Men On Boats

I know I've been absent online for awhile now, but here's one of the big reasons for that, I've been in rehearsals for a play. This is my first time back on the stage after an embarrassingly long absence. You see, you might not be aware, but long before I started needle tatting and spending the bulk of my time homeschooling and creating lace, I was a theater major. I got an AA and then kind of left it behind for a "real" job and a family, but I'm back now.

I know most of the folks who might actually still be popping by here to see if I'm posting again aren't anywhere near my geographically, but I still wanted to post about this because I'm super proud of the show, the entire cast, and crew. So for two weekends only starting tomorrow, Friday January 10th, I'll be George Young Bradley in Men on Boats. If you're near, come see it, if not, wish me luck!

For 2 weekends only, join Playhouse Merced and the Cast and Crew of MEN ON BOATS for an evening of laughs and danger down the Grand Canyon!
Opening the second half of our 26th season is MEN ON BOATS! Featuring a cast of talented local actors, this production is sure to give you a fresh look on the 1869 historical expedition of the Grand Canyon by John Wesley Powell and his team of daring boaters!
MEN ON BOATS | January 10, 2020 - January 19, 2020
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By Jaclyn Backhaus
Sponsored by Dignity Health Medical Group.
Rated T for 13 years of age and up
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Ten explorers. Four boats. One Grand Canyon. Men on Boats is the true(ish) history of the 1869 expedition, led by the very real John Wesley Powell. Powell was a former U.S. Army captain, American explorer, geologist, and ethnologist, best known for his exploration of the upper portion of the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. History is written by the winners and sometimes exaggerated and mythologized beyond that. Enter Playwright Jaclyn Backhaus, Men on Boats dramatizes the expedition, and her premise of using an all-women cast helps recount the exploration of the untapped frontier in a different light. Join Powell and the insane, yet loyal volunteer party as they set out to chart the (dramatized) course of the Colorado River.

 Tickets are available here.
Photo ©Shawn Overton | BlueRoad Photography

Tatted Eye Patch

I sold a tatted rose eye patch yesterday, so I spent some time tatting up a new one to put in my etsy shop, which I have been woefully neglectful of as of late, because of, well life. I've also been keeping busy with a new activity in my life. Actually it's a really old activity that I used to spend all of my time doing, but I haven't been doing so in over twenty years. I'm doing theater again. My daughter started over the summer and once I was back in a theater, I couldn't stay away. I'm in rehearsals now for my first show since college. Yikes, right? It's called Men on Boats and it opens in January for a two weekend run. So yep, still tatting and crocheting, but also writing and acting, and look I even found the motivation to write here, so yay! Maybe it'll stick this time...don't make any bets on it though.

So Weird

So these just came in the mail. I ordered just a couple of copies of my book so I could have them. As weird as it was to see the listing on Amazon, it was orders of magnitude weirder to see it in print. Thanks to everyone who has picked up a digital copy, all ten or so of you. I have no illusions that this is going to sell many copies. It was mostly about the writing and the actually putting it out in the world for me. I've got more projects in various stages of creation and now that the bandage has been pulled off the self-publishing wound...wow, that was a labored metaphor. The point is, the first time has to be the hardest, right? So here are the links again, it you're interested.

Hidden Gods Paperback

Hidden Gods e-book

A Book That I Wrote

So, again I disappeared into the real world and left this space lonely. If it weren't for the collection of patterns I've posted here over the years, I might have even entertained the thought of just deleting the whole thing. No worries about that though, there's really no good reason to not let it linger, but that's not why I'm here today. Today I'm here because after I wrote a novel, and then sat on it for quite sometime while I edited off and on with the help of my daughter, I actually pulled the trigger and self published in on Amazon.

I know, right? Scary. Anyway, it is available now as both an ebook, which is free to read if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited, and paperback. Fair warning, it has literally nothing to do with lace or any other fiber art. It's a urban fantasy sort of story with gods and monsters, a little danger and weirdness. It's the sort of thing that I would read, because why write something if you wouldn't want to read the story yourself.

Hidden Gods 

If you do read it and actually enjoy it, please do leave a review on Amazon...so you know, I can pretend I'm a real writer. No worries if it's not your kind of thing, but I'd love you to share if you know anyone who might like it. There's no point in telling a story if no one hears it. Either way thanks!

Done and Done

 I've spent much of the last week working on this doily piece. I liked quite a few of the rounds to be the end of the piece because the shaping was so different and interesting on many of them, but I was looking for a particular end size so I kept on going.

 At some points it had this nice snowflake feel and at others I got an almost straight-line hexagon. I was ultimately hoping for round and that's mostly what I ended up with.

 This is the final piece done in the vintage or crappy size 10 thread. It's loose and a bit floppy, but that's why it's a prototype. The end size was about 15 inches across which was my goal. I also quite like the negative spaces as well as the repeated motif themes I managed to hold onto.







Once that was done, I worked it up in size 20 DMC Cébélia thread in ecru. It was immediately firmer because of the better thread, but also more delicate. The end size came to about 12 inches which is also what I was hoping for with it. I don't know how I managed to guess that, maybe I've been working with thread for too long or something.

Now that I've managed to recreate it and it still lays well, I'm going to work on writing up the pattern. I kind of want to do it for sale, but I'm not sure what kind of demand there is for a doily pattern. I'll take any opinions you have on that subject. Regardless, I'm pretty happy with how the project turned out. Maybe I'll do another one after I finish writing this one up, the finished product is rather satisfying to look at.