Tatting and China Painting

I’ve been tatting like a fiend to get ready for the mini craft sale this coming Sunday. I don’t know how much, I’ll sell but like Kelly said, at least it’s incentive to increase my inventory. I’m a horrible procrastinator. I always leave things until it’s too close to the deadline. It’s a problem I’ve grappled with all my life. Oh, the things I could have accomplished had I started earlier. Sigh.

But I did start earlier than sometimes for this craft sale and I’ve had more time because I’m not working. So I’ve gotten a few more earrings done. The folks at open knitting at Double Ewe liked them. Yesterday I looked through my pattern collection for new ideas and came up with a cross pattern that I adapted with beads. I started with Eliz’s Small Cross and only did the middle of the pattern and I added beads at the ends. For such a small thing it was a lot of fiddlyness and trouble to do. I suppose that, as with all things, it will get better with practice.

If you live in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) and would like information about the mini craft sale you can e-mail me at anncrafts (at) comcast (dot) net. Substitute the appropriate symbols in the right places. I’ll e-mail you the details. The others are selling felted bags, quilted items and Mary Kay cosmetics. I’ll have as many earrings as I can make and some other tatted items and some knitted dishcloths. It should be fun. Michelle is having refreshments and a prize drawing too. Sunday March 16 from 12 to 4.

When Miss T came for tea and knitting last week, she brought me some wonderful tea. (And no I’m not doing the ABC along thing and besides it’s not the right time for the letter T). Her husband brought it back from Ireland and she said it’s not available in the US. I love tea and I’m kind of a tea snob. So you tell me that this wonderful tea isn’t available and it’s a challenge to me. I googled it and you can get it, if you order it online from England or Ireland. I was almost about to do so when I looked at the shipping charge and then calculated the exchange rate. No, $28.00 for 160 teabags is really too dear, m’dear. So if anyone knows a source for Punjana tea in the US let me know. It’s wonderful tea – thank you Miss T for creating another obsession! Must. Find. This. Tea. At a reasonable price of course.

I’ve mentioned before that I take china painting classes. I’ve been working on several items lately and my teacher has been sending us home with homework! Last week I was at the retreat so I was a bad student and didn’t do my homework but this week I need to catch up. We’re doing a bowl as a group and then I’m working on a heart shaped plate for Abigail. So far both are looking good but I have several more firings on each. I'm going to put Abigail's name and birth date on the middle green area and I have much more pen work to do on the bowl. And then there is the fun project. I was trying out a new technique on the banding wheel and then I decided to add the penwork. I don’t know if I like it or not but it was fun to make. I’m thinking of writing a quote around rim. Hmmm. Maybe that would make it just over the top – if it isn’t already!

Poor Campadre, beads and thread all over the table so that we have to be like the mad hatter and move to other places to eat. I’m working on clearing the table in my fiber room so I can work in there but you know how it is. If there’s a horizontal surface free it gets full of all the stuff that has no other place to live. So, for now I filled the dining room table too! I wonder, do messy people really get more work done or do they spend all their time looking for things. I sure have found a bunch of lost stuff on the table in the fiber room. Now to get to work…