The Bookmark and A Certain Bravery

I know you are awaiting news of  The Giveaway, but Maebh CANNOT be rushed. She and The Cat have been holed up in a cupboard for simply ages, and I am hearing a lot of  animated  mewing and whispers from that quarter.  I expect they shall emerge shortly.

In the meantime, I want to show you the bookmark for my sister's birthday - finished just in time, as she arrives on Thursday. Close.

I am thrilled with it. It looks much richer in real life; it has an old world feel to it, like Victorian front parlours and cut crystal vases.  Krystle was so right; the colours are unexpectedly fetching together.

One thing I am wondering about - and I have emailed Krystle, as it is to hers that I am comparing this - it is not as stiff as hers, though mine is actually a mite smaller, so I don't think it is tatted too loosely.  I pressed it under weight, as I always do, but I might have actually  wet it, rather than just dampened it.  Maybe this caused the softening?
 

Why bravery? 

Well, the small blue heart, added to the photo only because it looked off balance and wrong without something added, did not call for beads. When I tatted the pink one - shown a few days ago, I added one bead at the bottom.

This time, I decided midway through that I wanted three beads, but had not added them at the start. I figured out how to get the beads onto the thread using a dental thingy, and was very puffed up for about five seconds with this little show of bravery and brilliance, when I realized the bead at the top of the cluster was off-centre..

More bravery?  I am getting to it.

The blue heart was intended to be included in the package that Maebh and The Cat are devising. It is far from perfect.  But, I am sending it along because I want to become accustomed to giving  away my tatting, warts-and-all.  I am hard at work overcoming the 'it must perfect' stumbling block. I just want to do my best, and have that be just fine. So, whoever gets the blue heart, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

One last thing:

After all my griping and moaning last year about Cèbèlia, and how I wanted to get rid of it, I panicked, yessiree,  panicked, when I realized I was almost out of white #20!

That white baby bonnet had used up almost an entire ball.  On Sunday, I rushed to the craft shop, realizing I was almost out, as I tatted the edging for Mini-Boss' hat.

That white thread has become my security blanket, especially since I have gone off most of the variegated Lizbeth that I have.  HDT - another matter entirely. With regard to the store bought stuff, I MUST have white Cèbèlia on hand! How neurotic is that!

Anon,