I've got two motifs around the center done. Six to go. In the first post about this doily, I said it was in the Blomquist book. Wrong! It's a Mary Konior book. It's called Dahlia in The Pattern Book of Tatting.

One reason I don't do doilies much is that I don't use them. The only thing I can do with them is give them away or frame them. I will probably give this one away when I am done. The other reason is that I get bored doing the same thing over and over. So today I decided to do Laura's heart pattern with a whimsical touch. Adding that big bead meant I had to adapt the top a bit, but seeing that big ol' smile was a delight every time I got to the top. Hope you don't mind me playing with your pattern Laura!

I actually have several fresh patterns I want to try out but simply haven't had time. I might have mentioned that I have a son getting married in October but I'm not sure I also said I'm determined to look nice for the wedding and have joined a gym and go there most nights. It sure does eat into my tatting time and right now I have sore feet to boot. I was home this afternoon because I have a problem with my water heater and someone came out to look at it. Even so, I didn't really get much tatting done. After this heart and working on something for the March winner, the crack in the corner of my thumb got to be too much and I band-aided it up....but it gets in the way of my tatting so I guess that's it for tonight.

This is a nametag I got at the campus fire safety conference I went to a few weeks ago. It's really pretty nifty. Where the red starts is a pocket all the way down plus there is the zippered pocket which also goes all the way down. When the top is velcroed over, the plastic window displayed a name tag. The back side has a pocket too, two which can hold a pen or pencil or highlighter and one that is bigger - the room card key would have fit in there nicely.

I probably could have put my cell phone and some tissues in the front pocket and not haul my purse around. Or a pack of playing cards? Post-its, business cards, etc. Anyway, I thought it too useful to pitch. But what to do with that ugly vendor name on the flap???? It was great advertising at the conference but I don't think it would be helpful otherwise. I have an idea though. I'm thinking some of Lyn Morton's flowers in Tatting Patterns might fit on there perfectly. She has a nice cluster of blossoms that I think might fit on there perfectly and if not, well...flowers are a favorite designer's motif and I have plenty of others to choose from! I hope to have it done in time for Hector!