Tat's Heaven

All the tatting shuttles that were delivered last weekend to Jane have now been sold, it's incredible how fast they went, so it is time to make some new ones. "Im in the garage" has been buying wood off e.bay, exotic woods that will look very beautiful when made into shuttles. But there is a little story behind the wood you see below, it has come from America and is cocobolo rosewood and purple heart. After it was ordered and paid for, the person in America sent an e.mail to say that he was sorry but he had been rushed into hospital for emergency surgery but would post the wood as soon as he could. So we thought, the poor fellow must have had an appendix removed or something like that, so we sent our good wishes for a speedy recovery and said there was no hurry for the package to be sent. However, in due course the parcel did arrive, sadly not in a very good state, the Royal Mail had put a polythene bag around the original package and our first thoughts were, have we lost...

Now one of the things you will notice straight away is that these earrings are for non-pierced ears, thats me! So I actually wear these myself. I found the mother of pearl hearts at a car boot sale, a small packet of them in different colours, but good strong colours. I have only used the two hearts shown here so far. The glass beads I found in an antique shop, they were broken and were in a little plastic packet so were priced very reasonably. I have not had time laterly to do much tatting due to the pop-a-bobbin shuttles and a very busy life. So shall we have a little peep in the garage? In the container are some shuttles that have been cut out and sanded, before varnishing. Now you can see "im in the garage" sanding them on this clever bit of equipment. We went to see Jane on Saturday and delivered 30 shuttles, most of them have now been sold. In the last week quite a few different woods have also been delivered to our house, so there is soon going to be a bigger variety ...

Today is Shrove Tuesday the day that we make and eat pancakes to symbolise the using up of the food supplies in our home, ready for the penitential season of Lent, which starts tomorrow Ash Wednesday. Shrove is taken from the old English verb shrive, meaning to obtain absolution for sins. It is also quite common on this day to have pancake races, with groups of people running along the street with frying pans and tossing the pancakes as they run. No this is not a tatted valentine heart gone wrong! It is supposed to be a pretzel. Pretzels I discovered have a deep spiritual meaning for Lent. In fact, it was the ancient Christian Lenten bread as far back as the fourth century. In the old Roman Empire, the faithful kept a very strict fast all through Lent: no milk, no butter, no cheese, no eggs, no cream, and no meat. They made small breads of water, flour, and salt, to remind themselves that Lent was a time of prayer. They shaped these breads in the form of crossed arms for in those day...

It is the eve of Chinese New Year so thought you might like to see the Christmas present my son who lives in Singapore, gave "him in the garage". This sign is now stuck on the door of the garage which leads from the hall way of our house and it is where the shuttle making takes place. And the bottle opener which was also in the Christmas parcel Here are the wood blanks ready to be shaped into shuttles, note the ebony on the right of the picture, which arrived by post this week. Last Saturday morning you would have seen me walking through the streets of our nearest town carrying an adult beaver costume in one hand and a parcel containing tatting shuttles in the other, as I made my way to the main Post Office. If I had been wearing the beaver costume people would have probably noticed me! Instead as I queued in the Post Office, I looked like any other person on a busy Saturday morning. After a little while I was directed to a counter by a number and handed the precious little...

INTRODUCING THE POP-A-BOBBIN SHUTTLE . . . . . . . . . . After a few disappointing and frustrating set backs with the design of a wooden shuttle that would have a removable bobbin and did not involve too many complicated parts, we have now come up with what we believe is a unique and clever idea. Here it is prior to being assembled (with an extra plug). The bobbin is placed in position and a plug is pushed through the centre hole of the shuttle and through the bobbin. To remove simply use the popper tool on the left of the picture to push out the centre plug and listen to the pop! The popper tool is tapered at one end in order to push out the centre plug. The plastic bobbin can be placed on the other end of the popper tool to wind thread. The hook on the end of the shuttle is also handmade from stainless steel. It is hoped that those who use this tatting shuttle will find it comfortable and practical to use, especially as there is a slight indent for your fingers in the middle. I wa...

I love wearing necklaces, especially colourful ones, and before I ramble on about mine you must look at these fabulous creations on Martha's blog here, made with buttons and nuggets, they are so clever. The purple tatted necklace I made for someone called Robin, she is the niece of Robin my friend, mentioned in Jane's blog here. It was tatted during the Christmas holidays and I was able to give it to Robin in person, when she was in England for a week at the beginning of January. Purple is her favourite colour. I can't stop buying beads especially when I see them at car boot sales or the tip, and it was getting to the point when I was just storing so many beads and not doing anything with them. As I had acquired such a variety of beads over the years, it was such a shame not to use them. They had been stored in containers, never to see the light of day. So last week I scattered the beads all over the floor, and I duly set to work, matching the various shapes, sizes and co...