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!

Thanks to my son-in-law, I'm virus free and everything is intact! It was a fairly common virus and easily removed but he went further and checked my whole system out.

You might think I tatted up a storm in the blogging vacation but it was all this white stuff. LOL!

I mentioned that my lace friend Sally and I are going to play with dye in September and this is part of my preparation. I had a ball of DMC size 40 that was getting small so I've been tatting it away. There's still a bit more left. There's a yard of the hen & checks edging. I think around 14" of the ring and chain edging. The butterfly is from Adelheid Dangela's book, Tatted Butterflies, but I don't remember the name of this one and I'm not home to check.

The three flower fragments are from Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns, as is the corner motif which is the piece I test-tatted when I made my daughter-in-law's bridal hanky to see how far from the first row that the second row would be. Maybe I can make it into something special for my granddaughter some day.

I also have some crochet lace pieces I've picked up here and there and I intend to tat more motifs before the BIG DYE DATE.

Tatting Fool was looking for a simple bag to embellish with tatting since she doesn't sew. I offered (and so did others) to make one for her. I looked through several whites in my stash and come up with this one, which I later figured out was fabric from a skirt my mom wore. I think she even made it. I knew I would never wear it so I took it apart for the fabric. Well.....now I'm thinking this fabric will make some wonderful "memorial" gifts for family members. The fabric can be used for drawn work too so I'm just brimming with ideas now! Thanks to TF for prompting me to find it. I'm anxious to see how she decorates the bag too.

At the weekend I got to visit a little with my oldest grandson (the big guy) and my great-grandson (the little guy). I've mentioned him before but most people forget I have a great-grandson. I have this pic on my office door along with the most recent of my new granddaughter and when coworkers ask who he is and I tell them, they are surprised, even though I had a photo of Cameron in a Superman suit on the door for ages when he was a baby. He's four now and so smart. Remembers EVERYTHING!

Update - sorry- I was asked to remove the photos of my granddaughter.

I had to take this photo of my son's cat, Diogi, the one who lays on her back ALL the time. This time she is on the sofa back, obviously deep in sleep. As long as I put the terry cloth towels on the back, they stay on those which I like for fur control. I just pop them in the washer and put a fresh towel on. Not pretty exactly, but it works! I don't know what kept her from sliding right off the back but she stayed in place.

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.

TTT 1/19/10 & Winner!

Before I say anything else, I want to note the passing of Mary Konior. While Mary hasn't contributed anything new for many years, her books have been a source of inspiration for all of us and will continue to be long after most of us are forgotten. I checked my blog and found 209 entries about her patterns. Some are probably referencing more than one statement in a single post but in some posts, I know there were several patterns by her and in some cases, I might not have mentioned her at all. That's about 20% of my posts so far. I think that's a lot and she deserves the credit for every single one of them. I love her books. The edging for my daughter-in-law's bridal hanky came from one of those books. It's not the most recent thing I've tatted from her but one of the biggest projects.

So last night I took a little time to empty some shuttles and tat another of my favorites from her books. This one is in a section from Visual Tatting called "Fragments and Doodles". I love this rose and have framed many of them alone. It's perfect for emptying a shuttle and it's feminine and delicate and all that tatting is. Her patterns are not complicated and to me, that is the genius of it. She created so very many edgings, doilies, collars and other pieces that are beautiful without a single split ring or split chain or self closing mock ring. Her book on Visual Tatting made diagrams almost a standard in tatting. In fact, the only reason I bought that book was to learn how to tat from a diagram. It remains my most referenced book.

I said in the last post that I would show you the miniature fansticks I bought from Ann Keller during my first visit to Ireland in 2000. My sister and I took the train from Tara station to the other side of Dublin where Ann had her studio. She met us at the station and drove us to her studio, telling us lots about the local history along the way. At the time, Ann was the ONLY tatter I was able to find. Wish I'd known about Pamela (Tatskool) then as I would have made a special trip to meet her too. Since Ireland is known for lace, I was totally flabbergasted that it wasn't brimming with tatters! Where are they? But tatting is not the lace Ireland is known for. I finally figured that out. LOL!

As you can see, the fansticks are quite small, shorter even than my shuttle. Ann painted the outside sticks on both the outside and inside. I also bought four shuttles from her and picked out a scene on each side for her to paint. She painted them and then sent them to me after I'd returned.

Here's a scan showing the fan closed.

This one shows you a close up of the outer side of the fanstick. I also bought some tatting patterns from Ann, including one to make the lace for this size fanstick. They are by someone else - and not really easy for me to look up right now, but I think that's going to have to go on my "to-do" list for this year. If you would like to know more about Ann or perhaps even order from her, check out her website here.

Another thing I've uncovered in all my cleaning is tea stamps! I ordered the set on the left from someone at work and I won the set on the right during a silent auction in Hector a few years ago. Yea.....another thing to put to use!

And now...drumroll.....the winner of the tea cozy pattern...is......commenter #2 from the random number generator which is Katie! Katie, I left a message on your blog to send me your mailing address at ginab6 at yahoo dot com. You should have it by the next Tatting Tea Tuesday!