Dissapointment, is not the word....

Dear Gentle Reader

I don't even know how to start this blog post so I'll start it as thoughts pop up in my head. This blog post also can be considered as a wake-up call for all the honest, kind tatters out there. Now you can do what you like with this information, but if I was you, after reading this post, I'd be very careful whom do I befriend. One doesn't befriend someone and take advantage of all the kindness and support and then just stab the person in the back. You know who you are, shame on you!!! It's dissapointing, unprofessional, revolting, tasteless and fundamentally idiotic, I honestly can't find enough words to describe their actions. A true friend would never treat another friend like this. NEVER!!! As the song says "No more Mr Nice guy....".... Like it or not these things have to be voiced.... 

It came to my attention that recently some individuals were creeping into some circles causing trouble, not only that, but so much trouble and anguish, hurt that higher authorities had to be involved.  These people directly and willingly are set out to destroy what has been built up for generations in our tatting world, by their lies, threatory and threats. They'll become your friends and then they'll stab you in the back. Friends of friends associating themselves with these individuals don't realized that they are playing with fire and sitting on a time bomb, because once these individuals get in, they will destroy everything like wild fire. Warning them does nothing, they don't have ears to hear or eyes to see. These characters have no scrupules, nothing is sacred to them, notions like friendship, trust, loyalty, respect, gratitude are missing from their vocabulary and if they read this blog, maybe they should look these words up and write them down 1000 times or as many times as the meaning of these words will sink in. They will use everything and anything to destroy your credibility, good name, business and life. I'm very dissapointed, angry, frustrated to hear the length these individuals would go to destroy someone. For what? More profit? Control? Revange? Greed? If you don't do what I say I'll destroy you, kind of thing? God only knows what's in their sick and twisted minds. Nobody who gets between them and their goal is safe, they'll get you and they'll destroy, ruin you if you don't comply with their demands. 

But why bother you ask? I'll tell you why..... Because tatting belongs to everyone whom are willing to learn, not just certain privileged people.... EVERYONE .... And as long as I have breath in me I shall stay true to these beliefs and if there are enough of us out there, who believe that tatting is for everyone free of charge, these individuals will be defeated and surgically removed from trusted circles..... Everyone has to know that individuals like those are out there ready to get you, trust noone. If you must trust someone make sure, that person is a loyal to you, trustworthy and honest and would never betray you, no matter what. When hate, lies are spread, everyone loses, the enemy wins. Let's not let the enemy win!!! These people don't worth the dirt under my shoes!!! Two faced snakes they are, slithering in the grass ready to bite you and infect you with their venom.  What to do to protect yourself from these snakes? Stay united and true to your beliefs, support those who have something to say, whom built and continue to build on this truth, who want tatting to reach the next level free and unhinged. I will NEVER be afraid to stand by those whom voice the truth. If we all do this, those snakes will dissappear in the long grass, will remain nameless and time will grind them up. 

Ladies and gentlemen these are the facts and issues the tatting world and tatters are facing on daily bases....for how long are these dangerous characters will be let to hurt others that don't give in? When enough is enough? What will take for these individuals to be permanently shut down? 

I guess time will answer all these questions....but if the shoe fits, SHAME ON YOU.... 

The Way I Do It - Planting Garlic and Onion 2025

Dear Gentle Reader

It's October, so time to plant some garlic and onion sets. Information galore online and on YouTube, but this is what I do. Once the soil in my low raised bed is weeded, dug up and raked the cloves and the little onion sets are easy to plant. I also add some farm manure or chicken manure pellets because the garlic cloves are hungry plants and that will give them a bit of boost until they go dormant. No rocket science here. I plant my onion sets pretty close to each other, but not touching close, then pick every 2nd or 3rd in their spring onion state next year, leaving the rest to grow into big onions during the summer. 

Red onions - Electric

Yellow onions - Radar

I plant my garlic approx 10 cm from each other and 10 cm between each row, and approx 5 cm deep. Garlic needs frost so the clove can split and form next year's bulb. I only plant the bigger bulbs, the small ones I will use in the kitchen. 

Soft neck garlic - Germidour

It's called softneck because the stem coming from inside the bulb together with the husk that covers the bulb after drying will be plyable enough so it can be plaited together easily. 

Hard neck garlic - Morado

Hard neck ones, as the name suggests, stays hard, can't be manuvered so easily then the soft neck ones. 

Elephant garlic

Look at the size of this clove! It's huge, compared to the tiny Morado hard neck garlic next to it. 

I love Elephant Garlic because it has a milder flavour the the other 2 and it's unique to its size. The bulb will be huge too, you'd expect 20 cloves when there are only 4 or 5 of those big cloves. I'd be harvesting these next year when all the foliage turn straw yellow, but more about that then. 

Here is how I planted them. 

Between 2 rows of onion set there's a row of garlic. Between the red ones I planted the Elephant garlic, and the Hard neck Morado was planted between 2 rows of yellow onion sets. 

The onion sets will be mostly eaten by the time the garlic starts growing. They won't effect each other's growth. In the spaces between them I shall plant lettuce in the spring. The space between the cloves are approx 10 cm, this will give me a big enough bulb, but if you increase the space between the cloves, the bulbs will grow bigger. 

Then I pushed them with my hand into the soil as far as they went, being careful not to squash the cloves and lil onions. Brushed some soil on top of them and covering it with another layer of farm manure I bought from my local garden center. Then with chicken wire I covered  the hole place, that will keep the cats away. 

I didn't water them, because being in Ireland in Autumn one never is short of rain. The rain will wash all the goodness into the soil what will feed my onions and garlic, but once spring come they'll get a generous feed of chicken manure pallets to help them grow into a gorgeous crop. 

Well that's all for now. 

All the best. Enjoy your garden. 

Annamaria 

My Garden - October 2025

Dear Gentle Reader

October is the 2nd Brrrr month of the year, and came in with rain, and chilling days. Although the sunny spells between showers are always nice. October is the tenth month of the Gregorian year and has 31 days. It was originally the eighth month in the Roman calendar, derived from the Latin word octo for "eight," but became the tenth month after January and February were added to the calendar. In the Northern Hemisphere, October marks the arrival of fall, bringing in colorful foliage. It is also associated with holiday like Halloween. Boo👻🎃🦇🍬🍂🕸️🕷️😜😁

Just a taster of the scary stuff in the Range 😁👻💀☠️👻🦴

On my way to work I couldn't not stop and snap a few pics that made me think of Monet and Van Gogh paintings. It was like I'm stepping in a world of colors and hues, emotions and feelings. For an artist Autumn is a timeless subject. It's said that nature is the best artist, creating canvases of eternal beauty in nature. I'm an autumn child too, was born in autumn and I love wearing autumnal colours and looking at this palette of colors I could only smile. I always liked Autumn with all it's tantrums, bounty and beauty.

Wild clouds are gathering above my garden, storm yellow warning is issued. It's very windy, raining outside already, my poor trees are bending in the wind like reeds, but I'm sure they won't snap, I'm hoping they won't. It's mad weather outside. The garden and footpath is covered by a rich colorful carpet of leaves, randomly piled up at the street corners. Some alleys were covered by debris and fallen trees. I just hope and pray everyone will be safe and sound. Rain and wind continued the next day too but not as wild as yesterday. Even the sun occasionally peeked out announcing a calmer, warmish day.

"In the hush of October, the world holds its breath in color" - how true the person who said this was. Looking at the landscape as days go by, colors like a caleidoscope was over trees, bushes and hedges creating their own Autumnal Symphony. It's like every deciduous tree in the forest got on fire, figuratively speaking of course. 

Today (the 7th) is the day when the last bits of yummie I grow in the big greenhouse will be harvested. Tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers, aubergines and grapes gave me a late crop. Although I have lots of green tomatoes, that will ripen inside tucked away between newspaper prelonging the delights of summer.

Although I discovered tiny aubergines are still growing, I'll water them and feed them tomorrow and hopefully I'll have a few more before the frost kills them. I had 2 huge bunches of grapes sweet and juicy. Also tomorrow I'm planning to sew some winter lettuce, spinach, that will give me fresh leaves all through winter (more about it here). Weather permitting I also  need to clear the greenhouses, plant onion and garlic sets. Right now we were chased in by the rain that wasn't in the weather charts....oh well, tomorrow is another day :) 

Yesterday and the day before yesterday ( the 8th and the 9th) I was out planting my garlic and onion sets. Read all about it here. 

Look at that huge clove of garlic! That's the Elephant Garlic, I put a hardneck garlic clove next to it for comparison. I also got to harvest my only Honey Crisp apple which was huge, so brought it in, and shared with my family. Everyone got a 1/4 and some. I must say it was oh so juicy, with a bit of sharpness, but not like the Granny Smith Apple. It was lovely. I hope I'll get a decent crop before I get to push up the daisies 😜😂. The celery and green kale keeps giving still. 

Sunny, warm days slowly step out of the picture leaving place for the gloomy, damp, wet, cold autumnal days. Today outside is coldish, drizzly rain, however I guess even these days have some sort of a charm in them. I do love the light, the texture that of this dove feather peppered with raindrops. 

Yesterday I went shopping with hubs and I caught that dramatical landscape in Tesco's Carpark. If the buzzard could sing I'm sure it would sing "Somewhere over the rainbow...." 😜😁😂. However in my garden the red crabapple got even redder since the last time I saw them, it's colorful leaves randomly carpeting the lawn around the tree, as the cheeky wind keeps plucking on it's autumnal canopy "dress". It's raining today (30th), the raindrops tap dancing on the window creating their own music, while the wind is chiming in adding its own tune to the orchestra. It's cold and gloomy outside, I just hope the weather will turn a bit kinder for all the halloweeners gone trick or treating outside. 

Unfortunately the end of the month didn't have a happy ending. My family has lost an icon in my father-in-law, he was a good parent to my hubby and sister-in law, a great grandfather to his grankids, a gentleman among gentlemen, an excellent musician and an amazing carpenter. He will be very much missed, but never forgotten. Rest in peace, fly high dear man 😥

A new way of making lace - Cro-tatting :)

Dear Gentle Reader, 

I've been flirting with cro-tatting for a while now, until the day I ordered 2 tatting needles with hooked and I gave this lace making techniques a try.

Was a bit tricky at the beginning but then like a light bulb my hooked tatting needle behaved and we created the 1 motif that put a silly grin on my face. Cro-tatting might not be everyone's cup of tea, but I had fun creating this motif. 

Cro-tatting, or crochet tatting, is a lacemaking technique that combines tatting and crochet, using a tatting needle with a crochet hook on the end instead of traditional shuttles or large hooks. The process involves making stitches on the needle, similar to needle tatting, but using a tool that resembles a crochet hook. This technique creates more intricate, detailed lace that is more flexible than traditional tatting, and can be used with thread for delicate edgings or larger yarn for wearable items.

Tools and Materials 

Cro-tatting needle/hook: A specialized tool with a long, straight shank and a hook on the end.

Yarn or thread: Cotton-based threads are preferred as they don't stretch as much.

Technique

Making the stitch: The thread is manipulated around the fingers and slid through the stitches on the hook. 

Creating rings and chains: Rings and chains are formed, similar to other forms of tatting. 

Joining elements: The completed rings and chains can then be joined together to create larger, more complex designs. 

Key Characteristics

Flexibility: The technique offers a more flexible lace than shuttle tatting. 

Error correction: Unlike shuttle tatting, errors can be easily corrected by unfolding the work. 

Versatility: It can be adapted for various projects by using different sizes of hooks and threads or yarns.

This is what happens when doodles just fit into eachother

My 1st cro-tatted Daffy Doodle.... How cute is that!! 😁The middle is something that should have looked like something else I was working on, but it curled up, so in my frustration I just chucked it on my craft table and it landed right next to the round motif. Then it caught my eyes and after a few seconds I was grinning ear to ear because I just knew it was fate or providence or some other magic that brought these 2 elements together. Not only that it brought them together, but made them look cute too 😁😜😂

My Garden - September 2025

Dear Gentle Reader

September is one of those brrrrrrr months that with every day that passes draws closer to the end of the year. Kids go back to school, some go back to work from their extended holidays or start a new job or a new crafting challenge, who knows? New season, new start? However, whatever that is I hope this month goes well for you all. 😊🍁🍂

Slowly Autumn creeps into my garden too making the dog rose hips blush with it's cheeky antics. Fruit and nuts give their best, the last push of bounty from everything before frost stills growth and time.

As the weather slowly changes, days gets peppered with sunshowers and heavy downpours one is looking for some comfort food. Stewed apples, apple crumble and such are a good choice.

Today (21st) I thought I check on my pears to see if they are ready to pick. As I was walking in the biggish grass I saw a few on the ground and that's when I knew it was time. So armed with a bowl I went back out and picked 12 gorgeous, sweet smelling, juicy pears. The pear growing guide said after picking to out the fruit on a sunny windowsill so it can ripen further. So I did. But there was one that had a little mark that was surgically removed, cut into wedges and handed out to be taste proofed. Bobbing heads from hubs and father in law proved me that my pears are a success. Can't wait to enjoy their delightful juicy flesh in a few days. My one and lonely apple still hangs to dear life onto the branch blushing every time I go out checking if it's ready and it's stubborn clinging to the branch says "not yet". All right then, I shall try again. Honeycrisp apples are typically ready to harvest from mid to late September, extending into early October, but the best indicator is to taste one: it should be sweet, crisp, and juicy with a creamy or white flesh and brown seeds. Also, check that the apple's background color is a creamy or yellow hue and that it releases easily from the tree with a slight twist or tug.  Knowing this I move on to the Hazel nut tree checking if there's any nut left for me to harvest. Zero. All the nuts vanished, gone, evaporated, vamoosed. Birds? Rodents? Squirrels? Who knows? Oh well, bit disappointed, I shall live in hope that next year's harvest will be better. As you can see this day ended with a gorgeous sunset, however the weather hadd been totally disappointing, more showers then sunshine, tad bit chilly, but we are in the first brrrrrrr month, so I wouldn't have expected less.

On my way to work next day I noticed this sicamore tree in the car park that has been changing it's colors since August. The autumnal pallete always amazes me, each year at this time is the same, yet so different. I think the colors are more vibrant this year then the year before. The deep and then suttle pastels are just fabulous.

All the best, enjoy the season

Anna

Special projects 2025

Dear Gentle Reader 

A while back I started this special project for a friend.  She needed some napkin ring holders in autumnal colours.  After days of searching (mostly YouTube), digging on the Internet I found a few patterns that inspired me to make these. Although I've met a few technique challenges along the way, I had to learn how to tat around the cabon/curtain ring, then how to make picots on the carbon ring - this wasn't easy because, holding a picot gauge against the ring can be a challenge itself. I nearly borrowed a few fingers from hubs for this.😜But as you can see, I've managed to do it on my own 😜😂😁. Then I had to embellish them with beads and leaves to make them even more special. I used my own mix called Frosty Autumn. 

and these.... Don't they look like leaves on a branch or leaves dancing in the wind? If they do, mission accomplished, because THAT was the idea 😜😁🍁🍂The leaves are Muskaan patterns from her collection Let's flourish, E25-Leaf Doodle nr 2, link here. These small leaves were tatted using Lizbeth heard size 20, 40 and 80. And just like that another idea was born. 

These are and inspiration from another pattern I love. Wanda Salmans at wandasknottythoughts has the most amazing little button Ornaments for one's Christmas tree, link here. Ornament nr 1 inspired me to steal a little bit of Ireland in those decorations; the limpet ring and the seaglass are from the beaches near to my home, I hope they'll bring smiles to their faces and they'll enjoy those ornaments as much as I enjoyed making them.

All the best

Happy Tatting

Annamaria

Rathescar Lake outing with my local photoclub 2025

Nestled in the picturesque surroundings of Co. Louth, Rathescar Lakeside Walk is a stunning nature preserve that beckons tourists with its serene landscapes and tranquil atmosphere. This scenic area features well-maintained walking paths that wind around the sparkling lakes, making it an ideal spot for leisurely strolls, invigorating jogs, or a peaceful afternoon picnic. The gentle sounds of nature, coupled with the vibrant flora and fauna, create a captivating backdrop for visitors looking to escape the hustle and bustle of daily life. Each season offers a different charm, from vibrant wildflowers in spring to the rich hues of autumn leaves, ensuring that no visit is ever quite the same. The area is also a haven for birdwatchers and wildlife enthusiasts, with various species residing in the habitat. As you walk, be sure to keep an eye out for the local wildlife that thrives in this natural setting. Families will appreciate the safe and welcoming environment, making it a great outing for children to explore and enjoy the outdoors. With no entry fee, Rathescar Lakeside Walk provides an affordable and enriching experience, allowing visitors to connect with nature without breaking the bank. Whether you're seeking adventure, relaxation, or a perfect spot for photography, Rathescar Lakeside Walk is a must-visit destination that showcases the natural beauty of Ireland. (according to evendo.com)

Every single word is true of what was said. The place is a real sanctuary for wildlife, occasionally surprising everyone with something. You'll find swans, ducks, moorhens, bugs and butterflies and plants for every season. It's the closest walk to my home so we often go out there for a walk.

The group also got 3 photo challenges and these are mine... Photo of a Swan or Duck, macro, and part of the lake....