garden update

Pin It now!

 Its been quite a few months since I last uploaded any plant pics. The last was in April. We've had a few flowering plants since then, but I didn't get around to photographing them. And we actually had to discard a couple due to bugs.

So yesterday I took some time to sit in the balcony, taking in whatever rays the sun could offer and finally took some pics.

Bougainvillea -

We have two plants, one with white inflorescence and the pastel orange one below. The white ones have smaller 'flowers' but dense bunches. The first flush is long gone, but there are new ones quickly growing. However, the angle is such that I couldn't take pics of the 'buds'. Perhaps in a few weeks ....

This plant has 9 bunches at present, though not all have been photgraphed.

Asparagus or Foxtail Fern -

Happy to note that hubby had shifted the position of this pot to receive more sunlight and it has been thriving since, including flowers. 

Pinwheel Flower -

We have the dwarf version - Dwarf Chandni, though it might not be discernible here. This plant has been giving off flowers non-stop!

Jade Plant -

Had to trim this down but the leaves are thick, green and fleshy. 

Money Plant or Golden Pothos -
Another plant that has propagated itself with several stems crawling out from that single pot! The pic captures only a miniscule portion of the plant.

That's all folks!

a new DAL in town

Pin It now!

I logged into Craftree after several weeks and scrolled back for recent posts. Imagine my immense surprise and pleasure to see that Savarosa, inspired by my recent design-along challenge, had created her own and invited tatters to join in! Glad to see it catch on, though there was no response to the Craftree post.

So, after a hiatus of over 2 months, I finally picked up my shuttles and began tatting! Rusty at first, but soon got into the swing of it and designed the 3rd round. Two days, start to finish! Round 3 is my own, original, though I cannot claim that it is 'unique' .... the shape just seems 'familiar', doesn't it. If you have seen it before, let me know so I can add a link here.

But first, the details to Savarosa's 2026-Design-Along-(DAL)-Snowflake can be found here -  https://savarosacraft.com/2026-design-along-dal-snowflake/ . I like the way she has laid out the rules and legalities!

This is a prototype but I think it worked out fine. I had started by not joining the long chains to each other. This would allow flexibility for the chains to overlap if too long. Turns out the lengths were just right therefore the latter chains were all joined to their counterpart. It helps to sketch on grid paper like I did for my own DAL round.

The only change I would make is to add very small picots so that the thrown rings can be anchored to the chains and stay in the center. I added this in the pattern even if it is missing in the prototype model.

I picked up whatever thread was at hand/on the shuttles. Hence the red rosette. I had 4 long leftover lengths of the beige thread which I put to use here. In 3rd round I reached a point where both threads were over at almost the same time. Hence I wound the shuttles, ctm, with new thread and finished the round. But now I have two new lengths of leftover threads, LOL.

Here's my Round 3 pattern for the Flower Flake in PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/17Tclhmx_iRZ4mtYpyi8qv4ig9y8z5hGe/view

I kept it simple starting with a repeat of the trefoils in Round 2 and with sufficient free picots in my round in case of any future additions to the design. The equally spaced picots in the long chains helped me keep track of the count, too. 

My sketch also had an inward facing thrown ring on the short connecting chain. Obviously it would not fit in the tatted model, so I didn't even attempt it. What looks good on paper does not always work out in the real thread world.

In Anchor size 20 (equivalent to Lizbeth size 10) the motif measures 9½ cm tip-wise and 4½ cm along the side.

While it may not be unique, I do love the shape of this motif! What is your verdict?

Many thanks to Savarosa for organising this DAL. I am now ready to get back to the book review again with ample tatting in store.

I won this

Pin It now!

 I was in the kitchen this afternoon, just starting up on the lunch dishes, when the doorbell rang and hubby went to attend it. We were expecting a delivery from Amazon hence the delivery was pre-approved and the delivery person reached our apartment without any call from the guards. Imagine our utter surprise when hubby came back with the gift package from Marilee! It had been at the customs since 26th and we had no idea how long it would take there. From her doorstep to mine in less than 10 days!

The vibrancy of these hand-dyed threads is absolutely amazing! And the combo of shades with their cute names often brings a smile... 16 skeins, 4 in each size.

Size 10

Size 20

I have one skein in size 20 gifted by Denise years back but I've held on to it for fear of not using it in the right project, LOL. Now I better get cracking and enjoy them all. 

Size 40

Size 80

A little hand-written note from Marilee .... Oh yes, I certainly intend to enjoy them and show them off as well ;-D I just hope I can do full justice to them.

Read about it here - https://yarnplayertats.blogspot.com/2026/10/giveaway-hand-dyed-thread-samples.html  ;  https://yarnplayertats.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-giveaway-winner.html  ; https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/10/the-rising-sun.html

And to think I almost did not join the giveaway!

Many many thanks, Marilee, for your wonderful generosity and the bounty of beauties!!!