Tat's Heaven

The weather is a bit confused at the moment in England for we are having a heat wave with temperatures expected to climb up to 29 C tomorrow.  The leaves are turning brown and the sun is shining, very strange. For the past week, whenever I am able to sit down for more than five minutes, I have tried to design an oak leaf and this is my latest attempt, still needs some more work on it.   Yesterday was the feast of St. Michael and All Angels and from now on you are must not pick any more blackberries this season as the devil is supposed to have spat on them.  But I was in the graveyard where there were some beautiful ones this afternoon, so I picked some.  Here they are ready in the pan. And this was a very peculiar sight in the graveyard, a toadstool  or is it a wild mushroom? Anyway it was growing out of a stone flower vase, I actually had to go and touch it to see if it was real! It looks rather like a sun shade! Hope to improve on the leaf in the next few days...

At the moment there is a huge attic clear-out happening at our house, for the past 25 years items have been put up there and it has ended up being a complete mess.  With the past two Winters being very cold in England many lofts/attics need more insulation,  although some would say that filling them up acts as extra insulation!  So for the past month we have been trying to sort, clear and tidy the contents of our attic in preparation to put more lagging down.  However, the process has been extremely slow because my grown up boys have used the place as a storage for university papers/books, CDs, DVDs etc. As one lives in Singapore and the other in a small flat there is no way they are going to be able to remove these possessions in a hurry, or even at all.  Sunday morning therefore, I took the opportunity to 'facetime' my son in Singapore on my Ipad whilst sitting in the loft, he then was able to give instructions to what could be thrown out - not much so far! ...

It took me sometime to decide on an edging pattern for the Irish linen, I started several but they either did not look right or the instructions were a bit vague.  In the end I found Mark Myers "crowning glory" and used the Easter Eggs thread, this is the result.  I did alter the ring - top middle slightly, making the picots a little larger.  The picture shows it placed by the linen, I have not started to sew it on yet. Not sure if it will be finished this side of Christmas! It is a sad week in our parish as the Vicar is saying good bye to a car he has owned for 28 yrs, a Morris Traveller.  The reason that it has to go is that it is rather rusty underneath and would cost a fortune to repair.  He has sold it to someone who can spend the time and money to do the essential repairs.  The car has been a topic of conversation with all whom he has met over the years, many saying "our first car was like that".  Being a passenger though was not that comfortabl...

Sue Anna kindly sent me more beautiful Lizbeth thread and also one skein of HDT which she gave to Jane when she met her in July.   They are all going to be put to good use.   I just can't get over the colours which I believe are the new range. Originally I purchased this piece of Irish Linen to put a border of tatting around it, as you can see it has been folded up and put away and still bears all the crease marks.   I am so spoilt for choice deciding which thread to use.  As you can see  I have placed two possibilities next to the linen, but now the next decision is an edging pattern.  I would like to tat one that is challenging, only has one round, but also has some depth to it. The linen measures 18" x 17 1/2". The butterfly that was in my previous post has been framed.  I did have to paint the frame pink, but it has turned out rather well. Well off to search again for an edging pattern...................