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!