Grand Daisy Ankle Corsets

A good Friday the 13th to you all. This was definitely my favorite non holiday when I was younger. I would dress all up in black and try to scare or at least disturb everyone around me. Of course as I got older I was dressing black most days anyway and it sort of lost any sense of strangeness. This Friday I do have something in black to show you though. The newest ankle corset design was completed after some trial and error made possible by my Internet friends.

After the first one was done I asked for opinions as it didn't feel finished to me. After some opinions on facebook and twitter I decided to make up the second with another flower at the side. Then it was proffered to the people again for further analysis. It was much better filled in. Here's where making it almost entirely out of separate motifs came in handy, I just cut out the last bit of the first and made it exactly as the second and I was done.

I also placed one of the corsets on my neck and realized that along with the bracelet I had already decided I was making, this would make quite a dramatic choker. So as you might have guessed that is on tap for today. The bracelet I already made up, but haven't listed yet as I like to keep new pieces to one a day.

The last thing I'd like to share is the birthday deal I decided on yesterday as I accidentally made a few too many daisy motifs. We're going to go with a gift with purchase. Every order from today through Sunday the 15th, my actual birthday will come with a free small daisy pendant. I'll be announcing this on twitter, facebook and in the announcements of the shop. To get the free pendant you must wish me a 'Happy Birthday' in the notes to seller. No 'happy', no freebie. I will talk to you again when I am another year older...sigh.

Another Ankle Corset

Ah, yesterday was exactly what I needed it to be, calm. My grandfather had himself a round of golf in morning leaving me some time to pick up and then relax. The kids have been thankfully addicted to their legos for days and with no further news regarding money or the cats health. I got to focus on work.

While I did spend much of the day finishing up a pair of sold ankle corsets and remaking a few necklaces that just needed hardware attached, I did get round to the new design toward the evening. I thought about making the whole piece a very dense design, but decided to make it more like the mask and added a simple chain edging to tie the pieces together. I did get more done after the picture here as well. I added chains climbing between the three lengths of daisies and I think I might have finished with the first of the pair. I'll lace it on later today and see how it lays. If it works, I'll move onto the second and perhaps if time allows go back and get the bracelet made from the start of the design.

I have to tell you these ankle corsets, like the masks used to be much more fun to come up with as no one else was making them for sale and they were a pure creative endeavor, but now I feel more motivated by a competitive spirit. I don't like that spirit honestly, I prefer creating for the sheer joy of discovery, not so I can come up with better or more designs than someone shadowing me. I don't enjoy the feeling of constantly trying to, I don't know, defend myself I guess. Yeah, I'm just annoyed, but I won't let that stop me from creating what was my own idea in the first place. Sorry, I got all weird there for a minute.

So, moving on...my grandfather heads down south today to visit more family and the house will want to get cleaned even more more for the upcoming housewarming thing. Hopefully, I'll be able to simply maintain this level of clean, but the children are likely to cooperate only for so long. There is also the matter of my birthday on Sunday, which I haven't yet decided how to handle online and off. Should I just let is quietly slip by as I'm inclined at this minute, or make it a sale day with lots of 'look at me'? I probably won't decide until it is here as my mind has elsewhere for some time. In the meantime, let there be tatting.

Such Great Heights

What a day. When I say hat please believe I am not exaggerating...well maybe a bit, but still. The kids were entertaining my Grandfather, the weather was lovely and I was getting plenty of work done on the new ankle corset design. In fact things were just humming right along. I saw what will be the bracelet in the design and reached a fairly good point. Then grandpa left to get his brakes looked at which would eventually take him all day as they kept getting the wrong parts. This is where the day took a turn...I went to fetch the mail.

This is the point in the day where I learned that due to increased taxes, my mortgage is going up three hundred dollars a month. I don't know about you, but I really haven't budgeted for that sort of amount. Sure, we'll figure it out, there are worse things that could happen, but it still turned my stress levels up to 'yikes'. I resolved that I must maintain more consistent sales in order to combat the new bill, unfortunately I'm not certain how. The stress level remained there as I was kindly consoled by twitter friends and several people offered up the sentiment of hoping for more customers for me.

Oddly enough it worked... I think. I sold a pair of ankle corsets fairly quickly after all this and abandoned my ankle corset design to begin work on them. Then the roller coaster took me down one more peg with the news that though kitty's thyroid was being perfectly controlled by her medication, her urine revealed a large bacterial load despite a course of antibiotics. This of course means more expensive tests to determine the exact bacteria so I can give her the best expensive medicine to get rid of it. So one up and one down. Also had the entire family over for dinner which always magnifies everything.

At this point I am emotionally exhausted, but I received one more sale before bedtime and word of a potentially large wedding sale on the horizon if I can acquire the proper thread color. I was also contacted to be included in a design journal and I'll let you know more details about that one when it gets closer. So to recap, the day was a roller coaster and I am hoping for a smoother going today because when the ups are paired with such great lows it really never evens out, does it?

Monday Down

First thing in the morning I got the new mask listed, then I took to remaking a few things all the while trying to keep the kids from making any new messes. Then there was a trip to the vet for my oldest cat to get new blood work done. I will hopefully be receiving word about her today. I', just hoping that her infection is gone and her medication is working so I can relax, though I fear it is more likely that I will hear that her kidneys are failing or something all tragic.I shall put that out of my mind for the time being.

I decided in the afternoon that I wasn't finished with the Grand Daisy stuff. Sure, I have the pendant, the two different chokers and now a mask, but since I'm revisiting the motif why not keep going. The next idea was for an ankle corset design. The idea is unformed right now, but will feature the larger daisy in the center surrounded in some capacity by the smaller ones. I really have no idea if this will work out. but I'll give it a go. Using separate motifs also lets me shift gears in the design by cutting out a small piece of the work rather than having to start all over, so that's nice. I was just thinking of perhaps knocking out a simple bracelet first too, that should be pretty simple if the sizes work out alright.

I also have my house guest here safe and sound for a few days which means I'll be busy entertaining, or rather supervising my children entertaining. I've got some babysitting to do for my sister and a family dinner this evening. It is entirely possible that I will get round to doing nothing on my to do list, but I suppose there is really no rush on anything except the self created one anyway.

300

First off, I'd like to point out that over the weekend I received my 300th follower here on this blog. This number is both ridiculous and humbling. So, thank you to all the folks out there that think enough of my rambling to bookmark me in their favorites. I'd like to say that I will try to never disappoint you, but that would be a bold faced lie...I ramble mostly for my own sake so I am bound to disappoint occasionally.

So, I'm working steadily on cleaning up the house and putting it together a bit more since my Grandfather arrives today for a visit and will be staying here for a spell. I know I don't have to impress him, but honestly it gives me the motivation to take care of things that I would otherwise put off. If you're wondering, the ants seem to have retreated though I have no idea if it is merely a brief respite or if they've really gone for the season. I did resort to spraying good old Raid around the exterior of the house, so perhaps the barrier is holding. I am now knocking on wood.

What I was trying to get round to saying in that last paragraph before it took a turn was I did find time to tat and when I did I had one of those precious 'a ha' moments. I was working on remaking a necklace when I looked over at a motif 'mistake' I had on the table. I had been making a center flower for one of the Grand Daisy pieces when I made it with a 6 based flower instead of a 5 which made it all warped. Turns out the warp made it perfect for a nose piece of a new mask. I had tried a daisy mask before, but my method was fatally flawed and I gave up on it before I ever shared. This time I think I got the plot.

I didn't list it straight away though. Instead I asked for help naming the piece. I am seriously running low on appropriate Labyrinth lyrics, but I got 'A Land Serene' and 'Brighter Than Sunlight' as possible ones. So put to a random vote, 'A Land Serene' won in a landslide. I think partly because it's not a bright mask. I do, however think the design would lend itself to color. In fact, I think it might even be able to handle several colors of flowers, perhaps still with the black around the outside and the inside making it a bit of a stained glass look or maybe green for a more flowery look. I'm really just brainstorming out loud here. I have reached another point where I don't know when I'll have the time to get around to trying out any of these ideas. I will get the mask listed today though...hopefully.