A Lovely Tatting Surprise

Shirley of  Shirley's Twisted Threads graciously offered to send me a tatting book and some thread. What a lovely thing to do!

When the package arrived, it was a lot larger than I'd expected. And look at all that thread!

 I can't purchase this thread in any of the stores near me, so this was a wonderful surprise! I love the colors!

 The book Shirley sent me has such interesting designs, and I'm looking forward to tatting them all!

Thank you so much for thinking of me Shirley, and being so generous sending these treasures!







Now, on to tatting!


I hope you have nice surprises in your day.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Inspiration Sunday June 5/11

Sorry I have been away for a bit: last weekend was our choir concert weekend, and then we had wind storms which knocked down several trees, which took out our hydro, and that meant no computer satellite connection. The power was off  during several days, and kept cutting out due to the wind and rain storms once the trees had been removed. I'm happy to be back!
My Challenge:
card 1:- coat the paper with white gouache, then, when dry, paint over with thick watercolor. After drying, lift out lights and areas using water and tissues
card 2:- select one pigment each for the mental, physical, and spiritual side of your nature. Use in a painting

I didn't have any gouache handy, so I used gesso instead.
I chose green for my spiritual pigment, since I love nature, blue for the physical, and red for the mental.
I used an unfinished painting, and added the gesso thickly with the palette knife, leaving marks in its surface for texture.

 adding the spiritual

 a second shade

 adding the physical

 Short bursts of mental

 upside down

 Once dry, the painting looked a little washed out. I like how the texture from the gesso shows through, but felt it also flattened the watercolours.

 I added more paint in the same colors, and prefer the result with its feeling of energy.








Last time, I turned the completed glue painting into cards and have sent them on their way. Here's what they looked like all cut up and on the card stock:

I was very pleased with the result.














The next challenge:

card 1:- coat your paper with a layer of irridescent paint added to gesso. Paint with transparent watercolor over the gesso.
card 2:- paint using red, black and yellow

I hope you are having a nice Sunday.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Feeding My Stash

I've been ordering some goodies! Oh, what fun!

This is what arrived last week:

beautiful hand-dyed thread perfect for tatting

I ordered this book from Georgia Seitz, and she very kindly included two thread samples!

Sorry for the glare.....it hides some of this gorgeous 3-d crocheted butterfly on the cover of Piecework. I wonder if this design could be tatted.

ribbons, and more ribbons, and vintage sequins

an assorted package of materials, ribbons, lace, thread, and trims all perfect for CQing!









And more lovely 'Wildfowers' thread

 

I'm building my stash for projects that are in the planning stage. 

I've been terribly naughty, and I ordered more wonderful items. I've been waiting for them to arrive, but it's taking soooo long.

Have you been building your stash, too?

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz

Tuesday Tats May 24/11

Hope you had a nice weekend.
 I'd recently received my copy of Mary Konior's "Tatting with Visual Patterns" and I fell in love with 'Black Magic'
So, I began with Yarnplayer's 'tourmaline' thread. I began several times.
I was more than half- finished when I spotted what I thought was an error, and, ahem, corrected it.
It was only when I was near the end that I discovered my 'correction' was the error. So, not having enough thread left to cut and correct, I made do and created a variation of the pattern.    cough.                          

                                                                                                 
 








            I think it might make a nice pendant, if it wasn't a little wonky.
I do like the way the glass beads pick up the pink/burgundy color.

This tat may find itself sewn onto a future CQ.





I guess I really shouldn't tat a new-to-me pattern while watching TV!


Hope you're having a good tatting day!


                                                                                                   
                                                                                                 
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz                  

Inspiration Sunday May 22/11

It's Inspiration Sunday!

 Just a glimpse at a little garden bed by the main entrance










 My challenge?
card 1:- Using liquid glue, do an automatic painting on paper with the nib. Once dry, paint over this surface
card 2:- Use only complementary colors and black 

I was using  white glue and I thought, well, that wouldn't show up on white watercolor paper. I tinted the paper with a light green wash.
looks more yellow here

 added the glue








Adding more green

 More red and some black
I like how the glue has created separate areas of color in places. Using watercolors means that the white glue shows up through the paint. I tilted the paper and spritzed with a bit of water to encourage some paint flow.



 Once dried I scanned each half of the painting.
It's not quite as bright as when wet, but I like the texture the glue adds to the piece.













I was thinking of cutting this painting up and creating some cards.
If you'd like to have a card, please leave a comment letting me know.







I should be able to make at least 12 cards, so the first 12.........Of course, if there's not that many interested, there may be multiple cards available!


The next challenge:

card 1:- coat your paper with white gouache, then, when dry, paint over with thick watercolor. After drying, lift out lights and areas using water and tissues
card 2:- select one pigment each for the mental, physical, and spiritual side of your nature. Use in a painting

Happy Victoria Day!
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

A Shopping Spree

My Darling DH spoiled me, and took me out for lunch and a shopping spree for a Mother's Day Treat. We had a Chinese Food Buffet, and I went to a fabric shop and a craft shop, and came home with these goodies:

Oh, I am making some plans for a new white CQ block, and for a 1:1 RR with a friend. I'm going to have me some fun!
Hope you're having some creative fun today, too.
Thanks for visiting.
Hugs from Suz

Travelling Tats

While travelling to the city, I kept my hands busy (no, I wasn't driving! ) by tatting a few doodles:

I liked this one so much, I added to it:

It has a lot of motion, I think, and although the pattern repeats itself, it doesn't look exact. I know that some people won't like it because of that, but to me it has an organic feel to it.       It's a little strange: kind of like me. lol

It's just chains and JK's.

What do you think of this doodle?

Hope you're having a creative day.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs from Suz