The mail arrived.  I have a top-secret project in mind for these, if I can just figure out the Japanese method of diagramming.  It looks fairly straightforward.  The main thing will be to settle on a pattern to start with instead of hopping from picture to picture.

I went to Santa Fe last weekend to see some friends and some fall color.  I didn't want to go empty-handed, so I made a little suncatcher with one of those glass blobs that they use to fill vases.  The thread is by Marilee Rockley; the name of it is Hello October so it seemed like the ideal choice for this project.  The glass has an iridescent sheen that didn't photograph well, but I think will show up in real life.

The pattern is from the Facebook Tatters files, and was designed by Carolyn Craig to be made with a sixpence.  The central round is made twice, than the second round connects the two pieces and sandwiches the glass.  Then there's a third round with triple picots.  It was easy enough that I'm thinking about making some for Christmas gifts.

One of the classes I took at Toccoa was the Broomstick Picot Star, designed by Martha Ess.  I didn't get very far with it during that weekend, but I've finished it now.  I'd never done broomstick picots before, but I really like the way they sweep across the negative space.  As with most new techniques, there are places that I'm not happy with, but I'm comfortable enough with the pattern now that I'm sure the next one will turn out better.