This is where I left off last time, getting ready to tat these beauties!
I took them to an Easter Dinner I was invited to and tatted one for each lady plus gave her a suction cup to hang it in the window.
You know how some of our creative bloggers in the tatting community build up the suspense by posting a photo of an unopened package they received in the mail?
Well...I'm not one of them.
I rip into the package (carefully....sort of) and take a gander at the contents without the least bit of thought for any of you. Within a few short hours, this is how my package looked:
Yep, I'd already gone through every page and post-it marked where I wanted to return to! It arrived on Friday, April 9th, my first day of vacation. I'd planned on leaving that day for Hector originally but as expenses piled up in February, March and into April, I withdrew my registration knowing I didn't need to incur more debt, no matter how much I wanted to see everyone. This was a nice consolation prize.
In her foreword, Angeline Crichlow starts off by saying, "It is the author's opinion that very few persons can successfully learn to tat from a book." Amen Sister! I did teach myself from a book but it was, as Angeline says in her second statement, "filled with a tremendous and shattering frustration."
And then, only a few paragraphs later, she is recommending Coats & Clark's SpeedCroSheen for beginners! I hope Angeline had the pleasure of tatting with a good 6 cord thread in her lifetime. I think she did from some other comments, but I was floored to read her early recommendation.
I was intrigued that she started off with Josephine Knots and finger tatting. Finger tatting is not an unusual way to start, but Josephine Knots? Then I realized that it was a good way to get used to the motion of tatting and actually making a ring without the complication immediately of going in the opposite direction for the 2nd half of the stitch. Good idea!
I won't tell you any more about the book - I'll leave that for future recipients, but I do want to thank Fox for this EXTREMELY GENEROUS gesture! The book is hardbound and stitched at the spine. It is also a signed copy:
I trust that all recipients of the book will handle it with respect and do their very best to get it back to Fox in the same condition it arrived in. It truly is a treasure and is now on its way to the Land of Leprechauns, where Tatskool resides.
Now, the same day the book arrived, I also got another treasure in the mail - my T.A.T. package! I am now a Tatting Artisan! I would love to get started on the last phase but due to the aforementioned unexpected expenses, I think it will be June before I can afford the fee.
So...what kind of tatting have I been up to?
Once again my lace guild is making lace ornaments for a small Christmas tree that we donate to a charitable organization to auction off as a fundraiser. There is so much happening this summer and we also have a big exhibit to get ready for (the tree is included) so I'm trying to get as much tatting done as I can. We make ornaments in sets of three because the tree is divided in thirds and the ornaments equally spaced. So here's my contribution:
The angels are a pattern by
Birgit Phelps that was subsequently adapted by
Martha Ess. I suppose we all add our own little twist. These are tatted in size 50 and I've used a variety of beads and charms for embellishment. The doves are actually a chick pattern by
Karey Solomon that was featured in her February issue of Tatting Times. When I got it, I put it in my work bag thinking I would check it out on a lunch hour but somehow it got lost in all the other things in my bag and it wasn't until I cleaned it out over vacation that I found it! The chicks were actually meant for Easter but I'm using them as a Christmas symbol. There is also a very cute heart on a cabone ring pattern in there that I'll get around to tatting eventually. I did block the pieces but the organizer is stiffening them all so they will be uniform. I just wanted them to have a little shape before she gets them.
One night very late, I decided to take a break from all the ornament tatting and tat
Jane's butterfly bookmark, except I don't use beads in bookmarks (unless I can figure out a way to keep the beaded part OUT of the book) so it's just a butterfly.
Timing was bad, I was tired and I didn't really read through the pattern and prepare other than getting thread and beads. I was ready to throw it across the room before I was done! I needed six hands to juggle beads, shuttles, crochet hook, glasses, and pattern!
It's really not that hard, but you need to prepare. Have some safety pins on hand and you need a very fine hook - I had to use my Lacis size 16 hook - to pick up the beads. When you go to make the long picot, put the beads on it and secure the thread loop with a safety pin until you are ready to join it to another element later on. Have your beads counted out and ready to pick up. It would probably be better to be sitting at a table instead of in a comfy easy chair. Read the pattern all the way through FIRST! And before you know it, you'll be done!
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Okay, I'll admit it. This sabbatical is not working out all that well for me. There are things I want to blog about. There are things I want to show. Posting only once a month makes it a huge post to read. It's not really keeping me OFF the computer which was meant to push me to finish other non-computer related stuff. So I may be back sooner than I expected.
One night this past week, I got home to find an unexpected package in the mail. At first, I couldn't read the name but it was from Singapore!
I opened it up and found this pretty pink envelope with a sweet note to me. I opened the envelope and there was a pink tissue paper package tied with delicate looking novelty thread and I could feel that inside was a bubble wrapped item. I couldn't tell what it was though - too much padding!
Much to my delight, it was a pair of earrings from Wendy over at
Umi & Tsuru! I had commented at one point that I loved those little shell bits hanging from the earrings she makes. They are so delicate and pearly looking. What a lovely surprise! You can see examples of her jewelry on the left side of the blog. They are certainly beautiful eye-candy! Thank you Wendy!
Speaking of eye-candy, earlier this month I paid a visit to Pat Winter from
Pat Winter Gatherings. A few members of my lace group and I are taking a dye class with her in May and I needed to scout out the location and surroundings. Pat is such a gracious lady and her crazy quilt work is exquisite! I got to see the studio we will be working in - or out in the garden, weather permitting. I went to a few bead stores later that Pat told me about in the area and had hoped to visit some other places too but $$ were a little short so I decided to come home instead. As it turns out, we'll only have a short time after the class before we have to head back to Lafayette so we won't be able to go to anything too far away. I'll have to make a trip on my own later in the summer. I wanted to spend some time at the Dunes and that will be an additional luxury for me.
It seems like I've been on the computer all day today (4-25) but I've unloaded and loaded the dishwasher, made meatloaf to take in my lunch, washed some laundry (still in progress) caught up on email and blogs and added to this post. My son helped me move a heavy piece of furniture earlier so later I will clean up all the stuff around it.
One reason I'm so behind is that I've been tatting intensely all week to make some booties for my little Miss Smith who will be here in another month. Yeah, I gave up on the bonnet, at least for the shower which was the 24th. For the booties I used the pattern I've always used, an adaptation by
Lenore English. Unfortunately my printout shows geocities.com as the host and it's shut down so I don't know if the pattern is available elsewhere or not.
Lenore came up with her own design using one from Anne Orr's baby shoes, something different for the toe, and an Aunt Ellen pattern for the edging. I used all of these elements but then added a motif I've used in many of my own patterns, a two-layer rossette that I placed on top of the original round motif. I put a tiny little button in the center. Now that I've finished it, I see a few more ways to tweak it but those notes will go into the next pair I make. I also would like it to come up a little higher on the ankle and that could be a major tweak.
(Originally I had 2 collages here but finally decided which one I liked better and removed the other)
I used size 20 thread. Lenore's pattern used size 30 but the only pink I liked and had was in size 20 so I used it instead. If memory serves me right, size 30 seemed just a tad small when completed. Fine for a newborn, but for someone using these for a christening, the baby is often 3-6 months old. The last pair I made had to be lengthened to fit the baby. I also tied the ribbon in the back instead of in the front. It was just a whim but the rosette takes up more room than the original motif and I think it would be too bulky to have the bow there. I finished the final tatting at 9:48 a.m. on the day of the shower. I had to block them and put the ribbon in, take pix, and then wrap them.
It was worth it. Look at 'em dance!
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There is a clematis vine on a trellis just outside my garage and I've been noticing a redbird flying away from the very same spot whenever I get close. I took a peek earlier last week and saw there was, indeed, a nest with eggs. I couldn't tell how many as I didn't want to get too close and cause the mother to abandon the nest. My middle son, Jason, took me out to breakfast/lunch today and when we got back, I remembered I had my camera with me after hearing the mom fly past when I got stuff out of the car. So I stuck the camera at what I hoped was a good angle and took two photos. One was just leaves but this one shows at least ONE new birdie in the world. Happy Mum's day Red Lady!
Before I left Chesterton yesterday, Pat gifted me with this beautiful seascape brooch and I wore it on my jacket today at the restaurant. I can't get over all the tiny tiny details in it! My son looked at it and said, "hmmm...kinda busy..." LOL! I forgot he had lasik and probably can't see those teensy details all that well. 
Last night before I ended up on the sofa, I finished tatting this motif I started the night before. I think the thread is some I bought from Karey Solomon at a Tat Day somewhere. It doesn't show so much in the scan, but I really like the confetti-like appearance. 
I got the motif from this book, the picture on page 18 if you have it. It's really kind of hard to see but there are three of them on a bag and it's tatted with beads plus a center pearl is added during stitching to the bag. This one was a test tat for me, to see how the thread and the pattern worked out. I believe I will tat three now, with beads, and also make a bag as instructed and sew the motif to it.
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