Tat's Heaven

Things have moved on since I showed you this post   where a plastic machine bobbin is ready to be used for a pop-a-bobbin shuttle.  Somewhere in the garage this is being made and although it does take slightly more thread than a Aero bobbin it probably is not enough for some of you who want more! Diane kindly sent these bobbins to me and here is the link where she compares two bobbin shuttles she has, although I hasten to add not using these particular bobbins. I have done my own comparison with two pop-a-bobbin shuttles, however I really can't find the motivation or time to find out how much extra thread the larger one can hold,  but enough to make a difference especially if you are on a large tatting project. The larger shuttle as you see is using the large black bobbin it is by no means finished yet, but looking good so far.

Today marks the Autumn equinox which happens when the equator passes the centre of the sun. This is when the north and south poles of the Earth are not tilted towards or away from the sun, as at other times, but are aligned so as to give, theoretically, the same amount of daylight in both of the Earth's hemispheres. Is it Autumn or Fall?   Many would say that 'Fall' is an American word used to describe this time of the year whereas in England we say Autumn.  But the word 'fall' apparently was used in England during the 16th century or even earlier.  It was originally short for fall of the year or fall of the leaf but it commonly took the one-word form by the 17th century, long before the development of American English.  So while the term is now widely used in the USA, it is not exclusively American or American in origin.  What is more an old English word feallan means “to fall or to die.” Over time, the phrase was shortened to fall. “Fall of the leaf...

Yes this is the same title as Jane's blog post for today as I have also tatted her wonderful bracelet pattern. I really do recommend that you do too.    The top one was the first one I made for Summer and the one below it is more for Autumn wear.    This is when it is really such an advantage having plenty of beads to choose from!

' Im in the garage decided that he wanted to try some different oil to finish the shuttles off with.  I have managed to wean him off using varnish as the natural finish of the wood is far more pleasing to the eye than a shiny one, well that's my opinion.   The aroma of this oil is really lovely but I fear that by the time these little shuttles make their way to new homes it might have worn off a little.  However the oil does give a lovely matt and natural finish, previously he used Danish Oil on the shuttles. I made this canopy bookmark by Martha Ess, just love this pattern especially when you work two different coloured threads and thicknesses together.

There has been talk of a need for larger bobbin shuttles which will hold more thread.  So I found some sewing machine bobbins which we bought originally to put in the shuttles 'im in the garage made'.  However, in the early stages of making them we discovered that these bobbins made the shuttles rather large.  As an experiment they are going to be used in some pop-a-bobbin shuttles.  So far there is very little difference in size between them and the shuttles that use the Aero bobbins, mainly because the shaping of the shuttles has been finely tuned after years of practise. The ones you see in the picture are far from completed and we are not sure if they are going to work at this stage. Also lined up in the garage are some standard pop-a-bobbin shuttles in the process of being made, together with some post shuttles.  As you will see there are some interesting woods on the far right including violet rosewood and snake wood.  These will not be in J...