Last night I tatted the Swan pattern by Lindsay Rogers and I couldn't believe how fast it went! I had the big swan done in less than an hour although I didn't check the time when I started. I did for the smaller swan and it took me 20 minutes, including hiding ends. Not much thread involved either. I had nearly filled my shuttle and got both of these done plus there is enough left for at least one more small swan, maybe two. These swans are for the great-nephew's storybook (ultrasound said boy) but I'm thinking how these would look with silk ribbon embroidery. Pretty!



Here is a frog I'm going to add to one of the pages. This pattern came from Jane Eborall's site. She has dozens of patterns and her diagrams and instructions are wonderful. The frog had a kind of tricky thing with the eye beads but it worked out easily. I've debated on whether to include bead eyes or not. In the end, there are only a few animals with bead eyes and they are tiny. I wouldn't expect this book to be handled much by the baby. It's more heirloom in nature, meant to be looked at, read by mom and dad, and by the time the child is big enough to handle it, he should be moving on the regular kind of storybooks.

I've been having far more fun with this than I expected and the idea came to me yesterday that I would love to make up a book of blocks from tatters around the world with their own tatting on each block relevant to them or their country, either an animal they especially like or that is a symbol of their area. I think a 9" block of fabric would accommodate most designs and allow room for seams and finishing. If you are interested in contributing, email me at ginab6 at yahoo.com. Take out the spaces and substitute @ for at. Or click on "email tatting goddess" over there in the right handed column.

Now, I've got a lot to do today. Moving my bedroom around and I hope to work on the sewing part of the story book too.