Wally has a cool slide show of motifs on her tat-a-long blog. I really want to know how to do that! I know how to make a slideshow with powerpoint but not how to post it and have it automatically start. AND...the next motif in the tat-a-long is there. Guess I'm a little late! I noted Wally used those sew on gems I bought some of...but haven't played with yet. They are in the center of some of the motifs!

I spent some time this evening looking at 25 Motif Challenge blogs. I was intrigued by Arizona tatter Jan who watercolored her mini-tat motifs. That gives me an idea - I've been wanting to tat motifs to frame in my living and had started - with a lovely thread in greens and purples - but ran out of thread after only 3 motifs. Maybe I should just tat them all in white and then paint them in the shades I want to use?

Then I visited our Irish friend Pam from Cork and saw the beautiful beaded fuschia earrings for her daughter's wedding. Pam's daughter also had a white fuschia necklace and earrings - click on the photo and you'll see them better - isn't she gorgeous? And don't forget to look at Pam's feathered tatted beaded headpiece! Or all the beautiful tatting she did for the wedding.

Looks like I wasn't the only one to find a vintage treasur this week! See the doily on Gail's blog.

I was so excited posting about the undies and goddess amulet I find last night that I forgot about the corner bookmarks we tatted in guild yesterday. Kay expects to have her star book out in November. Here's hoping!

I actually sewed last night. Made a throw pillow for my sofa. I had to go get more filling today and finish the opening up but it's so pretty. I have another one to do........maybe later! I mowed this afternoon. It was sunny and comfortable when I got home from errands but by the time I got back outside and on the mower, it was overcast and the wind kept getting cooler and cooler. I did get done. Not really that much growth but we just had several days of rain and it will be really cold by the time I can mow again. I'll probably be mowing leaves when I do it again!

The doily is done! I really am not a doily person. This one measures 7" and it's the largest I've made so far. If I were keeping it, it would be framed. I do like the design in this one but I've always liked hen & chicks in tatting. I started it on Sunday and finished Wednesday for roughly 14-15 hours of work including the blocking.


I also tatted these crosses for the Feast. The ecru one is from Mary Konior's book and the white one is from Cathy Bryant's book. Each one took 2 hours or a little less. I may put a tassel on the white one - haven't decided yet.

I spent Friday with my sister, mostly at an antique store and Half-Price Books in Indy. I got 19 books at Half-price! Four of them will go to other people. Some of the others are on sewing, quilting, vintage linens, painting, and a cookbook.




At the antique store, which I love for its vintage linens especially, I found this wonderful culotte undie with tatting! There are a few spots in the tatting that have broken and there is a hole in the front of the skirt part that needs to be mended, but I absolutely adore it! There were no stains although it appears there are stains in this photo - but really, there weren't.



Here you can see the bodice - there are tiny snaps at the top and buttons along the side. The stitching is machine stitching but the buttonholes are handmade. I'm not sure about the embroidery in the front and back. Someone in my tatting guild today also noticed tiny pintucks at the top of the bodice and I see they are at the waist too.

Here you can see the waist better - a simple insertion...and such a tiny tiny waist! There is a simple ring edging at each leg hem. I am just so pleased to find this! What will I do with it? I have no idea. I may eventually donate it to my lace guild. We also saw a little bag of some pieces that I recognized at Irish crochet. Fine work - but it was yellowed and very high priced. They were pieces for clothing and it wasn't clear exactly what kind of clothing so I passed on that one.




I could hardly believe my eyes when my sister & I found this mini-goddess at a New Age bookstore! I've emailed the company to find out where I can get them. What a delightful surprise! Gotta say....it was a GREAT DAY!!!!

Daniela Cadamosti from Italy left a nice comment about something I tatted months ago from "Chiacchierino" magazine. Unfortunately, the comment feature doesn't give a reply email, so thanks to Dani - and if you email me at ginab6 at yahoo.com, I can respond to you!

Bette sent me this link showing some tape lace being made. She was wondering about Dickel Lace but after looking at the photo and googling, I think Dickel Lace is the name of the pattern company, not the type of lace. There are 2 types of tape being used by the maker in this pattern which I find interesting. This is from Patra's Place, an Aussie with tons of beautiful embroidered linens! She also has a blog devoted to embroidered peacocks. You can find the link from her original site.

Here's half the eyemask I tatted from Helen Bailey's pattern - just to see how it would go. It tats up easily. I used size 20 thread so it comes out a bit smaller than Helen's motif, but I wanted to see how it would work up in that size thread. To actually use it as a mask, I would have to modify something around the eyehole - it's a bit small to actually see out of, but I loved working with those faceted beads for this. I will probably be playing with various mask projects over the next several months.


I continue to work on the edging for the baby bonnet. I keep getting interupted and I wonder if the hanky I've chosen is too small. I guess I will need to take the hanky to the baby and measure the wee one's head! Or maybe I should just make a little dress for her and add the lace to it......mmmmm...no, not at the rate I'm going. She'll outgrow it before I get it done. Better to just pick a bigger hanky. But the last one I made was on the large side which turned out well because she wore it for a christening and was nearly a year old by that time. Okay...I'll stick with the smaller one.


I went to see my favorite motivational speaker yesterday. I did take along my TAT phase 2 project but ...gee, I started this rings only doily for my lace guild on Sunday and wanted to finish it, so I worked on it during the workshop and last night and hope to finish it by tomorrow so I can get back to other stuff! I was looking for a small rings only doily to put in our sale items at the Feast in a few weeks. People ask about doilies but to price them for what they are worth - we don't generally offer them. I thought I could find something small and not so time consuming to tat...seem to have misplaced Mark's book which has several ring only projects (rings only because of the time era - mid to late 1700's). I don't think tatted doilies were common either but we're fudging just a bit. I'd also like to make a few motifs that could be sewn on clothing or pincusions. This doily is from Cathy Bryant's Tatting. A dear friend gifted me with an extra copy of the book. So far it measures about 5 1/2 inches. It's supposed to be 7 1/2 inches completed but I think it will be over 8 inches. Larger than what I intended to work on, but that's okay.

I'm off all week.

I’ve been reading the September issue of Threads. I don’t buy it very often, though it always has good stuff in it, because it’s kind of expensive for no more than I actually use it. It inspired a few ideas so I bought it.

The Ribbon Jar was started by Amber Lee after searching for ribbon she saw in magazines and not being able to find it anywhere by the yard. Frustrated she decided to take matters into her own hands, and began The Ribbon Jar. Check out “ideas” in the Navigation menu on the left.

Looking for something to attach your tatting to? Perhaps some fine linens or infant apparel? Embroider This has some lovely “blanks”. It’s for embroidery but I think you could put a tatted appliqué on there just as easily.

I was tempted to replace my cutting/craft table when I saw all the drawers on these sewing tables, but the price seemed ridiculously high. I’ll stick with my current table, thank you. It did get me to thinking though….and measuring. I’ve got 12” on each side of my table about 27” high that is wasted space. I am pretty sure I could find some storage towers at Walmart or another store that would fit in there quite nicely. AND – I believe I could attach a slide-out drawer in the middle. This table was a garage-sale find a few years ago. I love it. I also have it completely covered with a sewing machine and serger and patterns and books and ….stuff. I just recently (TODAY) decided I will be painting this room the colors I was going to paint the bathroom but haven’t gotten around to doing yet and my mind is going bananas with ideas! I have fabric for the curtains…plus I’ve been wanting to make one of those curtains with pockets to keep some things handy. I’m excited now.

Plus….now I can paint the bathroom a different color to go with my new pretty shower curtain!

Yessiree….lots of painting in my future.

OH, Threads has a nice article about “Fitting to Flatter the Midsection”. “Whatever your size, a full-abdomen body type is a special fitting challenge. Here’s how to do it right.” That’s me all right. Even at my skinniest, my weight was in my belly. I’ve always had a thick waist, even at 101 pounds. It’s my build. So I’ve learned to compensate in the style of dress I wear – no tightly-cinched waists for me. I’ll have to read this article. I don’t make my clothes any more, but this might be incentive to start again.

For those who are into folkwear or authentic clothing, try Birch Street Folkwear patterns. There’s the Caravan/Ethnic Collection, the Asian/Oriental Collection, the Prairie/Frontier Collection, the Old Europe Collectionm, the Vintage/Romantic Colleciton, the Americas Collection, the Retro/Glamour Collection, and the Children’s Collection of much of the above.



Aren’t these lovely and lavish tea bags? Tea Forte I bought 2 tins, one of ginger and one of citrus mint, each with 2 bags in it, from Interior Objects at the weekend. They are quite expensive ($4.95 each tin) so I will save it for an OCCASION.


I've been tatting this edging for the fairy baby. I think I will put it on a hanky bonnet. I'm not overly fond of pink thread so I try not to buy a lot of it. This size 60 vintage thread was only ten cents when it was purchased! I tested it's strength and it seems fine. I used to have a soft pink size 30 thread, but apparently I used it all. Everything else I have is too big or a not-baby pink. I think I get to see her Wednesday. Guess I better tat faster!

I'm finally done tracing the bolero pattern on muslin. It will take approximately 34 yards of cord in size 10. I'd prefer size 20 but that means I'll do the fillig stitches in size 20. I think it will be awhile before I have that much cord crocheted up. I might change my mind about the design in the meantime. Maybe I will do a small segment for practice.


I bought this Coats & Clark machine embroidery thread at JoAnn Fabrics over the weekend. I tatted a small segment of curds & whey to see how it tatted. I tried to remember to tat loose but wasn't always successful. The thread is fairly strong but I'm pretty sure it would break at some point if I weren't careful. Such a pretty color!










Today I was in Michael's and bought these sew-on Swarovski crystals with my 40% off coupon. It's hard to tell but there are 2 holes on opposite sides of the outer circle. There were also some with holes in the inner circle, like buttons. Lots of ideas dancing around in my head about this.




All of these links are from CQ Mag Online:

Crazy Quilting with tatting
CQ with buttons
With tatting & buttons
Red, white & blue CQ

Crocheted thimble pouch

Brazilian embroidery

Day 3 - "talking about what you want and why you want it is at the purest form of your vibration"....it's not permitted to talk about why you think you can't have it. In other words, you can't say, " I want to win the lottery, but fat chance that will ever happen, The odds are 1 in millions" because then your focus is saying it won't happen. Yes means yes and no means yes to the Universe. If you focus on negativity, that's what you get, somehow. Anyway, one of the things I want is to follow through more with my tatting. And other crafts. Why? Because I love the way it feels to complete something beautiful. Usefulness is besides the point. Some things are simply nice to look at and they will always serve a function in some way. I can use it for our lace displays to show a technique. I can frame some things for home decor and I can give away others as gifts. Lots of the little bits and pieces will end up on a crazy quilt that has been in my head since I was 22 years old. oh...I digress....

Last night I demonstrated tatting at Global Fest. I managed to get this much curds and whey done while I was there. I came early enough to get a bite to eat and look around a little bit at the other displays. I found a poncho that I loved - circles of leather had been cut into quarters and then the quarters were crocheted together and then the circles crocheted together. It had a turtleneck and fringe in a gorgeous brown/taupe thread. She wanted $78 for it, which really was a steal but beyond my budget. It's easy to think "I could do that", but the reality is that I probably will not take the time to do it.

When I got to my place at the tables, Cathy had outdone herself setting up a beautiful display of our laces and my shuttle collection and her bobbin collection. One woman sat down long enough for me to show her how to finger tat. One young woman was from Romania and said her mother taught her "that" (meaning the tatting I was doing) when she was a child, but as we talked, she said that was different (the shuttle) and pointed to the tiny crochet hook attached to my dress front and said that was what she used and then went on to describe Romanian Point lace. LOL! So I took her over to the table and showed her my meager examples. She recognized it then and pointed to a tatted doily and said they made RPL like that all the time, meaning in the size of the doily. She said her mother had started a tablecloth when she was born but was only able to get it finished for her 21st birthday. It's nice to know that good intentions like that happens all over the world!


I've been tracing the template for this RPL bolero in the August 1990 issue of Anna for what seems forever. I finally got a paper copy done. I was going to do 2 of them, one for me and one for Bette, but I decided to give Bette the paper copy. The idea of making another paper copy and then transferring it to muslin was daunting, so I decided to transfer to the muslin directly. Oddly enough, it's going much faster. It's only half the pattern, - you flip it and transfer the other side for the muslin, and I've already got one half done and I'm well into the other half. It's for a 34 1/2" bust. I'll have a better idea if it will fit after it's all transfered and I seam the shoulders together.

(OH, here's a item for Day 3: I want to lose weight because I want to wear that fabulous RPL vest I'm going to be putting a lot of time and effort into!) LOL! I'm not concerned about the front - it's a bolero - but it does need to be comfortable across the back.

Today I'm off to paint my colleague's office. It's actually a multi-use room and I'm one of the users and I want it to look nice so I volunteered to paint it.

Tomorrow is free!!!!!