Deceptive Delima

Here is what I would show you of I were not truthful...  How does Jon think up these mind-twisting-rascals? I must have started this about five times and even so, JUST NOW, I see my final glorious finale is completely f..ooey!

Here is the fake:

I sewed up the flaw.

Here is the real one.  Can you see it?  

Ending is NOT my forte!

Adding beads to a pattern that confounds me is just plain wrong.  I do not know why I stubbornly cling to doing that -    I get so easily bored, I suppose. This will have to be done yet again.

_______________________

In-between takes, I had to amuse myself.  This is from the Workbasket Book again.  Can you imagine tatting the entire tablecloth? Yikes!

________________________________

New Word To Describe Gian:

FICKLE!

Mimicking Miranda

I am so trying to make my stitches small, tight and neat - like the ones in Tatting Fool's  Maple Leaf bookmark, that I keep fondling and admiring.  I'm afraid I am not there yet, but the family gift bookmarks are done, and I am pleased with them.

Here is the third one:

Thread: Coral Rose #20, 

by LadyShuttleMaker
Pattern is from Jane in South Africa
(That is all the info I have on this! )


p.s. With apologies to Jane in South Africa, I realize I changed the pattern, for I see that the small ring should have only ONE picot and I have given it THREE! 

Then came the last one.

I chose Rosemary Peel's 'Jessie'  pattern, as I found it masculine enough.  There are beads down the centre that I hesitated to add, but they are a very dark cobalt that I decided would enhance the black thread, without being too flash.  I like them.

This one also incorporates some of the fancy metallic thread that Suneeti insisted I take samples of this summer.  I am glad I did; it is really effective and can be used with #20 or #30, but I do not know what it is!  I think it is Turkish. Suneeti?

________

As far as trying to emulate the stitching of Tatting Fool:
This is her lovely tatting:                                             I came up with this.

This is Karey Solomon's pattern and thread. Both are wonderful.  I love this pattern and did not do it justice, as I made a lot of joining errors; I will try this one again.

Singapore Sends Splendid Stuff

Thank you to Umintsuru for sending me such a fantastic thread sample.  ( I do not know the name) I did not even wait to thank her for the package I received in the mail before winding the shuttle.  Threadophiliacs wait for no one! I love this thread.

Motif Challenge #25

Isn't it great?  Again the pattern is from the vintage D.M.C. book.
I changed the small top rings to Josephine Knots. 

I did have enough civility to finally send off a thank you email!  What I said about this thread was this:

Nice weight, good saturated colour and silky smooth.  It is wonderful.  Thank you for sending so much of it.  I have begin a small motif and realize there is quite enough for something larger.  It is reminiscent to me in texture of the Olympus thread, but it is not as thick and bulky.  

The package looked like this:

before this:

The beads are colours I use a lot and I used some in the motif.
Umintsuru can identify my tastes!

The silk caused some stress:

I am not very good with things that catch on my cuticles and I'm afraid trucker-mouth emerged with ferocity...  'Meatloaf' (remember him?) said it best... "Two out of three ain't bad!"

Umintsuru, thank you again for your generosity.

Please notice the little, white, folded letter in the top right corner of the envelope. I am so impressed by techniques of paper-folding. I must try it, but I know I am such a klutz... 

Flaxen, Golden, Cadmium Or Daffodil!

This is the second of the hostess bookmark gifts.

The pattern is Ladytat's, and it is fun to do. The thread is Tatskool's and is a joy to have wound on my shuttle.  So many talented folks out there in Tat-land.

The mock picots at the joins are finally becoming easier.  It is challenging to get them the right length.  Bare threads seem to be what I am concentrating on at the moment. I just realized this.  

Funny how that works...

Inspired

I believe it is Frivole who has this on her site. I have wanted to tat it for a while. From the D.M.C book called 'Tatting' by Dillmont.

These were tatted in an un-mercerized HDT that I had, and I think is Heather's Wine and Roses, in size #20.  It is a gorgeous colour, but is a bit soft and fuzzy, so the effect on the bookmark was not as crisp as I would have liked.

#23 Motif Challenge

This is, of course, Jon's Chinese Coin Bookmark. I had a bit of trouble at the beginning - as usual, but once I got going it was fine, though a s..l..o..w.. tat!

Instead of wine, this is to be given to the hostess at the dinner I am invited to.  I figured that the name of the thread was a sure sign!

This is what was left of the thread.  Just made it.  All gone.

Someone wants to play.. He is bored with the tatting and I believe I will have to sit him down with him Meabh for a bit of instruction on how things work around here.

Trouble!

Ratnawilis challenged me all weekend. This is one of Jon's from her Snowflake book.  Finally it cane together and is a wonderful design.  I love, love, love the look of the ruffle stitches.

Tatted in Lizbeth #20 -  old, very twisty, having several knots.

Piper Pick-Me-Up

Striving to master those pesky bare threads...

Rainbow Bright HDT by Tatskool

See that loose thread in the centre of the motif?  That is where the finished inner ring of the first attempt became undone!  That has never happened to me before and it was very unnerving. Ruined my stir-fry!

From: Fox 
Subject: The Tat-Pic

To: David Reed Smith


…By the way, I found the brass spike shuttles way a little bit too heavy for me, as I have a small hand,  though I loved the shuttle itself.  

So,  the  shuttle  got re-invented for me, for un-tatting. 

Thought you might be interested to see the neat tool for tatters I have created with your shuttle.

I applied a  properly angled tap to the centre of the shuttle with a hammer and chisel, sanded the rough spots and applied clear nail varnish.  Looks great, feels silky and works perfectly for in-tatting. I would not be without it!

If you are interested in supplying this tool to Tat-land, I would be happy to talk about it on my blog. 

With apologies to you, the creator of these lovely tools... 

__________________________________________

From: David Reed Smith

Date: September 3, 2011 

To:  Fox

You're welcome to show pictures of the

holly tat-pic on tat-ology.

While I'm not sure I'll list it on my site,

I'm pretty open to special requests.

_____________________________________

From: Fox 

Subject: Mail From Tatting Fool

Date: September 15, 2011 

To: David Reed Smith

Hi, David,

Just received this from Tatting Fool:

"I just received the tatting pick from David Reed Smith. Wow, what a neat concept! I think it will be very handy, as it will get into some tight places where the wooden picks on his regular shuttles don't quite fit…."

_________________________________

YESTERDAY

From: Fox :
Re: Shuttle- thanks!
To: Tatting Fool

Can I post this?  I have asked David if I could tell Tat-land about my idea and he said yes, that he will sell them if folks want.  

I was hoping you would like yours, and seeing as you do, I would like to post about it.  I do not get a kick-back by the way! I am happy to do this for David as I think he does lovely work and I think tatters would really like this tool.  

Shall I write it up?

_____________________________________

From:      Tatting Fool

Subject: Re: Wow, thanks!

Date: September 15, 2011 

To: Fox

Of course you can post it!
__________________________

There you have it.  

The Tat-Pic is now available!

David's Site here:

David's email:

DavidReedSmith@Comcast.net

Umintsuru's Sassy Save & Sophie's Choice

That midnight distress call had a happy ending:

☟

ANGELINE UPDATE 

The List:

Gina
Tatskool
Jane
Sally
Trayna
Paula
Dale Marie
sewmuchfun 
tatting-marie
Diane

Arty Lady

Wendy
Suneeti

Margaretha

The Book is with
Liyarra  

****************September 14****************
Joy
Karen
Miranda

Bree
Chiclet - only if she promises to give it back!
Martha
Bonnie
Carol
bj
Krystle
Michelle
Crazy Mom
Robert
Riet
Wendy Tats
Joëlle
Icelas

Connie

Laura

Red

Jeanne

Suztats

Angeline started her journey on April 1st, 2010.  She still has a way to go, but isn't it grand that she has travelled so far and wide!

A Strange Afterthought

Is'Dihara wrote about stash reduction being a mystical concept. 

I have an odd admission. I seem to have whittled my stash down to impossibly small proportions!  Now I am worried that I will not have some colour that I might want - an unlikely scenario, but I do find the whole thing a little bizarre. Not a common occurrence, methinks!

One More Thing

An email was sent to Margaret this  morning, as directed by Monsieur Gian, concerning a comment left on tat-ology:

Margarets designer cards said...
......Gina loves your tatting I see....

My response this a.m.

...I must tell you, however, that GIAN is feeling a bit miffed as you seem to hold HIM in your mind as a GIRL!  When you re-named him GINA today, he went into a temper and threatened to run away and go to live with Crazy Mom and the love of his life - Sophie.  

You must not call him Gina.  He admonishes that you may call him Stud or Hercule,  should Gian not be to your liking.  Not Gina....  

: )) 

A Tatter's Titanic

I was going down fast in panic and dismay.  What was I going to do?  Finally I knew who would heed my 12:00 a.m. call of distress - Umintsuru!  And she did - within minutes, bless her.

I was reading the words over and over to mean "split ring."  WRONG  WRONG WRONG!  Oh boy.

Umintsuru told me that the 's/r' in this case, because it was a translation from the German, was to read 'mock ring' not 'split ring.' (You can imagine what my tatting looked like!)

  Thank you thank you, thank you, umintsuru!

While waiting for a reply, I tatted this 

pattern from the same book:

#19 Motif Challenge

Isn't it pretty, tatted with #40 Lizbeth: Sea Island Citrus 
and plain yellow Mercer #40.
AHA!  Too late I spy that mistake!  * sigh*  Always.

The pattern is in this book, discovered when reading Umintsuru's blog, a book that very nearly went out the window last night.  Glad I was patient for the speedy response!

Bonny Baiduri - A Beguiling First Attempt!

#18 Motif Challenge

Jon's 'Baiduri'

I realized too late how insipid the colours are. My taste in colours has gone through quite a transformation in the last year. I am not as enamoured with pastels as I have been in the past.

This was a terrific pattern for me - simple and straightforward.  I had NO trouble with it at all. Also, I used Cebelia for the white - #20 - and it felt like rough string after all the thinner threads I have become used to.

However, I am now tatting another of Jon's patterns from the Snowflake book in Finca #16, and after the Cebelia, it is like working with a  spider-web , all tiny with nearly  invisible stitches.  

There is no middle ground I suppose.  I think  Lizbeth #40 is the compromising and agreeable size.  This is not good news for my bank account...  : ))

Answering Is'Dihara

She asked how I was to add the second row, since I had run out of Karey Solomon's HDT.  Well, I found some of Yarnplayer's Celery and Bob's your uncle!

Unfortunately, the thread is a smaller size than the rest and the cupping was distorting the centre, even after much blocking and prying.  So, I ended up cutting it off to save the middle, which I rather like.

Yes, I know, I could just lengthen the chains and so on, but I do not like spindly chains and anyway, I was getting a bit ...hmm... bored with the repetition!

So, moving right along...

The masking-tape-bead-securing 

solution is working admirably.

******

Finca Blues

Oh dear.

I have had an awful time with a very small, seemingly straight-forward motif from Myra Piper's book.  Her patterns always challenge me, but they look so darned easy!

Maybe for most tatters they are not difficult, but they are right in the path of my worst "read-it-inside-out-spatial-dilemas"!

Here is the finished product in my new Finca#16, which is really very thin, that being a challenge in and of itself, not to mention an impossibility to un-tat.

The first attempt in larger thread ... a mess...

Got out the markers...

Playing The Game For Max

Check this out at  Frivolité de Corinne.  

#15 Motif Challenge
Coats #30 and
 Karey Solomon's HDT (NOW GONE!)

This is the first part and I believe the second is now on the blog. 

It is pretty and a fun tat. 

Firus - Finally!

Jon's Firus

This took me a LONG time.  Although the five rings are the same as the ones I tatted in Ladytat's bookmark, with no problems, in this pattern the same configuration confounded me.

In despair, I even emailed Jon late one night for help!  I just could not get the thing right.

It's not perfect, by any means, but it is done.  i enjoyed working in a solid colour with no beads for a change.  It is tatted in Lizbeth #40.

********************************

Speaking of Lizbeth, I have cleaned out a lot of old, faulty Lizbeth #20 from my stash, which does make it seem quite manageable.  There is a story here, but I will hold back on that for later.

Next up: MAIL!

I received a wonderful package in the post last Friday, from Tatting Fool. 

There was a long message and a fantastic bookmark(Maple Leaf!) inside the cat-card, as well as a gift certificate for B-E-A-D-S! I am going to have such fun.

Miranda's tatting is impeccable and I keep looking at the lovely even stitches in her work.  

That orange piece of cord is a gift for Gian - a harp string.  Words cannot describe how much he is enjoying this unusual toy...

He can balance on his hind legs for an inordinate amount of time!

Lastly, Tatting Fool has sent me a David Reed Smith, Maple shuttle - just perfect for a Canadian. It will be wound with the Tatskool's brilliant Flame Lantana HDT that she also included in this amazing package. 


I am convinced that I was able to tat Firus only because of the magic of this superb shuttle, which is a joy to use.

Thank you, Tatting Fool.  I love it all.

Perseverance Personified

#13 Motif Challenge

From The Tatted Artistry of Teiko Fujito.

The thread is #16 Finca Perle, my new choice these days.

Though shiny and fine, it is also soft and difficult to use on the hot, humid days we have been experiencing, as it got very wilted and floppy the more I held it.  But, I am liking this fine thread and it is a good replacement for the Lizbeth #20.

It is challenging sometimes using the finer threads, but I do like the finished result better, so at this I am also persisting.  : )

After many beginnings, I utilized my markers and followed the directions.  A good place to start!