I got it done last night and used an entirely different arrangement of filling stitches. I've done all of these stitches before but not in this arrangement. The cord is tatted in size 10 thread while the ones I've done before with this motif were done in size 20 thread. Size 10 is the traditional size and size 20 a close second. I would like to try a size 30 even. The size 10 seems bulky to me but maybe that's because I'm used to working with smaller threads. The filling stitches were done with size 60 thread and it didn't need to be that small but I felt like size 20 was too big and I didn't have that color in between 20 & 60. I wondered how the two shades would look when I was done too. With the yellow couching thread, it looked like a bad combination but once I got it done and off the template, washed and blocked, it looked much better. I got lots of practice with my stars and bars. LOL!

This is actually for my lace group exchange tomorrow. Hardly anyone in the group even checks their email on a daily basis, let alone go blog surfing, so I'm not too worried that anyone will see it. The one person who might mentioned the other day that the last time she read my blog was right before the wedding. I think she is really busy right now with other things and this isn't the only thing I'll have in the package. It's a good size for a coaster but I don't have an acrylic square handy to put it in so I decided to put a ribbon on it and make it into an ornament. It's just thick enough that it won't fold over easily unless it's pressed that way so I didn't stiffen it. The owner can always take the ribbon off and use it as a coaster or very small doily.

Once I got the RPL out of the way, I test tatted this edging from Tatting Patterns by Mary Konior. It is named "Embryo" edging and I was tatting in size 80 star thread but even in that tiny thread, it's too big for my purpose so I'll try a different pattern tonight. I need one very narrow and simple. I could just tat very small rings and chains but I was hoping for something a bit more involved. Rings and chains can be very elegant though so the next step is getting just the right color, which can be trickier than it sounds. I can always go with white or black.