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 Tea Tuesdays - Tatted Leaves, Acorns & Pumpkin - OT Please vote for KISKI

Fall has arrived and I have been busy tatting all things Fall. For the last few weeks, I have been tatting leaves, acorns and a pumpkin. There are so many great patterns for tatted leaves and some really pretty variegated threads, that it makes the tatted leaves look authentic!!

Before I learned to tat and tatting took over my life, I use to cross-stitch. One of the pieces I did was a large table scarf with cross-stitched pumpkins and fall leaves as a border. I have used this on my dining room table every fall for about the last 25 years. Well, I thought maybe I could change it up a little bit by tatting some leaves and just laying them around on the table scarf. Here is what I have done so far.

First I have a lovely little pumpkin designed by, Sherry Matthews. I really like how the leaves are tatted.


The next two leaves I have done so many times. It is an old Workbasket pattern that was updated by Tammy Rodgers. Here I used Yarnplayer's Sugar Maple HDT and a solid butter cream Manuela and the right leaf center is also Manuela in light pumpkin. I also tatted a few acorns, which are designed by Karey Solomon and is in her book "Tatting Turns over a New Leaf.

Next is another leaf out of Karey's book mentioned above, it is called "Simple Leaf". These are also done in Yarnplayer's Sugar Maple HDT.

Here is another pattern out of "Tatting Turns Over a New Leaf" by Karey Solomon. This is a Silver Maple Leaf, done in Sugar Maple HDT and a solid red Manuela for the center. I like how this one turned out.
This cute little leaf is designed by Sherry "LadyShuttleMaker".I used Altin Basak thread.


My Last leaf is a desgin by Gale Marshall at Tats All, I used Yarnplayer's Nectrarine HDT
I really like this color.

Here is my dining room table all decorated for Fall. I think next year I will continue tatting a few more leaves and pumpkins. There are still some different leaves I didn't tat, but it will wait till next year. I'm ready to move on to my next project.

Wait a minute, I took this picture thinking I was done, I was putting my camera away and I noticed that something looked different on my dining room table. I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought I better take another picture, just to make sure...........

yes, I see him now..............

he just had to get in on this picture...........

I see he has made a new friend...................
Do you see him????????

He is hiding, and he just popped out to say...................

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

HI WILLIAM!!



p.s. Very OT - Could you take a moment to help vote Kiski Area Marching Band for Band of the week???


My daughter, Katrina is in the Kiski Area Marching Band. This is her senior year and she so enjoyed her time in our Marching Band. Kiski Area Band is in the National Class of Marching Bands and have won 1st place in their AA class 28 times in a row. They just had a regional competition in Masillon, Ohio and 21 bands from 6 states participated, they once again won 1st place in their class and took 1st place over all.


Our local news station WPXI in Pittsburgh always showcases a "Band of the Week". In all four years that Katrina has competed, the local news station has never done a story on our band. We sure would like to see Kiski get recognized and showcased on our news station. If you go to this link:

WPXI Vote for the Band of the WEEK

Just vote for Kiski Area that's all you need to do.

Whatever band has the most votes by Friday, October 30 at 12 noon will be showcased on the local news.

This is Katrina with tears of joy, after learning they took 1st over all!!!

Thank you so much!! Katrina appreciates your Vote.

Am I Late or Just Super Early for Next Year - Shamrocks and My Leprechaun, William

That is the question of the day. Am I late or just super early for next year? I was planning on tatting Shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day. I had all good intentions of giving a few out, one to my Mom, one for my Aunt and one for my Sister and of course one for myself. Well, I didn't make it in time. So am I late or am I early???? I have 7 Celtic Shamrocks completed, and I think I will give them out now, so I don't loose them if I wait a whole year to give them out. LOL!! Now the second problem here, well not really a problem, but I made the Shamrocks in different shades of green, and I had a hard time choosing which to keep for myself. I may have to make on in each shade, I like them all.

I wanted to thank Marilee (Yarnplayer) for posting her part of the Shamrock pattern. I think it is an awesome Shamrock. Thank you Marilee!!! Also Ruth Perry for her instructions on the Celtic center. Thank you!!

As you can see, I did each Shamrock slightly different. The lighter green is the new Lizbeth thread, Spring Green, I used a solid green center on some, that was Flora thread and the variegated thread is Manuela. I just need to add the split ring finding on the top so they can be worn as pendants. My Leprechaun, William, is having fun just laying around in his field of Shamrocks. LOL!! He is just getting back from an adventure of his own. If you want to see what William has been up to, go visit him at the Leprechaun's blog.

I guess this completes my second round of 25 Motifs. I lost count and did over the 25. Guess I'll start again. I got this round done rather quickly.

I have also tried something new. I have been so inspired by some art sites that I have been following (Bella Sinclair Doodlespot) and (Gem n I) that I thought I would try drawing. Below is one of my attempts. I had this cute birthday card and I just copied what I saw. I think I did ok for my first try. The drawing is very light, I didn't want to press real hard with the pencil, because I did a lot of erasing. LOL!

William, My Leprechaun

I was catching up on reading the tatting blogs and came across Pamela's Tats a Kool Challenge Blog. I learned about the Leprechaun's she is making for her tatting friends. I was lucky enough to receive William from Pamela last year in a Secret Santa Exchange, and William was sitting with me, talking on his cell phone and having a cup of tea and cake reading all the tatting blogs too. Well.... he got so excited when he read that some of his relatives would be coming over to the states that he jumped up so fast and ran to the next room.......

and headed for the closet and pulled out his suitcase and informed me he was going on a road trip.

I asked him how he was traveling on this road trip and he ran back to the closet and pulled out his bike and was ready to go!

William also wanted to take along my new HDT that I got from Heather - The Tarnished Tatter.

I told him it was too far to travel on his bike, so he jumped off his bike and came back in his mini van.

William had it packed so full that it was overflowing with tatting supplies, shuttles and lots of thread.

I hope he has a good time visiting with all his relatives, so far he knows of Oisin, he is with Laura at Laura's Tatting Muse Blog, then there is Killian, he is with Diane at Lace Lovin Librarian Blog & Cormac is with Gina at Tatting Goddess Blog and Danny is with Martha at Martha's Tatting Blog. William needs to locate one more Leprechaun so he can finish planning his trip. He hopes he checks in and blogs about his where abouts.

Tatting Again, Motif #12

I am finally getting back into tatting. A few weeks ago I sliced my index finger while cutting celery and had to go to the emergency room and get 7 stitches. OOUCH, it sure did hurt. I got my stitches out and my finger is feeling better now, so I am finally able to tat again.

But while I was not tatting, William, my Leprechaun, (see post below for William's story) finished tatting the motif he started one day while I wasn't looking. To my delight, he tatted a flower pin. I use to make these when I learned to tat 19 years ago. The back of the pin has a tie-tack fastener. These pins are quick to make, they are just basically two rosettes put together with a porcelain flower in the center.

My husband was out of town at the end of May, he was in Guthrie, Oklahoma, on business and he had some free time and wondered into an antique shop to see if he could find me a birthday present and he found a little antique sterling silver shuttle for me. I was so surprised when he gave it to me. It is about 2-1/2" long and has the initials A.M. engraved on the top and the bottom of the shuttle is stamped with C.B.&H. Sterling. If anyone knows the company, C.B.&H. or anything about the shuttle, please let me know.

My Lephrechaun - William

I am one of the lucky ones to have received a Leprechaun from Pam in Ireland. She sent him to me when we had our Secret Santa Exchange. Well, I was reading Pam's Tats A Kool Challenge Blog, and she wanted all her Leprechaun's to check in. I am happy to report that William is having a grand time in Apollo, Pennsylvania. Let me tell you a little bit about William.

I have named my Leprechaun ,William , and he is my lucky charm. He sits by my computer and watches me while I visit tatting sites. Sometimes he sits and watches me tat too! He is a funny little fellow whom I feel so privileged to have.

I was tatting the other day and had to get up to answer the phone and when I came back, William had started tatting on my motif. He reminded me of the Fairy Tale by the Grimm Brothers "The Elves and the Shoemaker". Maybe William will have the motif done tonight.



Then two days ago, I couldn't find William. I wondered where he had gone off to. I searched high and low for him. Then I heard squeals of delight and you'll never guess where I found him. Did you ever see a ball pit at an amusement park? Well, I found William have a grand time with my thread. He dived right in just like a ball pit, only this was a pit full of thread. I had a heck of a time untangling him from the thread.




Yesterday I found him studying a pattern out of Mark Myers Book "Tatted Gathering of Angels". Maybe that is what he is going to tat for me tonight while I'm in bed.



That leads us to today. I came home from work and found him sitting at the computer. He sees all his friends and wants to know where they are and what they are up to. Are they as happy as I am, William asks.







So these are William's adventures for now. Who knows what mischief he will get into tomorrow. Thank you Pam, I adore William......


The reason for naming my Leprechaun William:

Why William you ask, well, I just watched the movie "P.S. I Love You" with Gerad Butler and Hilary Swank & Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Part of the movie was shot in Ireland and one of the Irish characters was William. So I named my Leprechaun after William in this movie. If you haven't seen this movie and like Romantic Comedies, you've got to see this one. I have to warn you that it is a tear jerker. I laughed and cried through the whole movie.