whipping up memories

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Remembering Carollyn Brown 

Diane shared shocking and sad news today – https://lacelovinlibrarian.blogspot.com/2021/09/memories.html

A virtual friend for real has moved to another realm taking her sweetness to share there.

I have lots of fond memories of Carollyn Brown in the short time we shared in cyberspace. And every time I whip stitch tail ends I think and thank her for finally removing the fear of hiding tail ends, and be neater too! She uploaded some videos as madtatter80  (https://www.youtube.com/user/madtatter80/videos) including her uniquely long Cluny leaves.

I first noticed her blog (https://tennbrown.blogspot.com/) when I found cute little tatted 3D flowers/sprigs! A flower a month was her personal project at the time and I would wait each month for it. Using fine threads was her forte and we can all recall her adeptness at it and her gorgeous doilies!

She could tat over and around literally anything! Be it real leaves, stones, keys, and the usual glass, baubles, buttons, and beads. But her talents were not limited to tatting. Scroll through her blog to see the wide range of skills she possessed and/or learned and applied!

In 2016, 4 of us participated in the Pinterest Challenge and she never failed to amaze me with her choice and execution of the month-end project. It also gave us an excuse to correspond and get to know each other a bit more. Always smiling always sweet.

It is such an honour that she tatted a few of my patterns and etched them in my memory forever. I had to poach this image from her blog, where she is modelling earrings from my wreath pattern. Before that she had made and modelled a brooch from my poppy pattern which became quite popular at the time.

Another admirable highlight of her blog has been her skill at calligraphy and of displaying her work in a variety of settings and placements, bringing in knickknacks in an aesthetic backdrop.

So much to learn from her, so much inspiration to emulate, so much diversity to soak in! Thank you for gracing my world, Carollyn, and leaving your indelible imprint. Keep spreading your sunshine beyond 💝💝💝

http://tennbrown.blogspot.com/2017/10/tatted-lace-poinsettia-earrings.html
https://tennbrown.blogspot.com/2014/11/tatted-lace-veterans-day-poppy-finished.html
https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search?q=Carollyn

sakuras and shuttles

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what does one do when one is laid up in bed, without necessarily lying down ?

Tat, of course !!!

And this lovely pattern, shared on the same day, caught my eye. I've been meaning to tat one of her designs for a while now.

Cherry Blossom Doily 1 Variation

Hye-oon Lee
(of lovelytatting.com)

I liked two aspects - the 16 central outward-facing rings, and the thrown rings on the last round. Perfect!

After a bit of dallying over choice of colours, I settled on traditional pink flowers and brown bark of tree.

Tatted in size 40 threads, it measures 4½ inches across.
Anchor Mercer Art. 4054 : pink - 052 ; brown 00352. I needed less than 2 full bobbins of pink and 1 full bobbin of brown.
Techniques : 2 shuttles , thrown rings, mock ring with thrown rings.

I cut and joined for each round.

Started the last round with brown thrown ring instead of the sakuras.
Click here for the free pattern, and also to view more of her exquisite tatting.
I thoroughly enjoyed tatting this !

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Homemade Shuttles

And on a totally different note, now that I can do beads, who knows when I might need a large shuttle to load beads ?! Couldn’t find them on Amazon, so Pinterest to my rescue !

Last year, Tamara had requested testers for her prototype cardboard shuttles on Craftree and this is what I rustled up within a few minutes, using doubled-up cardstock. Crudely made, but worked well enough to give her feedback and suggestions. I was too ashamed to post, coz Eliz had soon made a perfect set!

This time I cut out the sides from an empty L’Oreal shampoo bottle - plastic. And for the central post I used an adaptation of Tamara’s method, with cardstock – merely folding 2 rectangles at both ends and gluing them all. Sandpapered the sides a bit. Still crude, but feels good to know that it is do-able. Needs to be adorned and tested; all that for later. For now, it seems to be holding up fine.

I've placed a Pony shuttle beside it to compare size.

Hey, it just occurred to me that this being the last day of the month would’ve qualified for the pinterest challenge ;-D

 Many thanks to all the designers for sharing their skills ! 

happy tatting everyone !

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chirPINg yarn

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bird and nest made with yarn

It's the last day of the month, and we know what that means - yes, the pinterest challenge ! 

While browsing through some crochet patterns, I stumbled upon a cute domherre made with yarn and it immediately called to me. There was an added incentive when she mentioned a Christmas connection – perfect timing! Google landed me with this Christmas story written by Richard W. O’Donnell  about the most famous of Christmas carols (guess which ?). 

It is very easy and with different yarn colours, we can whip up many different birds in a jiffy !!!

I inserted blue pearl pins for the eyes.

The feathers appear a bit ruffled – what would you expect, when confronted to such curious scrutiny by the sparrows?! Although it did appear to be having a swinging time when rid of the company ;-)

TIP : Use fresh yarn, or straighten it out! This grey was the last of a ball of yarn and hence some strands are not as straight.

Be warned  -- These next pictures are Not for the faint-hearted bird lover ! ☺

When I pierced the eyes, it struck me what a great pincushion this would make! For that, the bird needed to sit comfortably. Tried a glass bowl which seemed to work okay. Then, I also came across a pin showing how to weave a small basket , which seemed very easy & fun to make. Well, I adapted it as a nest for this bird, leaving off the handle & fabric base.

I cut the circular card stock into 9 equal slits (at 40º angle). Also, I could weave the entire basket and crochet the edge all in one continuous process, without cutting off the yarn !  

Even DH had fun watching me weave the basket - he & BIL are constantly telling me that I still haven't grown out of my childhood ;-P I agree :-D

Find the excellent bullfinch pictorial by Camilla here

And the woven basket (nest) pictorial by Natalia here

Bird measures : 3” head to tail, 1½” top - down
Nest measures : 1” high, 2¼” across top, 1¾” across base

Do you recognize the coincidental symbolism? Bird that symbolizes happiness, Christmas but is also migratory, and the pins that could well be pins from pinterest.com !!! And wonder what project eggs it's sitting on ;-P

This has been a happy pinterest challenge journey through the year - I accomplished my personal objectives to a satisfactory degree and hope to continue -  but I must fly away for at least a year.
Who can tell about 2018 – I might like to be back with the lovely pin chicks again ! They are such an inspiring lot – coming up with exquisite pieces despite many personal pitfalls. It is a pleasure getting to know Suzanne, Margaret, and Margaret-2. Carollyn was already a friendly correspondent.

January 2017 starts a new pinterest challenge, and this time they will be posting every two months. You are cordially invited to join in - merely post a project inspired by pinterest, every 2 months ! Simply leave a comment on any of the pin chicks' blog/post to tell them you'll be one of them :-) It is fun !

Currently, the nesting bird pincushion is perched on my bedside cabinet – on hand ! That's the lamp base in the background, and my tablet in foreground. Took away my pencil stand & moisturiser to avoid cluttering the pic.

Related Posts :

click on ‘pinterest challenge’ tag for all twelve challenges of year 2016

The October post has jumped to December.

abcd

And before I leave my readers this year, to meet again next year .....

good health, peace and prosperity to all
a very happy new year 

abcd

SOUPin' the books

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NOTE (Dec 11, 2016) : This is Not a new post. 

It was uploaded & shared on October 31st, 2016. I don't know how it has pushed itself to December, and don't know how to push it back! 

Fortunately, the url remains unchanged)

My Pinterest Challenge (click on tag) this month is simple, but practical, and helps to clear away our tatting orts (scraps, morsels). To refresh memory, SOUP is an acronym I created for "Sewing On / Using Pieces" of tatting. The pieces are ones I’ve left aside (discarded, but not binned), prototypes, practice pieces, or just some odds and ends. I've sewed them as appliqué on my apron and tea towels, and also glued them to cards and envelopes (all in first link).

This idea was carried on to a bookmark charm on pre-bound satin ribbon bookmark, and now added to more books. I've picked up the smaller Classic Library books from one of my shelves to do this challenge. These books are about 7.5”x 5” and the red ribbon is just the same length! Grasp is a problem, as is finding the marked page quickly. These charms add thickness and/or length, making it easy to grip and to find the page.

I’ve tried to create some sort of theme related to each book, and chosen a name conforming to it. Each book is opened at a page/chapter that has something relevant.

You may recognise some pieces from my posts. Pattern details and links to the pattern/post are listed alongside. 

In case of multiple motifs, pattern details start from the motif at the tip & move upwards.

Ladling out some hot SOUP - good for a cool wintry night, snuggled under an afghan with a good book for company - hope you are Charmed :-)

SOUP Charms for Ribbon Bookmarks

1. Butterfly Liberated

The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

In some sense, this book is all about liberation – liberating ourselves from the past, the overbearing traditions, the ghosts in our closet, the cobwebs in our life...and life is short, live it to the fullest. What better symbol than a butterfly ?!

You might remember this very first one I shared here, made with my very first butterfly pattern.

2. Blue 

Far and Near by Pearl S Buck

Book opened to “Home Girl” because I found the word ‘Blue’ there, which is the thematic colour of this charm. But really, the story is about a charming Japanese girl Etsu. I liked most of the stories in this book (different cultural perspectives), although the last one did drag on for quite a bit with constant repetition of ‘Eleonore’ - errrrgh !

The blue motif is my experimental piece using different techniques for tatting large mock rings .

Pattern (with 3 rings) is : Motif with Mock Rings by Looping Chain on Itself by Eliz Davis

To hide the large central space, I glued Mlle Reigo’s Raised Star practice piece while trying out layered picots on a ring.   

Edging nearer to the 'flower' is Butterfly with Overlapping Picots by Ninetta Caruso

3. Idle Love

The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow by Jerome K. Jerome

If there is talk of Love, then hearts can’t be far from our mind’s eye. 

If there are hearts, love cannot be far away – whether idle or passionate :-)

My first attempts at turning/folding the chain and I didn’t do justice to her cute hearts. I have wanted to get back and tat these again. Hopefully for next Valentine ...

Three Little Hearts by Grace Tan 

Double Daisy flowers

4 Mossy

Selected Short Stories by Joseph Conrad.

I know I’ve read at least a few of the stories, but can’t remember any. Time for another read. I opened the page to a story titled ‘The Lagoon’, in keeping with the mossy essence of this charm.

All 3 are my own patterns – a Layered Flower, my attempt at a freeform Holly Leaf, and the Double Daisy flower.

5. Billy the Hedgehog

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame 

Need I say more ?!

Ruth Perry’s RainBeau Hedgehog pattern - yes, the one that turned !

6. Zany !

Literary Lapses and Nonsense Novels by Stephen Leacock

‘How to be a Doctor’ is one of my favourite stories from this book; one that I have shared with my pulmonologist ;-P

Fandango Motif by Jane Eborall with Double Daisy Flowers for a zany (nonsensical) mischievous spirit.

My first motif (partial here), trying to practice split rings during the 2014 TIAS. Left out joining an arm within. This is hidden by the bling-on flowers glued above.

A totally nonsensical charm – the colours don’t match, the shape is blah, the elements are all wrong. I really love the Fandango pattern, but this charm needs to be binned. May be I'll cut it off and change the charm later.

7. Crown

Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli

From this angle, it kind of looks like a pretentious crown, so perfect for this book, opened to the chapter on Hereditary Principalities ! I thought this book made a lot of sense. It may not be politically correct in many respects, but in the real world, a lot of what Machiavelli lists down actually happens. It is human nature and history has innumerable examples. Read this many years back; would be interesting to read again.

An InTatters (now Craftree) member had trouble with this pattern. It is from a Russian site and I tatted it in response to that question. If I remember right, this is part of a lovely tatted necklace. Collar schema are shared on the page. I added the black central ring later, to give stability.

8. Nature’s Charm

Essays and English Traits by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Book opened to a short poem in Nature chapter. I have yet to read this book fully.

Martha Ess’ Shamrock is easily recognizable – my practice piece for folded rings.

The red rings-only motif is among my first needle-tatting pieces - by Totus Mel I think. My June 2014 notes say it's a "Roselle". Double Daisy flowers to spice it up.

SOUP gift tag for Diwali

Besides the bookmark charms, I rustled up a super-quick last-moment gift tag for Diwali using scrap medallions again. This is probably a 3 or 4 inch card made from scrap handmade paper with embedded rose petals. The tail ends of yellow motif are glued in the shape of a flame ;-) 

Phew, it's taken me much longer to photograph, arrange, link, and present, than it did to glue them !!! If you've stuck by me this far, then you deserve a treat - a candy perhaps, or a toffee ?

Please take a moment to be amazed at what the other Pin Chicks have rustled up …

Suzanne , Margaret , Carollyn , Alma & Margaret (II)

But before I go blog-hopping to check out what these super-talented ladies have made, here’s wishing you lots n lots of candy treats for Halloween ! And I just found out that there's a Candy Corn Day (Oct 30) !!!

Halloween Candy ?!

Georgia is going to use the Holi collage for today’s Halloween class. A confluence of cultures and ‘Holi’days, but how exactly she brings about this convergence should make for an interesting discussion. We can always rely on her to bring in a new perspective :-) I'm very curious, to say the least.

And here’s some more tatted candy ….

It is Usha Kota’s Toffee pattern from her “Tatting, Tea, Toffee” 2014 Palmetto’s Logo Competition. Martha Ess won 1^st place, and Usha got an honorable mention at 2^nd place.

Tatted in size 20 threads, the toffee measures 1½”x ¾” max.

happy tatting & happy pinning everyone :-)))

whipPINg up …

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… a creamy frothy foamy edging around a surging sea of flowers & wooly memories !

Can’t believe it’s taken me this long to present my ta-dah post. Well, I can finally strike it off my list.  

Although completed much earlier, I am entering this as my pinterest challenge again because it took me many searches through pinterest, many cloudy moments, many trials & errors to finally settle on what was the best or closest fit for what I wanted. It is also the first time I have done something like this in crochet.

My goal : Keep it simple, but keep the focus on the elegant curves & diamond points of each motif around the edge.

When my earlier ideas didn’t quite work the way I would’ve liked them to, another option dawned on me. 

Let me walk you through the process & a few tips that work for me …

Border 1

I had some strong advice to go with lighter shades for the border. Always heed to experience & wise counsel. Decided to make the penultimate round all cream, with only a touch of colour. This made work so much easier ! I could crochet Round 1 all together; then choose the colours & crochet Round 2 ; then the cream for Round 3, attaching on the go.

This pic shows how much fun it was.

Sorry, no pics for the finished penultimate round. I was simply enjoying the rhythm and it was too cold to arrange & take pics. Also, I had begun working at a frenzied pace, coz I had to knit leg warmers before I could get back to tatting (major withdrawal symptoms ☺) Or maybe I just forgot!
Pics lower down give a fairly good idea of the penultimate round.

TIP 1 - how to remember colour choices

As I neared the last rounds of the project, colour choices & combos became more of an issue. Choosing colour combos for specific area took a lot of consideration. Then remembering those choices! I hit upon a simple way. 

After selecting, I crocheted the 1^st round & loosely attached it to the adjacent motif where I wanted it. Thus I could cover larger areas quickly & fearlessly, spreading out the shades as much as possible.

Border 2

By now I knew what was required – a cream-only half motif to fill in the triangular space.

Never done it before, and didn’t want to have to cut after every single triangle. Solved it with a couple of trials. TIP : Always use the same yarn for final trial .

Made the 2 center rounds individually; keeping only half the pattern (in center of collage)

Then the last round was crocheted around, joining to the border, and continuing to the next triangle, all in one pass. After 220 motifs (not counting the triangles), each requiring tie & cuts & hides for each of the 3 rounds, this round was a breeze! I could finally crochet all the triangles in one pass !!!

I slip stitched around the corner motif, continuing with the next side till it was all done.

TIP 2 - how to store work safely

Large projects always require stops and starts over many days. Crochet stitches are very easy to unravel – one tug by a curious child or pet, and a whole day’s work may get lost! Here’s what I do to avoid any accidents.

Start to make a chain as usual but pull out a loop long enough to pass the entire yarn/thread ball through ; tension the loop just a bit so as to avoid snarls. That’s it. Even an accidental pull will only end up tightening the ‘noose’ into a stitch; it will never unravel the previous work.

When one is ready to pick up the project again, pass the ball backwards out of the loop & continue as per pattern.

I already delineated some of my tips on how to keep large projects clean when working over a length of time.

My Rainbow !

I’ve always admired Lucy’s cheerful colour palette & wished I had those many colours/shades. Well, guess what, I did !!!

This pic is only a slice – shades chosen from the already crocheted rounds. If I had the patience, the spectrum could’ve been much better. These motifs have the crochet hook inserted through their center.

Final Edging

I had bought this beautiful blue shade just a few weeks back, and it was perfect to rein in the creamy foam of the sea of flowers. 2 rounds of slip stitch (I think). 

All ends trimmed 

So that’s it. Ta-Dah ! Hoped to block the edge before taking pics, but didn’t get around to it. I can live with it, hopefully you can too ;-P

Pattern : Floral Fiesta Afghan by Maggie Weldon. My immense thanks to her for sharing this pattern ! I enjoyed every bit , including figuring out a personalised finish !
Total Motifs : 
Main body - coloured : 12x18 = 120+36=156

Border 1 - complete motifs : 13x2 +19x2 = 26+38 = 64

Border 2 - triangles : 18+18+12+12 = 60

Crochet hook # 9 (3.50 mm)  

Final dimensions : 44" x 64” ; 112cm x 162cm (approx)

Each motif : 2.5" x 2.5" (sides) or approx. 3.25" x 3.25" ( diagonals )

 It’s already in use and is adding such a fantastic splash of colour & cheer ! Although many colours appear same or similar n the pics, in reality, there are differences, and many more shades are visible than in the pic.

It does look like a textured sea of flowers when spread out ☺☺☺☺☺

Just one more pinterest challenge left for this year. 

Let’s see what the talented pin chicks have been up to this month ….

Suzanne

Margaret

Carollyn

Margaret II

Imoshen

Related Posts :

Pinterest Challenge (click on the tag in right panel)

Memory Afghan Part 1 ; Part 2 ; Part 3 

Keeping it clean

Trying border/edging options

from pin to pin

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Confession : This month I did not work on any project specifically for the pinterest challenge.

Yes, I did make a start with my personal challenge of 2D tatting design, but this post will not talk about that.

Instead, I will fall back upon a few things I have been doing ever since I saw them on pinterest. Please excuse the quality of pics – they were taken back in 2013 (when I was still new to photography) & I don’t even have the unmarked stock pics. I urge you to check out the original posts for the great pics and instructions. Mine don’t do any justice to them, although it has become part of my life.

Healthier Butter

Adapted from Jillee’s One Good Thing by Jillee

It all started with Jillee’s post on how to make your own herb butter.

For daily application, herb butter wouldn’t be accepted in my home, so I skipped the herbs and mixed only butter and olive oil – almost equal amounts.

Mix normal Butter with desired amount of Olive Oil 

(I used approximately equal amounts - 50gm butter + ~50ml olive oil). 

Mix with fork if quantity is less, as in this case, or pulse in blender as Jillee did.  

Olive oil has blended with the butter. Refrigerate and use as normal

I use a stainless steel container with tight lid. This small container easily fits into the bread box sitting cozily beside the bread.

And due to the oil, the refrigerated butter quickly 'thaws' to room temperature when taken out & kept on the kitchen counter. No longer need to Remember to take the butter out earlier !

Besides toast and sandwiches, I sometimes use it for grilling, too – oil gives it the fat, and butter the colour.

Works great in baking too - I use this for cookies, muffins & cake....

Eggless Cake using healthier butter

Basic recipe : Sharmi’s Passions

This was my first attempt at baking an Eggless cake & it wasn't As spongy as my usual cakes (with eggs) although the taste was great. It had a slightly denser feel, which I remedied the next time. I used Sharmi's Chocolate chip cupcake recipe (sans the chocolate chips)  

This pic was taken a few days After the cake was baked – more than half had already been consumed and the remaining pieces relocated into a smaller container. When I remembered, I just took the container out of the fridge and immediately took a pic. Hence the dry, crumbly look.

I have since used the healthy butter in muffins and cupcakes as well. They all bake fine.

Tear Drop Eggless Shortbread Cookies

Recipe adapted from Sharmi’s Passions

I chose a slightly healthier version

1. A mix of APF & whole wheat flour (3:1)

2. A mix of butter & olive oil (the healthy butter above)

3. Only about 75-80 g of the butter & oil mixture.

Frosting would've improved the look, but added calories, hence not applied ;-)

As the visual show, baking is not my forté . My cakes and muffins come out great in taste, but cookies & biscuits have a love-hate relationship with me.

That’s it for this month.

I did overcome a personal challenge by finally being comfortable with designing 2D tatting patterns. Simple and small for now, but I felt the barrier lift. This month will always remain very special to me – my shuttles are actively tatting up little medallions and motifs, yay!

To see some really special stuff, though, let’s all hop over to our talented group (you are welcome to join in any time; simply pick a monthly pin from pinterest !) :

Suzanne

Margaret

Carollyn

Imoshen

Margaret II

happy pinning :-)

Related Posts : my previous pinterest challenges 

stockPINing ! keePINg track

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updated : Mar 8, 2017

Irrespective of the size of our stockpile, do we ever stop pining for more ?!!! As our stock grows larger & more diverse, greater the risk of messes, misses, & mix-ups … of losing track. I finally heeded the clarion call of my thread stock as part of our monthly Pinterest Challenge – my stockPINing !  

" One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is 

constantly making exciting discoveries"

- AA. Milne

Yes, I so did !!! A few of my discoveries as I waded through my stash, organizing & cataloguing the threads….The pics don’t show the number or size of containers or the stuffed stuff inside ;-p

 Discovering new shades & the ease of choice !

i) Embroidery Threads

It all started last month, with my cross stitch bookmarks. With all skeins cramped into one box, & the patterns needing many colours, I found myself spreading out the skeins on the bed – not a good sight at all !

First sorted skeins according to colours. Then simply tied a knot at tip of each strand, cut off a very short length & glued it to the page, along with details. Slow-going, but with immediate results. Not only did it help in choosing colours for bookmarks, but for the Floral Fantasy Doily ! 2 shades of light green were Very similar (2nd coloumn); but I could locate the exact shade I wanted because of the catalogue. 

 Discovering the mystery of the zero !

ii) Mercerized Crochet Cotton (Size 20)

For the last 30 years, I have used only Anchor MCC (from Madura Coats), bought at various shops & now online stores. As my stash grew, it always perplexed me that some threads seemed thicker than others, despite the size number being same. Also the shade numbers – some had a single 0 before them, some had two zeroes, while many of my vintage balls didn’t have any 0 before the shade number.

I put it down to different stores, different years/decades, & so on. In fact that is how I entered in the catalogue. TILL the shade column & the tatting alongside threw up this interesting fact : the 0 digit represents the thickness within that size !!!!! Now I know which balls can be used together in same project.

Also noticed that the shape of ball with single 0 is different from the one with 00 (which is squatter with thicker thread) !

Discovering doodads & forgotten ideas !

iii) Mercerized Crochet Cotton (Size 40)

Buried deep under the balls of crochet cotton threads, I found tatted scraps - possible design ideas, little doodads/doodles, first trials, etc. It was quite amusing. (forgot to take pics)

I tatted little 5-petalled flowers to glue for reference. And devised this to speed things up (instead of cataloguing each colour individually) – pull out a short length of thread from ball & finger-tat the ring with thread still attached to ball. When all were tatted, I simply had to snip off the flower from each ball & glue to page, adding details.

Discovering amazing threads !

iv) Silk & Metallic Threads

I had totally forgotten about spools of metallic threads including gold & silver ! These are unmarked, so I have no idea of the brand.

But even more amazing & nostalgic were my Mom’s machine embroidery silk threads in wooden spools. They date back to at least the late 1940s, early 50s !!! It was mesmerizing watching her skillfully maneuver the embroidery hoop with her left hand at a hand crank sewing machine ! I can’t do with 2 hands on my electric pedal machine with it’s multiple decorative stitch options !

Strands of these threads were difficult to glue down, hence practiced some Hanging Cluny Leaves to display the colours better. A few got stuck while pulling, thus disfiguring their shape.

Discovering forgotten/misplaced balls !

v) Crochet & Knitting Cottons (Size 10 & above)

 

These are big balls taking up much space. Hence, I used to store them in the closet, in bags, not in transparent boxes. After I’d completed the table cloth edging, I was under the impression that the size 10 variegated blue ball was all over. So imagine my delight when I discovered 1 entire, unused ball ! Now even the balls are stored in different places, a quick reference to the catalogue will tell me that I do have more ! How useful a clue is that ?!

Discovering quality beads !

vi) Beads & Findings

For the first time last year, I had ordered in some gold & silver beads & jewelry findings to use in my tatting (and they worked beautifully). All the rest of my bead stash (mostly pearls, transparent plastic, & some wooden beads) & some rhinestones, sequins, etc. were stuff I took off discarded decorations, mementos, dress materials, etc. Couldn’t bring myself to throw out the colourful embellishments. But while some of these were good, some were irregular in shape & hole size, making them difficult to use … which was fine since I didn’t tat much with beads.

Last month I finally ordered some other beads & pearls from an online craft supplies chain. Amazing ! The seed beads have proper sized holes which can be strung through even size 20 thread. And here I was struggling with stringing, thus limiting my choices ! You might see many more beaded projects now ;-P

Seen in the pic is a snipping of the invoice with relevant details of my latest bead acquisition and a sampling of my stash…. I still have to prepare a proper page with new & old bead samples taped & buy a larger bead container.

vii) Sewing Threads

 

These are old pics (top view with open drawer & side view of entire organizer) of segregated sewing threads, organized for many years now. They are in an A4 size file cabinet with 4 transparent pull-out drawers from Staples. The lowermost was the perfect height for sewing thread spools ! All not-in-use reels are stored there in broad colour-groups, and can be picked out easily. The 3 upper drawers are used for other sewing-related supplies.

viii) Wool Yarn

Remember these quick yarn shade samplers I made, inspired by crochet bloggers ? They did come in handy for the colourful stashbuster Memory Afghan, but how pathetic are they ?! 

Come winter, I will sit down to prepare a proper one-page catalogue for my wool stash too.

UPDATE : My wool stash is now organized (Dec, 2016)!

Now if only I can catalogue my book collection. Believe me, I’ve tried many times, but new books kept getting added before I could sort them out. I have also tried to take pics on my cell phone but not every shelf is well lit.
And of course my fabric stash - that is indeed a major task.

Despite all the sniggering at my spread-out stock, it was ‘his’ idea to place each sheet within a transparent sleeve ;-p Love the idea – makes them so durable despite all the handling & referring !!!

These took time & patience to put together. But the advantages are so worth it, and already showing. Besides, some old threads also brought back memories of embroidery, card-making, crochet, tatting projects done before my marriage. Long time !
It also brought home the fact that the quality of Anchor (Coats) threads has decreased over time - they were finer, silkier, brighter in colour before !

As usual, my pinterest challenge is merely utilitarian & boring. For a glimpse into some amazingly creative challenges, click on the names of my fellow pin chicks … they are always so delightfully inspiring !

Suzanne

Margaret

Carollyn

Imoshen 

Margaret (2)

have a great time :-)