Friday

Here we are at the end of another week. I'm afraid I have nothing new to show to today as I was lucky enough to sell a mask yesterday and went straight to work on that. I did notice something interesting while I was making it though. There are some patterns I have done so many times that I could do them in my sleep. In fact my familiarity with them as they are prevents me from attempting anything new with them at all. You see, if I change anything then not only would I have to unlearn the previous method, I would feel compelled to get new pictures and loose what I now think of an an iconic image for me.

I thought about this as I questioned a few on my creation methods and while I did not actually have any radical ideas that would have necessitated all of the above, I did do one small thing different and it was quite refreshing and resulted in one of those, 'why haven't I been doing this all along?' moments. What, you ask? I simply made the free floating rings first and attached them while creating rather than making them last and contorting myself to get them attached. I guess the next trick would be to see if I can learn how to neatly throw off a ring...it always looks more like it was puked off when I try, though honestly I've only tried a couple of times. That's the major drawback to being a bit of a perfectionist, if it isn't perfect straight away and there already exists another way to accomplish something, I just move on.

I do have quite a busy week ahead and I will likely drop a few balls. My Grandfather is coming to visit, there are vet appointments and people to call and more cleaning to be done as we've set a date for our long postponed house warming. We've only lived here a year now come mid month, but there are so many people we haven't had over to see the house. Of course before those people arrive everything must be enviably perfect. Ok, that is so not going to happen with two kids, but I can still at least get pictures on the walls and make sure the carpets and toilets are clean. As you see, I am obsessing a little on this so expect periodic updates on the final putting together of the house. Now off to it then.

Brown

So the day was slightly less chaotic though my oldest cat, the one recently diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, was a little extra vomit happy...minus the happy I imagine. I've heard tale that the medication she's on can do that. Knowing that it is common does not however help me clean it up.

I did get back on track, tatting wise anyway. I got that sepia boutonniere made up. I had bought some gold plated lapel pins just for the purpose, enough though I generally dislike working in that metal. The browns came out lovely in the design, though I knew they would as they have made such lovely pieces before. I really will be sad when the discontinued light brown finally runs out. I really don't know what these thread companies have against darker browns. It's likely little demand, but I like them...not as much as black of course, but still.

I got one other sepia piece made up and then I sold a bracelet so I shifted gears to make a second of those. Oddly all my recent sales have been international. I wonder if it has anything to do with the new currency conversion on etsy allowing customers to browse in their own currency. I imagine it's easier to shop when you don't have to do any complex math in your head. Yes, I consider multiplication with decimals complex, I am that awesome.

I've also been fielding some interesting and strange questions via email and formspring lately. They range from pattern help to item requests that never seem to result in sales. What I find most odd are the requests for patterns I haven't made. No, not ones for piece people like, but random requests for simple patterns. Since when did I replace google? Seriously, I do like to help people and I don't want to come off like a witch but you type in 'free tatted earring pattern' and like magic, they appear. Okay, that was snarky, I apologize, but you get the point. Now it's back to battling the six legged menace and the unsettled stomachs of my cats...wash my hands and then tat.

Golden

I had another one of 'those' days fraught with ant incursions, various cat messes to undo and an unpleasant desire to clean and fix things I ought to have left alone. Sure I started the day off well enough, got one sepia edition piece remade and listed then went onto get photos of the newest necklace. Once listed it was surprisingly well received. I thought perhaps I'd gone a little crazy with the chains and was going to receive the 'that's um...nice', but it seems folks liked the dramatic draping, go figure.

This however is where the day began to go south. Well that's not entirely true, I actually woke to a two front ant invasion, but one thing I could handle, it's the piling on of things that drives me batty. While cleaning up one mess I was confronted with a destroyed looking kids room, so I cleaned that. Then I felt compelled to finish hanging pictures. The day went on like that well into the evening discovering another cat mess, cleaning, fixing, etc. Each time I sat down I was again beckoned to another minor disaster. Remember when I said I 'liked' staying home', well some days not so much.

I worked a bit more of the scarf, but not enough to show you, thought about getting a Sepia edition boutonniere made, but never even started, unless you count getting out a gold label pin to work on. I'm also dealing with the aftermath of the worst sales month in some time, I made half of what I did last July which given my advertising efforts makes my doubly sad and so far this month shows no sign of improving. Since August is usually a very dry month I don't actually expect it to either, so I need to shift into production mode mentally and physically for the impending holidays and try to ignore it. Now if only the ants and cats and kids would get on board with the plan, we'd be golden.

Not Nearly As Good As Yesterday

I did spend much of Monday with my efforts directed elsewhere. Made beaded bracelets with the girls and I got some newly acquired supplies integrated into their boxes. While I was in there though, I took to piecing together something from some bits and chains and I kept coming back to it throughout the day until I had this. Yes, I know it's a bit odd and contains very little actually tatting, but I for some reason I can't quite put my finger on I decided I liked it. I will likely get some real pictures today and get it listed.

Then toward the late afternoon I was trying to decide what to do next. There is actually quite a list of things I need to make up again in brown, but my thread is almost depleted and I am waiting until I get an order of it in. I know, weird that I ordered brown thread, but I found such a deal online and my local JoAnns is pathetic in it's supplies, but I digress. I decided to make a scarf. Yes, I am aware that it is August, but I haven't made one in a while and I thought it might be nice to try another pattern for one.

I grabbed the basic pattern from one of the vintage pattern books and adjusted it for my purposes. It's a fairly common clover zigzag pattern and will make a very skinny scarf. This means that I will have to compensate for the width, by making it ridiculously long. This also means that this will be the fall back project. You know the one you work on when you have nothing better to do. I'm making it with a sock weight hand dyed wool yarn that was actually gifted to me by a lovely etsy seller when I was making my first few scarves. It's a large skin, but it has a break in middle which is likely why it's mine.

Also, isn't it funny how bad my in progress pictures are as opposed to my listing one. Well, that's because these are taken at, what is it...5 in the morning with no natural light next to my computer screen. Oh and I also wrapped up my latest giveaway on facebook with a promise to do another when I reach 1000 fans. Right now, I'm thinking it might be a mask, but we'll see how busy or distracted I am when the time rolls around. I have no idea what I'll be working on today, but hopefully I'll at least have better pictures of these to show you.

Busy, Busy

So for once I have ready to share all the things I said I would on Friday. First up was finishing the veil I've been working on. Satin, silver veiling, feathers, swarovski crystals and tatted lace, oh my. As a late addition I actually created two pieces in one. The top fascinator portion was assembled onto a snap clip so that it may be removed from the veil portion and worn separately for the reception. It was a bit tricky to assemble, but I think it turned out well and I will hopefully have some fabulous action shots of the piece next month.

Next up is the redesign of the 'whole heart' choker whose picture was so bad I couldn't count stitches so I just made it up again in the same basic design. I renamed it 'With All My Heart' and I do like it better than the original.

I was sure it would make a fine tiara so I tatted the design up again in a light gray color. Of course I didn't realize how long I would have to make the piece for it to go round my head. I ended up measuring it on my freshly dyed hair and soiled it with purple dye, so the first one is mine and it's listed as a custom order for the time being. Makes sense that way anyhow as I'm sure my head is not a universal size.

I didn't stop with that though, I dug out one more old design, fiddled with it and remade it in black. The original was in red and called the Grand Crimson Daisy, no longer red, I renamed it as well. This one has the same basic construction as the other grand daisy piece, but with a center drop and fewer chains.

So as you can see I had a busy few days and I didn't even tat on Sunday as I was recuperating from a sleepover with the nieces. The only drawback to all this activity is the inevitable let down when my energy wanes and I start babbling about nonsense again. Well, I did get a few new supplies in and I think there might be a few more pieces to resurrect still so maybe I'll still be busy this week. I guess we'll see. Oh and a quick thank you to modistamodesta for the blog award. I appreciate the sentiment, but I don't post or pass them on mostly because I'm too lazy for that.