Wonderful weekend

We had a wonderful weekend. Friday evening we just hung out at home, watched some movies and relaxed. I had a nice

Saturday we got up did some light house cleaning and waited for Olivia to get off of work. We then went on a motorcycle ride to West Virginia to an amazing little Mexican restaurant that we love. We had a nice late lunch/early dinner and rode home. The whole trip was about 140 miles round trip. It was a beautiful ride and a beautiful day.

I had a lot of time to think while on the bike. It's a great way to clear my mind and work out things that are bothering me. I did a lot of thinking about the upcoming Palmetto Tat Days. I'm getting pretty excited about the conference. I want to get my table full of shuttles and thread. I want to be able to not have to bring them home, but have a pocket full of money instead. Time will tell.....

Today, Shawn and I went to church and had a great sermon from our Pastor.
After church we went over to our friends house to help them pack up their son's belongings. They are in the Army and have been reassigned to Texas. Their son is moving to another city here in MD and needed help getting the house cleared out. We had a good time and worked hard.

Rosemary and Pat came over after the move to visit for a few hours. Today is Rosemary's birthday and we wanted to spend a little time with them. Pat and Shawn had a great conversation - as always.

Earlier this week, I was working on the Shopsmith and I broke it. Shawn wasn't upset at me, which I was shocked about. We decided to not fix the machine but to replace the two features we use on it. The table saw and the lathe. Before we do that, we are getting the laser engraver so we can make shuttles the way I want to. I am very excited and am doing a LOT of research to figure out what one to get.

Another friend of ours is going to take the Shopsmith and try to fix it. We told him he can have it as long as he comes and gets it. We can't transport it to him. He's ok with that so hopefully he can fix it and give it a good home.

Now Shawn and I are relaxing and winding down from this full but enjoyable weekend. Olivia is working until Midnight doing inventory at one of the stores she works at.

D'Artagnan gets his stitches out tomorrow. He's doing great with his recovery from ACL surgery. Crazy to have that done for a dog, but he's going to live for several more years and we couldn't see him walking around with a hurt knee.

I'm excited to go to Ohio this week to celebrate Grandma's 100th birthday. That's going to be a great trip. I wish Olivia would be coming but she has to work and is staying home. A few friends are coming over to house sit with her and watch the animals.  Shawn and I are riding the bikes.

We have a full week ahead of us and I can't wait.

Grandma is turning 100 soon

In a few days my husband's grandmother will turn 100 years old. I can't believe she is that old. She still lives in her own home by herself. (Shawn's mom and my daughter live directly across the street from her so she's not really alone).

This past Thanksgiving she took selfies with my little cousin Ryley. Grandma is a pretty hip lady.

Grandma just stopped driving 5 or 6 years ago. She is very independent. She loves to crochet and do word puzzles. She loves the Atlanta Braves and she loves to watch golf.



4 generations



Shawn and Grandma Dex

Her 98th birthday




We gave her the gift she loves to get, flowers

She is an amazing lady. She and I have a very unique relationship. She tells me things she remembers from her childhood. Whenever I go to Ohio to visit, I park my car at Mom's house and walk across the street to see Grandma first. I want her to know that I made the trip safely. I don't look at this woman as my husband's grandmother. She's my grandma. We share secrets and I always buy her tootsie rolls. She loves her tootsie rolls.

I fell so blessed to have this lady in my life. I can't wait to get to Ohio to see her and celebrate her 100th birthday.

I know that we won't have her for much longer and that breaks my heart. I have fond memories of her and our talks.

My dog had ACL surgery today.

My dog tore his ACL and had to have surgery. He had it today. He's home from the vets and is miserable. He's whiney and can't find a comfortable place to lay down. I just gave him pain meds an hour ago and hoping they put him to sleep. He needs to rest. He won't drink any water and won't even eat his favorite treats.

He has to go back to the vet 6 times in the next two weeks. I'll be running the highway back and forth with him. They are going to do some kind of laser treatment on his wound and muscles. The vet said that it helps the healing process.

Seeing him like this makes me wonder if we did the right thing by getting the operation for him. Was he in this much pain with the torn ACL? I just don't know. They said he will be almost 100% when he fully heals. I sure hope so. If we did all of this and he's not better, I will feel so bad.

He isn't allowed to go up or down the stairs for 6 weeks. Good thing we have a door to the outside from our family room, where he and I will be staying for the next 6 weeks.

I get to do his physical therapy also. I'd rather do it myself than trust someone else doing it.

Here is a picture of my poor boy.

Well, I'm going to lay on the floor with him so he doesn't feel alone. I just hope the pain meds kick in soon.

Happy Father's Day

I'd like to take a moment to say Happy Father's Day to my hubby and all the father's who read my blog.

I wish I could tell my dad that one more time. I don't know where his soul is right now, but I hope he's in Heaven waiting for me. It's kind of sad not to know. I hate it when people just assume when you die you go to Heaven. At least I know Shawn's dad is there and will meet me at those Pearly Gates.

Shawn and I will be celebrating by going to Virginia tomorrow afternoon to pick up some pieces of wood that someone is gifting us for shuttle making. Some really nice species. I'm very excited.

We got a band saw today and I have been having fun cutting those thick pieces of wood into workable ones. I cut up a huge block of Paduk today. I can't wait to make a shuttle out of it. It's such a beautiful species of wood.

Time for bed and a good night's sleep.

Palmetto Tat Days

I am so excited. I registered yesterday for the Palmetto Tat Days Tatting Conference in Georgia. It's in September. I can hardly wait. It was hard to pick the classes because the schedules are kind of strange. No rhyme or reason to which ones are 2 sessions and which ones are 1 session. I got it all worked out, although I didn't get a class by Martha Ess. She was one of the teachers I really wanted to get a class from. I did get one by Jane Eborall. That just thrills me to death. And one from Nina Liben. I also got one by Vicki Clarke and someone named Erin. This is going to be a great conference. I will get to meet more of my online friends. Some people I already know face to face will be there also. I'm kind of nervous because I'm driving 10 hours by myself and going by myself, but I think I will be OK.

I am also going to set up a table there to sell my tatting shuttles and hand dyed thread. I'm hopefully going to have a new shuttle design to unveil at the conference. I wanted to unveil it sooner, but I will wait until then.

I got to attend a tat a long in VA on Sunday with Linda Slater Barnes and Karen Beary Parent. It was a great day. I got some new tatting books that I have been wanting and some more thread colors that I've wanted.

I've been working on bookmarks for Nate and Naina's wedding. I asked last week if I could make some for table favors. Several people have offered to help me make them. I feel blessed. I have about 130 bookmarks to make. I'm using two simple patterns, one for the men and one for the women. Three colors of thread. That's about 22 bookmarks for each pattern and color. I've already gotten 6 done. Well on my way. LOL.

I have until October to get them done and I am confident that it will happen. So many people are helping that if I only did 2 a day for the next month, then the rest will be done by my friends.

I will post pictures when I get some from all three colors done.

Back to tatting bookmarks.

Copytatting

Taken from  

TotusMel Tats

If you follow other tatters, you may have already seen the recent issues now coined as 'Copytatting'. If not, you should pop by Martha's Tatting blog (I'll leave the post link in the comments).
I just wanted to add my 2 cents on the subject and say that I know this isn't a new phenomenon, myself and many other tatting designers that I respect have experienced many different similar incidents. I often design using vintage and antique patterns as a jumping off point and maybe that is a gray area, but what's not gray is stealing patterns and counting stitches from modern designers who can easily be contacted for permission.
So please think twice before you copy a piece from a picture online or share an un-sourced,clearly scanned pattern or image on Pinterest.
Designers work hard on their art and many like myself earn our income this way. Sorry about the rant and please do check out Martha's post for an excellent post on the subject.

Buying, selling and "stealing" someone's pattern

There are so many posts on facebook lately about people selling tatted products. It worries me because I have seen so many posts on blogs about people stealing patterns, designs and then selling them. This is very scary for someone who is in the process of writing a tatting book. My own designs are my intellectual property and I don't want to get caught up in this situation.

I also design and make tatting shuttles that I am fearful of someone stealing the design. I guess that if someone tried to sell a shuttle that my hubby or I designed people would let them know. We have become widely known for our designs and I think it would be hard for someone to copy our designs.

So with all of that being said, I am working on the designs for the book. I have come up with a concept for the book. That's going to remain a secret for now. I'm pretty excited about what I am coming up with. I need to get some patterns tested. I want shuttle and needle tatters to both test them. Boy this process is going to be a long one. But I think with doing it this way, the book will be more successful since I know that the patterns will have been tested by wonderful tatters who's opinion I trust.

Another topic - I feel bad for Shawn. He is getting bombarded with orders. It's kind of a good/bad thing. Good because it is generating income for him, but bad because he's always in the work room. He has made so many shuttles in the past three months. I guess that's what happens when you design an unique and beautiful shuttle.

I've been working on two shuttle designs. I'm running into a few little glitches for now. I will just have to refine the designs and get working. I'm pretty excited about each design. Pix to come soon.