Ann Onnymouse!

Remember the mouse that that TOG 'down south' shared the other day?? (This pattern) 

 Well, this particular TOG had the pleasure of test tatting it!! 

 I christened her.... hence the post title!! I've fed her cheese to stop her running away. Although I can tell you that mouses much prefer chocolate.... It's what the field mice that get into the house think anyway! Think they're brought in by the cats!! 

 Reminds me of a story from 'Mummy' a number of years ago when she had 2 cats and no kids. One cat brought a mouse in (dead) and deposited it on the floor. It was spotted, and she said to the cat 'What's that doing there?' Said cat promptly picked it up, went into the kitchen and deposited it in the food dish!! Lunch!!! LOL 

 Anyway, I know you want to see... here's my version of Ann...

 

She is pretending to be a Kangaroo!!

What do you do when you get bored???

Morning All. So what do you do when you get bored? Read a book? craft? I find a couple of empty shuttles, thread, buttons, beads.... then decide what to make!! 

 We've been 'up north' in Scotland, furry grandchild sitting whilst Young Sir and Young Mrs were away on honeymoon. Of course I had thread, shuttles and beads with me but no buttons. This meant that I couldn't make myself earwigs or a bracelet from one of Jane's button patterns. So, I was BORED!! Mind you, it's taken me a few days to blog this purely because we came back to a completely drained loo! No water in it at all, cept for the cistern!! Flush, it'll pull back to almost empty.... turns out there was a blockage way down the line to the road, past all the other cottages!! Everyone must have had problems of the sewer allowing their loo to fill with water and drain slowly at the very least! Sorted this morning by good old Yorkshire Water... well the engineers are friendly! 

 Anyway, back to tatting... reading that TOG's blog, where she was making leaves and I started thinking.... grabbed the pattern, read it, and it set me off thinking.... Would it work if I made the centre as a ring and split rings.... It had to be tried!! The shuttles needed emptying anyway (my excuse and I'm sticking with it!) I'm sure someone else will have come up with the same idea....

I wonder what it would look like with beads.... Oh and here's a pic of the furries with their owners. The cat is missing, she wouldn't sit still!!

 

I'm sure you know....

That this particular TOG is mad on both owls and dragons!! A few years ago I shared the stories of McVroom (way back in January 2014) and Hagua in August 2014. I'll link them if I can work out how to! The pattern is here  

McVroom is the Scottish Loch Dragon, and loves to fly overhead in rain! You can tell he's there because it's wet!! Anyway, I've found out he changes colour! Around Halloween he turns autumny colours and starts really flying! Rain, wind and falling leaves add to his fun. Hiding in the autumn trees is simple, and he flicks them off with his tail! That's why not many people know about Scottish Loch dragons, because they don't see them when they're admiring the autumn colours of the trees, they're well camouflaged!. They are fun loving and extremely mischievous! Wet or dry leaves fall and most people assume it's the wind.... the wet ones dry on the ground eventually, and crunch when you walk on them, which McVroom does at on October 31st, just as it's getting dark.... so you can't see him, but you can hear his tail clunking on the ground behind you!! Then people think all sorts of weird things.... but it's not!! Here he is:

Thats better!!!!

Done!

So yesterday I showed you the bookmark almost finished. Today I finished it!  Being a lacemaker too, the 'tail' is a 2 pair plait fastened into a picot and beaded with size 11 seed beads from my stash!

It's All

Mike's fault!

A few weeks ago I decided to treat myself to Tatting Tiles! Being digital it's now stored both on the laptop and my phone.  I fell in love with one of the tiles, and, being in Scotland house and furry grandkids sitting while Young Sir and Young Mrs are on their honeymoon, I grabbed some thread and a shuttle....

This is going to be a bookmark soon as I locate my needle, but needs finishing off.... However I just 'had' to share!!

Chat soon!

All Over!!

The Garter, and the wedding!! Young Sir and the New Mrs are now hitched! The wedding went well, in a brewery in Glasgow. Restrictions lifted enough for them to get married, and drink and dance! Bet you all thought 'thank heavens, Pigmini has stopped blogging!!' No such luck folks!! Anyway, I'm certain what you really want to see is a few pics.... not many tho because somebody forgot to take them!! First up is the Garter:

Then there's the bracelet:

The cake, complete with 'raptor bride n groom!!:

And of course the cause of all of the above!!

Oh, nearly forgot .... Sir in his kilt!!

More Done!!

Around 18 months ago I 'volunteered' to make a bobbin lace garter for Young Sirs Bride to be. Part done and Lockdown struck!! We waited.... made a tad more lace... wedding cancelled as the venue couldn't be opened! They rearranged and waited, limit of 20 guests... who to not invite.... Decisions on guests, Grooms rellies not allowed into Scotland!! Aaargh!!! We are now at the finishing stages of plans, Young Mrs D to be couldn't find anyone to make a wedding cake.... It's arranged now, I contacted the first person to ever cuddle Young Sir outside of the family, he was less than 36 hours old.... She's a cake business owner!! sorted it, fruit, chocolate sponge, fruit in a stack! They have the topper and you'll have to wait to see what we've arranged for the sides... Promise to take a pic or two!! As you already know, waaay back in Feb I made a bracelet for Young Mrs D to be, and stalled on the bobbin lace... not enough light... Anyway, yesterday I managed to remove it from the pillow!! Now to find the ribbon and elastic to finish it in the next couple of weeks!! Has to be ready for the beginning of August!! Here's the lace:

Beads, a forthcoming wedding and a Crazy TOG

 As most of you are aware, Young Sir was due to get married last year.  Thanks to Covid it got cancelled, and is due to take place this summer instead.  Young Sir's fiancee has already got her dress (I hope), and her hair adornments.  After a zoom call with them I have ended up making a Starry Button Bracelet from Jane's website for her.... All white and pearl beads!  Simple to do provided you follow the instructions to the letter, and is easy to make larger than the 6.5 inch wrist if need be.  You can add a chain or split rings to lengthen it. However it's the right size for the future bride!  Pearlised buttons, and pearl beads to the fore!!  Must show you:

The End

Of another Tat It And See has been reached. Always a slightly sad day, but it's a great chance to perfect new skills by making more! Gives you chance to practice... Be it split rings, the shoe lace trick, adding beads to your tatting...

Barmy Bonkers the Beaversquirrel Fox is a bookmark as you can clearly see, if you leave his nose and eyes out he can make sure nobody but you moves him! However, we all know that foxes are partial to nutty squirrels, and nutty squirrels like nothing better than to bed down for the winter in a nice hole. If you leave this bookmark alone for too long you may find that he has shredded the inside of your book for a warm bed! Beaversquirrels are slightly better in that they don't hibernate, but they are partial to shredding paper to imitate snow! Gives them something to do when it's too cold for us to spend much time outdoors, this means that they can't bonk us on the head with snowballs  from the snow on tree branches! So Watch Out! I hope you have all enjoyed this tatty tale!

Day 15

Well Barmy is a happy Beaversquirrel this morning as he can now camouflage on a tree branch! He's not turned white yet which means that if you look carefully along branches you may just spot him hiding. Preferably before Jane gives him paws to knock snow onto your head!!

TIAS Day 14

I must say that that TOG down south really does have peeps guessing this year! Ooh she's a sneaky one I must say!! Forgot to post yesterday, and we've snow here, so.... Barmy refused to change colour, although I have a sneaky feeling he will as soon as it melts!! LOL. Anyway, here's what he looks like at the end of Day 14.... still in his autumn colouring....

Day 13

 Afternoon All

We are currently experiencing icy wind chill and snow flurries that don't seem to want to lay except for on the hill at the back in the distance.  Had to go shopping this morning and drop an old phone off to a friend that's just moved into her first house!!  The phone line is connected but not the internet yet, so we gifted a phone so she isn't quite so isolated (the village has no real mobile phone signal).

Came home to find that Jane had put Day 13 on her blog!  So, I went and looked.... Barmy now has a head and had a quick look out of the window, as it's not snowy landscape out there he's still in his autumn colours!!

Want to see???

Day 12

 Well, we've reached day 12 in the TIAS.  Do we have a second eye?? Methinks so!!  

Barmy is now saying to us..... "All the better to see you with My dear"!  If you think of the fairy tales is it Granny in the cupboard and a wolf in a beaversquirrel coat??  Is that what they're trying to tell us??

Maybe, or maybe not.  We shall just have to wait and see.... 

And Now

I'm caught up with the TIAS!

After Barmy was caught curled up dozing he stretched out on the cat! (That was yesterdays post....)

Then that TOG down south decided he should be able to sniff for the slim chance he can change colour this winter! The powers that be are telling us we will get snow this coming weekend.... We'll wait and see!  

And here you can clearly see he's got an eye on what she's up to next!! One can never second guess what's going on in the mind of BC3!

I see from the blog that others think it may be an EFUS (Julibeth) or a fox, ermine or even a giraffe or dinosaur. I am jus' sayin'.... It's Barmy Bonkers the Beaversquirrel!  Maybe we'll get the EFUS next year!!! ROFL

Day 8

Yes, I know it's VERY late.... However, my phone decided that it didn't want to charge! Had to use a very old phone for calls!

Young Sir rose to the calamity and has sent his old phone for me and Sir to use as Sirs has a busted screen. As his is still charging I've managed to get the use of it first! So, here's where I left Barmy the Beaversquirrel. Now why does that TOG 'down south' think he should be asleep or hibernating? I've already explained (I think) that Beaversquirrels don't hibernate. They pinch birdfood when it's hung in trees (mainly the nuts in bags) and throw snowballs when it's snowing!

Anyway, here he is curled up asleep!

And....

 The latest picture of the evolving of Barmy Bonkers the Beaversquirrel involves the error in the ways of a TOG 'somewhere down south'.  This particular TOG did spot that an error had been made on the pattern, and it was corrected.  Well, it was spotted after someone pointed it out, and it wasn't me!!  I spotted it but others had got there before me!!

Anyway, he's been photographed and is definitely looking forward to the next bit of the pattern!!  Beaversquirrels are shy by nature, and don't come into full view most of the time.  You may spot one in the Autumn (Fall) when they can be seen very occasionally on the ground, but still spend most of their time hiding in branches where there are still a few leaves yet to fall.  As I said a few days ago they turn white in the winter when there's snow, and if it's raining we never look up to see if we can see them!  If it's frosty they're grey and can be mistaken for the Grey Squirrel that's so prevalent in England, but not in Scotland, where they may well turn red and be mistaken for the Red Squirrel.  In the spring they're wood coloured and look like tree branches because they sit very still near the trunk.  Then they are often mistaken for sleeping owls!!

Right, here's the latest picture!!

Day 6

 Afternoon Folks!

So,  as nobody seemed to have a preference on a name, the name stands as Barmy Bonkers the Beaversquirrel!  In the pictures over the last 5 or so posts you can see the way he is evolving.  It may well be that when he's fully formed he's something entirely different but at present he remains as above!!  The reason for the double barrelled name is because nobody is quite sure that there are two of them or just the one.... so it may well be that Barmy and Bonkers are one and the same.

Today he is modelling on the other house cat.  We've actually got 3, but the third one has moved down the street because the cat flaps are always open and there is always a dog bowl full of cat biscuits on the floor. The house is known locally as Cat Cafe!!  That cat only has 3 legs after having an argument with a train as a kitten.  His brother is shown below, he's so laid back he's almost horizontal!  Loves fireworks, snow, etc and does not get fazed by much.  The other model is black and white and known by me as the permanent lodger!  She moved in several years ago as a kitten belonging to one ofYoung Sir's ex girlfriends.  The cat stayed the girlfriend didn't!

This is why I say I have one and three quarters cats and a permanent lodger!

Anyway, back to Barmy Bonkers.... As you can see he is evolving slowly!!  It remains to be seen just exactly how he looks when finished!!

Guess what??

 Reading through the TIAS blog for today, I discovered Maureen from Oz had suggested that it may be a platypus and it put me in mind of the first cat we had when we first moved here.  He came from next door as a kitten.  We had duck on Christmas Day and gave him bits at lunchtime.  He spent the whole afternoon stretched out in front of the fire (along with all the men of the family in chairs) asleep.  He became known as the Duck Filled Fatty Puss!!  Unfortunately he was killed the next year on the railway line.  The first of a long line of kittys!

Anyway, I digress.... Maureen, I hate to say it, but you got your Rabbit a few years ago!  I named mine Campbell so I remember!!  So you can't have a fattypuss this year!  It's definitely Barmy, my Beaversquirrel!

Incidentally, another little known fact about Beaversquirrels in winter, is that they can turn white at the sight of snow!  We're sure that there are some outside of Young Sir's house, but, with 5 inches of snow this morning, no-one can tell!  Like the Scottish Loch Dragons (MacVroom, in 2013!) of a few more years ago, that fly only when it's raining, and the Albino ones only fly when it's snowing so you can't see them, the Beaversquirrel turns white and sits on the tree branches in plain sight!  The rest of the year they're leaf coloured!  I'll show you once I've spotted them when I next go up to Scotland!  Eek!! That's made me realise I only came back to tatting 9 years ago!!  Hadn't done any since I left school!  In 2013 Jane's TIAS was the Pram, I asked if I could join, and the reply was.... "of course you can, you daft moo"!!  Anyone who has the audacity to call me a daft moo is either bonkers or as sane as I am and definitely deserves to be a friend!  Tat's just given me a thought.... do I change his name??  Barmy or Bonkers??  He could be Bonkers because it's snowing in Scotland, so his brother has turned white and is busy bonking people on the head with snowballs!!

So, here's how far I've got with Barmy or Bonkers!

As for his name.... Your Call Folks!!!

Tat It And See

 Now I know I'm known as a Teller of Tall Tales in this part of Yorkshire.  I've just sent my Day 4 offering to that TOG down south, modelled once again by the cat who insists on being on my knee if I'm sitting down and she's indoors!!

Anyway, this storyteller has a cat rather than a dog.  I have already told my crazy TOG friend this story, but I'm sharing it with everyone here as well....

So, we were supposed to helping (socially distanced and with full PPE provided) out today, but thanks to the weather we’re not, we’re staying home safe!!  It’s given me chance to do my Day 4.

I realised it's not an EFUS!!

I have now decided what this is.  It’s a Beaversquirrel!  Beaversquirrels are extremely rare which is why you have never heard of them.  They are found in the denser forests of the Scottish Highlands where there is an abundance of waterfalls and fast flowing rivers with lots of trees on the sides. Beaversquirrels live in the trees along the banks and hide in plain sight because they’re camouflaged!  They have the tail of a beaver and the body of a squirrel, hence the name.

Here’s my Beaversquirrel so far:  His name is Barmy because he’s the amalgamation of ideas between 2 barmy TOGs one in Stratford and one in Yorkshire!!

Chat soon

TIAS Day 2

 Ok Peeps can someone please explain to me why I look at the destructions for day 2 and promptly put in extra picots on EVERY ring??

Yes, I'm the bonkers TOG that did that!!  Not only that, but I started a second one and did exactly the same!!  It was when I was at the end of Day 1 for the second set that it dawned on me!!  So, that was cut off and the first one was undone!!  How crazy can I get?? (Don't answer that.... I'm totally crazy, I already know!!)

Anyway, I've redone that one, and will get around to redoing the second one, maybe a pic tomorrow!  This part is modelled by the cat!  My semi permanent laprug in the winter!!  I'm still thinking it's my elephants foot.... you can see the toes!! Lots of toes!! VBG

Here you go!

A New TIAS

I do love it when a certain TOG friend decides to run a TIAS. We've missed them!! If you don't know what I'm talking about head over here. My contribution for yesterday is below. I've decided it's definitely an Elephants Foot Umbrella Stand this year! Jane loves to tease us, but it's my decision!! Those of you who remember will know that every year it's my guess till it's obviously not... I'll get it this year for sure! On other levels, we're still in the lockin here in the UK. Only go shopping once a week for the longer lasting essentials, and things like bread when I run out. Catfood is usually what I run out of.... depends on the weather as to how much the cats eat indoors! One cat has moved down the street because they've a catflap thats permanently open and food down all the time. All the street cats go and help themselves, we call it Cat Cafe! They get to socialise more than we do!! Anyway, here's my EFUS after Day 1.... He's allowed to stand on the laptop until he gets too big and heavy for it!! VBG