Down to the last few

 At this point in time, I've gotten as far as starting to write up the last 2 patterns that I intend to include. This morning I had a fleeting moment of starting to lose confidence that the last pattern, "Toccata Necklace" was any good, and briefly considered leaving it out. Then, I realized that the finished necklace was already included in the photo montage of projects on the inside front cover. So, it's staying in. I attribute the fleeting moment of feeling inadequate to "holiday overload".

Will keep plodding away on the book, which will be all tatted jewelry patterns, and hope to finish it in early 2014!

If you enjoy a challenge

 There will be challenging patterns in my new book, Marilee's Beaded Tatting Finery, which I hope to have finished and up for sale in January 2014. The photo above gives a sneak peek!

Something else I want to talk about today isn't tatting, but just as cool. It's a website that has challenging games that actually make you smarter and while you're having fun playing the games, you're also helping children in need, all for FREE: http://freerice.com/ 

The screenshots below help to give an idea of how it works. There are a variety of subjects to choose from, including English vocabulary, World landmarks, Geography, Math, Language learning for 5 languages, Human anatomy, Famous paintings, Chemistry, and more. You don't need to be a geek, the questions start out on an easy level and go to more challenging levels if you get a lot of the easy ones right. Questions that you got wrong are shown with the correct answer so that you can get it right next time. Each time you get an answer right, 10 grains of rice are donated through the United Nations World Food Programme. The rice is paid for by the advertisers on the site.

My profile name there is my own name, Marilee Rockley. If you are on Free Rice please look me up and "follow" me to add me to your friends list there. The "Search for your friends" box is found on the page where you edit your profile.