Motifs #s 13 and 14 (and State Fair News!)

15/08/11
Kristen says...

Hello everyone!

In an attempt not to do any lesson planning or anything remotely related to school while at home (it won't last forever, I'm sure!) I have been filling my time lately with fun things like tatting and baking!

The tatting first...if you remember in my first "tatting" post I mentioned I was working on a baby bonnet...I started it as a gift for my then-unborn first niece or nephew, which turned out to be a boy (Ezra), so, I just kind of put it aside.

Then my other sister announced she was pregnant, so I thought maybe that baby would want it...but of course my new nephew Jackson doesn't want it either...and as I have no other prospective nieces and nephews lurking in the shadows (that I know of)...

I didn't think I would ever have a reason to finish it.

But then, miracle of miracles, one of my friends here in Honduras had a baby girl, and so I thought I would finish the bonnet and give it to her. Thus, over the weekend I added the last row to the brim and the edging around the whole bonnet.
The problem is, it's HUGE! Apparently one thing I need to learn about tatting is to look at the suggested thread size...I really like working with a #5 needle and this gorgeous Pearle 8 Turkish cotton I buy down here for 60 Lempira (about $3.00) per spool (365 yds of the softest thread ever for $3.00? Yes please!), but apparently I needed to use something a bit smaller for this bonnet...because it's not baby sized, it's Kristen sized:

oops! :)

We've all had a good laugh about the gigantor baby bonnet (made from a vintage pattern I found on the Internet, btw) and had some fun making fun of it...












Even Pip's gotten in on the fun :)

So, lesson learned...pay attention to thread sizes or be prepared for huge baby bonnets :)

Motif #14 is much, much smaller and less intricate. It's the Lacy Square from Rozella F. Linden's "Easy Tatting." Take a look:
Nothing too exciting, but it was kind of fun to make.

Also, in State Fair tatting news...I ended up entering 4 things into the Iowa State Fair, and found out this week that all four are on display, and Motif #12 (that stupid maroon and white bookmark) received a Horrible (I mean Honorable) Mention ribbon! (We've called them "Horrible Mention" ribbons since childhood, back when we were upset to get them, but I really am excited...I didn't expect any sort of ribbon at all my first time entering, so I will be proud of all the ribbons I won this summer!)

I have also dedicated a lot of time the past few weeks in baking bread...so far I've made an oatmeal wheat bread, a soft white bread (which I made into knotted rolls), and this braided egg bread:
So, that's what's been going on here since school started last Wednesday...we're in the midst of what may turn out to be either our last or second-to-last year in Honduras (WOW!) so we're starting to plan some trips we've been wanting to take...hopefully we'll have new pictures from the North Coast/Roatán sometime in September, and Guatemala(!) in October (happy birthday to ME!)...also it looks like we may get some visitors from my side of the family, so theoretically our TeguciAdventure will get a little more exciting in the next few weeks/months. :)

Have a great week!
KF