Tat's Heaven

Thank you to everyone for entering my giveaway.  The winner is number 14 which is  Bernice. Many congratulations Bernice, if you would like to e.mail your address to me at popabobbinshuttle@gmail.com then I can post the prize to you.  Sadly I was not in Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate Shakespeare's birthday last weekend but hope to visit soon.   However, I was there in 1964 when the town celebrated 400 years since his birth.  I remember buying this badge, it was probably the only thing I could afford at that time. Amazing what you keep over the years and even more amazing that you are able to actually find it again!

Today marks 400 years since William Shakespeare's death, he died when he was only 52 years old on his birthday 23rd April 1616.  There are great celebrations taking place in my home town of Stratford-upon-Avon to mark the occasion. This is my 450 blog post and to celebrate I am offering the items below as a 'giveaway'.  All you have to do is leave a comment (just one!) and I will use a random number generator to pick the winner on 28th April. "This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England" From Richard II, Act 2 (Shakespeare) Let me talk you through the items in the picture, there is a hand turned needle holder made from purple heart wood (not made by 'im in the garage but bought locally), a bone china thimble from the Coalport factory and a flat shuttle. They are photographed on a cloth bag which has the Union Jack displayed on it and the words 'Great Britain'. Apart from being Shakespeare's birthday today is also St. George's ...

Which basically means unable to understand a situation clearly because you are too involved.  I think that happens to many of us throughout our lives and sometimes we just need to step back and perhaps talk to others on the outside and get their views about a situation that we are directly involved in.    This is my tatting version of the saying, it is the be-stitched pattern which can be found on this page no idea what I want to use it for as yet, just waiting for some inspiration.  I do know that it will not become a towel edging.  It is resting on a huge piece of Cedar Wood that was in the garage - where else?!   Which reminds me if you want to know what is made in the garage then please look at this facebook page I guess today cannot go by without mentioning the Queen's 90th birthday. To celebrate I have posted this union jack flag -  painted and very wet!  One of the children at the Craft Club yesterday created this work of art!

Not much progress has been made because other things have got in the way of tatting. After taking a week to do the first round I discovered that I had used the wrong size thread, it was 40 instead of 20.  The scissors were just about to do their worst when Jane said, it probably will not make much difference, press it and see.    So I did and will carry on. Apart from tatting I am eager to get back to sewing since purchasing this new machine, hope you can see the lego one in front of it! I have not forgotten about the giveaway I promised, it is happening, just been a bit busy to sort anything out.

There are quite a few charity shops in the area I live and I am always in and out of them looking for tatting books or shuttles.  This week I found these two shuttles in the Red Cross shop.  They were  in two separate cellophane packages and priced at 50 p each which is an incredible price for such gems.  One end of the blue shuttle is open too much and I suspect that the pins holding it must have become a bit lose, but that does not matter as it is obviously quite old.   After a really hectic week I hope to get down to doing some tatting this weekend, well after I have painted a few fence panels!   This is what I have started, Jane's doily.   Her instructions are always so easy to follow but somehow I got in a real mess with this pattern, probably because I just was not concentrating and read them wrong.