grain in Frome.  I am hoping the weather forecast will be kind to us,  yesterday it was a cold wind although it stayed dry. Last night Jenson Button turned on the christmas lights in Frome.  Update on this Jenson is on the national news this morning doing his doughnut in his F1 car in the car park in Frome, which is outside the building where I will be today,  in the Cheese and Grain they used the hall as pit stop garage.
These are my knitted Christmas Holly cakes from the book 20 to make Knitted cakes.  I put a piece of red ribbon around the base of the cakes. One has knitted red berries and the other is a white christmas rose which I added yellow french knots in the middle to break the whiteness. With knitted green holly leaves.

Here is something different,  knitted fluffy doughnuts,  I brought some fluffy wool in the market a few weeks ago and this is what I did with it,  there was no labels so I don't know what make of wool it was but they made an interesting take on a doughnut.
I must wish Cheryl from "intatters" who also has a craft market but in Alberta Canada, when mine finishes she will be beginning hers,  good luck, hope you sell lots.


Hope you have a nice weekend.
        Hugs
     Margaret

A choir of Ice blue Angels 18/25 motif challenge

 Hi,
Not a very big choir,  but I have been playing with a new thread called Ice Blue by Lizbeth no 20,  its not new new but its new to me,  if you get it.
The top picture I took to show you the difference between angels made in white and ice blue,   I rather like the colour and is really suits snowflakes and angels.

As you can see I have done my favorite Angel the 3D Angel by Katie Johnson,  I don't glue the skirt on I attach it to the body and I still have not found anyway of asking her if I can update the pattern and give you how I have altered the pattern to make her stand up.
The other angel is also another one I do a lot of and thats the SSSR angel by Anne Bruvold.   The picture shows her in white and ice blue,  only the ice blue looks a bit wonky I dont know why thats just how she ended up after I steamed her.   I have also done a few snowflakes in the Ice blue from the 1st December I will post a different snowflake everyday and then you will see them mixed in.  If anyone wants to join in with posting a different snowflake every day until christmas please feel free to join in,  the more the merrier
Hope you are keeping well, until we meet again take care
                         Hugs
                     Margaret

Jan Stawasz RIP

Today it is a sad day  in the tatting world as we have learnt that Jan Stawasz has died.  His funeral was today at the Old Cemetery Chapel in Slupsk in Poland.  His tatting adventures started in 1992 after a car accident.   He had several patterns published in the German Magazine "Anna",  which he gave me the magazine numbers so I could find his patterns in my copies of Anna.
The picture above is from his second book which Wendy and I did a tat along back in the summer.  I am so pleased I managed to buy a copy of this book.
 They were going to republished his first book about now,  I hope they do republished it as if it is half as good as his second then it will be worth buying.
His designs and patterns are world famous and the tatting world has lost a wonderful man.   I hope he is tatting with the angels but memory will live on in the tatting world.
I send my condolences to the family and friends of this great tatter.

Margaret

Papercraft Inspirations Freebies

 Hi,
How often do you get freebies and they sit on the craft table or to one side and never get used.  No well they often do in my case but these from the Christmas edition of Papercraft Inspirations just seem to say use me.
The one thing I added was the square card and some ribbon, oh and a piece of plain green card for the top card,   the rest backing paper and images were all free.
I still have a free bits left and some paper so a few more cards will be made may not be this year but they will get used one day.
Have a nice day
              Hugs
          Margaret

Tatted Door Wreath

Hi.
On this cold and dull day,  I thought I would show you my latest piece of tatting,  it was going to be posted yesterday on a scheduled post but I never had time on saturday and we went to Oxford for the day yesterday.   It was a lovely day and Dee cooked a gorgeous meal, thanks Dee.
This door wreath pattern was first started by Lady Tats link to her blog,  it is now doing the rounds.  The pattern is done with one shuttle with red thread and one shuttle with green thread,   the top picture is my first effort,  yes it is red thread by coats, variegated red which is all I have in number 20,  the green is flora thread, I hate that thread its hard and not easy to work with,  well thats my opinion.  The Josephine rings although now I see the photo one has a loop beside it were easy enough to do only my thread looks more pink than pale red and dark red.   I was not happy so I did another one this time I put a red seed bead,   no I don't like that one either, the bead does not show up,  I have some larger beads but they might be two big, or do I use three seed beads,    I think another one is called for.
 I added the red ribbon bow which I made,  I like the bow on it and the pattern is easy enough,  I don't like the green,  I think I said that already shall I say it again I don't like the green..  So what do you think...............
Hope you are having a better day than me.
               Hugs
           Margaret

CD Sunday Challenge - Simply Squared

Hi,
Second post of the day, yes I am having one of those days,  I have just put Vernons Birthday card on and then went silly and put it for the CD Sunday Challenge,  wrong.
This is the card for the challenge,   this week it is Simply Squared,  I used Joanna Sheens CD The royal Horticultural Society CD,  I matted the image on green shiny paper and then on a dark green paper using squared corner gold peel offs in the four corners and the edges of the card,   the matching backing paper from the image and finished off with a dark green bow.
Hope you like my card,   at the moment we are having a real heavy rain storm and its so dark you would think its night.   hope the weather is better with you
Take Care,
                               Hugs
                            Margaret

Happy Birthday Vernon

Hi,

Today is My Husbands Birthday,  as always mens cards are so difficult to make and I ended up with this one.  The image is from Joanna Sheens CD The Pamela West Collection,  I matted the image into silver miri card,  with the matching backing paper and finished the card off with silver corners and lines with a blue bow.
The weather today is horrible last night it was a frost when we came home about 10.30pm,  we walked down the garden from the car and the grass crunched underfoot,   when we woke up this morning it was blowing a gale and pouring with rain,  how the weather can change in a few hours.
Have a nice day,  we are out later to see our Son and of course granddaughters.
                           Hugs
                       Margaret

Two Hearts.......

 Hi,
I hope you are having a lovely weekend, its dizzly, dark and cold here. They say its going to get colder this next week,  brrrrrr.
Today I thought I would show you two cards I made a few weeks ago they have been waiting to go on here,

They are both Anniversary cards, both with the same glitter flower backing paper and with matching ribbon.

I used two die cuts that I was sent and thank you they are really beautiful hearts, I really  hope I have made them justice in mounting them.   Both cards I have mounted the heart on card and cut around them and then placed the hearts on white card.  Finished them off with peel off words.
I am really pleased how these worked out,  I hope you like them too.

Tonight (sunday) will not be the same here in UK we have been enjoying Downton Abbey,   I cannot say any more as my American followers are very behind,   but we have just had the fourth series and there will be a christmas programme,  so until christmas Sunday nights will be back to the boring rubbish, sorry if you like Celebrity get me out of here,  I can't stand it.   I am looking forward to the return of Mr Selfridge until then we still have the Paradise to watch and even those are running out as the weeks go by.
Until we meet again take care.

                  Hugs
              Margaret

We should never forget......

The eleventh hour,

The eleventh Day,

The eleventh Month

Today is the one day of the year we should never forget.

Both my parents served in the second World War, my father died many years ago.  Now Mother has dementia and cant remember her service number or what ships she serviced on,  she was on so many,  she was then captured by the Japanese and spent two and half years in a POW camp.  I have been trying to research her war record.   In the war she had the nickname of Bubbles and was a nurse on either a troop ship or hospital ships.   Unfortunately her record seems to have disappeared,   this is a request to my UK followers,  if anyone has a relative or knows someone who was on the high seas during the war, could you ask them if they remember a nurse and what ship they were on with her,  or even if they were in a Japanese camp what the name of the camp was.  This might help to trace her record.  I have been around in circles with my research and getting no where. Thanking you in advance to anyone who might be able to give me some information.

I know she was on the high sea, during my lifetime several men have come up to her and said they never thought they would see her again,  thats how I learned her nickname,  one even told a story that if she thought the men needed she would match them around the deck even in a force nine gale.

I am watching the parade in London while I write this for tomorrow its a beautiful day with the sun shining and the sea of poppy wreaths being laid.  This is one day that should never be forgotten,  next year it will be one hundred years since the start of the first world war.

Margaret 

What my ends of thread do......... 17/25 motif challenge

 Hi,

Have you ever wondered what us tatters do with bits of thread thats left over,
Well this is to prove that crafters waste nothing, well very little.
Do you remember some time ago I showed you the above middle of a snowflake, it went a bit wrong and this is what finished up with, it looked a bit like a flower,  well here it is on a card yes it made a flower center and I added a butterfly in the corner.
These are all cards I made using up my bits of thread, that were big enough to make a butterfly,   I tend to make them to finish up the thread on the shuttles and put them in a little bag and then use them up on cards, when I need a few on my table.
The backing papers are all free from magazines and I finished them off with peel off edgings.
All are made using Lizbeth threads.
Any small threads  too small to make a butterfly or something are kept in another bag for the antennas of butterflies or to hang snowflakes etc.
I try not to waste but of course tiny bits well they see the bin.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, and the weather is better than last weekend.

                      Hugs

                  Margaret

Look what arrived in the Post.............

Hi,

Look what arrived in the post,   I had forgotten all about Kristen from Tatting all over the Place link to her blog.   It was a guessing game and I won along with Gods Kid link to her blog.
Well the package contained a small tin with two white shuttles with a union jack flag on,  a small motif,   a corner bookmark,  and on the tin,  Keep Calm and Craft On.  plus a Russian Tatting Book.  Ok I don't speak Russian but the patterns are all diagramed and look really interesting,  two have already shouted in my face to tat.
I sent Kristen an email,  she replied saying she was glad they arrived,  the books she ordered from Moscow  took 10+ days by road to be delivered to her.  Well Kristen it was worth the wait.
Thank you Kristen it made my day.  It made my next doors neighbours day, it got delivered to her by mistake and she is waiting for two parcels from China without looking she opened it by mistake, just shows our postman can't read,   theres another parcel thats got lost in the post,  makes me wonder where that went.
Have a nice day
                                    Hugs
                                Margaret

CD Sunday Challenge - Stripey

Hi,
After what can only seem weeks of rain the autumn colours have more or less disappeared,  theres a few leaves left on some trees but really the gale force winds and heavy rain have spoilt the autumn show of colour.  Wish the sun would shine for a few days and dry the garden out so I can pack it up for the winter.

Today I bring you my challenge card for the CD Sunday Challenge,  this week its stripey,  I used the My craft Studio Cd Crafters Essential Backgrounds,  I used a pale yellow stripey for the background and a honey colour different pattern for the corners.   The image is House Mouse from Joanna Sheen.  I love this this one with the two mice kissing,  I finished off the card, with gold peel offs,  yellow ribbon,  yellow flower from stock, and a cream flourish.    Not sure what occasion I will use this card for.  I did enjoy making this card,  last week life got in the way it was all planned it have two moving images on the challenge card, oh well perhaps one day I might get around to making the planned card.

Anyway I hope you have a nice day and until we meet again take care

                           Hugs

                       Margaret

Bridal Lace Bracelet 16/25 of the 25 Motif Challenge

Hi,
A few weeks ago I was looking at Tatting Box on Facebook,  now don't get me wrong I am not a member of Facebook,  but you can get on this site.
I really did like this pattern and Elaine very kindly sent me the pattern of her bracelet link to her page 
  Its a lovely pattern and very simple to do, its one ring and two chains, the bracelet at the top is plain with no beads.
The one below is with seed beads,  four,  I split the chain in half and added four beads,  they are pale pink which at first I thought would not work but they worked really well, although I don't think you can see them,  I still have to finish off this bracelet as I have run out of ends,  but I thought you might like to see it.
I used Lizbeth thread no 20 in Purple Splendor.
Here is a close up.

Have a nice day, stay safe with the fireworks tonight.

                             Hugs

                         Margaret

Lacock - Our day out

 Hi
Where has the week gone, one minute it was Monday, then it was Friday,  it just seen to disappear I never got time to even print out my planned card for the CD sunday Challenge, must do better this week.  As it was half term we took our granddaughter Bethany out and she wanted to go back to Lacock as she enjoyed it so much,  so heres some pictures of our day out

 

Above is the Abbey which was closed as they had something on in the ground for the kids,  who were all dressed for Halloween,  so we did not bother to go in.
This is the church in the village called St Cyriac's church,  we had a walk around inside,  very very  old some of it dates back to 1400 something.

 This is Pack Horse Bridge,  where the river splits in three to go under in three parts,

 This is Bethany and Vernon standing on the bridge.

 Another view of the bridge

 This is the oldest  Building in the village called King John's Hunting Lodge which is now a B and B.

Lunch,  I think she's happy,  

 After lunch we went to the Garden center just outside the village,  These are pictures of their christmas display,  they were so lovely I just had to take some picture.  I hope you enjoy them

These Polar bears were moving around,  unfortunately I could not take them as they moved so these are stills of them,   they were so cute.

Well that was our day out,  she was spoilt rotten,   we had a lot of tatting talk and talk about my new patterns I am designing and still on the drawing boards.  Shes joining intatters not sure what name shes going to call herself  yet.   I did a post about Lacock back in August if you want to read more about the village.
Until we meet again Take Care
                    Hugs
                Margaret