Thanks Universe

Well, it turns out that the Universe was indeed reading yesterday and decided to throw me some distractions in the form of sales. Early in the day I sold a pair of ankle corsets and late in the evening I sold a necklace that needs to be custom made. So I just wanted to start today's post out with a thanks to the Universe for it's help.

Between those two events and after the family morning at the school event, I did get my newest bracelet and barefoot sandals ready to list. I did only manage to get the sandals in the shop though. I suppose that means I have something fresh to list today as well.

So today, I have a custom piece to work on, a pair of ankle corsets to get remade, a bracelet to list in the shop and following all of that I have a pendant to make and list from the new motif and a few other ideas to work out with it as well. I think that should keep me pretty busy over the weekend and ensure that I have at least one new photo to show you on Monday. I'm still up for more distractions in the form of sales though, as always.

The Motif Grows

For once I can say that I was pretty busy tatting yesterday. No, I didn't get any orders in, I just actually worked on the new motif pieces like I said I would. I started with the bracelet as I was fairly sure I already knew how I was going to do that one. I figured I'd just link up three motifs and add some hooks to one side. Well, that's mostly what I did, but then the three circles stood out in such as way that they most assuredly would curl up on the wearer all the time. We can't have that. So I went and added an outside edging on each side to stabilize the piece. It's not yet pressed in the picture, but I'm happy with how it came out.

Rather than get that piece ready for the shop I went straight to the next piece. A pair of barefoot sandals. This one took a little more brain power to work out. The original motif needed another round to be a good size and I managed to do the outer rows with split chains. I really do need to practice those some more. It was finished up with various sizes of the motif. I got the first one done in time to share it, but it took most of the rest of the day to get its twin made up.

I have another busy family day, with an 'end of year' ceremony for the kids in the early afternoon, but I'm hoping to get some time to get these pieces up in the shop. I'm also going to list the single motif as a pendant and there's also a chance for a slave bracelet or maybe even a necklace. It all depends on how the pieces decide to work, but I do so love to beat a theme to death before I let it go. I would also love to be distracted by a sale or two, you know just in case the Universe is reading this right now.

Small Ideas

I feel like a broken record stating that yesterday was another busy one, just not for tatting. I really didn't stop moving until well after lunch. There were all sorts of errands and laundry and well, just tasks coming out my ears.

Once I did sit down for a while, I nearly fell asleep. This is a big deal because I simply do not nap. I can't seem to do it at all, with the exception of a long car ride, day sleep is nearly impossible. Anyway, after resting for a spell, I did pull out the lace. I was trying to come up with a 'big' idea, but nothing was gelling, so I scaled it down to a small idea.

Really, I just started tatting with a loose idea in my head and this is what formed. It's got some woven chains and I even pulled out a split chain right before the outer row. I seems the perfect size to make a cuff bracelet with. I'll just add two more motives to the sides and it should be just the right size. When I posted it on the Facebook, it was suggested that it could also be a pendant or the beginning of a pair of barefoot sandals.

Since I have no extra tasks lined up for today, I suppose we're going to find out if all that is true. I'll just try as many ideas as I have time for and see what sticks. If nothing else, at least they'll be something to look at on the blog tomorrow. Wish me luck.

Almost Over

Well, it was another long day, but not a particularly busy one. We went out to see the new X-Men movie early, which we quite enjoyed. Then it was off to buy a hat. I know, odd right? I felt the need to own one for sun protection purposes, but I need a black one that wasn't a giant floppy sun hat which is harder to find than expected. The adventure ended with a hat surprisingly much like I imagined and for $2 on clearance. It was a good shopping trip.

Then it was home for the rest of the afternoon, save for a walk in the evening. Of course all I managed to get finished tatting wise, was a cat ear headband. Well I did also paint a handful of headbands black to get them ready for ears as well. That was it though. I did little else with my day.

The rest of the week is going to be just about chaos though. Today we have a doctor's appointment followed by some errands with also getting schooling done. While I think Wednesday is pretty clear of extraneous activities, Thursday is the end of year ceremony in the afternoon even though schooling is not over until next Wednesday. So really this week and next will be full of 'wrapping up' nonsense and tests for the kids and it's all just a giant stress out for me. Right now, I'm just taking some nice deep breaths to get ready to go with the flow and hoping for some tatting tasks to head my way to keep me working and grounded. I can do this.

Weekend Recap

And back to Monday. Well, it certainly was a busy, busy weekend. While I did manage to remake a couple of things on Friday, that was pretty much the end of my tatting adventure for the weekend. These keys were the last thing I managed to create. It was yet another,' oops, now how did I do that again?' tatting day. I even toyed with the idea of writing out the pattern once I had gotten one done, but talked myself out of it, as I often do.

Saturday was all birthday adventuring for my now decade old daughter. There was the zoo, then the toy store, and it was all capped off by a lovely Indian dinner and ice cream. I don't think I had time to think, let alone tat anything.

Sunday was worse because it was seemingly all cleaning. I cleaned up before the party, then decorated. Of course then the chaos of eight cousins, and the rest of the family ripped through the house. That was followed by more cleaning and then collapsing on the couch for the last few hours of the day doing absolutely nothing.

Since today is a holiday, everyone is home for the day. We've got a movie outing planned and then it's relaxing and maybe tatting for me. Well, at least that's my plan. You never know how the day is going to go when the rest of the family is free from work and school. I only have one piece left in my queue to remake, so personally I'm hoping some of that Memorial day shopping spirit spills over into my shop. Here's to it then.

Triangles

It was another busy day, but not because of tatting. I did manage to finish my custom order in the morning though. It's all ready to head off to its' new home today.The colors in the photo are obscured by silly phone filters, but it's a nice Victorian red triforce and matching triangle earrings. I was asked simply to hang two triangles from each ear in whatever orientation looked best. This was actually not my first throught at all, but I think it's definitely the most elegant way to do it. I certainly hope the customer agrees.

We spent a good part of the day at one of those pizza/arcade palaces out of town. It was suppose to be a nice end of the year outing, but only two other families showed up. It was still nice for us though since the place was pretty calm and uncrowded. The rest of the afternoon was given to things like errands preparing for the weekend.

So that brings me to today when I need to clean the house. Since we'll be adventuring all Saturday for the child's birthday, I won't have time to clean it that day. Sunday is her party, so they'll be more cleaning and re-cleaning then as well. I still have a few pieces left in my queue, partly because I screwed one up last night when I should have stopped working for the day, so I have plenty tatting left to do when I am given a few extra minutes. Hopefully it will be a lovely weekend with plenty of pleasant surprises and much more tatting work for me.

Time Flies

Yesterday was a wonderfully busy day! Before I started schooling I finished work on the tatted barefoot sandals and got them back into the shop, but it was during schooling that things started to pick up. I got not one, but two orders with custom pieces that would need making as well as existing pieces that would need remaking once the custom pieces were done.

I had an entire day filled with tatting that actually needed to be done and it was just great. This is just two of the pieces I worked on. Very colorful together, but they have two separate homes. It's a red triforce necklace that will get some silver hardware today and an iris purple clover bracelet that is actually ready to go out this morning.

There was another triangle based custom piece I'm still working on as well as a handful of small pieces that I will definitely be remaking as soon as the customs are done. That means not only did I have plenty of work yesterday, I'll have plenty today and likely tomorrow.

The end of the school year is almost here and that means more outings and gatherings. Today, it's an end of the year celebration lunch thing out of town. Then this weekend is my oldest daughter's birthday. She hits a decade and don't think that's not making me feel old. That also means that's how long I've been tatting now, since I learned toward the end of my pregnancy. My how the time flies.

Forward

If nothing else I was more focused yesterday. I had schooling to do, errands to run and walks to take with the kids. All those things took up the morning and some of the afternoon, but not all of it. I knew that I just wasn't in the right frame of mind to design, so I opted to remake an older piece.

These barefoot sandals sold in December and I finally decided it was time to get them back in the shop. Not least of all, because I just remade the necklace in the same pattern, so much of it was fresh in my mind. Sure there are some dramatic changes from one piece to the other, but it was still much easier to make it when most of it is in short term memory.

I'm still not quite done with them, but I should be right after schooling today, if I don't eek out a little time before to do it. I'll probably do the same thing today and dive back into my sold out pieces and make something else that I must have stalled on remaking so long I forgot about it. I'm still feeling the sting of failure so hopefully a few days of hard work with reawaken my creative side again. You know, the side that easily forgets defeat and forges ahead unafraid.

Argh

Well the pattern release yesterday could have gone better, but it could have gone worse as well. I assumed it wouldn't sell quite as quickly since I charged more for it, but I guess that I hoped I was wrong. What I didn't assume was that someone else had already copied the earring design that I made four years ago, likely counting stitches, wrote it up and posted it online. So now it kind of looks like I'm selling something you can get for free even though it was my design in the first place. I tired to convince myself that since it was adapted from an antique pattern, that the same idea could have come to someone else as well. but it really is far too similar and it's already happened too many times.

I'm glad I only got the blog comment regarding it late last night, because then it only made it hard to get to sleep. Plus, I got to calm down a bit before writing about it. My thoughts last night were in the, 'why bother', and ' that's it, I'm not doing this anymore' vein. Sure I'm sick of it, and places like pintrest, while a beautiful collection of inspiration, are also a haven for copyright infringement. I'm just going to take a deep breath and move on now.

Okay, I have to admit now that part of my reaction to that discovery was based on the failure of a day I had overall. I attempted, at least a half dozen times, to design a new piece. Each attempt ended in abject failure. I had an idea, but it wouldn't coalesce. The thread seemed to be rejecting every stitch. So that by the time I got the comment notification on yesterday's post I was honestly quite ready to hang up my hat and get out of the tatting game. Now, don't worry I couldn't stop even if I really wanted to. I love tatting and it's my real job, but a few more days like yesterday and I might be singing a different tune.

So I guess I'm just going to have to work harder today and hope that I have some sort of creative breakthrough to cure the malaise. Before I leave, a big thanks to all of you who already did pick up the pattern. You've no idea how much I appreciate your support! It's part of what keeps me working. Here's hoping for a better day ahead.

New Pattern

You might remember, back when I released the International Tatting Day pattern, that I said I had another ready to go. Well that was almost true. I had written it up and passed it on to a couple of test tatters. Then I sort of forgot about it for awhile. Then when I realized that I hadn't gotten any further feedback on the pattern, I just didn't want to impose of folks doing me a favor and pester them. So I went about editing and rewriting it myself with some of their feedback. When I reached the point where more eyes were needed, I called upon another wonderful tatter to run the gauntlet for me. She did so at record speed.

Why am I telling you all this? Well it's just unnecessary buildup to announcing that I finally do have another needle tatting pattern in the shop. I'm calling it Scallops, and it contains instructions for earrings, a necklace and a bracelet. I designed all the pieces some time ago, based on an antique edging. Of course I did quite a lot of work redesigning and adapting the basic shape to fit my needs, even on the bracelet.

I figure getting this done was my work for the weekend, but when I had it ready to list, I also went back and remade a sold necklace. Not the one I've been stalling over, but another one entirely. It's yet another piece based on a vintage handkerchief edging. I did so many modifications on this one, whole new elements, that it was hard to remake. I had the original pattern, a prototype that I had made many changes after, and photographs to sort through to figure out all that I had done. Yes, I am aware all my problems would be solved if I wrote all these damn pattern out. You know I'm going to, I'm just going to keep complaining because that's what I do.

Today I'm hoping to sell a few patterns and I'm also hoping that there is nothing further wrong with them. Also I think I might stop stalling and get back to that everlasting queue of mine.

Death of Iron

So I'm going about my day as planned. There was schooling and then the kids were off to go swimming leaving me home to keep working. I had remade one necklace and one bracelet had sold, so I remade that. You can tell I'm leading up to something now, right? Well about this time I got my sister's birthday request. I had told her to pick something from my shop and I'd make her one. She chose a dream catcher and so I made that one up as well.

No, that's not what I was leading up to, but here it is now. I went to go press the piece. I plugged in the iron and the light indicator flickered, but did not turn on. Well, that's not good...maybe it's just the light. I touched the iron and it was cool. So I unplug it and plug it back in. No light at all this time and still cool to the touch after waiting a good minute. At this point I'm annoyed, so I bang it on the counter a few times. The light flickers again, but no juice. I repeated the whole procedure again to no avail. Bloody hell...it's dead. Isn't funny how you completely take certain appliances for granted because they work every single day.

Once the husband was home, we fetched the children, had dinner and then I bought a new iron. See, it turns out that I need one everyday. That bracelet I sold needed to be pressed before I could put it in the mail this morning. I ended up picking up a small travel steam iron. It was cheap, compact and according to the amazon reviews on every other one in the store, it was the best one by far. Well, of the ones that were less than eighty bucks. I'll likely buy a full sized one online for those very rare times when I use my iron for actual clothing, but the small one seems as if it will be perfect for my tatting. I suppose time will tell.

I still have a couple pieces in queue, I've been avoiding them with great skill, but if nothing else properly distracts me, I'll get to them soon. So here's to proper distraction and the weather cooling down just a bit. The cat here is demonstrating the heat sprawl they were all engaged in yesterday and I needed a picture to liven up the 'death of iron' story.

Very Warm

It was another warm day, but I didn't let it make me completely lazy. A little lazy, maybe, but not completely. The children had booked a date to go swimming at their grandparent's house, so I didn't need to make sure we got out to walk. That means that right after schooling I actually got so me tatting done.

I started with remaking this anklet. It's a pretty basic design. I made a few tweaks here and there so that it would lay well. I also added silver beads and a small flower charm to the clasp. I generally dislike hanging metal from lace because it adds too much weight. That weight stretches the lace far too quickly while being worn, in my opinion. So adding the weight to the hardware seemed like a good idea. This isn't a new piece, I just felt the need to be descriptive.

It occurred to me last week as I posted a picture of my tatted spats, that most people haven't been following my work for the last decade and some things I think everyone has seen, they simply haven't.  So I resolved to share more remade pieces as I work on them in an effort to continue to engage new readers and whatever you call folk who 'like' a Facebook page. I'm hoping that doing so will help reverse the backwards slide the shop has been in for the last year really. So my apologies in advance if you've been around a while and I'm just getting repetitive to you.

Today is predicted to be even hotter than yesterday and the children booked another swim date, so I imagine that today will play quite the same as yesterday. I still have a couple of pieces in queue to be remade and a couple more shows on my dvr to watch. So I suppose I turn the house into a cave to stay cool and work the day away.

It's Too Warm

My, is it getting warm around these parts. It's suppose to break 100º today and I pretty sure that shouldn't happen halfway through May. I mean, I actually prefer warm weather, but everything in it's own time, you know. The warm afternoons have encouraged me to get the kids' schooling done in time to take a morning walk. So we rushed through and the youngest saved her 'visual presentation' for when the husband got home in the evening.

In between those two things, I allowed myself to be sucked back into puzzle making, but we managed to finish it. That's the last time that will suck hours of my life away. I also managed to get in some tatting. Not the cat ears I had intended, but rather a little snowflake making followed by starting in on the remaking queue. I didn't really get anything completed, so I don't have any good pictures. The husband did take some picture of the afore mentioned presentation though. The cats and drawing are her visuals.

So today, I'll get back to that queue and hopefully I'll finished a piece or two so I can have something to share in the morning. That is, unless I have melted away before then. It's possible.

No Tatting

You know, I don't think that I tatted a single thing yesterday. Let's see, school went long because it's nearing the end and there are time consuming tests the oldest child has to take this week. That and the youngest was getting a little more creative than anticipated with her oral book report. Oh, excuse me, her visual presentation...name changes to familiar things are hard to adjust to. Anyway, we then went straight out for a walk to avoid the heat of the day that was to occur later.

After lunch the oldest got the idea to work on a puzzle we'd found cleaning out my in-laws garage. An unopened, 550 piece wizard one. I am now just glad it wasn't even more complex as it sucked like 2 hours of my life away, 'helping' and it's nowhere near done. I did get just enough time to put together a pair of cat ears after one had sold. I didn't have to do any tatting though because I had already made up extras ears. Though now I not only need to tat some more ears, but I also need to paint up some more headbands. I get them in a variety pack and I need them to all be black, so the fabric paint must come out.

So there's the cat ear project and I still have a couple of pieces that need remaking so if I run out of things to do, there's that. If I decide to avoid those some more, I can always make more snowflakes. Just keep me away from the damn puzzle. My back still hurts from leaning over the darn thing on the floor.

Weekend Recap

I did so little of importance over the weekend. I cleaned much of Friday that wasn't spent finishing up the tatted spats I was working on. You've seen them before, but this will be a very short and boring post, so a little photo is necessary to make it less so. They took me so long to finish I thought I'd be making them all weekend.

The rest of the weekend though, was given over to family adventuring on Saturday and Mother's Day on Sunday. Saturday we ran errands and I did more housework so I could try and do little on Sunday. It didn't really work though because when I woke up with the cats early Sunday, I felt the need to finish tidying up. I know, there's something wrong with me, but I tried to do less the rest of the day. The husband and the children did a fine job with the day...well, mostly the husband helped and the children cuddled. So all in all, a pretty good day.

The only other tatting I got up to was more snowflakes. I have a nice pile for the mother-in-law now, but I think I'll keep at it for a while because these folks take their raffle very seriously. Well that and I have little else to work on. I did sell a bracelet and necklace, but I'm stalling on remaking them. I have no pattern written out and no prototype on hand, so I have to recreate from memory and photos and that's always just as much fun as it sounds.

Cleaning

What a long day of cleaning. So many floors, so many cats to make them filthy. I managed to give most of the house a once over. All that will be left for Saturday is the final clean up in the kitchen. I find that cleaning anything too well, too early, is undone with extreme swiftness. So today I'll likely be worried all day about messes that have yet to happen and developed a nervous tick of looking toward any small noise.

I didn't get much tatting done at all. First, there was all the cleaning, then there was the simple monotony of this particular piece. The center in interesting to create and the outer round has complexity, but the inner round is made up of the same motif over, and over again. Of course the repetition almost always leads to me making minor mistakes only caught when trying to add the next motif. This leads to me cutting out work and starting over and it is mind numbing.

Guess what though? Yeah, that's exactly what I get to get back to today. I might take a snowflake break just to change things up a bit. I get bored with them as well, but perhaps alternating projects will get them both done faster with less mind melt for me. Here's hoping. I'm also hoping that the weekend brings some rest and perhaps something pleasantly surprising or interesting. Just putting that out there for the Universe to see.

In Progress

I can feel the end of the school year approaching. With all it's promise of free time, I forget how little I get right at the end. There are so many things that need doing, so many events churning in my mind. I am fairly certain that I am going to forget half of it. Right now I'm stressing on Mother's Day, but then there's the other child's birthday followed by a family trip, the husbands birthday and Father's Day. Not to mention all the little school things left, end of year trips and ceremonies. Sorry, I'm just in a little mind spiral this morning and the only was out is to get everything out in the open. I think that's all of it.

So back to tatting then. I did spent most of the day on the spats and I'm not even halfway done with them yet. I did also manage to take a few breaks and get photographs of the black necklace, earrings and pendant. I only managed to get the necklace and earrings listed though. I'll have to remember to get the pendant up in the shop today in between working on those spats. I also need to get cleaning this afternoon because we are, of course, hosting a Mother's Day meal for our mother's and my sister. I have let the house go a bit since our last get together so there's much to be done. Otherwise, I would have just waited until the day before to clean everything.

So I guess that's it for today. After schooling, it's spats, listing the pendant and cleaning. Looks like it's going to be a long one then. At least I'm not bored.

More Of The Same

While sales lightning did not strike twice, I still had a decently busy day. Of course I could have done without the dishes and laundry, but that's not really an option now is it? It was another cloudy day, so still no new listing for the the black necklace and accessories. It should be a sunny one today, so hopefully I'll get round to that and finally get it out of the way.

I spent some time on snowflakes again. I know, I know, you've seen countless photos of these by now, but this is the only photo I took, so that's what you get. Jane's snowflake remains my favorite for these sort of projects. My mother-in-law is particularly fond of inexpensive variegated threads. I really don't like working with them much, but I do what I'm asked, especially when I'm being generously compensated. I have to tell you though, that working with this rough stuff really makes me appreciate the higher quality thread with their smooth, tight twists that are much softer on my hands.

After I finished a half made snowflake it was on to working on remaking the sold pair of spats. It's one of the many pieces where I didn't write down a pattern. I do, however, have a prototype piece on hand. Digging through my pile of prototypes, mostly made in vintage ecru thread, is always a trip back in time. I have doilies and bookmarks aplenty along with some of my early attempts at masks and ankle corsets. I guess I really have come a long way since I started tatting. Also, I really ought to get rid of some of that mess.

So today, it'll be back to the spats. They take quite some time to make, so that might be all I get up to today. If by some miracle I finish, there will be more snowflakes. It always feels better to start the day with a plan.

That's Better

It really was a Monday. I felt like I was getting back to work in a 'real' job. There was schooling and every other spare moment I was tatting. I finished up the black necklace early, but the weather was not well suited to taking photos for listing it in the shop. So the necklace, matching earrings and pendant will have to wait until the sun reappears long enough for decent pictures, which may not be today. Next I finished up a pair of navy blue earrings that were ordered late on Sunday. They'll be in the post today.

Most of the day I spent working on snowflakes in various variegated threads. I think I got three and a half worked up before dinner. That's when I got my first sizable order in months. It was just one piece, a pair of my spats/ankle corsets, but it was just what I needed to cheer up a bit. They are already packed and ready to go our this morning, but the order also gives me something large that needs remaking.

So today starts on a great note for me, order in the mail, tatting tasks in queue and new pieces just waiting for the sun. I'm crossing my fingers that this is just the beginning of a great week or better yet, a great month. I thought I'd leave you with what the oldest child did to all the cats yesterday. I think she managed this same torture on four of them, but these two stayed close enough to get photos. They kept these on for hours, though I am fairly certain that they were plotting their revenge the whole time. In fact I better inspect the house closely this morning for surprises.

Weekend Recap

Alright, so I pretty much took the weekend off. I spent time with the family, I read books, I watched movies, I went to free comic book day, but I didn't tat a darn thing. I had intended to finish the black version of my most recent necklace, but I didn't. I had intended to work on some more commissioned snowflakes from my mother-in-law, but again, I didn't.

I suppose there are a couple of reasons for my new found, 'weekends off' situation. First there's the slowness of the shop. No orders that need completing and no rush to buy new pieces from anyone  pretty much discourages me from working. Well that and a lack of sales means that if I kept working at a normal pace, I would run out of thread before too long with no money to buy more. Second, I actually do enjoy spending some time away from the needle and thread and with my family. Of course if the shop is going to remain this way, I'm going to need to learn some serious budgeting to survive.

I did get one custom earring order in the shop late yesterday, so I do have one small task for today. That won't take much time at all, so then it's back to the black necklace. Hopefully I stay motivated to get that finished and listed. I might do the matching earrings and pendant versions as well. Then it's on to those commissioned snowflakes with whatever time I get. These ones are meant as raffle prizes for my in-law's military reunion in June. So I need a good handful for her. Well, at least I have a plan for the day. Here's hoping a rather large order comes my way soon. I'm feeling less useful by the day.

Here's Hoping

Yesterday went pretty much as expected. There was schooling in the morning, followed by a quick walk because if we didn't get out in the morning, I wasn't going out. It was crazy hot for the 1st of May. I mean, I know I'll be begging for the 90's when it hits 110º, but that's not until July. So the rest of the day, I stayed in and worked on one thing or another.

The new purple necklace got listed in the afternoon. I spent a little time trying to get it noticed and then I started on a final black one. Of course almost halfway through I made a fatal mistake. You know one of those mistakes that you don't immediately notice. That means that you have the option of slowing un-tatting for far too long, or cutting your losses and starting over. I opted to start over, which is why I have yet to finish it.

So that's today's task then. Get the black necklace done and listed in the shop. Oh, thanks to all of you that picked up patterns yesterday. A few were sold. They don't really amount to much, sales wise, but every little bit and all that. I'm crossing my fingers that it was just priming the pot for more to come. Here's hoping.

May Day

I had a long morning of schooling and errands to run. It wasn't until well after lunch that I could sit down and play with the new necklace. Now, honestly I wasn't sure it was going to turn out right on the first go. I was contemplating extra rows and redone stitch counts. Even when I finished the last side I still wasn't sure.It wasn't until I put some hardware on it and put it on, that I felt like it was, in fact complete. It laid very nicely.

While I thought it would also work as a tighter choker. The length I ended up at allowed it to sit at the base of my neck very comfortably. Comfort is important. Even better, the way I chose to work the bulk of the piece allows for it to be make in multiple sizes without changing the look of the piece.

I was feeling so good about how the prototype came out that I started digging for something different to make a final piece with. I grabbed a Lizbeth thread titled, Elderberry Jam. I know, I usually don't go in for variegated threads, but I thought it might be just right for this piece. The purples are a little darker in person that they showed up on the photo, but you get the idea. I finished tatting this one late yesterday, so it should get its hardware this morning and debut in the store later today. I was going to list the black version as well, but it doesn't really meet my standards as is. I was a little sloppy with the long chains and since I wasn't sure how long to make it, there are more cuts and ties in it than I like. I can make it in one go, so I'll remake the black before it arrives in the shop.

I suppose all of that should keep me busy today, but since it's the 1st I'm again crossing my fingers that some shoppers emerge and spend some money. April was a tough month. I made a third of what I did last year at this time and that isn't paying all the bills. Yep, crossing my fingers for a mad, sales crazy May.