Tatting Tea Tuesday

Wild Olive had a Tea Party Week recently. I was so hoping to find time to make the tea cup mug, embroider it and add a touch of tatted lace, but it was not to be.

Well....it could be if I wanted to delay this post even longer.

But, I've been really lax about Tatting Tea Tuesday and so wanted to post something relevant. I have no tatting at all to show today. I ended up playing with bobbin lace last night. Thought I would just wind some bobbins to work on a project tonight when I meet up with my lace friend but I so wanted to learn Rose Ground that I thought I'd go ahead and get started, saving the rest for tonight. Ha...I finished it! But, as usual for my first attempt, there is room for improvement so I will probably do another piece tonight anyway.

In the meantime, I have a lot of tatting that needs to be attached to something or other, plus 3 projects still in the works. I need to get back to the rosettes and the other project I hinted at in that post. I also keep coming across the tatting HERE that I started for a specific rock. The rock is on the bookcase and the lace is nearby with my other tatting. I just can't seem to get back to it!

I want to do something with the embroidery I finished recently and ....on and on and on. I did not seem to accomplish much on my days off but it I enjoyed them anyway. I did mean to finish up the fabric sorting and did not but I did go through some thread I was gifted with and will be having a giveaway related to that soon. It's all the fine tatting thread, not sure of the size since I have always mistaken the big "60" for the size when it is actually the yardage. It's either size 70 or 80, the tiny tatting thread. There's a story that goes with it so check back.

So, just for fun, here are some links to tea parties and crafts on other blogs:

Such Pretty Things has eye candy to die for and can't you imagine some pretty delicate tatted lace mixed in there?

Over at The Tea Cabinet, I saw some links to additional crafts. There's the edible tea cup party favor with the recipe to make.

There's a teabag wreath which I might make from all the tea my son and I seem to have accumulated and will never use. I could bring it into work and share it.

Look at these tea party goodies! Teabag shaped cookies - Yum!

Pretty tea sachets to make from Martha Stewart.

Tatting Tea Tuesday

So...this is becoming a habit too ~ one to empty a shuttle and one for the dye pot! The little round teapot is from Martha's book too and it's the first time I tatted that one. I thought I had enough thread but it turns out it only tatted half the pot. I had to add in another thread and of a different color! I missed the half moon ring for the handle as a result and went back and tatted a chain handle instead. I'm not crazy about folded rings although it does make it possible to tat this one in one pass. It was a clever way to add the lid too. It's quite tiny, probably the size of a dime.



I'm off to bed early tonight. For real this time. I'll leave you with a photo I took last year that feels very Autumnish.

Tatting Tea Tuesday 6-22-10

I was updating my wish list on half.com and decided to check the price of a book on Amazon while I was thinking of it. While there, I saw this title by Lyn Morton. Hmmm....we haven't heard much from Lyn on this side of the pond for a l-o-o-o-o-n-g time. And then I see it isn't even released yet but you can preorder from here with a nice savings. So, consider this a heads up if you didn't already know. Looks like there will be several new books making an appearance this fall!

Martha Ess, Marilee Rockley, Sharon Briggs, and I'm sure there are more.......better start putting your $$ away for them right now!

Me...I have no room on my bookshelves. In fact, I have piles of books sitting on the floor and in a box and a closet shelf. This is after getting rid of 2 boxes of books last winter. I was thinking today....what if I put bookshelves all across one wall, floor to ceiling, in the spare bedroom? Then I could get rid of all the other smaller bookshelves. I'm sure that would work! Don't you think????

Well..the tatting was yesterday but I drank tea today AND yesterday so that should count, right? I tend to alternate flavoring my tea with spearmint and with orange/spice or chai, but when it's really hot like it's been lately, just plain ordinary iced tea is the best! One day I added a ginger flavored bag and that was perfect too.

When I started this post I figured I would mix tea, tatting, and books altogether. I'm more than halfway through The Lace Reader. It's just about perfect for me right now. It's holding my interest but not so deep that my brain hurts in trying to follow it. I think there will be a little twist or turn in the mystery, just enough to be satisfying. I guess it's a nice escape. I have plenty of thought-provoking books so reading something just for entertainment is a nice change of pace. I was reading a biography about Lillian Gish before this (still reading it....slow) but it isn't as entertaining as I thought it would be.

I'm playing with some vintage motifs that I'm tatting from a publication I printed from the Antique Pattern Library. I think I printed this one out before. It has several motifs I want to tat. It's intriguing that they are throwing rings off of chains although they don't call it that. They use two shuttles and specify using the right hand or left hand shuttle. They don't say to make a chain though. You sort of have to figure that if they aren't making a ring, then it must be a chain. LOL! Last night I tried to convert one into something that could be tatted all in one pass but I can tell it will be disjointed. It will have to be in two rounds but that is still less than the way it is described. I managed to make the first motif all in one pass without having to cut and tie. The original was done in four rounds and you had to cut & tie after each round. The pictures are very clear which helps tremendously.

Well....better post this while it's still Tuesday!

Tatting Tea Tuesday 6-1-10

Okay, it's not Tatting Tea Tuesday, but Tea on Tuesday is popular with other bloggers too! Art in Red Wagons has a list of blogs that focus on tea on Tuesday!

And look at what else I found! Mary McCarthy used to publish KNOTS, a tatting newsletter, back in the mid 90's til the early 2000's. Looks like tatting and tea went together back then too!



In my advancing years, I wonder sometimes if it is possible to become ADD? I don't tolerate boredom as well. My mind goes in dozens of directions at once. Maybe I'm just more aware of it because I'm less constrained by obligations.

I was actually looking for the butterfly that Two Shuttles has been looking for information about. I know I've seen it - that inner diamond shape rings some strong bells, but I can't find it anywhere. I remember it because the one I saw originally, not the yellow one on flickr.com, was also in two colors and I remember thinking I didn't really like the way it worked in that case. I do like the yellow and white one so it's probably about color choices. I'm pretty sure it's an individual pattern, not one in a book, so I was looking through one of my binders of printouts. It wasn't there, but ..... something caught my eye.

I had this printout from a butterfly round robin that I took part in at the turn of the century. (heheheheh....that was fun to say!) It's one I made for someone, though I don't remember who now and the page showing all the round robins is long gone. Apparently I didn't get a scan so I printed out the one on the page. I didn't have a scanner then and had to go to my sister's to scan my tatting. I didn't always make it and my camera was not a good one for lace. Then again, it could be on some OLD disc hidden away somewhere. Anyway...this is my only record of it.

It was actually meant to be a handkerchief corner and was originally tatted in size 70 thread. If you have The Tatter's Treasure Chest, it is on page 73. The photograph in the book is not very clear at all.

By scanning the book photograph and making it bigger (click on the pic to see it bigger), you can see the details a little better. I didn't have that advantage the first time I made it. I always knew I'd done something wrong but couldn't quite figure it out. Now was the time to sort it out! (never mind all those other projects in the background!)

I remembered enough to know I wasn't willing to try it in anything smaller than size 40. I think this thread is actually size 30. Do you know there are SEVEN different pieces that must be tatted separately???? I came up with a few shortcuts but I still had seven different pieces to tat.

The directions say to start with the ring just below the head and then tat the head. Since you have to leave a space of thread for no really good reason except to jump to a picot, I changed the order of things and tatted the head ring first. Then I tatted the ring starting the body. This is where you end up leaving a space of thread. Instead, I made a split ring, splitting at the very last picot since that was where the thread space was going to. From there, you tat around making little loops. Now this is where I so wish I could have found a way to continue on with the body but since the next segment STARTS where the lower picots are, it just seemed like more trouble than it was worth. I also changed the bottom long picot to a double picot just for fun.

(I now see that I probably could have done a split chain where I first joined thread for the lower body and continued on with the lower body which tats down and then back up the other side, continuing around the upper body.)

Each upper wing and each lower wing was tatted and attached during the construction. The ending place was not able to be manipulated so that you could tat the other half of the wing on that side. That's because each segment started in the middle and worked outward. There was no way to work inward and achieve the same effect. If you tat this butterfly, keep in mind that you only need a yard or so on the ring shuttle for any given segment. I put on two yards but the only time I used most of that was in the body which had five rings. For the upper wings, no more than 1 1/2 yard per wing and for the lower wing, no more than 1 yard. Since I did the split ring on each segment to avoid the thread space and it was only TWO stitches, I just left the chain thread on the floss holder. The pic above is the upper wing completed. It reminds me of one of the Star Wars ships. LOL! It's really tight and curls up on itself. Might be a design element to keep in mind for a future project.

This is the completed butterfly waiting to be blocked. BTW, blocking is a nightmare! When I wet this thread, it gets kind of hard. It doesn't want to be manipulated very easily. I used a bigger crochet hook to help pull out each point after making it as flat as I could with my fingers. It used lots and lots and lots of pins!

Here is it on the blocking board, waiting to dry. I also used the shaft of my crochet hook to slide in between the pins and flatten out the chains that kept wanting to turn. This flutter has a wingspan of 4" and is 3 1/2" high counting the antenna.

And here it is! You might notice that the upper wings look a little different from the blue version. That's because I joined in the wrong place with the blue one. You're supposed to join at the 2nd free picot and I joined at the top one which turned it upside down. I also did something else wrong that I haven't discovered yet because the last chain joins in sequence to the whole while the blue one was just sort of hanging there. I don't know if I would dare to tackle this one with beads or not. While it was a challenge to tat, it wasn't all that much fun. I'm ready to move on to other patterns and other threads!

But ....you know....wouldn't this make a gorgeous "stained glass" flutter? I'll leave that to someone who's more accomplished at that than I am. (furtive glance at Marilee)

Tatting Tea Tuesday 2-16-10

Image by Hocus-Pocus Chick

I can't believe I forgot today! I had this post started but barely. While visiting blogs yesterday, I found a tea wallet tutorial that I thought was so cute. You can find it here! It's felt applique with embroidery but use your imagination...how would you add tatting to it?

I did tat a quick bookmark last night but it's already in the mail and missed the camera. I stitched quite a bit on the needleroll on Sunday night but at the moment my fingers are so sore from the tips cracking in this low humidity and cold weather. I was out last night helping my son get unstuck for about an hour. Once I got back in and warmed up, I noticed my thumb and two fingers had split open near the nail corners. I opted for superglue, not wanting to wear bandaids, but they are so tender - I kind of wish I had.

I keep saying I'm going to finish up my T.A.T. course but haven't yet. SIGH!!!! I just got my Christmas tree taken down at the weekend! Ornaments are in a single box though and have not been put away properly. I'm trying to get to that evenings this week. Last night I emptied one storage container. I'm also going through everything again. I'd gone through my Christmas decorations last fall but there were some things I wasn't sure about getting rid of so I kept and thought I would revisit it after Christmas....that's what I'm doing now. So my living room floor is a mess again but should be clear by the weekend. Then I will do my taxes and my T.A.T. for sure.

I think.

Valentine's Day is over but I thought I'd show an old favorite. I tatted these for an exchange many years ago. The center daffodils or blossoms are from a collar in Mary Konior's Visual Patterns. The heart is also hers - the Queen of Hearts. I added a repeat of one of the side segments to make it big enough to hold the blossoms in the center. I need to make a duplicate of these for myself.

Well...back to work.

Tatting Tea Tuesday 2/9/10

Remember the giveaway I had of the Simplicity pattern? I had a duplicate and the one thing I really wanted to make was the tea cozy. (or cosy as it is spelled in some places) I've been determined to make a tea cozy for TTT for weeks! I started crocheting one I found through a link from the OWOH but the directions were horrible and I finally reached a point where no matter what I did, it was not going to come out right.

I thought I'd have to wait yet another week - but - out of nowhere, I was inspired to sew the one in the pattern!

Here it is! I used a couple of fat quarters in my stash and a purchased hanky. It's currently hugging a tea-for-one which wouldn't work at all since I would be drinking out of the cup but I do have some teapots big enough for this. This is the smaller 3 cup pot pattern. My tea-for-ones are in all sizes, some very tiny, some very tall, some very round, some inbetween. Now that I've actually sewn one though, I can play with the dimensions and make more.

And do you remember the tatted lace in that same post about the giveaway that I was considering putting on the little tea envelope? I haven't attached it to anything yet, but I did pin it on one side here just to see what it would look like. I've been debating whether to tat the lace in white or red, but I will go with white. Some of my red tatting has bled just a little and the colors in the cozy are a very deep red so might be hard to match.

I'm just so proud of this little cozy! True humili-tea!

TTT 1-26-10

Instructions here!

Yeah, I know it's actually for coffee but for the coffee drinkers who visit here, it's a goodie for them, and for the tea drinkers, just adapt it for tea, and for the margarita drinker....hehehehe...Put a little container of margarita salt and some margarita mix in there. Make the cup a goblet and you're good to go. What a great all-around pattern!

That's all I got this time folks. I hoped to have a tea cozy made but there just wasn't time. I've got tons of links but other things have priority for now. I've got more floor space in the living room but I'm still not done.

I'm going to be joining the Whimsical Bohemian for the 2010 One World One Heart 4th Annual Blog Event so watch for a post later this week. When you go to her website, you will find hundreds of links to other bloggers, creative bloggers, who are hosting a giveaway as part of this celebration. The idea is to meet other bloggers ...everywhere. I'll be having a giveaway too but I'm not quite ready. The event started today but you can join anytime up to Feb. 8th, I think.

So pull up a chair, sip your coffee/tea/martini, tat and browse all those websites and see how inspired you get!

Tatting Tea Tuesday 1/12/10 Giveaway!

I found it! The website for the Indiana business I've used before and thought was gone is still there! There is not nearly as much on it as in the past but they are still in business and I signed up for the newsletter again.

I don't know if anyone pays that much attention but I have a category of blogs in the sidebar that have to do with interesting and inspiring blogs that don't feature tatting as the main subject. Yesterday I noticed that Lollychops had a subject line that said screamed, "The Mad Tatter's Teabag Template!". Now who could resist checking that out??? So I did.

It seems Lollychops has a sister who just learned to tat (in like 24 hours!)and she was bragging on her, rightfully so. But THEN, her next paragraph...and how cool is this given it's now Tatting Tea Tuesday? was a new crafty design of hers - a Tatter's Teabag Envelope! and you can get the template HERE!

I had great intentions for making it when I got home but I was late getting out of work and then I went to the pool at the gym and then Walmart and by the time I got home, I had an hour and a half to eat, check my email, and make the teabag holders.

I had already printed it out on cardstock so this part was easy....cut it out. I ended up cutting a curve on the straight side because I'm not making a card like Lollyshops did. I'm just using it as an envelope but what a sweet gift card! All I've done is glue the bottom and it wasn't quite dry so I didn't push the teabag all the way down. It could use some embellishing too!

I also wanted to make one in fleece or felt. I cut it out. But I needed to get to bed so I just scanned my idea and you will have to use your imagination! Someone asked me what I was going to do with that edging and the needlelaced motif. The edging isn't quite long enough but it might depend on how and where I put it on. I would put the motif on the front flap but it is underneath the triangle right now. Then the edging would probably be long enough! I would also need a little button or bead fastener or maybe velcro, to hold it closed. Anyway...I think this would be a fun and quick project (well, except for the tatting part) for our tea tatters! Oooooh and with Valentine's Day coming up, give your favorite Valentine some chocolate cherry flavored tea and put a tatted heart on it!

Okay...so now you're wondering....didn't she say something about a giveaway??? Yes! At the weekend, I went through a tub of patterns and...sigh...I have this habit of buying duplicates when they're on sale at JoAnn's for $1 each.

And this is a duplicate! See the tea cozies on the table? Another perfect fit for Tatting Tea Tuesday! I'll use the random generator to pick a number from the comments on this post only between now and the next Tatting Tea Tuesday on January 18th. I'll announce the winner of the pattern that morning. Another pretty thing to embellish with tatting, right?

Tatting Tea Tuesday 1/5/10

As long as it is hot, wet and goes down the right way, its fine with me. ~ Sarah Ferguson, The Duchess of York, on tea

I don't know if that is truly a quote by Sarah Ferguson or a poke at her, but it was with a bunch of other tea quotes - with her name and "Dutchess" misspelled.

If you haven't heard yet, Jane started a new TIAS (Tat It and See) today! You can find the link to the first pattern here or here!

I'm working on this project myself:


I wanted to show my lace guild the matching necklace and I'm considering putting it in the fair or our fall exhibit at the Tippecanoe Arts Federation building. It's turning out so pretty. I believe I'm going to scotchguard the necklace when it is done. The patterns are from http://free-tatting.com/.

I have to confess that I drink tea everyday, iced tea, so it's a given that on Tatting Tea Tuesday I'll be drinking tea.

News Flash! My youngest son and his wife just found out they are having a GIRL! Ooooohhh....that means I get to tat girl things! This will be my 6th grandchild.

Tatting Tea Tuesday 12/29/09

Love and scandals are the best sweeteners of tea. ~ Henry Fielding


I almost forgot that today was Tatting Tea Tuesday and then I read Heather's blog post about it being the last one of 2009. Can't close the year without a tea post!

Today I've been alternating between water and iced tea, the iced tea flavored with vanilla chai tea. I added less sweetner than usual because my tea had been tasting too sweet and yet, this still tastes a little too sweet for me.

Someone asked me what I was going to do with the matching edging and needlelace center so I contemplated making a small tea cozy today and embellishing it with the edging and motif, but I had company and I've been tatting for a friend so I didn't get to it.


Here's the pair of earrings I've made for her. The brown and turquoise pair are for her granddaughter. I made a black and gold pair before but I used Altin Basak gold thread. This gold is the same Sparklers thread I used for the all-gold pair. She helps manage a spa for her son and the color theme is gold and black there so she wears/embellishes accordingly. (in Vegas Baby!)

In return, she made me some scented bath salts which arrived today! She took the scents I told her I really liked and came up with an essential oil mixture that is perfect for me. The bag on the left is Ginger-Lemon and the one on the right is Lavendar-Sandalwood. SOOOOO...I not only get to loll around drinking tea and tatting today, I get to take a wonderful scented bath! Except my drain stopper is broke and I have to use something else to plug up the water and I'm not sure the current plug works so I will test its ability to hold water before I dump precious bath salts in.

In the meantime, I'm luvin' this time off!

Tatting Tea Tuesday 12/22/09

It's now after 8:00 p.m. when I officially go Christmas shopping. It's the only way to deal with crowds! I'm not sure how much I'll do. I was going to go and then not, but I believe the weather is to turn bad tomorrow so I better do all I can. At least get the baking supplies I need.

So...last week I stopped in a thrift store and what did I find????

A teapot with my name on it!!!! Actually, it appears to be a chalkboard and the little red shelf holds a piece of chalk but chances are I will do some painting on this piece. For $1.00, I couldn't NOT get it!

Still on the tea front, there is a printable for a teabag envelope here that you can print out to give the gift of a special teabag. It's from One Pretty Thing, a source of tons of fun and very appealing things to make.

Oh look! Walking an indoor labyrinth for the Winter Solstice at Heart's Delight, a tea blog. I really want to make my own labyrinth on my own property some day. There is a cool one in Tipton, Indiana that I just love.

No doubt this post will be a bit disjointed as I want to leave soon!

Here's another goodie I picked up at the thrift store. It's a set of pillowcases to embroider.

As you can see, the embroidery has been started but just barely. Not even the entire row of French Knots so it will be easy to take out if I want another color scheme. The hoop, needle and thread were all in the package. That reminds me....I have a set of pillowcases that I've nearly finished embroidering (around 2000) and have tatted an edging to attach....guess I better finish that one up first, huh?

Here's a close up of the way the embroidery will look. I don't like the cross stitch ones so I'm thrilled to find this one!

Now what do you suppose this is? A giant hinged wire heart - but for what? LOL! It's about as big as my bedroom window. I started to include the window in the photo but it looks bad at the moment. So, do you remember this post from August? Another metal wire thingie. This might make nice (if heavy) butterfly wings. Should I paint it, lace it, hang it? Or just look at it and let it inspire me????

Okay...off to pick up gift certificates (maybe) and baking supplies (definitely).

Tea Wisdom: "While there's tea, there's hope." ~ Sir Arthur Pinero

Tatting Tea Tuesday 11-17-09

A little tea humor....



Go to Calm-a-Sutra to see the runners-up.

I'm glad I had this in drafts. I completely forgot it was TTT. Too much on my mind in other areas.

I'm drinking iced tea with some added orange spice tea. It's cold and rainy and drizzly out so this would probably be better hot, but I'm fine with cold. I have not tatted at all, but since I'm going to the gym tonight, I won't feel like doing anything when I get home so I will probably tat something!