Wow - last day of February. I have 10 days to tat my daughter's elephant. In slick bright rayon floss!

I've been playing - creating pretty little butterflies that I'll have to post some other time.

I was going to bid on two shuttles last night late and got sidetracked. :-) I really liked them too. Oh well. There will be others.

Well, the butterfly I tatted last night was done in two different threads that were both size 50. However, one was Oren Bayan and one was Altin Basak. The Altin Basak thread was much thinner than the Oren Bayan.................which is what pisses me off about so-called standard sizes! I wonder sometimes if that is why one tatter's motif is so different from another's? It's not just the tension, but the thread. I find most tatters who say they tat tightly don't tat as tightly as they think. If it were that tight - their work would pull - you can only tat so tight before it becomes distorted. Some people snug their stitches up closer than others. I do even in the same project.

I can't edit my broken graphic. I've asked why the graphics show up broken, but still no answer. :-( Oh..........I bet I have to go to the website! LOL!

Here's one example of the elephant I'm tatting for my daughter. Festival Elephant

This page always makes me think of chocolate and every tatter knows tatting and chocolate go hand in hand. Well, not at the same time or you would have chocolate stained lace.

I finished the round of the motif on the elephant blanket. Lotsa beads and silky shiny thread! On to another color- a lovely teal -but first I have to finish my sister's bookmark. :-( I did start another heart last night and finished it today. I might get by with only 2 more hearts, but I have homework to do tonight. Maybe I can sneak the homework in this afternoon.

There is sand all over my office floor which means they didn't sweep it last night. It is tracked in with my boots, among others, from the surfaces being covered outside the doors - which helps us keep from falling on our keisters. Larry, the building deputy was so busy sweeping it out the door yesterday that he practically swept me out the door too. He is obsessed with it not getting inside the back dock area. I hurried away because he is one of those people who talks non-stopwithouttakingabreath once they nab you.

I've decided I could make a couple of versions of the elephant blanket before I actually tat the elephant onto it. That way I can see what I like best before it's all done. I hadn't planned on using the yellow floss, only the gold, but the purple and magenta did not look so appealing when I held them together so I decided to put it elsehwhere, so that meant I had to improvise. The beads looked perfect on it though.

Also saw another great catch of a shuttle on ebay. Not telling about it til it's over.

I've separated all my floss now and tatted a sample butterfly with beads to see how it would tat up. Two strands definitely. One strand tends to fray and will work out too small to make the impact I want from using this particular thread. If I didn't mention it before, this is for the elephant I'm tatting for my daughter for her birthday. It's a pattern by Pam Palmer. sigh..........I'm going to have to figure out how to do links and photos.

So last night I started on the blanket for the elephant. I think I know how I want the colors arranged, but it's kind of hard to get the same impact from colored pencils when you are using bright shiny thread. I've already changed the order of things. I may tat a couple of different versions since the elephant part is tatted last around the blanket. The blanket part is the crucial element. It's the color, the texture, the brightness, and focal point of the whole thing. There are a few motifs around the head too, that I'm not sure what I will do with them.

I'm going to switch gears today though and work on my roundrobins. I have a butterfly to do and a birthday one. I bought several little frames from Walmart recently that will work perfectly for framing small tatted motifs. They were only $1.50, but of course, the tatting is priceless (grin!). It's a glass piece with a backing that stands if you want, and the corners are held together by clips that are colored in pastels. I got pink, green, yellow, and blue so I have a good assortment. I think I have one lavendar one too. Since the birthday one is in February, I thought I would tat a heart and put it in the frame. I love Irene Woo's "Heart of the Butterfly" but I also love Mary Konior's "Heart's Desire". Perhaps I'll do that one and also tat a little flower motif to go in the empty space. I want to to the Celtic Heart too - I think by Martha Ess.......but that one will take some time, so not good for this project. It also needs to lie quite flat the way this frame is. I tried putting a fan in it and the lump where I made the tassel handle was a problem.

I finished the bonnet I was documenting for Georgia, but I'm going to have to remove a row from the back - so I've laid it aside for the time being.

Ulp! I'm tatting a lavendar heart bookmark for my sister's birthday which is the 20th of this month........maybe I'll work on that first! I have 2 hearts done and it will probably need 5 or 6. I'm using Handy Hands cordonnet, size 50. This is Betsy Evan's heart bookmark pattern. I just love it. Gave the 1st one I made to one of my closest friends, Janet.

Tatting - that delicate wispy threading of air pockets that makes an enduring lace. It's become an obession with me - more than crocheting was, more than quilting, more than even painting - only because it was more portable.

I hope to do a little more with this site. I've not seen any other tatting blogs.........and the working process is as fun as the end result. There are wonderful tatters that I communicate with and share ideas and experiences. We talk designs - others and those coming into our heads. I want to show some of that process - share some of the tips, the pleasures and the frustrations.

Right now I'm tatting something for a grandson. It started out as an alligator to put in his birthday card and then my youngest son flatly said: "He'll lose it". Aaaaackkk - 2 or 3 hours down the drain.....maybe literally. Humph! Well, I have these see through acrylic rulers that I bought for the specific purpose of inserting my tatting and giving as gifts - mostly to the grandkids - but never got around to it in time for Christmas. So........the alligator is now in the ruler and I'm making a little patch of grass and reeds with 2 little ducks to go with it. Next is a little turtle..........and maybe a frog........and a fish... This is how little projects turn into big ones!

I'm also working on fans for my lace group's Lace Day coming up in April. I've got a couple done but there is one in particular I want to make in silk thread .............very pretty. I haven't started. Just picked up some silk thread last night. Hobby Lobby had silk floss on sale for $.88 and rayon embroidery thread for $.31/skein.

And here is my other big huge project. I want to tat Pam Palmer's elephant for my daughter who has a thing about elephants. I have no clue why, but she does. Her birthday is in March. I want to use the rayon thread because it is so bright and shiny....... and slick as SNOT as Hopie pointed out to me (like I didn't already know). But it will be soooooo pretty! This is like a circus elephant with the blanket and head dress. I'll add beads and gold and silver blending filament too! So.......separating embroidery floss is NOT fun. Hopie passed on a tip about using a piece of velcro, the loopy side, and running the strands through that to easily separate them. I'm going to try it. Will let you know what happens!

I've also got 3 thank you bookmarks to make and a birthday RR to tat for, my granddaughter's birthday in March too, besides her mother, and a couple of "thinking of you" somethings to tat. I also need to rework a section on a baby bonnet. More on that another day.

While I was looking for "boy" critter patterns to tat last night, I came across the reindeer ornament I had started to design before Christmas and got sidetracked. It will be the end of April or beginning of May before I get back to it. Maybe in time for the next Christmas.

Once I learn how to navigate this blog, I'll have links to the heart and butterfly I've designed so far. Well, actually, you can get to the butterfly here

I have a few angels too, but they aren't written up yet.