While following a side link on a discussion list, I found this flat shuttle. Looks like they make a Lady Hoare shuttle too. I don't like to use the flat shuttles myself because my sweaty palms would make the thread all icky, but I have a few in my collection.

Wow....all this time and not much tatting to show for it. I've been busy though. I got my bag for the exchange done and sent out and I also worked on the game board for Lace Jeopardy. Finding a glue that works on laminated paper is turning into a challenge. Hot glue didn't do it. I just bought something in a yellow bottle today that said it worked for plastic, fabric, and paper....all of the materials involved, but it didn't. I found some fabric glue I had stashed away and it's in the test mode right now. I have to glue velcro pieces to the back of the laminated paper which is the $$$ amounts and the categories that are on the board. I need to be able to take them off and on.

Everyone had great fun doing the test run! I just taped the afore-mentioned laminated cards to the white board in the room. I need to work on the questions though. Some were too hard or vague. But that's why we tested it. The questions cover all kinds of lace,not just tatting, because we are a "lace" group, chartered by I.O.L.I.



I finished both of these motifs today. I only had the one on the left done when I started this. The scan made me think this might be a nice study on thread qualities. The one on the left is done with Pastelles embroidery thread - 2 strands. It's very limp and soft. The motif on the right is done in Olympus #40. I don't know what size the thread is. It says #40 on it, but it's bigger than size 40 thread so I don't know what that is about. The only other number on it is the weight in grams. I love this little motif. It's #13 in The Tatted Artistry of Teiko Fujito, a Lacis publication. I like the lines of it, but it is so easy to remember that I don't really need the diagram in front of me all the time along with my handy-dandy post-its! It's a little bigger and a little stiffer in the second thread. Neither is blocked yet. I just finger pressed and shaped them before scanning. It's a good practice piece for working on chain tension. I especially worked on snugging the chains up and shaping each ring before moving on with the second motif, but you can still see the discrepencies. I'm not sure how well blocking will eliminate that. I suspect it will look very nice in a size 12 DMC thread.

I've been looking for small but visually appealing and unusual motifs to put in small frames. They don't always work out the way you expect them to. LOL!

My latest test glue doesn't seem to be working right either....though better than the one before. I also think I figured out a chain sequence a friend told me about and I want to go test that "theory" too.

It's beautiful out and I should be outside, but I'm also incredibly tired. I really want to go take a nap.

Oh hey! I'm tired because I got up extra early to go get weighed and measured at Curves. Lost 4 pounds and 3 1/2 inches. Of course, I gained 5 inches last month, so that part doesn't impress me. The girls were quite different in their measurement methods and my clothes were significantly different too. But the weight loss did make me happy. I know I'm gaining muscle which weighs more than fat and I know the seemingly small changes are really significant, but I haven't seen a difference in the way my clothes fit either. That's what I'm looking for!

After the end of this month, I'm going to let it go for the summer. I have other things I would rather be doing. I may pick it back up in the fall, depending on what kind of changes I see during this month.

Bead Frenzy!

As I was cleaning off my table this weekend, I found all these beads....in different bags...THREE different bags. All from this week. sigh....clearance in Walmart, Michael's and JoAnn Fabrics....just couldn't resist. I ended up putting them all in the bag Mary gave me.

I've been quite productive this weekend. I try to sleep in but for some reason, I was awake between 6 and 7 every day. I gave up trying to get back to sleep around 7:30 or 8.

I've got the tatting part done on my bag exchange. (whisper....show ya later)

Got the Lace Jeopardy board painted. White on white....the lace strips looked fine. But put a little paint on there and every crooked corner shows up! LOL! No matter....they will be covered by $$ amounts and categories most of the time.

I was out raking again today. My chest is tight from inhaling woodsmoke on Friday and I have a dry, very dry cough. I can't remember the last time I had a cough like this. I've been drinking a lot, hoping to loosen it up, but not much luck so far.



I had these hats on my bed when I moved them to find something else and thought to myself, these hats look naked. I've been meaning to tat a hatband for a long time. Maybe we should have an exchange. Measure the hat you want a band for and let your partner tat it. That might be fun.

Well..stuff to finish up...

Happy International Tat Day!!!!!

Today I traveled to Eastern Indiana to inspect a farm with 2 colleagues. Of course I took my tatting with me - you didn't think I would forget, did you? LOL!

But I tatted very little. I dozed most of the way there and back.

The edging above is from Rita Weiss's book, Tatting Doilies & Edgings, edging #6 on page 38. I call it the butterfly edging because I think it looks like butterflies! I worked on it a bit this evening, but I was getting too sleepy so I stopped.

I'm sleepy because I spent 2 1/2 hours traipsing around in the cold (my fault for not wearing something heavier) and climbing up and down tractors and barn lofts. THEN when I got home, I decided to rake some more....and I raked and I raked and I started a burn pile, started burning, and raked and raked.....oh my...I am so sore.


I hope every single tatter has taken some time out today to tat something just for the sheer pleasure of it.

Exchange bag received!

I got home late tonight to find a package from my exchange partner, Mary Donohue. She's quick! It's a lovely little canvas bag with butterflies and flowers. I love the flower bead centers and that polka dot ribbon is so precious! Inside Mary had tucked a plastic container with thread and a couple of flower beads, plus there was a tube of blue beads, some beading needles and a pen -the perfect size to carry around in a bag that size!



Gail Colbourne hosts exchanges year-round. Go to the bottom of the page to find the link.

I also had a new Anna magazine. Not a bit of tatting in it - in fact, I didn't see anything that particularly enticed me. Not that I need any more projects but it's fun to look at them and at least consider them.

Details for our Lace Day May 7

Well, we're making progress. Here are the details for Lafayette Lacers Lace Day:
Lafayette Lacers Lace Day Invite
Lunch can be pre-ordered or there are several new establishments in the area too.
Lunch order form
And here are some directions to get there!
Directions to Lace Day

So if you're in Indiana or surrounding states, feel free to come and have fun with us!

I'll be working on the Lace Jeopardy Board this weekend. I'm really looking forward to this part! Need to take my shuttle shelf in to get a glass cover for it this week too. Maybe tomorrow if I take it down tonight.

I spent some time outside raking the leftover leaves and twigs the last two evenings. Not much tonight as my legs are a bit sore, but I wanted to be outside enjoying the weather instead of having to walk someplace like I do all day.

I won some more metal knitting needles for lace on ebay a while back. I bid on them because I wanted the wooden tube they came in. Can't help it.....I love wooden containers. Out of the deal, I also got some plastic knitting needles that I don't really want, and one large wooden knitting needle.




Okay, shuttle box is down and ready to go.....I'm finishing up another project....and then I can tatty-tat-tat.

Shellpiece

This isn't exactly what we learned Saturday morning, but basically it is. We used a glass glob but I couldn't find it right away when I decided to try this again, so I used a shell that Witt gave me when I went to South Carolina last year. I was able to encase the edge very nicely but when I tried to use the spokes that Kaye had designed for the snowflake edging on the round glass, there were too many picots and they started to ruffle and look icky. So I cut them off and improvised a scalloped edging instead, which worked out very well, considering. In fact, it's giving me ideas for a bigger shell work of art! I have 2 other shells Witt gave me, one larger and one smaller. Kaye took a class from Karey Solomon for this technique.

This is another busy week at work. I'm beginning to wonder if it will ever end. The weather was gorgeous for a change. We've had a cold wet spring so todays sunshine, breeze, and warmer temps was greatly welcomed. I hoped to be home in time to do some yard work, but it was almost dusk before I got here. And here it is, almost 9:00 p.m.! I really need to work on a few projects.

Changes

I don't know what happened to my titles but they are not showing up. (they weren't when I originally wrote that!)

And I clicked on all my links there to the side and found a few were dead. But worse than that, several have not been updated since mid 2004. I'll be culling those out pretty soon and adding some live ones. They won't be about tatting, unfortunately. Only 3-4 of those in the list are about tatting and working, so they will stay, but the rest will be composed of other crafts.

We've been having an ongoing seasonal tat-embellished quilt block exchange on Tatting Goddess Updates. I wasn't going to participate because I have a quilt in the works that is long, long overdue to be worked on. Do that first, I tell myself. Um-huh. Well, I caved....and had way too much fun. LOL! The just ended exchange was for the winter season. My exchange partner was Gail Owens and her block is on the left; mine to her is on the right.



I managed to come up with a "luggage tag" for the Lacemaker's Census. Click on census at the top of that page.



I was going to tat something special for it, but time crunched and I dug out something I already had. The motif is Hearts & Flowers from Lyn Morton's Tatting Patterns.

Went to tatting guild in Greenfield, Indiana this morning. Kaye showed us how to tat around a found object, a technique she learned from a class with Karey Solomon. I made a mistake on mine....was going to start another but was almost out of time, and....truth be told, I wasn't feeling all that great either. Decided to try it again later. So...maybe I'll have a sample to show before the weekend is over.

If I have time and the inclination, I need to work on our Lace Jeopardy board for Lace Day. I think I'll line up the questions tonight. Now what kind of questions will stump lacers???? evil evil grin

Spring has Sprung!

Spring has Sprung!

but it's not too noticeable around here. The sun is shining and I saw a few crocuses poking up from the leaves, but they've been doing that for 2 weeks now - as if stopped in time. I think it will warm up soon though.

I did start an entry here last week and then got sidetracked. Now where was I?

Oh, after I posted 2 partial blocks of my son's quilt in progress, the Twisted Log Cabin, I received 2 pics from Estefania, showing her own quilts. This first one is her rendition of the Twisted Log Cabin. Mine will have the logs swirling into one another in graduated colors with a black background. There are a few different ways I can place them and I now forget exactly what I had in mind - but I'll just lay them out and try it again. Then her second quilt is a more traditional log cabin pattern with a dogwood flower in the middle. Estefania does beautiful work!



These next scans are part of my lessons that I'm presenting at Palmettos in June.


I'm glad I got to use the peach colored thread. Since then, I've knocked over my glass of iced tea twice and got that ball of thread both times. The first time I quickly dunked it in running water to rinse it out and then set it, ball intact, over a register to dry. It looked okay....but the second time, I didn't get to the water. I haven't decided what to do with it yet. It just looks a little drab compared to how it looked brand new.

I sent off my quilt block to Gail at noon today. I'll have to wait to show it, but I can tease your imagination a bit in the meantime. I used a block from Bonnet Girls by Helen R. Scott. I originally bought this book after I joined several online quilting groups in an effort to find a pattern for a quilt I saw in St. Vincent DePaul's once. The appliqued blocks featured women in costumes from the 1800's. I remembered the ruffled pantaloons and some umbrellas. I never found the exact pattern series, but my search led me to this book which had a similar theme. I see she has another book now, Ladies Day Out with the same Bonnet Girls. I had so much fun with this block - I may have to get the new book too. They are MUCH cheaper than when I bought my copy.

So now I'm busy tatting a motif for one project and I'm getting ready to tat something for my partner in a different exchange, one hosted by Gail Colbourne.

psst......(I also have to clean up the mess I have on the living room floor while making Gail's block. My son asked me if I was making "a blanket or something.")

Busy!

Amongst other things.....

My flu bug didn't hang around long but a cold came to take its place. I'm still a little congested today but definitely better. The two days prior found me with burning eyes and plugged up nose and just generally puny-feeling.

My daughter's birthday was this week and my granddaughter last week - but I've not felt good enough to be around them - so tomorrow I'll tote their gifts over along with an ice cream surprise!

My lace group met this morning and we planned a bit more for Lace Day on May 7. I'll need to have the Lace Jeopardy board done by the next meeting so we can play it ourselves. We certainly won't have time at the event.

I'm also planning to attend the Finger Lakes Tatting Group Mini-Convention in April. I'm riding with friends but first, I had to get my registration sent in!

Then I learned last weekend that I'll be teaching at Palmettos in June and I've been working all week on the first project so I'll have scans to send. The second one is already scanned from a prior project. Anyway, just getting that information organized and out has been time-consuming with being sick and having to get caught up at work too.

PLUS.....my tatted quilt block is due to go out Friday and I'm only part way done with that tatting. (sorry Gail!) It did motivate me to go down to the basement a bit ago and bring up the blocks and material for my son's quilt in process.

The pattern is Twisted Log Cabin. These are 8" blocks and you can kind of see how they fit together. The overall pattern will be striking. It's paper-pieced, my first attempt at paper piecing. Keep in mind I was doing this when I taught myself to tat in 1998. I just left it - dead in the water! It's time to finish it - so after all the tatting committments are done, the quilt is next and THIS YEAR!!!!

And I got the name of an exchange partner today for a tatting bag exchange I signed up for a few months ago. I'm really excited about that one too. I bought a few Butterick patterns for bags awhile back when JoAnn's Fabrics had them 99 cents. I don't know which I'll make but I'm leaning towards the white one near the center with the medallion in the middle or the two tone brown/beige one to the right of it.




There's some mending for my grandson waiting on me......

I got those jaded knitting needles cleaned off and they look pretty darn good! Makes me want to knit something....and I saw Rosemary knitting lace today at the meeting and that inspired me too - but no, I do not have time right now.

Really.

Signs of Spring

So I'm sitting in my chair, knitting, noticing the cat is sitting in the window ledge behind me, quietly, attentively. Suddenly I hear birds, hundreds of them, swooping through the woods behind me, chirping loudly as they rustle in and out of the trees. This is a brief stopping point. They land, fly en masse to another section, land, and take off again after a few minutes. In the meantime, I notice some other movement in the mottled leaf strewn floor of the hill as it slides down away from where I sit. A deer, right outside the window....a young one, nibbling on the green undergrowth...and there's another....and another. And then I see more down the hill, 5 of them....I count 8 altogether. My son arrives home from work about 15 minutes later and as they hear the noise, they start to gather and move towards the woods. Jesse gets in just in time to see the flurry of white tails off into the distance....a whole herd, it seems.

I love it here


taken from the window with zoom

March - not very lambsy....

I had dinner tonight with my godmother at Red Lobster. It was our Christmas exchange/get together.....we tend to wait for better weather. I had her gift at Christmas but wanted to give her a little something else since what I got her was something mostly appropriate for Christmas and here it is - March.



I think this is such a pretty motif. It's from Mary Konior's A Pattern Book of Tatting. I had been looking for some snowflake motifs for something else and saw this one and tried to find a reason to tat it. LOL! That wasn't too hard, was it? Also gave me the opportunity to try another King Tut color that I had, #983.

(for Nell.....the thread only broke on me when I tried to undo a josephine knot which is tiny, tiny, tiny!)

I've noticed in this book that Konoir makes liberal use of Josephine knots, which I'm not that crazy about, and she likes to throw rings off of chains a lot too. Just before this one, I had done a motif called "josephine wreath"....well, gee...let me scan it!



I need LOTS of practice with this tiny size 70/80-ish thread.

Anywho...I liked that motif in that frame so well...and remembered I bought it in a Dollar store - so before I went the grocery tonight, I stopped at a different Dollar store and they had the same frames! It was months ago that I bought it the last time. It's a perfect frame for these tiny motifs though. While I was there, I also picked up a round white frame....

which means I need to find the perfect simple elegant round motif for it! And shall it be white with a colored background or a colored thread on a white background or gold thread on....?????

Belated Anniversary for Tatting Goddess

It ran through my mind once, but was promptly forgotten. Somewhere in the middle of last month, TG marked 2 blog years. I gotta find a way to back up the archives! Blogger doesn't make it all that easy. I go the archive file changed so it shows on the side now.

A few weeks ago I started tatting the ripple pattern in Mary Maynard's Tatting a 4 Square Ring.



It's turning out pretty big....I finished the second row during lunch and it's 8 1/2" long and 1" wide so far, tatting in size 20 thread. I plan to try it in solid contrasting colors too....or maybe a rainbow sprectrum of colors.

I've also been playing with the stacked or ruffled picots, but I don't have them scanned right now. I really like the effect. I'm trying to figure out how to get a 2 color effect. I would have to use 2 shuttles, perhaps in a similar manner to this technique of tatting square rings. It's not like celtic picots or Mark's Daisy Picot.

I ordered an online pattern from Beads and Handworks yesterday and somehow ordered the wrong one or received the wrong one. The numbers on the confirmation do not match what I ordered or what I got, but the company very graciously replaced it with the right one this morning. I have no idea when I will get to it but I would love for it to be SOON! LOL!

I can't believe it

2 hours of writing gone.....I lost it....sigh...

ONE NAP LATER

Oh that was a treasurepiece of writing lost....LOL! Nah....maybe it was a hint that I can do better. Anyway, it's not that I haven't had anything to write lately, but rather I've been too busy to stop and stick it in here!

This morning I demonstrated how to use a few different cluny looms at Tatting Guild in Greenfield. That meant I had to come up with some samples and test my looms out because I'm not an expert at it by any means. It just seemed a good opportunity to pursue it further and share what I was learning with others. Besides, the brunt of sharing has been with Kaye and it's been suggested more than once that maybe someone else could help out. So, I've been busy tatting clunies that week!



The patterns for these are available online, from left to right and top to bottom:
Cluny motif by Mimi Dillman
Diamond Rio bookmark by Bina ( I added picots on this )
Cluny motif by Steph Peters
Cluny Easter Eggs by Mimi Dillman (added picots on this too)

I found I preferred the foot or toe type of loom and those in the class seemed to agree. The smooth surface allows me to slide the shuttle through sideways without getting the shuttle point stuck in the holes of the plastic canvas looms. And they liked the way it was so easy to know which threads to pull. Like anything, practice makes perfect, or at least faster. I whipped out 12 of those babies on the bookmark last night within an hour!

Thanks to my granddaughter Katie, my niece Melissa, and my daughter Laurie for cutting out the looms for me Thursday night when we gathered for scrapbooking. Maybe next week I'll actually bring pictures to work with!

When I got home today, I had a picture from Sue Hanson showing her picot gauges, a subject we were talking about on the tatting list. Sue has a nice little collection here:


I mentioned links in the blog that showed some of my picot gauges but now I can't get the search engine to find the same links! One was in July, 2003 and the other in February, 2004. You can check the archives if you really want to see.

Oh boy....what else did I talk about?

I won some metal knitting needles along with a variety of crochet hooks and yarn bits on ebay last week. The needles were a bit rusty and corroded so I asked how to clean them and keep them clean. Mark "Tatman" suggested burnishing them with aluminum foil after cleaning. I don't have any regular steel wool at the moment, but I decided to go ahead and give the aluminum foil a try. Works pretty good! I have some 0000 knitting needles somewhere and these look a bit bigger, probably closer to 0 or 00. There are 8 of them so once I get them cleaned, I might try my hand at lace knitting.

And speaking of knitting...I have a nice little reference book around here somewhere ....and I can't find it! I know how to knit, but I wanted to try some alternative ways of casting on for the headband I'm going to knit. Isn't that the way it goes?



TA-DA! Got my T.A.T. packet back this week, along with a certificate, pin, and application for the next phase. Scores and comments from the 3 evaluators were included. All noted a weakness with tension and joining picots. My dimpled ring project, the one I meant to do over before sending and then decided to go ahead and send, consistently received the lowest score by all of them. Shoulda done it over! LOL! Tension issues were most prevalent on projects that I put down and then picked up weeks later. This has always been a problem for me. My tension can vary even during the day. The only comment that puzzled me suggested I tat over my beginning ends and then use a needle to hide the end tails. I do tat over my beginning threads so I'm not sure where that came from. I use a crochet hook to weave my ending ends through the ds waistbands. The best hiding of ends I've ever done were when I used the hook to pull the ends through the legs of the ds instead of the waistband, but it's hard to do with tiny thread or tight tatting. I'll have to work on that in the next phase.

I ended my lost entry mentioning that I was strongly considering going to Hector, NY for Tat Day after getting an offer for a ride from friends. I printed the application as I was waiting for my blog entry to publish, and then went out to get the mail, where I found I'd received Karey Solomon's newsletter, Tatting Times, and her latest publication, "Tatting Turns Over a New Leaf".

When I came back, I found my entry had somehow escaped into cyberspace, never to be seen again. Soooooooooo....we'll try it again!

Sunday

I wrote too soon....Sheridan's lampshade trim was not complete. Isn't this gorgeous?



Our Button Exchange was due to be sent out last Friday. Jane was really on the ball - she sent mine even before that! The flower brooch is a sneak preview. Lovely, isn't it? I finished my project for her today, but President's Day is tomorrow so the PO won't be open. I think that's why I had the deadline on Friday. sigh......entirely too much going on. I'll post it once she gets it.

Today is my sister's birthday! Happy Birthday Linda!

I've got a tatted quilt block to get busy on too. The problem with having these projects that go to others is that I can't write about them until they receive them! Not that I've gotten much tatting done.....



I say that - and then go hunt down the bits and pieces that I was playing with this week as I tried to decide what to tat for Jane. None of these made it past the idea stage. The flower is from Mary Maynard's Rings of Flowers. The fish were smile-makers from Abby. I had a little trouble with that bottom fin. The egg is another from Tatted Easter Eggs tatted in King Tut thread. The teensy circle is another sample of the King Tut thread. So I did tat.

I think I know what I'm going to do for the tatted quilt block - but hey, can't tell ya! It will be a challenge!

And in the meantime, I gotta get ready to introduce cluny looms to my tatting guild next weekend. Somewhere along the line, I need to do my taxes. I just remembered today to put the new sticker on my license plate. My son borrowed my car and I suddenly remembered (while he was gone, of course) that I hadn't put the new sticker on and I didn't know if the old one expired on the 15th or the 28th. It's not til the 28th, but I put it on once he got home.

hmmm....well, I gotta meet some other people online at 9:00 and I'm getting itchy to try this quilt idea out.....

Dibs and Dabs

If you knit or crochet or use yarn in crafts, you'll enjoy this site with tons of free patterns.

I was originally drawn to it by a link showing chenille yarn wrapped around a template to create a plush picture frame and in pursuing the links on that page, found this pattern for Crocheted "Heavy Metal" Collar, Belt and Gauntlets. For some reason I find this hilarious.

I also found a headband to knit from the "eyelash yarn". It's the 1st eyelash yarn thing that has really appealed to me to make. Think I can do it in time for my granddaughter's upcoming birthday? I think so - it's quick and easy and I've got a few weeks yet.

Giggle for the day: Dustbunny Facts

Dustbunny Social Life

Dust Bunnies are very prolific. There is no such thing as ONE Dust Bunny. Left to their own vices, dustbunnies will reproduce at alarming rates.

Dustbunnies like to use stereo-systems as their own personal Singles Clubs. Dancing usually takes place on the older models with a LP turntable, as the laser show of the CD drives have been linked to Fur Cancer in studies conducted at DBU.

Believe it or not DISCO is still their favorite music. If you find any dancing on the head of you needle, please remove gently and place off to the side so they can catch their breath.

The page also includes: Where to Find Them, Dustbunny Care, Dustbunny Defenses, and Making Your Home Dustbunny Friendly.

I started writing this yesterday but had to abandon it. Today I found some tatting on a crazy quilt tea cozy.

My work desk is a little more organized - though I have 4 slim piles to find a place for yet. I may need to reorganize my hanging file drawer - a chore for tomorrow.

I started my button project last night. Nothing like waiting until almost the last minute....but it took me awhile to decide for certain what I wanted to make that fit the personality of the receiver. I've actually done one version and am on the next one now. Unfortunately, I will be somewhere tonight and tomorrow night too, so I may end up tatting in the wee hours of the morning to get it out by Friday! Actually, I can take it with me tomorrow night - scrapbooking at my sister's. I still don't have my pictures sorted so I can't start scrapping.


Sheridan, from Sydney, Australia, has tatted this lovely Garden Path edging by Pam Palmer as trim for a lampshade. Isn't that clever?

And Nell pointed out this link to a "bobbinlace" fence! Now where can I put up a fence and who can make it for me????

Surrounded by flowers

I was emptying shuttles again. One of my favorite shuttle-unloading methods is with Mary Maynard's Tatting Rings of Flowers .

I noticed Tatman has come up with some challenging designs with his cad design program. It will have to go on my to-do list some day.

And my oh my! Look who else is designing with a program? The Lacemaker has been very busy since the last time I stopped by there!

I came home to 3 lovely lavendar carnations in a vase from my son. His valentine to me - what a sweetie!

I got up a little early and walked the treadmill before going to work - now is that ambitious or loony? LOL! What it means is that I'm not going to last long tonight.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

Katie's First Butterfly!

Yep....bragging....

My granddaughter Katie surprised me with a butterfly she tatted all by herself last Thursday. Katie will be 12 on March 3rd. I'll see her this weekend and promised I would show her how to make an edging for a pillow for her bed.

Today started out with me NOT wanting to get up, but I forced myself since we had a lace meeting. I knew it wouldn't last long.....it didn't. I shoulda stayed home, but I ran a few errands before I came home so all was not lost. I got the foamboard to create Lace Jeopardy for our Lace Day. Don't you want to come and play????

I was still tired when I got home and ended up taking a nap for a few hours after trying to tat for awhile. I was making mistakes but I was only emptying a shuttle so it didn't matter. I still want to tat and need to look through my books for just the right button idea.

no more hints for my button exchange partner!

But first I'll load the dishwasher, so I'll at least feel like I accomplished something besides vacuuming. Tomorrow will be busy.

Way too busy!

Georgia put out a call for heart patterns - so a list could be compiled before Valentine's Day. I got out my Netted Hearts....designed in my earlier tatting days. It was actually a stab at the mignonette stitch. Anyway, the earlier versions were a bit embarrassing so I reworked the first one....still not entirely happy with it.



Gale Marshall has the instructions on her site.

I finally got one motif done from Tatting Fantasia by Iris Niebach. I'm debating on whether to add more. I like the swirly effect (Dalia, page 18) when they are joined together....but what will I do with it? I might do another version in a smaller thread with colors that go in my living room or office and then frame it. I love the colors in this Manuela thread - which I believe is discontinued, but it doesn't really go with anything in my house -yet. What better reason to decorate?



I see Iris uses this same "design" for the edging Lauro on page 23. I like the blocks as a design element here. She shows a couple of pictures - one in solid color and another using different colors which produces a different effect. The diagram shows which shuttle to use to get the two-color impact. There is also a circular motif using these same design principles of block tatting in combination with rings - she's taken this same element and adapted it for different shapes, so I think the book is a nice study of design elements too. LOL! Reading the section headings, it says Doilies, Hexagons, Squares, Edging....guess that says it all. Well...I didn't intend to make this a book review, but while I'm at it, the directions are in English and ...uh, showing my ignorance here...whatever that other language is. German? Diagrams are also in color with stitch count and starting point.

I found this motif as I was looking through my tatting books for something. I can't remember where I got the directions from. I rather like it. It looks like something from Konior.

Finally....Tatting!

This little celtic heart from Ruth Perry's book is the 2nd one I made this week. It's a quick tat - takes as much time to weave it as to tat it.

This evening I got back to the Dalia motif I'm tatting from Iris Niebach's book Fantasia. I'm using a size 20 manuela variegated thread for this one. Not sure yet if I'll go with the 4 motifs together to make a square doily or stop at one. I had something else in mind but forgot to make the extra long picot where I wanted it, but that's okay.

I got 3 spools of King Tut thread from SewThankful the other day, plus a spool of quilting/piecing thread as an added bonus. This Dalia motif in that fine thread would be very delicate looking.

The latest Anna magazine arrived earlier this week but it does not have any tatting this time. I've barely had time to look at it. They featured some beaded jewelry but did a very poor job of it compared to any of the beaded jewelry magazines you can buy. Very simple pieces but there was nothing outstanding about them ....or even interesting, IMO.

I got all the Stitch n Sew magazines I won on ebay early in the week too. I now have all the patterns to the Umbrella Bouquet quilt series and probably 8-10 other issues. Lots of Myrtle Hamilton's tatting in those however.

I was button shopping last night, which was probably a bit insane since I already have about a zillion really cool ones already. We're having a button exchange on the list and I thought I'd just see what was out there........wasn't even the good button place.....can't say what I found or I'll spoil it for my partner.

Easter Eggs for Valentine's Day and Lace for Posterity

I've been having fun trying out the patterns in Tatted Easter Eggs and emptying shuttles in the process. The 1st one was a new thread, a quilting thread I bought at Walmart. The second one is also a new thread, one I bought at Greenfield, but I don't remember the name of it. The label led me to believe it is a size 40 but it tats up more like size 30 which is what the yellow butterfly is, Cebelia size 30. Then the 3rd one is Eggplant, a Perfect Quilter thread.

Georgia Seitz is housing the Public Domain Archive. The newest addition is the 1896 Butterick's Tatting & Netting. I have 50+ vintage Needlecraft magazines but they are so oversized, I'm not sure what it would take to copy them. Directions and contact information for contributing can be found here.

Just a reminder about the Lacemaker's Census: the deadline is March 31, 2005.

Worldwide Lacemakers’ Census, 2003 – 2005

The aim of the Census is to produce a snapshot of lace and lacemakers in the first years of the 21st century. Lacemakers and collectors worldwide are invited to submit ONE entry in the form of a ‘lace label’.

Requirements

Lace may be of any colour, any technique — edging, insertion or motif — stitched to the front and/or edge of a card luggage label. Please do not attach the lace by means of double-sided adhesive tape or by gluing. Other than the addition of beads or raised petals, lace should be 2-dimensional.

The overall dimensions of label plus lace should not exceed 170mm x 110mm (4 3/8 x 6 3/4in) — note lace plus label may be smaller than this size.

The front of the label should feature the maker’s name and general geographical location. Any other relevant information may be written on the reverse of the label.

Collectors of lace, who are not themselves lacemakers, may enter a piece of old lace (hand or machine-made) attached to a label. Please write ‘collector’ on the back of the label along with any other relevant details.

The labels and information will become part of The Lace Guild Collection as an historical archive.

There is no charge for entering. The closing date is 31 March 2005.

Explanatory notes

Labels can be of any colour or shape. Luggage labels of dimensions 60 x120mm (2 3/8 x 4 3/4in) are readily available in the UK. A 25mm wide (1 inch) edging worked around such a label would result in the maximum dimensions specified. Individual ‘fun’ shaped labels may be cut from pieces of plain coloured card.

Lace may be worked to an original or existing design; please consider donating any original designs to be used by The Lace Guild.

Edgings do not need to have corners worked; lace may be gathered around the corners. The label tie, typically approx 26cm, 10 inches, may be any type of cord (eg ends from bobbin lace may be plaited into a cord).

Other relevant information — Lace Guild membership number (if applicable; however please note that the Census is not restricted to Lace Guild members) and could include design source; personal lacemaking history; types of lace made; local group membership; age (especially in the case of Young Lacemakers).

An ongoing update of the Census will be published in Lace over the next two years.

Please send your label with a covering letter including your full name and address and (if you are a Lace Guild member) membership number to:

Lacemakers’ Census,

The Lace Guild,

The Hollies

53 Audnam,

Stourbridge,

West Midlands, DY8 4AE

United Kingdom

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I did order some King Tut thread from SewThankful. We'll see how it compares to Perfect Quilter.