Everything has been incredibly hectic lately. I started a real estate course a few weeks ago and this week we ran 3 nights in an row to make up for the 1st class that was cancelled because the books weren't in. Our first major test is Tuesday. In the meantime, I've been looking for a new car. I finally settled on it today and drove home a Subaru Legacy.

On top of that, both my younger sons moved back in today. Their leases are up and one is already committed to a newly built house but it won't be ready for a few weeks yet and the other one just changed jobs and is apartment hunting tomorrow. He couldn't look until he knew where he was working.

Needless to say, with getting home at 10:00 PM each night, I haven't tatted a stitch. Well....I started to one night in class during a break but that went by the wayside PDQ. My tatting has been limited to surfing this week. I have to study this weekend so I'm not sure I'll get to anything before Tuesday now.

I bought these silver earrings at the dollar store recently for the singular purpose of tatting on them. There are 3 different styles and 3 different sizes. I can wear cheap earrings so that won't be a problem. Guess I won't be able to give them away though. Still, it will be fun to play with them.

I finished tatting Martha's heart - and now I can't remember if I can show it or not. I think so but I can't find the email so for now, I'll leave it off.

If you haven't already, go look at what is offered for Tat Days 2007 by the Palmetto Tatters Guild. I'm extremely tempted to find a way to go this year. Might wait on the bill for the pump repair though. I was without water yesterday and part of today, but all is well now. Be sure to look at the larger version of the Flower Garden designed by Mary Donohue. It's absolutely gorgeous!

The Palmetto Guild has been busy! Today I received a copy of the DVD, Tatting Hands, which you can order and view a teaser of from this page. (Thank you Marie!) I have to admit I got teary when I recognized Mr. Monkey in his Red Bag. It's not often I get to see the gifts I give away and it's always a pleasure to know they are appreciated and used. I think this is a wonderful teaching video for the simple reason that it shows all styles and manner of tatting. I saw someone tatting exactly the way the last person I taught tats. I did not teach her that way - it's just what felt natural to her.

Well...I'm off to bed. Long day tomorrow...including a tea luncheon!

I can't believe I haven't posted all week! It's been busy. Classes 2 nights this week and I skipped my watercolor class to give myself some breathing room. I made it to tatting guild in Greenfield this morning. We tatted this clever heading for a tassel Kaye had a nice fat tassel for it to fit over but I just put it on one I'd already made for a macrame cover that was in my box to see how it looks. I'll finish it off later and make the right size tassel.

I've been test-tatting a heart for Martha Ess's upcoming pattern book and also working on my Christmas in July Tin for the tatting exchange. Can't show either one right now.

If you like to put tatting events on your calendar early, the 7th Annual Tat Day in Greenfield is Saturday, August 25 from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The theme is a Victorian Tea Party and Kaye will guide us through the evolution of tatting from 18th century knotting to contemporary tatting. In the process, we'll be making embellishments for a Victorian Tatting Tote, which I got a preview of today. There will be a tatted gloves contest - Kaye didn't mention it today! You tat or embellish a pair of gloves with tatting. Lots of door prizes and goodies! Contact Kaye at www.zigzagcorner.com for more information.

Finally, after almost a whole week, I got to tat some! I really didn't have very much to do to finish this up. I wish the shimmer showed in the scan but it doesn't. Since I used a metallic thread, it keeps its shape well and I didn't block it. If I block it, the "trellis" part would be straighter, making diamond shapes, but I just left it as is. Originally, I wanted to use it as an insertion (no particular project in mind) but turned it into a bookmark instead. With the sparkly thread, I think it would look good on a piece of crazy quilt so I may make another piece for that purpose later on.
Here's a future project that I've had in mind for over a year. This denim shirt originally had flowers painted or heat transferred onto it and you can see they've been peeling off and fading over time. I want to tat the same approximate bouquet. The front also has a similar pattern just in smaller segments on each side. I think there are enough floral patterns floating around to do the deed.

Lace Machine Embroidered Tatting. Looks much more like the real thing than it did a few years ago. Check the site out...you'll see how they made free-standing ornaments and some other designs. It can also mimic the look of hardanger and bobbinlace.

But...nothing can duplicate the feel of a tatting shuttle in my hand and making the stitches for me.

Nope, these are not tatted, but it is the photo shown in a Bead Contest! I originally googled into an old contest that focused on bracelets and there was one in particular that looked tatted but wasn't. It said to contact the designer to use the photo but there was no contact info and it was from 2004 .....so you get the current bead flowers as an intro here. LOL! The theme is "Home Decor" and you must use at least 500 beads in your project. Prizes are money and subscriptions to Bead Patterns - The Magazine. From my point of view, what a great opportunity to show off tatting! Deadline is August 2, 2007!

My friend Chris from the UK has some knitted preemie burial gown patterns online, ideal for charity work. Her designs are gowns #3, #4 and #5. You know, I'm thinking it can't take very long to knit these. There are tons of other patterns on this site for those special early babes.

hmmmmm....Tatting used in an advertisement for the Dakota Eye Institute. And tatting in artwork. Mary, an archery expert, credits her success to green legos, knitting, and TATTING!

Here's my bookmark from Lori as a result of the bookmark exchange. Lori used a pattern in Tatting Ideas by Yusai Shukoin with size 70 Venus thread. It's so delicate and dainty looking! And such a pretty lavendar shade...goes with my Tatting Goddess figure. Lori has such nice even tatting too.



I finally took the last prototype off of the blocking board. The stitch count worked out nicely but I still want to try another shape. Finding time to play now is a big issue.




I had originally paired these two threads up for the tatted paisley in Kaye Judt's workshop after Lace Day, but I quickly figured out it was too fiddly for something I was going to have to be fiddly with anyway so I used a different thread. This is a spool of Dritz metallic red and Sulky 30 color 932 2245.

When I rediscovered them the other day, I decided to see how they worked and tried out the Insertion "trellis" on pg. 63 of Mary Konior's Tatting in Lace. I added the arch at the end, thinking it might be a bookmark....or it may just become a sample in my sample book. Once you start tatting, it behaves fairly well as long as you don't have too much thread out free. The metallic tends to kink so keeping as little as possible between the spools and the work seems essential to avoid going bald.

I'm housesitting for a friend in mid-July to mid-August and I thought I would take my paint supplies and some books to read instead of my lace stuff. It's entirely possible I will grab a shuttle and thread the first time I go home to pick up my mail, but at the moment, it seems like a good opportunity to put it away for awhile and focus on other things. Another reason to get my coworker's motifs done. Their computer is dialup and while I will be checking in, it will be a lot of trouble to post very much and I wont' be able to scan anything.

I haven't been doing much at all. I worked a little on the hardanger finishing the center of the last kloster I made and I did some embroidery on the Trash to Treasures bag but that's all. I don't have my ac in yet and it's beginning to warm up again. Actually, I finished the embroidery on the bag. I thought I downloaded it before I left home but I guess not. I decided against putting tatting on it and decided to go with the denim bag I have.

Lori got her bookmark so I can post it now. This was for the June Exchange hosted by Icela (Mary Donohue). The pattern is actually the core motif in a doily set by Jan Stawasz, pg. 76 of Tatting Theory and Patterns, if you have the book. The thread is an Altin Basak polyester that I bought at a Tat Day somewhere, either Palmettos or Hector. Very pretty to look at but not so easy to tat with. I originally planned to make 3 motifs and join them together as I went but the thread was slick and Jan's pattern notation is difficult for me to follow so I gave up with ONE motif and lots of retrotatting! Instead, I made purl tatted tails on each end for a little different effect than the one-end tail. The thread frays nicely and I wished I had more strands to separate. So...it was fun trying to come up with something a little different for a very accomplished tatter.


I've set the wheel motifs aside for a little while. I've almost got it figured out but I was getting hugely frustrated the other night and knew it was time to take a break from it. So the last 2 nights, I've worked on the hardanger. I made the 2nd kloster last night and one diamond shape, finishing it tonight and starting another one. I had a little trouble ending the dove's eye which I believe is because I didn't start it right. I was wrapping my bar opposite of the way the thread needed to come out to get a good start, but I'm getting better and keeping track of the number of threads on the right line. My tension on the bars is a little tight because I forgot to do the pull and pinch thing Sally taught me. I'll try to remember on the second one!

It wasn't raining when I got home tonight so I checked out my tomato and pepper plants. To my dismay, something is chomping off the tops! The peppers ..... I hope will come out of it. There are still some tomatoes on one plant and I suspect the "topping off" by some critter will actually help them bush up, but they all have cages around them now. The chomping was so high up that I think it's deer. sigh....

Wednesday night I met with Sally after work and she guided me through beginning hardanger. I've tried it on my own in the past, but seeing the beautiful work she has done, I figured I couldn't go wrong with her help...besides, she OFFERED to teach me! This is just a tiny block but I got all kinds of information just from making this. Hopefully, I'll make some time to practice. One thing I wasn't sure about was the fabric. I'd been using some linen in the past but I don't like the mixture of thin and fat threads and thought maybe it wasn't the right fabric....but it is. And it made me feel more sure of myself to work with Sally.

Here's my first venture into something to put around the wheel motif. It's similar to something Bina designed, but I want it to be easy to tat. So far it fits around the motif which will help me with stitch count but I'm pretty sure I'll make more changes before I'm done. I may tat up a black wheel to match the originals so I'll have something to test on. I don't want to handle the others too much.

Later...I finished it and scanned it but forgot to download the scan before I left home today. It's a little too small so I'm working on an enlarged and modified version now. This one makes a nice edging for a small photo frame so it won't be wasted! If I straightened out those arches, it is big enough but I kind of like the arches so I thought I would play around with it more. Not too bad for a first attempt, I thought.

Here is how it looks without the motif. Nice for a picture frame, as noted earlier.



and this is what it looks around the motif....just a bit small.











What a haul!