Sunday, June 27, 2010

Thank you all for your responses to "what inspires you to tat?". Obviously, tatting appeals to a wide variety of people for all kinds of reason. The reasons I listed were a little tongue-in-cheek and I hope you had fun with them.

I sit in a little chair in my living room with a hexagonal shaped cabinet/table next to me. The table holds a lamp, several remotes, pens, and most importantly, my current tatting supplies. I suppose I could almost live here if I needed to. It certainly looks like it a good part of the time. Today I decided to pick up all the bits and pieces that accumulate after awhile. I put most of the thread away last week but I found yet a few more balls today. I have one set of shuttles with a project started on it but I can't remember exactly which pattern or even which book so it waits on me patiently to make time for it. There are scissors, pincushions (one for needles and one for pins), a few tubes of beads, beading needles, 2 rolls of Hugo's Amazing Tape, paperclips, some now-empty shuttles, and other odds and ends.

I don't show my chair because it is badly in need of reupholstering. I tried another chair for over a year but it was so hard on my back and way too big for me to get in and out of comfortably. I have the fabric and most of the supplies but it will take a block of time involving several days so I simply have it covered in an old lace tablecloth (not handmade), with a towel also on the seat as the cats like to sleep there and shed when I'm gone. Along the top of the back, I have a throw rug, for another cat that likes to lay up there (and shed) when she is in. With the addition of my son's two cats along with my two cats, I have developed a cat hair problem that I never had before. I put terrycloth towels everywhere they lay because it's much easier to throw them in the washer than to vacuum those spots. (the towels, not the cats!)

Everytime I decide to gather up the bits and pieces, I find I have a miniature forest of flora and fauna. Here are a few butterflies, a swan and a .....bird? LOL! It started out intending to be a butterfly but I quickly figured out there wasn't enough thread for a full butterfly so I was going to make a profile butterfly similar to Jon's most recent profile flutters, but I didn't have the pattern in front of me and was trying to just play with the concept. I could see it wasn't going where I wanted and looked more like a bird I've tatted in the past from Tatting Collage, so I ended it and gave it feet at the last moment. Well, now it doesn't look like a bird either! Perhaps a naming contest needs to be instigated? (update: swan is from Jon's free patterns.)

The vast majority of my shuttle endings are tatted into rings full of picots to fill out a flower bouquet somewhere along the line. They don't look like much on their own, but when you put them together and add a ribbon and touch of greenery, they often make the card or picture or whatever you use them with a tad bit more special.

And heart balloons are amongst my favorite shuttle endings. I forget about them for awhile and then I go crazy tatting them. I just adore them.

Now, chances are, these will all end up in a baggie until I find a reason to use them. Unfortunately, I tend to forget where I put the last baggie or tin and then I find them later all over the place!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

7 comments:

  1. They all look wonderful! I guess I am color crazy because I am drawn to the things that are bright and colorful. Have a great day! :)

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  2. in the top-ish picture the purple-ish half-fly looks kinda like a chick pecking at the ground without a beak and the (i'm guessing) swan in orange-ish... is my favorite. i love how your tat lings are all happy looking

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  3. I think I could live in my tatting corner as well. I might have to clean out a little of the clutter today. I have too many treasures close at hand right now. Despite my best intentions, I just can't seem to focus on just one project at a time!

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  4. esp love the group of flowers and the heart balloons - how do you make the heart balloons - help!

    traci
    appalachainwoman@gmail.com

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  5. The heart balloons are just dimpled rings. If you haven't made dimpled rings before, here's an example but you can use any number of stitches on each side.
    R 10 p 2 or 3 ds, + to p, 10 ds, clr

    You usually have to pull it into shape as the center p join will initially stay at the top of the ring but just pull the sides out and the center downward. Depending on the thread, it will stay that way or may need to be wetted and pinned to a board until dry.

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  6. Thanks so much, Gina, for sharing your tatting 'corner' with us. It gave me great pleasure to visualize your haven. Your unusual doodle seemed to jump out of the picture to catch my attention. I immediately thought of Dr. Seus's unusual creatures. It looks so much like a bird that walks on its hands rather than having wings and feet. It should have some sort of unusual name, don't you think? And heart balloons! What a terrific idea!

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