Someone else is excited about Shuttlebirds too!

Brenda "Blathnaid" is coming to Shuttlebirds again. She had so much fun the last time! She has been a great little leprechaun helper. I must say, (and I mean no offense to the boys) but girl leps are so much less troublesome than the boys. My Brendan is still off gallivanting around the world...I wonder if he'll ever come home.

If you are totally lost, I'll take a moment to catch you up. Brendan is my first Leprechaun. He came to me when I lived in South Korea. He is very adventurous and mischievous. I took him to Vietnam and it was there that he decided to part ways and go on his own. Every now and again I hear word about his travels. He is after all "Brendan the Navigator".
I missed him though so when I got back to the States his sister Brenda came to live with me. She is "Brenda the stay at home". Her Gaelic name is Blathnaid. She is stylish and organized...(two things I am not)...and although she loves a good joke (like all leps) she is more mild mannered than her brother. She is here to stay!

Feargal, Miss Scarlett, Oisin and Isaac

With cameo appearances by 5 of the 7 dwarves.

The first collage shows Oisin and me swapping rides. I like his car pretty well and he loves my skateboard. Hey, Mum. Do you see me in your thread? I thought you were here. In fact, I insisted you were. Oisin's mum finally figured out that I was detecting your presence from your thread. She let me play in it for a while. I miss you Mum!

 

This one is when we first met Isaac after his nap. He is a very busy little boy! Oisin's mom made sure he was ever so kind to us and no damage was done. He likes to help Oisin with the skateboard. He tried to help me, but I don't need any help! He loves Miss Scarlett. I think in the picture he is saying, "My Miss Scarlett." Oisin's mum promises she will be continuing to travel with me even though she likes her very much too.

 

These are some of my new "peeps." There are two more but they are camera shy. Isaac likes to stand them up and knock them down. They don't seem to mind at all. NOT ME. We Leps didn't take part in that!

 

I hope you enjoyed these pictures. There will be more, I am sure.

TWAS THE DAY BEFORE FEARGAL!

One day this week I walked down the drive to see if the post had per chance arrived.
I was checking the traffic with not a little fear when two wee voices reached my ear.
I looked in the mailbox and what should appear but an envelope screaming, “We’re in here, we’re in here!
We can hardly breathe and it’s terribly hot. Wherever we were headed, this can’t be the spot.”
I’d heard a rumor of a Leprechaun traveling ‘round so I suspected the source of this indignant sound.
I tore open the envelope with excitement and trepidation. Would it bring happiness or cause a sensation?
Inside was a box that said “open here” on the end. I did so and out popped dear Feargal and his friend!
Gasping for breath and bent at the knees he said, “This is Miss Scarlett. She is traveling with me.
My name is Feargal, my mum sent me on tour. She said I’d find Oisin, my cousin, behind your door.”
“We are most glad to see you”, he said wiping his brow, “but I just can’t talk anymore right now.
Could you bring us a cold one and let us sit a spell? We have lots and lots of stories to tell.”
I brought them inside with their traveling gear and whispered, “Be quiet”, in Feargal’s ear.
“Our Isaac is asleep and you’ll have no cooling down if he finds another Lep has come to town.
He’ll be up soon, as will Oisin. Let’s get you both cooled off and you’ll be ready for them.”
I didn’t give him a cold one which might seem mean, but a Lep drinking alcohol isn’t a good thing.
We had some ice tea with lemon and a sprig. I thought Miss Scarlett was going to dance a jig.
We got them settled and went through their treasures. So many things of beauty it was hard to give measure.
Treasures from his mum and souvenirs to take back, the box is getting heavy. It is packed, packed, packed!
By this time my boys were coming awake and I wondered how long the discovery would take.
Not long at all, as luck would have it. The Leps danced with glee and Isaac had a fit!
Oisin introduced Isaac to his visitors with glee. They were all so intrigued no one even noticed me.
Isaac is having some trouble with Feargal’s name but he’ll get it just the same.
“Miss Scarlett” rolls off his tongue and sends me to giggles. (I don’t think he learned that accent from watching “The Wiggles.”
I settled them down with some cookies and cold milk. Miss Scarlett said it tasted like silk.
Then up from the table for fun and games. My living room will never be the same.
I’m not sure who is busier, 2 Leps or a boy, but they rode every car and played with each toy.
They told stories and laughed until Isaac’s mum arrived and then the trouble started like a working beehive.
You see, Isaac was “reluctant” to leave the celebration but knew his mum would hear no protestation.
He tried with his granddaddy and he tried with me, but we never interfere with mum, no indeed!
Isaac went home and Miss Scarlett said “goodnight.” The Leps stayed up talking until first light.
They had lots to catch up on and questions to ask. Granddaddy finally had to take them to task.
“Now you have stayed up all night and a new day is here. Isaac will be back and you are not ready – it is clear.
You’d better nap quickly and catch a few winks. Our boy will be ready to work out the kinks.”
They had barely dropped off when what did appear, but Isaac and his mum. “I’m here, I’m here. Where are my Lep friends and where is Miss Scarlett? I want to play. Let’s get started!”
Thus the first day of Feargal and Scarlett’s visit, but it’s not over yet, now is it?

Laura Blanton
July 17, 2010

(Pictures to follow)

Feargal sends more stuff home!

Recap:

Feargal's first stop was in Zurich,Switzerland to visit Finnbarr, they both moved on to Toronto where they left Maebh behind and were joined by Scarlett.

Feargal and Scarlett traveled on to visit Donnacha in Silver City, New Mexico, also going for a stay in Tucson, Arizona and are now back in New Mexico. That's Ok with me, he can stay as long as he is needed.

Postie recently brought a parcel of Feargal's 'stuff' from his time with Finnbarr PLUS some other lovely goodies obtained for me....unobtainable in my neck of the woods.

You already saw the Myra Piper book in my last post.

 Here we have .....Feargal's Swiss suitcase, and his cowbell.

Gorgeous new Teal colour SewMate shuttles...my all time favourite shuttles, lots of floss threaders for loading beads onto my thread...now why don't we have them here???

Wonderful samples of Turkish metallic threads, Altin Basak Nakis Simi....I am using them in my current project! and they work really well.

Isn't the shamrock that Finnbarr's mom tatted pretty?

Tadgh wanted to show off Feargal's stuff.

He thinks that the suitcase is perfect for sitting on at the airport waiting to check in.

 He reckons that if a chap didn't mind getting his hat squished...he could travel in it....and not need a seat!

Tadgh was horrified when I asked him to sit on a pile of moose droppings, a bit slippery but taste delicious was his verdict.

 Tadgh is enjoying Feargal's time away!!

. . .whereupon the mischeiveous Donnacha escapes!

Where's Donnacha? That's DH on the right! What a guy, lifted me right up on the counter at Big Bear California's, Big Juan's eatery.
We love chocolate ~ Right?

Really, I wanted Carmel Apple Crisp

"On the road again. . "

This is me ~ right next to her favorite Tatting bag!

My name is Donnacha (my Human calls me Dom; because she has a very short memory and can't remember Donnacha...I TELL her..."It's like Don likes nacha's ~nachos? " She says, "it's tradition; you come from over the sea and someone in the USA gives you a new name...like they did on Ellis Island in the 1800's""

Leps love travel...I enjoy looking at the exotic places my cousins have gone! Sometimes Mom goes to Wal-Mart; but really, how exciting can that be when it's the only clothes store within two hours? I don't mean to insult where my human lives...but it really isn't anything like the end of the rainbow! She keeps asking herself "Why?"

Then, her paisley Roly Poly tatting bag went into the purse with many zippers....and she huffed and puffed for a whole week! Filling two suitcases, a bigger tatting bag; and, I hopped inside! Right beside the tatting bag. I knew she'd be getting that out and would find me and.....maybe, just maybe she'd take some pictures of me! We might go someplace exciting and then I could share with my cousins.

We left New Mexico and drove through Phoenix and got to Wickenburg, Arizona ~ and ate!

I really, really hinted about getting a Carmel Apple Crisp. Later, she gave me a Snickers candy bar which I did not have to share with that little beastie, Sara. The next morning we got up very early and I saw cotton tail bunnies hopping across a parking lot!

We drove all day long, eight hours! And came to Big Bear, California ~ where we ate! The food was just too spicy for me but I did enjoy the fountain and having my picture taken. I wonder why the people looked at Mom's DH so much when he moved me around the fountain for pictures. I mean, haven't they ever seen a leprechaun?

I don't know where we will be next. I want to see the lake, I want to meet Mom's cousin...I want to eat out again and get some dessert. I can't wait for tomorrow...I'll let you know what happens ~ I'm so excited....hummm, do I smell chocolate?

Brendan stopped in for a visit! Whoo hoo!

I forgot to share that Brendan made a brief appearance at Shuttlebirds. I was so relieved to see him. My heart was absolutely broken when I thought I had lost him forever. I apologized for the mix up in Vietnam, he said it was quite alright as he was thinking of going off to explore on his own anyway. I asked "B" if he was ready to come home, but when he heard that I was homeless and wandering around for the summer, he decided to continue his explorations. Well, that IS what navigators/voyagers do best. As a leprechaun mother I am sad not to have him for the summer. But I cannot begrudge him his heart's desire. I am hoping that he will decide to join us in Alaska. I am even prepared to make him mittens and a nice warm jacket.
He was hopping around my Shuttlebirds slide show 2 posts back. If you would like to see Brendan for yourself, go see if you can find him.

If any of you see Brendan out there on one of his journeys do please let me know! I think he is off to visit his Lep cousins but who knows? He is extremely resourceful and moves around rather quickly. My guess is he will be haunting tatting events and the like. He is a tatting leprechaun after all.

B gave me this photo of himself while we visited together at Shuttlebirds:

William Found What He Was Looking For

William is back from his trip. He was away for a few days. He realized it was almost St. Patrick's Day and he couldn't find his pot of gold. He looked everywhere for it and it was no where to be found. So he took off and was chasing down all the rainbows he could find. We had one over our garage ......

He ran outside and went to the end of the rainbow, but there was no pot of gold.

So he went to the other end of the rainbow. Still no pot of gold :(

But he was not going to give up. He found another rainbow and went to the end of this rainbow and he found what he was looking for, his pot of gold.......

Here is a closer view of William's Pot of Gold.

William hopes everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day!!

(For the pot I used Jane Eborall's Basket pattern, minus the handle. I love this little tatted basket.)

I also wanted to share a picture of William laying around in a field of Shamrocks. William got into my tatting again and took all my tatted Shamrocks and layed down in the middle of them all. LOL!

The Legend of Oisin in Irish Mythology

Tatskool aka Mother of all Tatting Leprechauns, asked me to tell you about the legend of Oisin. Remember her Leprechaun's name was Fionn before her daughter decided to name the grandson Fionn. So Fionn had to change his name to Fergal. Thus, before he had to change his name, Fergal was Fionn and therefore the father of my Oisin. Below is one rendition of the story. I hope you will enjoy it.

Niamh crossed the Western Sea on a magical horse, Embarr, and asked Fionn mac Cumhail if his son Oisín would come with her to Tir na nÓg (the Land of Youth). Oisín agreed and went with her, promising his father he would return to visit soon. In Irish mythology, Embarr (imagination) is Niamhs horse. ... Fionn mac Cumhail (earlier Finn or Find mac Cumail or mac Umaill, pronounced roughly Finn mac Cool) was a legendary hunter-warrior of Irish mythology, also known in Scotland and the Isle of Man. ... Ossian, by François Pascal Simon Gérard Ossians dream, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1813 Oisín (Old Irish, pronounced , or roughly uh-sheen), son of Fionn mac Cumhail, is a poet and warrior of the fianna in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology. ... Tír na nÓg, called in English the Land of Eternal Young, was the most popular of the Otherworlds in Irish mythology, perhaps best known from the myth of Oisín and Niamh of the Golden Hair. ...


Oisín was a member of the Fianna and, though he fell in love with Niamh during their time together in Tir na nÓg, he became homesick after what he thought was three years. Niamh let him borrow Embarr, who could run above ground, and made him promise not to get off of the horse or touch Irish soil. In Irish mythology, the Fianna were Irish warrior-hunters who served the High King of Ireland in the 3rd century AD. Their adventures were recorded in the Fenian Cycle. ...


The three years he spent in Tir na nÓg turned out to be 300 Irish years. When Oisín returned to Ireland, he asked where he could find Fionn mac Cumhail and the Fianna, only to find that they had been dead for hundreds of years and were now only remembered as legends. Whilst travelling through Ireland, Oisín was asked by some men to help them move a standing stone. He reached down to help them, but fell off his horse. Upon touching the ground he instantly became an old man. He is then said to have dictated his story to Saint Patrick, who cared for and nursed him until he died. Meanwhile, Niamh had given birth to his daughter, Plor na mBan. Niamh returned to Ireland to search for him, but he had died.


Now you have had a lesson in Irish Mythology!

Brendan's first snow

"You Can't Catch My Lucky Charms!"

Want to bet?

 

Never, ever take a Leprechaun to the grocery store. If you absolutely must, at least avoid the cereal aisle. Oisin went bonkers when he saw the Lucky Charms Cereal. He wasn't that flattered by the cereal company's depiction of a Leprechaun, but you can't win them all. I told him they had too much sugar in them, but he would have taken them out of the store without paying and I'm in no mood to go to jail!

 

As you can see, once we got them home he wasted no time opening and climbing into the box. It's evident he is plenty proud of himself.

 

"Mine, all mine indeed!" He tried to eat the whole box. Can you imagine how hyper he would have been then? He's hard enough to keep up with as it is. I think we will lock up the Lucky Charms and ration them out a few at a time!

 

Conor!

Well woweeee!! Would ya believe it!! We welcome a new leprechaun into the family.....and he is really special.

Little did I know that out there in tatland there are people who want a leprechaun so much that that they will go to any length to get one!!

Even to TAT one!!



Isn't he the cutest thing you have ever seen?? He is complete in every detail from his pointy shoes to his belt and his lucky shamrocks. He even has a sparkly stone on his neckerchief..well it looks sparkly to me. His face is sooh, soooh good.

Fergal is absolutely gobsmacked at his new cousin's appearance. He keeps asking me if she had my pattern, if she had met one and so on and the answer to all these questions is NO, she has only seen them on her computer screen.

Oh! I haven't told you who she is, have I!!!

She is of course Carol Amich otherwise known as Battatter, if you have seen her other creations you probably could have guessed. She is a genius..no other word for her.

Here were we....Fergal and I...having no idea that she even liked them let alone wanted one. Fergal has deemed him to be an honorary Irish Leprechaun even tho' he wasn't born in Ireland...and says that he is putting her on his list for a Real Irish one ...for whenever I get my finger out and make some more!! He also says that he would love a tatted leprechaun to come and live with us!! me too! I wonder if she is going to share the pattern...oh the mind boggles at a world full of tatted leprechauns up to mischief.

Now let me show you what she wrote


"Where to start. Well, I had seen these little leprechauns that were being sent to lucky tatters. They were made by Pamela, and were just so cute! They would just show up out of the blue, and get into all kinds of mischief in their new homes. I wanted one very badly, and so, I tatted myself one. (though the real ones aren't tatted). Though, I only had a few pictures as references, and I don't know what kind of coin the others are holding I tried to make them look like their cousins. I named him Conor, as that means "lover of hounds" and if you know anything about me, you know I love my dog! Conor is getting along great here, first thing he did was make friends with my tatted dragons. Here he is riding my big dragon (pattern by Sherry Townsend), as my little 3d dragon, PD, watches. I hope Pamela doesn't get mad that I copied my tatted one to look like hers, but I thought hers were so cute, and wanted Conor to fit in with his cousins.

Here is a photo of Conor consoling Rebel. He went to the vet today, and got shots and bloodwork (yearly thing) and look at the bruise on his arm! Ouch."



I can tell you we are so flattered, in our book copying really is the sincerest form of flattery. Thank you Carol, you made our day.

Fergal's Snow!

Fergal was of course jealous of Oisin being able to play in the snow.
We haven't had decent snow in years here.

First of all he trued the rainbow snow but that was no where near deep enough!



AND he wanted the white stuff so I had to heap it on him to see if he would disappear!



Nope he is still there, nowhere near enough snowflakes, but it nearly blinded him...he couldn't believe how white they were...I think he thought all snowflakes were rainbow coloured...well he would wouldn't he!!

My little helper!

As you can see, Oisin had quite the good time playing in the "snow" after I took my tree down. You'd think he had never seen snow before!

I hope all of you are having as much fun with your Leps as I am with mine.

 

 

 

 

style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'>

Oisin's 1st American Christmas

I hope these pictures speak for themselves. Oisin had so much fun on his 1st Christmas with his new mum and dad. Mum and Dad had a lot of fun as well.

He went to the boat first. When we took him to Gulf Shores for his 1st trip to the beach, he wanted this boat and I told him no. I'm trying ever so hard not to spoil the little chap. Then, I accomplished a major feat. I managed to buy it without him knowing and keep it hidden until Christmas morning! That was very difficult. You know how inquisitive Leps are.

He really liked the Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans bag. He said it wasn't exactly a pot of gold, but you can't eat gold anyway!

As you can see, I think the train is his favorite. He has had so much fun playing with it. Isaac has his trains on the floor and Oisin's stay on the table. It didn't take Oisin long to see that an almost 3 year old boy can be a dangerous thing, no matter how cute and sweet they are!

Tomorrow I have to get back to tatting my Coral Reef doily. I'm half way around the last row. Oisin has promised to help. We'll see how that goes.

Legend of Oisin in Celtic Mythology

I wanted to share with you a link about Oisin in Celtic Mythology. It is a good read. There is so much available to read about him and it is easy to find if you are interested.

I was going to share some new pictures with you, but I've been interrupted. Will do so later.

Post #1 by Tatskool

Friday, December 26, 2008
It's a Leprechauns life! Part 1.
By Tatskool!
If there are any of my readers who aren't Stark Staring Bonkers...........they should not read on!!

Ok! so the rest of you know that Leprechauns set off from Ireland before Christmas to colonise more of the world. You may not realise that there were 6 and not 5 that left home.

Note!! You may have already seen most of this elsewhere but this is the collected edition!

First to arrive was Danny.

Danny travelled to North Carolina and spent a short while still confined in his packing, until his new mum was told that whatever was in there might need some air....then he was released and not a moment too soon, as Martha said he was lucky that the post had been running ahead of schedule so he had plenty of oxygen left.


Once Danny was released he was Leprechaun with a mission and he headed straight for Martha's stash to reconnoitre.


You can see that he set off on his tippy toes, lets hope by now he has both feet solidly bent up and can stand freely by himself(something I forgot to say in my owners instructions!)
This is what Martha said:

Danny has been exploring his new digs, with much head-shaking at the dust and clutter. Here he is, climbing in the closet shelves. Is he looking for a storage place for his thread, or hoping to add to his own stash? I think I had better keep an eye on him.

He hasn't been heard off since so lets hope he didn't fall in and couldn't get out.
I am sure we all hope that he had a Happy Christmas in his new home.

Next to arrive was Killian ( I think) who travelled to Illinois.


He was straight out of the bag and on to Diane's tatting loaded tree top check it out....and keep an eye on her...Killian also need to get his pointy shoes set firmly on the ground!

he did a good job and managed to get Diane to leave what she was doing and tat.

Killian has been veery quiet since..he must be up to something, hope he enjoyed Christmas.

You may not realise that all these leprechauns are tat trained so they know what it's all about. Where did they learn??? at tat-skool of course!!

The most common complaint that is coming through is that the ******** lucky cent is a ********nuisance and is stopping them, from fulfilling themselves!!

To be honest I never imagined what an active life these little fellas were going to have...I thought they were just going to sit quietly and be lucky!!

In fact my Fergal is asking for a coinotomy..so we shall have to see and maybe future leps will not have such a hindrance.

Cormac arrived in Indiana but had to wait on the doorstep until Gina got home....late!!, luckily some kind person had put him into a plastic bag so at least he didn't get wet..only very cold...so he says!!

He sat up on her webcam and told her all about his old home....mmmmm! thought they had been programmed not to tell...maybe he told fairy tales!!


Then didn't he find a ball of green thread and a Celtic Ring that made a perfect crown. Gina found that in a parking garage and no one claimed it, she intends/intended to give it to her son who loved his visit to Ireland....think again Gina!!!



Cormac already has both feet firmly on the ground and was put to work drawing the winner of Gina's Anniversary blog prize for December.


Cormac has found a friend in Gina's Chris Sockmonkey and they are hanging out in a box of green peanuts...does she think this is what he Cormac eats..oh no obviously not as she has given him a Rainbow candy cane...I am not sure that he eats Rainbows either!!


She hopes these tow get on well together as she says 'Nothing's worse than a bunch of squabbling fiber-filled blokes!'

She did catch them snooping into her Secret Santa box from Melissa J...he is only doing his job Gina!!


Better stop here before you get too tired and go and photograph my Secret Santa package....Will catch up on the other leps another day. they are all such busy bees.
Posted by Tatskool at 12:46 PM 3 comments
Labels: leprechauns