Down The Chute

#25-100 Motif Challenge

...the garbage chute that is! 

That is where this tatting very nearly left my apartment late last night before I realized I could not find it.  

I had left it on the kitchen counter, under a paper towel, where it had been drying beneath a vase.  The vase had been returned to the cupboard, but I got distracted and left the kitchen to do something else, leaving the towelling and its contents on the counter.

When I returned, I noticed the paper towel, and proceeded to wipe up after the cat - his old food, his dish and other remnants of the day. After the tidy-up was done, I left the kitchen.

When I realized I could not find my newly tatted motif, I was mystified.  I went back to the kitchen thinking it must still be drying under the vase.  Nothing.

Finally, I knew that I had to go through the garbage and I was chagrined.  Not because of the filthy cat-food and the need to now wash and re-press the motif - if it was indeed in the garbage, but because I had done it yet again.

You see, I am known for this peculiar character trait.  I throw things indiscriminately into the trash. There have been several incidents at work when I had to be issued a new pay cheque.  Yes, you have the right image in your head!

I come by this naturally.  My grandmother flushed money and even her wedding rings down the toilet.  Don't ask.

Daisy Picot Pattern by Jon  My first daisy picot pattern!
#20 Lizbeth

Stawasz Surprise

Yup. A Jan Stawasz pattern. I had to be ill and very bored to get up the gumption to try this one! His patterns have always intimidated me for some reason.

#24-100 Motif Challenge

As he has his own distinct method of tatting the double stitch, I had to adjust the pattern. The coloured markers did help.

Because I was lazy and rather feverish, I did not make my own diagram, which would have made the process a lot easier and faster!  I relied on this one and predictably got confused with every repeat I tatted.

There are a number of minor errors that I did not catch early enough to correct, and I ran out of thread with one repeat to go.  However, it is finished, and... not bad!

The thread is Lizbeth #20, from one of the few balls I have left of the old stuff, and it was twisty and inconsistent.  I will be so glad to use some of the new #40 Lizbeth thread that I am eagerly waiting for the postman to deliver. Can't wait, actually!

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Once I had finished the motif, I was eager to hunt for a comment from a reader of tat-ology about daisy picots.  I could not find the comment. After reading about 400, I gave up.  

This comment prompted me to begin thinking about the technique, which I learned ( I think) in the T.A.T. course at some point, but I had forgotten how to accomplish it, as I have never put it to use.

So, I hunted for a pattern and an explanation; of course Jon provided both.

So far:

I love the way the thread matches my shuttle...  thanks to LaCossette!

Fun with the Flu

I am home in bed.  I cannot believe it!  Four days of this and it is about 13 degrees (Celsius = 55 Fahrenheit!) outside   - bright and sunny and not wintery at all.  My favourite weather. And here I lie, blowing and coughing and disgustingly mucous-ridden!

But, not to be beaten by the dastardly bug, I have taken my shuttles to bed with me, and though there are a few fever-inspired errors and one wonky chain, I have almost completed a pattern I have been itching to tat.  I will post the finished work tomorrow or the next day.

Anybody know what this is?

Dandy Handy Hands

Barbara Foster of Handy Hands rocks. She cares about quality, stands behind her products and is dedicated to  customer satisfaction. Because of her, I am embarking on blazing a new Lizbeth trail.  Me! Stay tuned.

In my cleaning/organizing/weeding frenzy I have decided I do not like the Finca much after all. Told you I was fickle!

So, I will share some of it in the next giveaway, that I have mentioned previously. Someone out there in Tatland no doubt really likes it!

I suppose this could be way of celebrating my 600th post, which I realized I just recently passed.  Worth celebrating, I think. Time sure has flown by fast!

Since I have been ruthless in de-stashing. I now find myself with a very limited supply of thread, but have it in my head to tat with some very basic colours for a while. (We'll see just how long that recent kick lasts...)  I think I am bored  -  *gasp*  -  with tatting and find I am needing something different... Etsy? Selling? Designing? Something. I do not know what, but I am antsy and have become frustrated in just tatting one motif after another...  Hmmmm.

Here is the latest endeavour, red as promised:

#23-100 Motif Challenge 

Orsi's Pattern tatted with Finca #12

'Milky Way' Mojo

#22-100 Motif Challenge

Here is another of Jon's Snowflakes, this one from her first book.  Oooh, I LOVE this one! I tatted it with Cébélia, #30, black and ecru.  Lovely combination and a nice change from all the fuzzy stuff.  

I did not used to enjoy Cébélia, but now I like it very much in the #30 size.  Such a fickle heart has this tatter.

Lately, I have narrowed my thread preferences to four that I now enjoy the most: Cébélia, #30, DMC #80,  Lizbeth #40 and Finca #12 - not in any particular order.

What is your thread of choice - aside from all the beautiful had dyed threads out there in Tatland?

I had started to tat this in the Valdani, but I kept making mistakes and could KNOT undo them!

I think this would have been very pretty, but it was not worth the loss of hair ...

Angeline Is Ready To Go!

Karen in OR -  You are next on the list. Please contact me ( see my profile) and send me your mailing address.  Liyarra is ready to post the book to you!
Fox  ; )

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Happy Thanksgiving 

to all who are celebrating! 

Awesome Orsi

Here is Orsi's beautiful design, using Frivole's  and Tatting Fool's suggestions for improving my tatting. I am more than pleased with the outcome.

#21 -100 Motif Challenge

Yum! I copied Frivole's execution of this motif shamelessly, and I love the way it worked.  I will tat this again in RED.  I love the shape of this lovely design.  Thank you, Orsi!

Next, following Tatting Fool's lead once again, I ordered this little book and while looking it over when it arrived I noticed something very familiar...  

I do not know what book I originally saw this in, but I tatted it a while ago - in #80 DMC!

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ANGELINE UPDATE

Karen was asking about Angeline...  

The book is currently with Liyarra in Australia, to be delivered to Joy, who is next on the list, also living in Australia.  I am waiting to hear from Liyarra as to whether the transfer has taken place.  After Joy, the book goes to Karen.  There you have it.

Invalidating Valdani

#20-100 Motif Challenge

Jon's "Mirage" snowflake tatted with #12 Valdani

My jury is in.  I do not like this thread for tatting.  Colours are beautiful, but it is not for me because it is too soft, splits and breaks and is inconsistent in thickness.  It is very difficult to un-tat and I make a lot of errors, so I spent most of my tatting time freeing the knots. I  also found a lot of knots in the balls I have.

I am glad Sis brought the 4 balls for me to try; I appreciate her generous gift, and I  love to experiment with new threads.  So, it was a great experiment.

But I will not use this thread much.  Maybe some tatters out there in Tat-land would like to try some of my thread?  I am considering a giveaway to lessen my stash of thread that I will use infrequently. Stay tuned.

Seen on Frivole's blog

Tatted by Frivole

The one you see above is the motif that Frivole tatted and shows on her blog. I downloaded it because we can't find Orsi's pattern, which she shared somewhere... 

I love this shape and have just begun to tat it in Lizbeth #20. I have a wee bit of Lizbeth left, and it is refreshing to use it after using the floppy Valdani.

Vibrant Valdani

Autumn is not quite over - or I am in severe denial!  There are still a very few of these glorious Japanese Maple leaves around.  I cannot get over the red-red-red leaves of this magnificent tree.

The thread that Sis brought is Valdani #12 and I had to try it right away.  It is a two ply, very soft, inconsistent in texture.  Yet, the stitches look good if I tat very tightly and concentrate on getting a consistent tension.  I love the colours, which are very saturated and rich.

It is a different look and the thread though cotton seems to act like a very fine lace weight wool...

#19 - 100 Motif Challenge

#12 Valdani Thread, Pattern by Karey Solomon

This is a great little pattern from Karey's publication for this quarter:

Just one more self-indulgent photo before the snow flies!

Candlelight Calamity

#18 - 100 Motif Challenge 
Thread by Tatskool, pattern by Sabina Carden-Madden

I have learned a wonderful new trick thanks to Frivole. I am happy to know how to manage loop-tatted rings.  Thank you, Frivole!!

However, I will NOT be tatting this pattern again!  Very fiddly and I am not thrilled with the result.

Look at Frivole's and you can see why mine is less than stellar.  *sigh*.  I knew my flash of confidence would be short-lived!

I also must admit that blocking the beast was also a pain.  So there!

On a lighter side, I must share this.  I barely managed to contain my my hysterical laughter, while reaching for my camera.

Gian Battles The Paper Bag

Swanky Schwenke Spawns a Loop Tatted Ring

17-100 Motif Challenge

Finca #16 thread and vintage glass beads my mom gave me look wonderful in this Susanne Schwenke pattern.  Plus - wait for it - I completed this tat the first time - no breaks, no knots, no split thread, no fraying, all one length of thread!  Yahoo!

I love josephine knots.  This motif makes me smile. The pattern did not call for JK's; I admit to cheating and changing it a little bit...  Anyone else out there in Tat-land as enamoured with this technique as I am?

Next, I had thread still on the shuttles and was intrigued with the post from Frivole about loop-tatted rings, which Tatting Fool had posted about a while back as well. I couldn't wait.

TA-DA!

Considering that this was tatted as an afterthought, when I had finished the motif above, and it was once o'clock in the morning, I am thrilled!  

I understood the directions immediately, realizing that the method is the same as for tatting a single shuttle split ring.  Where you are directed to finger-tat, you could use  another shuttle and just tat normally to complete the ring.  

Ahhh, the wonderful glow of tatting prowess!

The emotional high might very soon take a nosedive, as I tuck into the Candlelight Snowflake.

My Boy's Bookmark

#16 - 100 Motif Challenge

Leaf pattern by Karey Solomon

Thread by Tatskool

All those bookmarks later, I realize I have not given my son, who reads a lot, a tatted bookmark. Poor thing!

Last weekend I parted with the last bookmark I made using one of Martha's''Playing With Picot's patterns. I gave it to my son's wife.

So, today, when I take my son out for lunch, I will give him this leaf. He is a wonderful man who has always supported my tatting, my blogging or whatever else I find myself engrossed in.

They are not exactly the colours I had envisioned, but this is the last of the tatskool, leaf-appropriate thread, so it had to do.  It is kind of growing on me - and I like the tail!

Also, I find it masculine.  So, good. I do hope it will please him.

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Something really strange happened yesterday...

I was going through all my tatting, as my sis is coming to town this week, and I will give her a batch of older tats to play with in her quilting and fabric design endeavours.  (I have unloaded a lot of the old stuff - very freeing!)

I found a green and yellow motif that I didn't remember tatting, and when I felt it I actually thought it was one that umintsuru had sent me, as it is very tightly and uniformly stitched.  It is a lovely piece of tatting.  Obviously it was not mine. Mystified, I just could not quite place it.

So, I started to check back through previous tat-ology posts and lo and behold there it was!  Here. 

Yup - it is Bree's 'Shaded Sun,' and it is tatted by MOI!  Can you believe it!  I did not recognize my own tatting and I was shocked to see how lovely it was.  Laugh-worthy, no?

Not much of my tatting is as nice as this piece and I am trying to figure out why this one turned out so well, how I managed to get that great tension.  Usually my tatting is much floppier.  So, what happened here?

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These are vintage beads that my mom collected for me.  I have blogged about them before, writing about this yellow motif, where I first added them to my work.  

I am using them in a fabulous pattern by Susanne Schwenke, and I noticed that they are not glass; I think they are shell.  

If they are not shell, I have no idea what they would be.  They have a lovely lustre and are iridescent with flashes of orangey/red when the light hits them at a certain angle.

Also, they are all different in size and some are quite irregular in shape. Anyone have any ideas?

I am really having fun with this particular motif...

Colours To Dye For...

#15 - 100 Motif Challenge

Not this one.  It is Lizbeth #40, the colour being a bit insipid for my taste. The pattern is designed by Birgit Phelps, called Kira's Star.

It's a lovely thing to tat, and to make it somewhat differently than the other times I have tatted it,  I added beads in places where previously I have not.

THESE are the colours I would try for if I had a pyette palette of dyes for creating HDTs.  

There you go Dr. Von Threadmore...

'Planning ahead' takes on new meaning chez moi...

over and over and over and....

#14 - 100 Motif Challenge   Design by Julie Patterson

Lots of grief.  I said I would not tat this again, but of course I had to.  In  the final version (there were about four false starts) I used  #16 Finca, which was way too soft for this design.  But, there you have it.  Moving on.

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While out in my neighbourhood yesterday, I was stopped short by a garden in which I saw colours that looked very familiar.  Then I realized what I was noticing. Don't you just love Mother Nature?  A tatter for sure.
  

November 11, 2011

August Birthday Flower – Poppy Design by Jon Yusoff

More Martha

#13 - 100 Motif Challenge

This was tatted in #12 Finca, which I am still enjoying.  

Not bad for a fickle lover of threads. Note, the tail.  

I am improving since Miranda's bookmark came in the mail.

Now I enjoy playing around with cords  and all the
many choices there are for designing them.

Oh, yes, stating the obvious:  I did not use a picot gauge. Next time.

Snookered by a Snowflake

Val made me tat it.  Look here.  

The snowflake pattern is Julie Patterson's

Sp pretty the way Val finessed it. 

 Then there is mine:

#12-100 Motif Challenge

There is a warning in the first paragraph of the pattern, which can be found here:

This snowflake is made using Split Rings, rings

thrown from split rings, and Mock Rings, so it is

not for the faint-hearted!

Those words were not heeded by me as I can do all those techniques - only I did not realize they would be utilized so close together!

I found the pattern very challenging and quite fiddly.  Pour moi, not a fun tat.  But thank-you so much, Val for the idea and for posting your work, and thanks also to Isdihara, who contacted Georgia, who fixed up the faulty link.

Bravo Broomstick!

#11 - 100 Motif Challenge

Tatted in Altin Basak #50, a gift from Suneeti

Of course, this is one of Martha's new patterns from 'Playing With Picots,' her newest book.  

I had fun with this and was not as intimidated by the large picots as much as I was with the one, very small split chain I had to perform. Not much frightens me - but whisper "split chains" anywhere near my ears and I begin to shake!  

All that aside, I seemed to have managed this entire motif on the first go-around! Not perfect, by any means, but I am happy with the results.  Go, Fox!

It went so quickly, I had enough time yesterday to tat another bit of the 'Crown' pattern...

Edgy About The Edging

Taking a page from Frivole's blog...but I tatted the original pattern...

I cannot decide whether to tat a complete hankie border with this pattern - it is tedious going.  Using #80, after trying to tat this in #16 Finca several - about four - times -  I switched to the DMC, which for this particular pattern works much better.

It seems to call out for a crisp, highly twisted thread 

because of all the switching and the long chains.

#10-100 Motif Challenge

Celebrating Cintamani

... which I only had to tat once, but I have to admit to cutting out a whole section, breaking the thread while trying to untat a ring...I could go on, but hey!  This is the very first attempt at this motif. To me, this is truly miraculous!  Maybe after almost three years of tatting I am finally getting the hang of it.  No one ever said I was a quick study, but rather one of a seriously, plodding, Taurean nature, I fear.

But, I digress... TA-DA:

#8 -100 Motif Challenge

Of course this is one of Jon's snowflakes from the Gem book... tatted in Lizbeth #40 and Milford #50.  I like the difference in the textures of the thread: the Milford is thicker and coarser than the Lizbeth.

The three, small, green beads on the ring are from CrazyMom and are #15 - really, really small.  I have to be careful where I use them.

The other green and turquoise beads are Delicas and are from Tatting Fool.   The thread is from Typstatting.  I love it that the motif is so international in content!

Appreciating Jon's Gems

I said it was the end of Almas.  It still is!  THAT one I will not do again!  But I did not want Jon to think I have not enjoyed all the others I have tatted so far from her wonderful book of snowflakes:

And, I have already begun tatting a new one from the book,

but I will save that for another day.

Also:

Lastly,

WHERE IS ANGELINE?

End of Almas

# 8- 100 Motif Challenge

I will not be tatting this again!  It is done and it is right this time, but can you believe the thread broke in the last repeat?  The one I had so much trouble with?  Of course, adding the thread did NOTHING to help my understanding why I was having a problem with the last part!!  OHHH,  I was so aggravated!

I did learn where I have trouble ending this type of motif, however.  For that, I am grateful.  But, I am moving on!  I was so bored tatting this that I decided to try and trick my weary brain with a different thread.  This is DMC #80 -  tiny to keep me focused in a different way. Seemed to work.

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Next to do:  I am going to take the little - and I do mean small - bag of tatting to the women's shelter, as I did last year at this time.

I have saved so much of my work that I have no use for, and some of it is from the beginning of my tatting career. We always wonder what to do with our old pieces and last year I figured it out.

I took my earliest stuff to a shelter, for women to use in decorating Christmas cards or to play around with in some arts and crafts endeavour. Apparently they really appreciated the gesture, so I am going to repeat myself and take this next batch over there this evening. It looks like a small amount but actually there are loads of motifs in that bag.

I am so pleased to clear the space and find a lace for the old - because there is PLENTY of the new!

Off The Cuff

Actually it is ON the cuff , upside down and is looking great!  Halfway done.  I decided I would complete the first one and then proceed to the next. As in knitting socks or mitts - the second one is not as much fun!

I have started this AGAIN!

This makes it 5 or 6 times!