What's the Stitchy?

With Sprinkles On Top

Any idea what's going on in this photo? I'll give you the sitchy on the stitchy in my next post.

XO Terez

HH: Renaissance Man

Valentine Heart tatted by HH

My father is a renaissance man. He gardens. He woodworks. He cooks. He can redo an apartment for less than $1,000. He hunts. He camps. He ballroom dances with my mother. And? He tats lace:

Baby Bonnet Crown for Pending Little Herbert Girl

He taught himself to tat almost 35 years ago. Every couple of years he'd pick up his shuttle and thread and crank out a pair of baby booties for a pending niece or nephew. I think he taught himself from a book and my great-grandmother on Mamacat's side worked with him a bit.

Valentine doily for TH by HH

When retirement came a calling, HH had more time to work on his tatting skills. He started tatting bookmarkers (as he calls them) for many of the friends he's made through the years. He's done all colors, and here is his latest, started on the plane ride here and finished this weekend:

HH's Bookmarker

The first two photos in this post--the Valentine Heart and the Baby Bonnet Crown--he completed during this trip. Ahem, he finished three of those Valentine Hearts and the baby bonnet is much farther along! It is amazing to watch my father work on this dying art.

Mini-Hearts Chained Lace

Three cheers to HH for spending Valentine's with me and three cheers to Mamacat for letting him come ;)

XOXO Terez

This Heart's On Fire

Flaming Heart {Right Side, Test Print}

Spent a lovely afternoon crafting with the girls in the studio. Between the four of us we completed: *one knit hat (CS's first, congrats!), three origami and one kiragami lessons (thank you, LA!), numerous paper boxes, balloons and hearts, one amazing Banana Bread (this needs capital treatment) courtesy the KimKitch and blogged here, Mamacat's famous cheddar and bacon dip with veggies and chips, one bag of heart gel candies and one complete (well, nearly) carving from yours truly:

Heart On Fire Rough Cut

This is an amalgamation of a couple of different doily cuts from various sizes and a bit of imagination. I'm thinking about carving a keyhole in it but I might leave it as is and clean up the flames and the center heart. Ooooh I love it, though. These photos misrepresent its size--it's about eight inches across, 6 inches high:

I've learned that during the gray-snowy-slushy-back-side-of-winter, my brain craves red. Good thing Valentine's Day is right there in the middle of the home stretch to spring!

XO Terez