Ethel got her basket so now I can show it! She sent me a lovely cybercard in response.


The April issue of Anna arrived today. There is a nice sample of Mouline' Sticktwist embroidery floss attached. I'll have to try it out on something. This issue has 7 tatted butterflies decorating Easter eggs, a tatted bunny suitable for a card, a tatted doily edging, and a tatted star doily. The course in this issue is free-style embroidery. Oddly enough, the preview for the May issue, which is traditionally the Tatting course issue, does not show any tatting. I wonder if they will feature tatting as a course this year? The March issue had a lot of Easter items in it so I was surprised to see even more in this issue.

I spent this evening at my son's house, doing my taxes with his computer program. I got a refund this year, while last year I just came out even on Federal and a refund on state. Nice little stash to spend on tatting!

Here's the gorgeous thread I bought. Both the size 40 and size 70 are Venus threads. The package of variegateds is Oliver Twist. I also bought 3 balls of white cordonnet size 60. Needed one more, which I did see at another booth, but by a different maker, so I passed. I'm thinking I needed 4 balls for a specific crochet project.

I know the slideshow over there can't be viewed but I also know how to fix it, thanks to a little sweetie who is so good at that kind of stuff and watches out for me. It will take me some time, but I'll try to get to it over the next few days. I'll also be posting the basket I made for my exchange partner, who should get it by tomorrow.

I didn't get much done on my little hat yesterday, which I'm making out of the peach Venus thread. I was talking with a friend on IM and made a mistake..............which I'm untatting during my lunch hour.

A busy weekend coming up...........Cirque Eloize on Friday night, stamping party Saturday morning, grandson's birthday party on Sunday.

My niece's sonogram wasn't conclusive so how do you tat for an unknown? After getting the Tatted Animals book and seeing them on Mary's shirt, I decided I could probably make a crib blanket. By April 24? LOL! So...........do I make the animals colored and put them on white or make them white and put them on colored squares? Any suggestions are most welcome!

Why does sonogram no sound like the right word?



I didn't buy any shuttles on Lace Day because I had just ordered 2 from Purse Paradise on Friday. They were in the mail tonight! One is a bone shuttle with leaf engraving. The other is a double bobbin horn shuttle. I think there was a double bobbin bone shuttle available too, but I wanted the horn one. I'd recommend this company........they've filled 2 orders now, off of ebay, with amazing speed.

I had to go in and correct my graphic. It wouldn't enlarge and then when I tried to change it from memory............heheheh..........we'll just say the memory was faulty. The file was not where I thought it would be. I'm off to treadmill now, and when I come back, I'll work on the slideshow, altho I'd rather tat.

Well, it seems the photo slideshow doesn't show up for everyone but I'm not sure why since it shows up on my computer. My operating system is xp so that may have something to do with it, but I really don't know. The photos can also be seen on the yahoo group site connected with this blog to generate a mailing list. If you're interested in joining, to receive updates of the blog automatically, use the link to the right or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Tattinggoddessupdates/.

I've also added a link to the new blog Celtic Tatting. I'm really pleased to see new blogs coming out. I just added a link for Wally's blog last week....and I'm really sorry to hear about her accident and loss. Word gets out fast and that's one of the things I love about the tatting community - the sense of family and the desire of so many to be of aid and comfort when someone is in need.

I started tatting a hat last night, from a new thread I bought yesterday - Venus Crochet Cotton, size 40. I don't know where it is out of, but I liked the colors and I like the way it is tatting up. I wasn't sure how it would handle when I was winding the shuttle, because it had a tendency to kink and knot up, but once wound, it behaved beautifully. The pattern is from the Tatsy book Tatting. I broke down and bought that book too. ((grin)) I never thought there was enough in there that I wanted to make or didn't already have a pattern for, but someone on the MSN group had to go and tat a hat and then a basket from the book and .......well, there you go........I had to have it! I thought the hats might make some nice Easter bonnet favors for...........somebody............doesn't matter who - I'll find someone to give them to.


I spent a few hours outside this afternoon, raking the small hill in front of my house, where the peonies and lily-of-the-valley grow. I made myself stop before I got sore and blistered, but I'm anxious to get more done as soon as possible. I've run my errands and have just a few more chores to do and a load of laundry.......and then I'm back to tatting.

It's been fun reflecting on yesterday. I'm so looking forward to Palmettos in June. I wish they would hurry up and put the details on their website!

Today was so much fun!

It started out foggy but the fog had lifted enough by the time my sister got to my house that it wasn't a problem driving to Mooresville. We got there a little after 9:00 a.m. and I immediately started perusing the vendor tables.


Mary Harris hollared from across the room...."Hi Gina!" Then she turned around and I could see the newly tatted peacock on her back. She had other animals from Tatted Animals on the front of her shirt.


I made my rounds, buying mostly thread, a bunny pattern to use for a handkerchief, a few books, and more thread.

Then Gail Owens arrived. Big hugs!!! Such a pleasure to see Gail again. We chattered away the rest of the day. Oh.....just before that, Georgia Seitz arrived and was setting up her table. Lotsa talk there! We'll soon be meeting with Georgia's group, it sounds like. I wish we'd had more time to just sit around and chat, but there were so many people to talk to and things to compare.

The afternoon presentation was by Jeanne McLeish of Color Works, Custom Picture Framing & Gallery. I got some great info about framing archival quality lace - and you know, all of our lace is heirloom quality stuff.

During the presentation, Rozella Linden arrived with Cincy Wilma in tow. I could hardly wait for the end to go give her a hug!

Rozella signed copies of her Celtic Tatting book, plus she had plenty of samples of the tatting to show. Darn - just realized I didn't photograph any of that exsquisite work.

Don't know how many you wil recognize in the slide show over to the right, but there's me & Gail, me & Georgia & Mary, Kaye & Wilma, Rozella, and various other people................

I hope the slide show doesn't make the site too slow in loading.................if so, I'll probably take it off in a few weeks. In the meantime, pull up a chair and imagine you are there with us!

I'm sending off my basket today, but I'll wait until the recipient has a chance to receive it before I post it. I just got 2 shuttles off ebay.........buy it now option.....and they were new ones with a quantity available. A double horn shuttle, and a bone one with leafs etched on it.

Tomorrow is Lace Day in Mooresville! I can't wait to see what will be there and meet up with familiar names and faces. Gotta get the elephant from my daughter tonight. Then I will get it framed later.

I have a table topper I started during my trip to Ireland 2 (almost) years ago, that I want to get out and finish.........except I can't find it. I saw it a few months ago but I don't remember where now. I lost the onyx setting in my ring on Wednesday. I really liked that ring. I suppose I could have another stone put in. I've been invited to another stamp party on April 3. My neice's baby shower is April 24. Aacck - that's the tatting guild's Saturday. Maybe I can make both - I don't remember the shower time but if it's after 2:00 p.m., I should be able to do it.

Started collecting the urls to instruction sites and to pattern sites to put over there in the links. I'm trying to only use large pattern sites because I don't have enough room to include all the patterns available on the web.

Most of this got written earlier today. Now, after a nap, I'm going to walk the treadmill, so I guess this will be it for the day.

Everytime I go to the Japanese Tatter's webring, I am astounded by the beauty and delicacy of their tatting. On this site today, by Deli*Cre, I found a series of photos. Click on "next" under each picture and you'll see a new one, more beautiful than the one before. She also mentions the book the pattern comes from in English. They photograph their work in such a striking manner too. Very simple, showing the tatting to full advantage. Don't forget to move down the page some on each one. There is often a close-up of a motif to view.

I got my basket from Ethel today! The wrapping was so pretty I hated to open it up! But of course, I did. I love the layered effect of the rings/chains edging and the handle is a unique twisted combination of rings/chains too. There were chocolates in the basket, a box of beads, 2 floss holders of altin basak thread, and a little leather pouch with a dragonfly on it - just big enough to hold one of the chocoates. It was an unexpected surprise today!



My basket for Ethel is done but I'm adding the embellishments now.

I can't believe how much time I've spent napping today! I napped and tatted and napped and tatted. The basket itself is done and I'm working on the handle now. I blocked the basket first, turning a shake container upside down and covering it with plastic wrap. Then I wet the lace and fit it over the container. After it dried, it held it's shape nicely but I'm pretty sure it would collapse in a very short time so I used a solution of Stiffy Fabric Stiffener with just a little water added and painted it on. I wanted to stiffen the bottom before I added the handle because I wasn't sure how to do it all at once..........and I'm still not sure how I'm going to stiffen the handle. I'll have to find something to set inside the basket which will support the handle evenly in a nicely rounded arch.

By shaping it this way, I made the sides more perpendicular than is shown in the book. I could have joined in another chain of the side motifs to help it hold that shape too, but if you wanted it to flare out more softly, then it should be tatted like the directions say.

I hope I didn't send Ethel the link to this blog. She won't be surprised when she gets the basket if she's reading along.

I'm using size 20 thread and it looks like the diameter across the bottom is 3 1/2" and the height is 2 1/2". I don't think I'll have time to go to too much trouble with tatted flowers but there are some buttercup-like blossoms in Konior's book that I might hazard tatting for a finishing touch.

A tatting book from Russia came while I was gone and I had to pick it up from the post office this morning. Well bummer - I don't have an alphabet available to write the title correctly but it's something like this: Yyaechble Kpykkeba. I got it on ebay. The diagrams are a little tricky - you have to figure out what symbol stands for ring, chain and picot, but once you do, you can translate it. There are several collars and medallions, necklaces and trims, and I even see a basket. There is a vest and mats, as well as tatting how-tos. I see onion rings too. The picture on the front has a lady wearing a tatted crown/tiara/hair decoration and a tatted necklace. Beads are also explained even though I can't read the text, I can see from the pictures. There is one blue doily whose shape intrigues me. Oh, a pretty tatted bag too. There were other editions on ebay when I got this one, with different patterns. I'll make something on down the line to see how clear the directions are.

Then in today's mail, I got a CD "Royal Society Tatting and Crochet Lessons" This was also offered on Ebay. I wasn't sure what was on it, but if you have any of the Royal Society booklets, you wouldn't be surprised. This one is mostly crochet, but it does have tatting on it too. It's in pdf format and you get it with a password. You can open it up and view it on the computer and print out whatever you want to work with. I'm not crazy about online reading, but it sure doesn't take up as much space as a book. Not that easy to access though, if you are just flipping through pages looking for something.

I'm considering what to do next, after the basket. I think I'll finish a UFO - a table topper I started when I went to Ireland 2 years ago. About time, huh?

Earlier today my co-worker snapped me holding hands with my new lover at the Hilton in Cincinnati.



Here's the basket I'm tatting so far. There is another round of chains that connects the outer motifs so they will stand up a bit more and then the handle. The pattern comes from DMC's Book of Charted Tatting Designs. I picked this site because it shows a picture of the book, 6th one down on the right. I wish now that I had blocked the center before I added the motifs around the side. It's going to be hard to get it to lay nice now, unless I can find something that it fits over perfectly.

I emptied off several shuttles while at the symposium and now have a bunch of butterflys and blossoms. Not all of the blossoms were done these last few days, but I've got them all collected together to keep on hand.

I added a blog to the links at the side. It may be awhile before it is updated, but I'm sure it will be great!

Someone asked me what I did for the ear..............I used a motif from DMC's Book of Charted Tatting Designs, on page 37 to be precise. It was a 5 sided motif in a collar and I liked the intertwining middle chains plus the clovers that would tie in with the other clovers in the elephant. Trouble was, I started out with an erroneous number of ds for the rings, so I just continued with it to be consistent. As I finished the 5th clover, I could see it wasn't going to join with the 1st one without the inside puckering up..........so I left it flat, which made a sort of ear shape (after all!) and improvised a chain edging on the curved side. It's hard to read some of those numbers in the diagrams.

The basket I'm doing for the exchange is also from this book. I've got the base done and am working on the sides - I just haven't had time to do much on it so far.

I found another beautiful shuttle on ebay that I really really liked.........only to be outbid again. I don't much mind anymore. It's not like I'm shuttle-less. I'm kind of partial to the ones that are made by people anyway.

Celticdreamweaver Sherry sent me a scan of a shuttle and bobbin she painted.


Isn't it gorgeous? Some lucky person won the bid on it some time back. She and I were talking about painting shuttles. I bought 5 blanks from Stuart Johnson a few years ago with the intention of painting them. Just gotta get my paints out. I haven't decided what I want on them but they won't go anywhere except in my own stash. I love painting as much as tatting, but it takes up room that I don't have handy at the moment. I like the feel of Stuart's shuttles. They are thinner than many I've seen, lightweight, and I think they'll be easy to work with. Postage overseas just about kills you though.

I'm debating on flowers for my basket. Maybe some of those tulips I learned from Kaye? I still haven't finished the one I was working on.

I finally got Maybelliene to my daughter last night and she liked the background. Now, I'll have to get it back from her to frame. They are having a presentation on archival framing at the Mooresville Lace Day so I may take it with me and get their input.

Winter made a last gasp this morning with snow all morning. It's not accumulating as predicted, but there was a serious accident that involved the son of a friend of our secretary.

I'm off to Cincy tomorrow. Plan to meet up with Gail Owens.
I'm so looking forward to it! We'll have fun catching up.

So, while I'm in Cincy, I probably won't have consistent access to a computer. That means we'll catch up at the weekend!

MAYBELLEINE

I'm not real crazy about the background, but I'll give it to my daughter and see what she thinks before I actually frame it. I may put it on a white background instead.

I started the basket for my basket exchange too.

I am soooooo tired.

The tusk is done. I'm working on an ear - don't think it's a good one though so I'll try a different one tonight. Redo the tail. I still haven't corrected the leg band either. I've been letting myself get sidetracked.............and it's time to get back in gear.

Tomorrow is my Lace Group meeting. We are bringing tools, so I'll bring some different shuttles, picot gauges, hairclips for thread balls, the retracting clip I hang my tatting hook from, my thread-winder (both of them) - and containers................good grief, we couldn't live without containers. They are tools too! From M&M containers, to Altoids tins, to little pouches. Beading needles and my spinning bead thingie, which I've yet to use effectively. Floss holders, post-its, paper clips, and safety pins.

I finished the last leg at lunch today but I got sidetracked this evening and haven't worked on it anymore. I plan to make the tusk before I go to bed. Which leaves the tail and the ear. It's just so sparkly - the scan doesn't really show it that clearly. The beads sparkle and the thread is shiny. Anyway, I thought it was time to post it again. It's getting so big, I can't fit it completely on the scanner. When it is complete, I'll take a digital photo of it.

I bought some teensy baby hairclips for the size 80 thread and some mid-size clips for the medium balls of thread. I don't have any big clips for big balls, but I'm sure the med or even teensy ones will work. I got sidetracked this evening on another project so haven't tatted or untatted, as the case will be. I stopped at Walmart earlier and got groceries and misc. stuff, like batteries for the toothbrush and some printer ink and eyeliner and a hepa filter for the vacuum sweeper. I'm wide awake for some reason, so I'll probably do the untatting yet this evening. That will make me sleepy!

I was digging around in my craft storage in the basement this evening looking for something and found a Barbie doll pattern with scrubs - exactly what I need for a new display for the safety window. I'm wanting to dress the dolls in medical attire at some point. I'll have to see what else I have patterns of that I've forgotten!

I feel like I'm procrastinating.

When I got home this evening, I saw 2 trees were down in the driveway, one almost blocking the drive. I broke off the branches so I could drive through. I'll have to see if the boys can show up this weekend and take care of that.

Okay, I'm off to untat.

I restrung the hearts so they were going in the right direction but I definitely don't like the way they are laying so I'm going to retro-tat back to the 1st silver heart and try something else. I'm going to put the silver hearts in the center join of the clovers and see how that looks. I think they might lay there better. I'll only do a few and see how it looks. If that doesn't work, I'll just sew them on later or forget it.


The ear is going to be heart-shaped or maybe a teardrop, but it will have clovers in it since that is a dominant design feature. Six days left!

Not too long ago, I put this doily on the photo page of the yahoo group site in the "rescued lace" file.



I found it's almost exact duplicate on page 12 of Tatting in Lace by Mary Konior. The sidebar says it was made in China and purchased in Cape Town. I'm thinking that means they were mass produced by cheap labor.



I have some lavander hearts and butterflys that I want to get appliqued on a square so it can go out in Saturday's mail. My granddaughter's birthday was yesterday. Once we get past this week, I can slow down.

HA! Like that's really gonna happen. I forgot momentarily that I'm traveling the week after......and on the weekend at the end of the month. Okay, April will be slower.

When I was looking through tatting books last night I was reminded that I want to tat a hat band for my straw hat. I'm tempted to get a felt one just so I can tat a band for it too.

And so it goes................

I got to the first silver heart bead during lunch. Back up, go to the books, and refigure. I'm going to check later the different ways to add beads on the ball thread. I have to restring it anyway, the hearts are pointing in the wrong direction, but I also want it on there without a thread passing over it. Both threads need to go through the hole or it will look tacky, to me anyway. So I'm off to pursue the bead lessons and/or see if I can find it in my material at home. This part is really standing out.

It's been a long evening with not a lot to show for it. I got the other side of the eye surround done. Then I had to string the beads for the headpiece,which amounted to close to 100 beads on the shuttle thread and almost as many on the ball thread. Plus I'm using some silver hearts on the front edge of the headpiece and so I had to count just right if I want them to fall in the right place. I hope I got it right. I was unsure about the direction of the hearts too, which end to string so that they end up with the point down when they are tatted in. It was almost 11:00 p.m. by the time I was ready to tat that part and I couldn't resist at least starting it, so I got a 2 rings, 2 chains, and the beginning of a clover done. I'll take it with me tomorrow and will get a little done, hopefully finishing it tomorrow night or Wednesday night.

I bought the little hair clips on Sunday and put a few on my errant balls of thread. They work perfectly. When I have time to go through my thread drawers, I'll clip them all!

I got the latest Anna magazine today. Time must be zipping by. It seems like I just got an issue. There are a lot of Easter themes in this one and it's the crochet course this month. There are some "three-dimensional flowers in the style of Irish crochet" that I found very pretty and a pineapple motif that also had a 3 D flower in it - an unusual combination.

I also got Sharon Brigg's latest Tatted Lace Pattern Collection. The celtic eyeglass case looks interesting but I think I would use it for something else. What? I don't know but it's not strong enough to protect eyeglasses unless it has a plastic or cardboard insert.

Well, I need to get to bed. I gotta quit staying up so late!