Monday, October 31, 2005

Here is a Halloween story for you to read. Have fun and I hope you all had a nice Halloween.

Fright Night At Celtic’s House
By Sherry Townsend aka Celtic Dream Weaver


It was your fall looking day. The leaves on the trees were changing colors and gracefully falling on the ground making a multi colored soft carpet on the ground.
It was a warm day in New York on Maiden Lane in Canandaigua, New York. In the past the weather on October 31st was not fit for man or beast. But this year it was a perfect day weather wise for one of Celtic’s favorite holidays…today was Halloween.
Celtic was sitting at her table in the dining area working feverishly on her project. She wasn’t tatting or making bobbinlace. What she was working on was something that had to be finished before tonight.
Mr. Green Shuttle was all dressed up for the evening events. He was a swashbuckling looking pirate. His shirt was white and flowing. He had on a black hat that had a feather sticking out from it one side. His black pants bellowed to his knees where his black bulky boots met. He was pacing back and forth looking through his one eye that didn’t have the famous pirate patch on, eye balling the mystery project on the table that Celtic was working on making a clunking sound with his boots as he was walking.
Mrs. Pink Shuttle was decked out as a Playboy bunny outfit. Her costume made one think of a penguin, black and white with cat ears pointing up from her head. She was sitting on top of Ms. Floozy Pillow also watching Celtic trying to figure out what Celtic was doing.
Ms. Floozy was also dressed up. She was all orange with a yellow mask over her eyes with a green tatted edge that was drawn closed together at the top of her head…and she was also watching Celtic trying to figure out what Celtic was doing. The funny thing Ms. Floozy thought….I have no idea what I am suppose to be…but what Celtic was working on looked a lot like her own costume.
Celtic was turning her project this way and that way as she was working. Picking up her knife and setting it back down on the table and getting up periodically looking at her project while humming the song Monster Mash to herself…”The monster mash…it was a graveyard smash …the monster mash…”and on she went.
Celtic was expecting company this evening and that is when the fun would really begin. Her friend Esmeralda was coming over bringing with her, her daughter named Josette. They were planning on going trick or treating and then going back to the house to watch movies. But her project had to be finished before Esmeralda showed up….
“Celtic….what are you making?” said Mr. Green Shuttle and then looking at Ms.Floozy and then back to Celtic’s project.
“Well… Mr. Green Shuttle I am curving this pumpkin here so I can have a Jack-O-Lantern. A lot of people curve them every year and then set them outside with a light inside of them to illuminate them. It is a Halloween tradition and it is fun…and gives me a chance to be creative.” Celtic replied.
Celtic sat back at the table and again picked up her knife and started cutting in to the pumpkin again.
“Is that what I am suppose to be too?” said Ms. Floozy?
“Yes, you are Ms. Floozy. I thought with your round shape that it woul.d be the perfect costume for you. That way I can carry you around this evening and you can watch and see what Halloween is all about.”
Celtic picked up the pumpkin and carried it to the kitchen counter and sat it down. She then rummaged through her drawers until she found the perfect tea light candle to set inside the pumpkin. Looking through another drawer she found a book of matches…and striking one she lite the candle and put it inside the pumpkin and placed the top of the pumpkin back on. And a bright light showed through all the holes that were curved into the pumpkin.
The eyes of the pumpkin were slanted upward on each side of the face. There was a skinny “U” for the nose and the mouth was a toothless friendly grin. It was done, her Jack-O-Lantern was ready to be put outside on the deck for all those trick or treaters to look at when they came to her door later on in the evening.
“Now, I have to get myself ready. Esmeralda and Josette will be here soon. Now …what should I be this year….hmmm….I got it…”and then Celtic started to twill around…and around…the diamond dust on her purple dress coming off in a spiral cloud and then coming back on Celtic transforming her into….her dress became shorter to her knees…with blue and white checks on the material. Her hair was caught back with a blue ribbon and ringlets went down the back of her head. As she turned her shoes were clicking and changing to ruby red shoes…..I am now Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz”.
Her little friends on the table just stared at her. Puff the tatting bag let out a puff of smoke….” Dorothy?”
“Yes Dorothy, from “The Wizard of Oz”. it is a delightful movie and when we get back tonight….we will watch it on the TV. I have the movie here somewhere. I do think that Josette will also enjoy watching it. I know I have over the years.”
“ Now for refreshments,”Celtic said…looking forward to the evening ahead. She closed her eyes and clicked her red ruby shoes together…and suddenly there was all kinds of fattening donuts and chocolates all over the kitchen counter and in a big punch bowl was apple cider on ice with cinnamon sticks floating around.
Just then the door bell rang….and Celtic went to the door to let her visitors in. Esmeralda was dressed up as Mrs. Adams from the “Adams Family” all dress in black with very dark red lipstick on and a spidery net covering her pitch black long wigged hair. Her sleeves were long and full from the elbows to the top of fingers. Her dress clinged to her hour glass figure and then flowed outward from her knees that made a swishing sound as she entered Celtic’s house.
“Esmeralda…come in, so glad to keep you company while you take out Josette trick or treating.” Celtic then looked down at the girl that was behind her mother. “Now I wonder what you could be Josette….let me think here…..are you a witch?” Josette shook her head no,” Are you a Jolly Green Gaint?”….Josette again shook her head no, “ How about telling me what you are then.”
“Celtic, I am Tinker Bell ….you silly, you know from “Peter Pan?,” Josette said, ending the fun guessing game.
“Why yes you are….now why didn’t I think of that?” replied Celtic with a wink of the eye and a smile on her face.
“So… are we all ready to go then?” asked Esmeralda.
“Yup, I just want to get Mr. Green Shuttle and Mrs Pink Shuttle, Ms. Floozy and Puff situated here. I want to take them out with us tonight. I have been telling them about Halloween.”
“Okie dokie”, then said Esmeralda.
Celtic them picked all her friends up from the table. She opened Ms. Floozy’s costume at the top just a bit and carefully placed Mr. Green Shuttle and Mrs. Pink Shuttle into the opening. She also picked up Puff the tatting bag and carried him in her other hand as a little purse and turned, “There I think I am ready now.”
The three of them then went outside. It was already dark outside. The street lights were lite up and in the streets they were not alone. Giggling and laughter could be heard here and there. The other trick and treaters were out running from that house to another house…showing each other what they had just gotten from this house and that house.
The houses were all decked out too. There were lighted up Jack-O-Lanterns at almost every house. There were scare crows standing in the yards….and there were white sheets hanging in the trees with balloons inside for the heads waving in the breeze.
The three of them went to this house and that house ringing the door bells as they went along. While Josette was collecting her candy stash…Celtic and Esmeralda got caught up in all the going ons in Lacingland. It was a fun night to be sure.
The bewitching hour was getting rather late though and it was time to head for home. So back to Celtic’s house they went. Celtic could see her carved Jack-O-Lantern on her deck and the light was still shining out from the pumpkin’s face. She would let it keep smiling till the tea light candle burned out. It was safe outside to do so. Josette was all excited about all the candy she managed to get….and couldn’t wait to dump it all out on the living room rug and have Esmeralda go through it to make sure it was all safe for consumption.
Celtic left them and went to find the “Wizard of Oz” movie. After finding the movie she put it in the DVD player and said, “The movie is about to begin.”
Everybody then sat on the couch with their legs tucked under them and looked at the TV. Celtic had put her lacing friends on the coffee table and they were chit chatting among themselves about all that they had witnessed during the evening. The movie was going….and there was Mrs. Gouch being the witch she was and threatening poor Dorothy about taking her dog Toto.
The next thing they all knew was they were hearing errie sounds coming from the kitchen which was getting louder and louder.
Celtic got up and went into the kitchen to find out what was going on. And what did she find…well…she found all kinds of people dressed in costumes eating her donuts and drinking her apple cider that she was going to serve to her guests later on.
Celtic looked at them all…wondering who all of these people were….there was Dracula, a Darth Vader, a devil with a pitch fork and all. There was leprechaun, a Cinderella, a witch, a Greek Goddess and Celtic had no idea who all these people were that just dropped into her house from no where. “Okay all of you….who are you?” Celtic asked the uninvited guests.
A voice spoke up…”It is me Celtic, Georgia”,one person replied.
Another voice spoke up…”it is me Celtic, Martha,” another spoke up.
And then there was another voice…”It is me Erin, Celtic…sure had you fooled didn’t I?” she laughed.
Then Celtic heard…it is me Joy, Teresa, Riet, Sue, Jane, Ginny, Joanne, Sheridan,Shirley….and the list got longer…with more names.
“Oh my goodness everybody…what a huge big surprise you all are,” Said Celtic in a very excited voice.
“We all heard that you had donuts and cider and you were puting on “The Wizard of Oz” movie to watch, so we all decided we would crash your house and join you. We really didn’t think you mind,” said Mark with a smirky grin on his face.
“{Mind, MIND…are you all kidding me?….come…come….into the living room. I can dream up some more donuts and cider….and we have chocolate a plenty around here to add at least ten pounds to each of you before you leave tonight,” Celtic laughed and being really happy.
So Celtic had a fright night in her living room. Everybody was dressed in costume…and sitting on every piece of furniture and some lounging on the big stuffed pillows in front of the TV. All watching “The Wizard of Oz” and having a good time of it too, eating, laughing and having fun as you could hear the witch from the movie saying…”fly…fly” out her big window as the monkeys were flying across the screen.

Friday, October 28, 2005



I haven't been doing much tatting lately. I have been doing bobbinlace instead my other love. I just finished this Schneeberger Laced King. The pattern was designed by Jean Eke and was in Lace Magazine number 112. I decided to do it in colors...which made it harder to make. I might someday do it again in the traditional white. Anyhow...here are a couple pictures. One is the mess during the making and the second picture is the finished king.
I am not too sure if I am happy with the way he came out. But it is too late now...he is off the pillow.
I am not sure as to what I will do or make next. I do know that it would help me if I had size 50/2 thread. I guess I will have to order some.
Halloween is fast approaching. We got some candy today....it is going to be really hard for me to stay out of the Almond Joys. They are one of my favorite candy bars...but I have been warned not to touch...LOL
Since Halloween is coming I was thinking of writing another Celtic Gang story for the weekend. So be looking for it....it will be another one of my wacky thought up stories full of gouls, witches....and all the things that go bump into the night.

Sunday, October 23, 2005

I thought I would share this picture with all of you again that I did long time ago. Kinda funky looking huh?? I remember when I did this picture. It was right around the same time I learned how to do the "Dead Spider" way of doing a split ring.....I use to make one side of my ring. Take the ring off my hand and flip it around and then do the other side. Between the two techniques....if you do the "Dead Spider" way...you have one side of the ring that is just a bit smaller than your other side. This smaller side is the second half of the split ring. But if you do the split ring the old way I use to make them...both sides look uniformed.



Speaking of "Spiders"....here is a Honiton Bobbinlace Spider that I just finished and took finally off my honiton pillow. He has been on there all year. I kinda got sick of doing the spider web which is all "ten stick". The spider itself didn't take me long to make. He was rather simple to make. I also added beads for eyes to my spider and I made him in black thread. You will note that the web has a bit of metallic thread working. The way I made this web and spider is not the traditional way of making Honiton Lace. I just decided to make the web and spider my own way. Since he is mine...I guess that is okay. The pattern for the spider came from "New Designs in Honiton Lace" by Pat Perrymean and Cynthia Voysey page 21.




Here are some tattings I have done. The first one is the X-mas Camel pattern designed by Dolly Hollander. I did one in the X-mas colors and one in non X-mas colors.















This rocking horse pattern is from Katie Critters I think the book is called. I didn't know what colors I should make it in ...so I made it in pinks and blues varigates.

I see the pinks kinda look like orangish peach...but believe me....they are pinks.













This rocking horse design belongs toBecky Dempsey. As you can see I made two of them. One in tatting size thread and the other in completely metallic sewing thread. Kinda cute huh??









Then for fun I did some shuttles of my Buddy Ol' Pal

Scooby Doo. These are kinda my Halloween pair. No the Scoobies are not hand painted....I cheated and used stickers. But I did make a pair of the Scoobies....and had fun making them too...now I am having fun using them.....

I know it has been awhile since I posted to my blog here...but hopefully I have made up for my lapses...by showing you something different to look at and read....I hope you are enjoying this blog. Hope to hear from some of you....

Friday, October 07, 2005

It is another day.....
This morning I have been painting. I promised someone that I would paint teapots on a couple of bobbins for her. I know I will be seeing her tomorrow...nothing like waiting till the last minute huh? I have them painted now and I am putting their coats of varnish on them. I am hoping that though we are in for some wet weather (slow moving cold front moving in our direction and Tammy visiting New York) it is suppose to rain for the next few days. Yeck!! Some rain is okay...but not three days of it. But October is usually a rainy month here in New York. The temperatures will be starting to dip...it is fall after all and winter will be setting in...though according to the calendar it isn't suppose to be till December...but New York doesn't care what the calendar says...So I have a feeling our nice weather is going to be going by bye. Anyhow...I hope the bobbins will dry okay.
I have a bit more painting I want to finish on a couple more shuttles this morning and then I will be getting Ms. Floozy out and do bobbinlace for the rest of the day. Tomorrow is the start for the FingerLakes Guild lace weekend. The day for the public is tomorrow, which because of having no money right now ( I have to be so careful) I will be there just for the public day and that is all. No classes this year...and probably no spending at the vendors either...that will be so depressing for I know I am going to want to buy at least one book....bobbins, thread ...supplies for my lacing making fun. I will just have to blindfold myself and get a seeing eye doggie. The dog won't care about the vendors....LOL I know I will be demonstrating some bobbinlace...so I think I need to get myself up to speed today. It will be really nice to work on Ms. Floozy today anyways. She always makes me think of the day I got her and how happy I was. That was a good thing. :) It is better to think about the fun I had that weekend than what is going on here now days...

Wednesday, October 05, 2005


OH MY,OH MY....I have posted to my blog two days in a row....LOL!! Don't worry...it won't become a habit.
Anyhow....I have spent the past couple of days painting tatting shuttles. And other things...that I don't want to discuss...LOL So I am going to put a picture of the three shuttles that I have just listed on ebay this evening. The dragons look kinda funny don't they. You should have seen my pencil drawing of the dragon I did before I started working on Dragonique. I am no artist. But anyhow...at least what I am doing is a positive thing to do...instead of putting Kleenex out of business for I got all their kleenexes all wet.
I aslo wrote the list tonight. I just wanted people to know that the shuttles are on ebay. I want tatters to see them and know they are there. I am just doing what I can at the moment to try and well...do something besides nothing. Here are the url for the ebay listings:
http://cgi.ebay.com/HAND-PAINTED-TATTING-SHUTTLE_W0QQitemZ8224126804QQcategoryZ19158QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/HAND-PAINTED-TATTING-SHUTTLE_W0QQitemZ8224128740QQcategoryZ19158QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.com/HAND-PAINTED-TATTING-SHUTTLE_W0QQitemZ8224129970QQcategoryZ19158QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I also mentioned on the list about this Scooby Doo Halloween Flag I saw at Wally World the other day in their Halloween stuff. You know with all the ghost and mysteries that Scooby and the Gang has solved over the years....he is perfect for a Halloween mascot. But I did want the Flag. Some of you don't know that Scooby Doo is my hero...he makes me laugh. Laughter is something I like doing. I do collect Scooby Doo things. I have a notebook with a zipper that has Scooby Doo on it. I call it my Scooby Doo Tatting Fun Book. That is where I put alot of my tatted treasures I have received from people and some tatting and lace I have done. Nobody has ever given me lace that they have made....so all the lace in my book is my own I have done over the years. I have to say I tat more that I bobbinlace. I don't know why really. I love doing both. Maybe it is because with tatting I feel comfortable enough with it that I feel like taking my wings and fly and try to design something in tatting...whereas in lace....I am still trying to fly from one branch to another sorta speak. Back to Scooby Doo here....I have Scooby toys that I think have come from mostly Burger King over the years and flee markets I have been to. I also have huge Scooby Doo house slippers. I wear them alot in the wintertime...but I have to be careful in walking in them....they are a bit awkward to walk around in. I also have Scooby Doo picture Frames. One of them sits by my computer right here...it has a picture of my best friend in the frame, my doggie Angel Eyes.
Speaking of Angel Eyes...I will share a story with you...it is kinda funny. Angel Eyes was a pure blooded Alaskan Malamute so she had her papers. We registered her....for we were thinking of breeding her...but that never happened. Anyhow...I was trying to think of a name...and then I thought of one of my favorite movies "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" with Client Eastwood. So I decided I would name my dog after the character that Client played which I thought was Angel Eyes. I think I must have had a senior moment for I have seen that movie many times. After we named our little puppy for she was little once....we saw the movie again. As we were watching the movie...it came to me...right between the brain cells...Oh....MY GOD....I named my puppy after one of the bad guys who I think was played by VanCleef (not sure of the spelling) ( I know it is wrong...but the brain cells are starting to go to sleep) Client's character was Blondie. Now truth to be told...I really don't think Blondie would have fit my dog. She wasn't blonde but had the wolf coloring instead. She was black, gray and white...with yellow eyes. She was always looking for loving and wanted to be with people though some people were intimadated by her...she was big and she would love you to bits....Yup...she was my doggie.
So I guess it is time for me to stick my nose in my book that I have been reading ...which I will be reading for along time...the book has almost a 1000 pages in it....

Tuesday, October 04, 2005


I have finally finished my dragon.
As you can see I have named him Dragonique. How is that for a name??
My intent with the dragon is trying to make him simple to do...HA!!! I might have a smiple mind....but for some reason my designs don't end up simple looking or to do. He isn't quite the way I wanted him to turn out....but he is done. I wanted my dragon to have a crystal in his clutches...so I used sequins and metallic silver thread to try and do this. How else can you do a crystal I ask you...if you have any suggestion...I would love to read them. Anyhow...let me know what you think of him. I would love to read your opinions....even on how I could have made him better. I have other ideas on doing some other dragons...but for the rest of today I will be painting shuttles. I need to be putting more on ebay. The strike for my husband isn't over...and I am being told that for now....there is no end in sight. This is so hard for me to deal with. It isn't just the income problem...there are other issues.
Anyhow...please enjoy the dragon....Dragonique. :)