I feel like Cinderella!

Last Friday I got a notification for a parcel but I couldn't go to pick it because was a long holiday weekend and wasn't until Wednesday that my lil sister took me to the post office. It was from Spain, from one of the online members of the Spanish-speaking tatters group; Esperanza.

Inside I found several treasures!

There is a pair of scissors with a ribbon so I can hang them on the neck and don't loose them. hehe

The earrings are the cutest and tiniest bobbins I've seen.

There's a faux MOP fan skeleton to make a pretty fan.

And the stars of the package: a pair of glass shuttles with my name on them!!! Now I know how Cinderella felt when she got the glass slippers.

The biggest one has a golden green tone with dark green strips and the small one has a aural orange/pink tone.

They are not uniform in the thickness but I think I can use them with a fine thread like #40 or #80. The point are not tight. But who cares about the defect!? They are perfect! Only another person in the world have a pair of these shuttles and is my friend Esperanza. :-) They were made by a glass artisan solely for her.

Thank you a bunch!

Oh no! Another hobby?

Well, it's not completely new. I learn quilling I think at the same time as tatting. But as with everything else, I stop because I couldn't find materials. Lately I have seen on Annie's Attic about the new sets of quilling and bug bite me again. :-) So I got my set out and started playing again. I found on E-Bay really cheap supplies and got some paper strips. Here is something I did a week ago. It's my first 3-D project. A little flower pot with some flowers and a blue bird singing. Cute, eh? Just free-style. I didn't follow any pattern for this one. I have other photos but will post them on an album and share the link.

I'm looking forward to incorporate tatting and quilling into the same project. Let see what can I come with!

Tat Days Scholarship

This is a great way to promote tatting and keep it alive! If you can;t go to the event at least you can participate to get this gorgeous quilt!

Tat Day Scholarship

Foldover Bookmark

I have been tatting madly lately. Trying to cope with the stress. And what better pattern to do a gazillion time that the Foldover Bookmark by Jon Yussuf. I really love this design. Heck, I already have almost a dozen of them in different colors! It's so easy to make that after the first one I knew the pattern by memory. :-)

Here is the bookmark folded. The purpose of the bookmark is for people that doesn't like tassels on their books. So the bookmark has 2 pieces. You place one piece on the page that you want to mark and the other piece a few pages after.

I noticed that the design can make a very pretty bracelet. Just adding an extra short piece to the other side. Isn't it cute? BTW... The thread is Lizbeth #20 in Wildflowers. I just fall in love with this color! Almost finishing the ball, so I will need to buy a couple more. lol

Sorry I asked... But don't judge me either.

It seems that me asking for help with donations toward my bariatric surgery has risen a polemic and drama that I really don't want. It has mixed with the fact that I'm asking a membership of $10 annually toward the payment of the group at NING for the Spanish-speaking Tatters.

Let me explain first about the Ning money. When Ning decided to ask for the network creator a quote for the use of Ning, I looked for alternative in about a dozen of places. None of them worked as good as Ning and the members in consensus opt to pay the membership of $10 annually to keep the network and all the applications that it has, specially the storage space. There are some people that have problem paying the membership and in each case I have say, it's ok to stay in the group. Even other members have given more than their share of money to help others to stay. Members that can't pay for whatever reason will be able to stay in the group with limited participation. Now, people that are protesting about the money is because $10 per member, and the group have over 1000 members, will give me a lot of money and I'll be rich! But what they don't see is that not all of those members are active, there are people that enter once or twice to see what's in the group and then don't enter anymore. There are people that enter to "steal" material, patterns and photos. So doing a cleaning of all those the group will be greatly reduce to around 100-150 members. Still a lot of money? Well, the rest of the money will be used on the group anyway. The web site has a maintenance around $100 per year. There are contests that will receive material prizes. There will be a better classroom for the online classes. And what if I want to ask for some money for the time I dedicate to the searching of material, translations, designing and classes... Is that bad? Should I give all my time for free? Unfortunately I can't because I don't work and don't have a salary, only a pension which half of it is spent in medicines. Even members have suggested that I could use some of that money to travel and give classes in other countries, something I won't do if this will bring more flame and drama.

Now, about my bariatric surgery. I asked some help because I really need the surgery, not for cosmetic reasons but for my serious health condition. I don't like to talk a lot about it because it's depressing and some people don't like to hear this kind of things because they have their own problems. But I will say it. Yes, my health is very bad, is deteriorating each day more and there's no cure for it. The bariatric surgery will help to diminish some of the secondary health problems, but it will not CURE my Lupus or Asthma. I found some help toward the surgery and that's really good, but still I will need to fund some deductibles and expenses that right now I don't have money and will never have, to be sincere. And I"m not asking money for nothing on exchange. I placed my links to 2 of my online shops. You can buy whatever you want. If you don't want to buy anything but will like to make a donation, fine! I'll appreciate it enormously. I'm not forcing people to buy and make donations!

Saying all this... I have been call a fraud and make me look like all I'm asking is money for my selfish self. That hurts a lot! All my life I have to fight to stay alive, achieve a lot of things that people get for granted. Seven years ago I started this movement to promote Tatting in Spanish. I started translating WITH permissions, materials and patterns. Started the online class in Spanish. Designed a lot of patterns and made a lot of projects, just so that people learned this art. What I gain from this? Stealing of my patterns and translations, illegal publishing of material in my website and group. Tons of fights with my family about the time I spent in the freaking computer and tatting, forgetting a lot of time to do my chores.

So I won't allow ANYONE to call me a fraud! Just because I'm asking some money to help myself to get better health and so I can continue teaching tatting. You don't know all the sacrifices, tears, stress and anxieties I have been through in my life. All the close calls that even my family thought "this is it, the end of Wally's life". Don't judge me because I asked for $10 annually so you can learn an art that anywhere will cost you a lot more! And as I said at the end of the last post. PRAYERS are also very well received.

Sorry I asked for money. I just wanted to get better.

Can you help me achieve my dream?

I have been talking a lot about my plans for Bariatric Surgery. This is something I need to help my health, it's not purely cosmetic. Several of my doctors have recommended it and even went to my 1st evaluation but I can't make it here in PR. I was looking several options and I receive answer from West Penn Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. Medicare covers the surgery and my secondary insurance covers Medicare's deductible. But for transportation, stay and special diet I will need around $2000. From those I need $500 at the end of August for the 1st evaluation (ticket, stay and food).

Before I start reading comments about diet, supplement and miracle cures, let me just say this. I have Lupus and actually is active. I have been visiting professional nutritionists for years and though I loose some pounds, I regain them again because of some medicines I take. I can't take natural supplements that boost the immune system because that's exactly the problem with Lupus. My immune system is over reactive and things like that make it worst. And to end, there's no miracle food, ,diet or nothing that will cure you or make you loose all the weight miraculously. In my case the last resort is surgery after a lot of alternative that my own doctors have tried with me. This is not only surgery, but a total change in my lifestyle, thus I have a medical team of 8 doctors, including surgeon, hematologist, nutritionists, psychiatrist, physical therapist, etc. Even a spiritual counselor.

I really don't like to keep asking people for money. But because I can't work in a regular job, all I can do is tat and see if people buy some of my work.

Can you help me? Prayers and donations are greatly accepted!



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What to do? Here, there or Yonder?...

At last, after almost a month of trying to talk to the coordinator of the bariatric center where I made my initial evaluation I was able to talk with her. I told her about my nasty phone call with the dr's secretary that told me that the Hospital do accept Medicare but the dr not yet and there's not a definitive date for it. I have been waiting for an appointment for over 1 1/2 years. I can't stay any more in this limbo. My husband is in Egypt and though he supports me 100%, he's starting to be anxious of when I'll be traveling back to Egypt.

So, the coordinator told me that yes, the hospital part of the surgery is covered by Medicare but not the surgeon's fee. I asked if my secondary insurance can pay for the dr and she tld me that she doesn't know. So now I have to try to get an appointment with the dr to talk about this. *sigh* All this have left me broken.

Now, I found several drs online and I will be calling a dr in SC. I will be traveling to Columbia, SC in August 25 for a Lace Convention, so I thought that I can travel a few days before or stay a few days more and go to a seminar. I will try to call tomorrow to be sure about the seminar dates.

Now I feel like the song that says "Should I stay or Should I go". Here or there? There are a few details like extra money for the extra stay if I decide to do it on SC, or the eternal waiting here in PR until I get an answer.

I hate to make this kind of decisions!