Heart of the Butterfly

I loved this pattern the very first time I saw it. I tatted this one in Cebelia size 30. No color number on the label or inner spool but it is obviously red! I used a printout from 2001 but that's only because it was in my Heart binder and handy. I also have the book edited by Georgia Seitz titled "Tatting Online, The Official 1999 Tat_Chat Pattern Book." You can email Georgia to find out if the book is still available. The pattern is on page 65 (corrected 3/13/10) and designed by Irene Woo.

I met Irene when I went to Palmetto one year. She is a sweetie. Quiet, unassuming, but taking it all in. Irene tats up a sample of every thread with the same pattern and writes every bit of information she can think of on an index card with the tatted sample. One of the classes at Palmetto one year was presented by Irene Woo and Hope Green about how they organized their samples. They go to way more trouble than I ever will but it is because of their perserverance that we know about the properties of many threads. If you want to be serious about your tatting and potentially designing, it's a good practice to tat up samples of new threads and keep notes about how they perform.

The book has patterns shared by about 60 tatters. Isn't that fabulous? I often visit other blogs about other crafts, like crazy quilting, knitting, crochet, polymer clay art, and stitching. Tatters are, by far, the most generous with their patterns and techniques. That may be why no one is getting rich selling their tatting product, but it still says something very positive about us. I also find it interesting that even though I have an extensive library of free patterns via online printing, I still buy books from as many as I can afford, currently at least 100. Freebies hasn't stifled my purchasing habits at all!

Well...hoping to have a very productive weekend! Nope, I'm not into football.