Snow, Snow and More Snow.....Keyed up Earrings

We Are SNOWED in!



Our area of Western Pennsylvania got 2 foot of snow Saturday. Many of the roads are still covered with snow. Many of the back roads are impassible. School was cancelled today, Monday and we just got word that school is cancelled for tomorrow. And we are to get 8-10 more inches of snow Tuesday into Wednesday. Wow, we haven't had a snow storm this bad in a very long time. Here is a picture looking off my front porch:

Here you can see the snow is up to our mailbox. Needless to say we had no mail on Saturday.

Then we had to rescue one of our chickens. Her name is Free Bird. Why is she named Free Bird you ask? Well as soon as she realized she could escape the coop and fly out, she did. At about 6 months old, she flew out of the run at the coop that has a 6 ft high fence. We kept trying to put her back in and she kept flying out. She did not want to be cooped up with all the other chickens, so she has lived free range in the elements for 3 years. We make sure she has food and water everyday and even built her a shelter where she sleeps in the grapevines. So this is why our son, Cameron, named her Free Bird. Here is Free Bird, stuck in the snow. Luckily she didn't sink all the way to the ground and must be on some hard snow, but it almost swallowed her up. We looked out the window and just saw her neck sticking out of the snow.

Cameron to the rescue!!

Look at how much snow is on the roof of Free Birds nest in the grapevines.

Then Katrina wanted to go out in the snow and take pictures, so I had to get one of her. It was very hard to walk in the snow as it was up to her mid thigh.

I don't know if we will have school the rest of the week if we get the 8 inches on top of this.

So today we had the day off from school, I thought maybe I would get to do some tatting, but no such luck. I woke up and was so dizzy all day, I couldn't do anything but sit. Every time I moved I got sick in my stomach and my head was spinning. I couldn't even lay down or close my eyes. I am feeling a bit better this evening, and hope that by tomorrow I am completely better. Oh and I did spend about two hours on the phone with Norton Antivirus. A backdoor virus got on my computer, it represented it self as a reputable site and fooled Norton. What havoc it played on my computer. But $100 dollars later and I'm virus free. What a pain in the neck!!

Now onto the tatting part of the post. Over Christmas, I tatted Yarnplayer's Keyed Up Earrings in Lizbeth thread, I think it was the Sherbet color. I love this color thread.

One last picture for you, it is my Leprechaun William at Christmas time. I found him making new friends with some of Santa's Elf's.

Tatting Earrings Again - Motifs 13, 14 & 15

I've been working on the 25 Motif Challenge and tatting earrings. I am up to Motif #15. I joined the challenge on March 3rd of this year, so it has only been 3-1/2 months and I've passed the halfway mark already. YEA!! This challenge has motivated me to keep tatting on a regular basis and photograph my tatting and post on my blog what I have achieved. I like that idea, as I have tatted so many things and gave them away without taking pictures of them. I'm sure there are many other tatters that do the same thing.

I have tatted Jane Eborall's Flat Snowflake Earring again. I love this earring pattern. This time I made them for my friend, Rayanna, who just had a birthday. I made them in her favorite color, purple. Earlier this year I taught Rayanna to tat. She was such a fast learner. She has even mastered split rings. Sometimes we get together in the evenings to tat, which is a lot of fun.

I tatted another earring from Jane's site, Flower Earring, these are almost like small bell shaped flowers. I like how they turned out and have the beads hanging down from the center of the flower.

The next earring that I made is a pattern by Nina Libin, Beaded Earring. I have had the pattern printed off for sometime now. I have always wanted to try this earring. There are a few variations to the pattern, just by adding more beads in a few places. I want to make a few more of these and experiment with different colors of thread and beads.

That's all for now. I have missed a few days on the computer and have to catch up on every one's blog and see what beautiful things others are tatting. Thanks for visiting my blog!! Happy Tats!

Motif #9 - Bead Tatted Earrings

I just finished another pair of earrings using Coats & Clark Button Craft thread. The pattern is Jane Eborall's, with a little variations that she has added. The colors I used give the earring a southwest look with the peach, turquoise, cream and brown.

I was at JoAnn Fabrics this past weekend. I wanted to get more of the Coats & Clark Button Craft thread, and I noticed they don't have as many colors anymore. They didn't have the peach thread that I like or the Copenhagen blue. I'll have to go to the Coats & Clark site to see if these colors were discontinued. I sure hope not, I really like using this thread for tatted jewelry.

Motif #8 - Bead Tatted Earrings



Another quick item to tat are these beautiful earrings by Jane Eborall. This is my favorite earring pattern. I like to use Coats and Clark button craft thread, which is like a size 30 thread, but gives the earring a firm shape. There aren't many colors to choose from, but your beads can give you the color. The thread comes in white, black, cream, tan, natural, green, blue, red, maroon and blue. At least that is all I can recall right now. You can find this thread at JoAnn Fabrics with sewing threads.

Bead Tatted Butterfly Earrings Motif #1



I finally did it. I joined the 25 Motif Challenge. This is my first motif in the challenge. I made these earrings as a gift for a friend. This is such a pretty butterfly. The pattern is by Teri Dusenbury. I used Coats and Clark Button Craft thread, which is like a size 30, this is a light peach colored thread.

I am looking for a supplier for these heart beads I used at the top of the butterfly. They are a 6mm Mother of Pearl flat heart bead. If you know where I can find some, let me know. I only have a few of these left and I like to use them with this earrings.

I just starting tatting a bookmark by Jean N. Faeih, Tatted Thistle Bookmark. I love this bookmark and have made many of them. Usually I use Manuella thread, but this time I am going to use the Altin Basak thread, so the finished size will be slightly smaller this time. I'll post a picture of the bookmark when I am done.

I found this really interesting looking shuttle at Morning Glory Antiques. It has a gothic face on the sterling silver shuttle. They have some unique lookng shuttles listed. Its fun just to look at what is available. I like the shuttle that has the Dogwood blossom on it.

Tatted Butterfly Earrings





I have been tatting these lovely Teri Dusenbury Beaded Butterfly Earrings. I need to find a supplier for the flat 6mm Mother of Pearl Heart Bead. I don't have many left. If anyone knows of a supplier, let me know. I love to tat these earrings and give as gifts. These earrings always get lots of comments. I use Coats & Clark Button Craft Thread, which is like a size 30. This color is like a peach color. I think I'll use a tan colored thread next, but I'm not sure on the bead colors yet. I also have started tatting a Thistle Bookmark. This is one of my favorite bookmarks to make. It was designed by Jean N. Faeth. I'll post a picture of that when I am done.