It's finally done! I actually had it all done on ITD except for the tatted-over marbles. Laying like this, the two triads together remind me of a butterfly and I was tempted to tat a body but haven't. Maybe in the next version. (update - I added a photo with more contrast but couldn't get it to show as well as I wanted.)

Here it is perched, waiting for a book to land in.

Ah, that didn't take long! All you can see are the marbles....or miniature crystal balls.

Doesn't it look perfect marking the page? Wings holding a page about wings!

It occured to me that you could stitch this down on a cloth journal cover too. This book isn't cloth, but I hope it illustrates what I mean.

Well, that was fun! The pattern again, is the triad on page 76 of Mary Konior's Tatting Patterns. The thread is Altin Basak, size 50, Renk no. 3053 which I assume is the color number. The marbles? Small ones I found in a big glass vase sitting on the register in the bathoom. I think I put essential oil in the jar to make nice odors. Must be time to do something else with them!

My taxes are done! I wasted six hours yesterday doing them. It's not that my taxes are complicated or anything. I usually mail them in but since you can pretty much file them online free, I decided to do just that. Lots of reading just to figure that out, never mind the horrendous mistake I discovered AFTER filing my State return. I have an amended version to send out in the mail tomorrow though. Plus I figured the Federal with and without itemized deductions, checked and rechecked, and settled on the itemized version. Just finding everything and sorting it and clarifying what I could and could not use.... Well, it's done and I'm glad!

On ITD, I also made great progress on the next figure in Plate I of the DMC Tatting book. In fact, it's done, but there are a few other things I want to try before I post it. We'll just say the white test version is done.

It's gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous out! High 70's, sunny, strong breezes which I actually enjoy. I didn't get to spend much time outside, but I could see it out the window. Right now, if I had a hammock or chaise lounge, I'd be out sitting in it.

Hope you all are enjoying your weekend too. I've had fun reading about your ITD adventures!

Is it Spring yet?

The sun keeps shining and I see a few green things outside struggling to grow in spite of freezing temps so it is here...barely. Inside though, I've had so much fun tatting these tiny blossoms.

I showed the white ones earlier but I couldn't stop with white. I had to keep trying out other colors, stacking them up, marveling at their pretty little bits. I did send them all to a friend to do with as she wishes, but I think this might be my new shuttle ending pastime. There's so much that can be done with them. I've used this rosette as the basis for several of my patterns or as an embellishment on something else I've stitched. I usually add beads during the tatting but beads can always be added later. I think I'll tat up a little stash for myself to tuck away and bring out when I need a pretty pick-me-up visual.
Before I start the next challenge piece which I always make first in DMC white size 20, I wanted to tat something in color! At first I was going to do Jon's foldover bookmark but then decided I wanted something a bit different and I knew I wanted to add long tails that ended with a covered ball, like the thong bookmark I won from Umintsuru once.

So, I went looking for a suitable pattern. It had to be one that could be folded over at joins, which isn't as easy to find as you would think.

Did you ever see a pattern and wonder, "what in the world (or sam hill as crazy mom said) is that for?" I love Mary Konior's patterns, even when I don't have a clue what to do with something. She tatted all those fragments and single motifs that just beg you to do something more with them. I found one on page 76 of Tatting Patterns. It's called a "triad". But there's no mention of how you might use it.

So here it is, tatted in Altin Basak, size 50. It could be a pendant with the right beads to give it some weight.

Or you could turn it over and it makes a great crown motif!

Or you could put two of them together and....whooooaaaa....what's that ballerina doing there??? Heheheheh...really, it's supposed to fold over. Why is it dancing on pointy pink ballet slippers?

Okay...it's not a ballerina, but it wouldn't take a lot of tweaking to become one! Now you see how easily I get sidetracked.

Back to the bookmark...

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!