Tatting Tea Tuesday 2/9/10

Remember the giveaway I had of the Simplicity pattern? I had a duplicate and the one thing I really wanted to make was the tea cozy. (or cosy as it is spelled in some places) I've been determined to make a tea cozy for TTT for weeks! I started crocheting one I found through a link from the OWOH but the directions were horrible and I finally reached a point where no matter what I did, it was not going to come out right.

I thought I'd have to wait yet another week - but - out of nowhere, I was inspired to sew the one in the pattern!

Here it is! I used a couple of fat quarters in my stash and a purchased hanky. It's currently hugging a tea-for-one which wouldn't work at all since I would be drinking out of the cup but I do have some teapots big enough for this. This is the smaller 3 cup pot pattern. My tea-for-ones are in all sizes, some very tiny, some very tall, some very round, some inbetween. Now that I've actually sewn one though, I can play with the dimensions and make more.

And do you remember the tatted lace in that same post about the giveaway that I was considering putting on the little tea envelope? I haven't attached it to anything yet, but I did pin it on one side here just to see what it would look like. I've been debating whether to tat the lace in white or red, but I will go with white. Some of my red tatting has bled just a little and the colors in the cozy are a very deep red so might be hard to match.

I'm just so proud of this little cozy! True humili-tea!

This heart pattern is fairly new, designed last year by Linda Davies, also known as Tattyhead. You can find the link on her blog which takes you to the PDF HERE!

I have to admit I took some liberties with the pattern, though not exactly planned. (in other words, not paying attention!) I couldn't find an email on her blog or profile but I wanted to let her know the clovers have "RW" after each ring and it only needs it after the 3rd ring. Once you read it's a clover, you'll know you don't reverse work but I was hoping to contact Linda before anyone printed out a new pattern. I mistakenly made all the lower chains with 5 picots when actually they were supposed to be descending in number to 3 in each chain. I also threw a tiny ring off the bottom point chain out of personal preference. That part I meant to do!

I tatted it in King Tut quilting thread, using 2 strands wound together. It is size #40/3 in color 945. The size is according to sewing thread, not tatting. It's more like size 80 and I did try tatting with a single strand but it broke on the 3rd ring and looked too sparse. Most tiny threads look delicate and wispy. This one just looked starved! The color shadings showed up better with 2 strands too.

Another big favorite of mine is Betsy Evans' heart bookmark. I've used the hearts alone for many other uses, like here!

HEARTS!

I managed to get more of my living room floor opened up. What's left is mostly empty boxes so whenever my son brings up the Christmas storage containers, I can take the tree down. FINALLY!

Tonight I tatted one of my favorite hearts, Heart's Desire by Sue Fuller. The book is currently out of print but hopefully Sue will reprint it soon. There are many other patterns in the book worth having. I have tatted her Holiday Tree many many times as a card insert or small gift. It's SO EASY!

I tatted this in Altin Basak size 50, color #356. It's a sort of salmon or coral color. I scanned it several times but my camera brought out the color at its truest.

As you can see in this scan where I put it in a birthday card for my daughter-in-law, the scan makes the thread look much pinker. Another reason why I'm not fond of this scanner/printer.

These are from Birgit Phelps Peacock Heart pattern. When I tatted Irene's Heart of the Butterfly, I filled both shuttles nearly full and I didn't need all that thread so I tatted Birgit's heart and still had enough to tat another one plus some heart balloons. If I'd been thinking, I could have tatted the two together to make a basket, but it didn't occur to me at the time. Birgit has some clover earrings on her pattern page too if you are planning ahead for St. Paddy's Day.

I've currently visited over 800 of the 1049+ blogs in the One World One Heart blog event. Pshew...that is hard on the eyes! The ones with music annoy me because they always make my browser very slow. I open up 5 at a time and it's hard to find out which one (or two sometimes) has a player. If I can shut the player off, everything works normally. I understand the desire to have music on one's blog. I did too for awhile but it was more trouble that it was worth. I try not to have hardly any third party applications going on with my blog. The more you have, the more portals a virus can enter in through.

Well, I've already started another heart so I think I'll get back to it while there is still some evening left. My son went to friends' to watch the game which is perfect for me!

Heart of the Butterfly

I loved this pattern the very first time I saw it. I tatted this one in Cebelia size 30. No color number on the label or inner spool but it is obviously red! I used a printout from 2001 but that's only because it was in my Heart binder and handy. I also have the book edited by Georgia Seitz titled "Tatting Online, The Official 1999 Tat_Chat Pattern Book." You can email Georgia to find out if the book is still available. The pattern is on page 83 and designed by Irene Woo.

I met Irene when I went to Palmetto one year. She is a sweetie. Quiet, unassuming, but taking it all in. Irene tats up a sample of every thread with the same pattern and writes every bit of information she can think of on an index card with the tatted sample. One of the classes at Palmetto one year was presented by Irene Woo and Hope Green about how they organized their samples. They go to way more trouble than I ever will but it is because of their perserverance that we know about the properties of many threads. If you want to be serious about your tatting and potentially designing, it's a good practice to tat up samples of new threads and keep notes about how they perform.

The book has patterns shared by about 60 tatters. Isn't that fabulous? I often visit other blogs about other crafts, like crazy quilting, knitting, crochet, polymer clay art, and stitching. Tatters are, by far, the most generous with their patterns and techniques. That may be why no one is getting rich selling their tatting product, but it still says something very positive about us. I also find it interesting that even though I have an extensive library of free patterns via online printing, I still buy books from as many as I can afford, currently at least 100. Freebies hasn't stifled my purchasing habits at all!

Well...hoping to have a very productive weekend! Nope, I'm not into football.

Yesterday I had lunch at Sgt. Preston's with my cousin Deb (left) and my sister Linda (right). Both are talented craftsters. Deb had made a photo album for her son of her late father and his family and I was getting a sneak preview. It was beautiful and I loved seeing old photos of people who were part of my childhood. Her dad's family actually grew up on a farm very close to where I lived. In fact, her mother and another sister of my mom, married brothers in that family so they are all near and dear to my heart. It was the first time I'd seen such early (aka YOUNG) photos of her grandparents and aunts and uncles. It feels funny to be way older than any of them were in those photos.

After my last post, I decided I NEEDED to tat! So I threw all my pinks and reds into one bag with the intention of tatting hearts with my Valentine colored stash. I started out emptying a shuttle with red thread and got almost done before running out of thread. I'll get back to it later. It was late and I didn't want to try to figure out how much thread to put on the shuttle to finish it.

Then last night I got home later too, but sat down and wound a few shuttles and tatted this sweet little heart basket. The pattern is by Witt Wittman and you can contact her from her website to purchase the pattern. It used to come with one of her books but I think she sold it separately too. I forgot to put a tassle on this one but it's nice even without it. I tatted it in Oren Bayan, size 12 perle, and in color 99.

I hope to tat a few more from favorite patterns over the next week. This little heart basket is a favorite,as well as Mary Konior's Queen of Hearts, Sue Fuller's Heart's Desire, and Irene Woo's Heart of the Butterfly. I also love the Daisy Heart from Workbasket, a heart basket by Rosemarie Peel, and Martha Ess's entire book of hearts, Tat's Amore! Those are my absolute favorites. There are a few I haven't tried that I want to try yet, but these are the ones I keep coming back to.

Watch for more valentines as the days progress!