Think Pink

... and tat another border!
This is ‘Marguerite’ by Mary Konior. 

A big thank you to Denise,
who sent me this lovely pink handkerchief!

#35       HDT: Sherry’s ‘Picadilly’ HDT #50!

It is a simple border, but one I like very much.  By the way, my daughter-in-law claimed the last one I tatted - the blue one, here.  I was delighted she liked it enough to lay claim!  : ))

⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘⌘

Thank you for all the wonderful comments and supportive wishes for my mom’s recovery.  She is still in the hospital and pretty sick, but will hopefully soon be home and well enough to carry on her very independent lifestyle.

Tatting for the Nurse

My mom is in the hospital so I have had little time to tat.  But I did manage some and as I was tatting away, mom’s nurse took a real interest in what I was doing as she has also tatted in her life as does her mom and sister!  Her sister also does bobbin lacework.  So we had a great talk and she was pleased when I offered to give her to one of my giveaway motifs! Yesss!

All this was good for the spirits.  Here is what I got done over the last few days.  It did not turn out as I had anticipated as the instructions are not clear and I misread the photo in the Priscilla Book #2.

#34     From Priscila Book #2   #40 Lizbeth thread

The edging has yet to be attached to the hankie. 

 It will have to wait till I have time.

P.S.  The pattern is from TATTING PATTERNS by Julia E. Sanders, which is basically the same as the Priscilla book, or so I understand!

Down To The Last Drop

Just made it!  

This is what is left of Sherry’s ‘Picadilly’ HDT #50!

Now adding the second border to attach the edging to:

Done with the hankies for a LONG while!  

I’ve had my fill - unless I find a really pretty one!  : 0

A Motif Overlooked

Forgot about this.  It is a sweet little Mary Konior pattern from one of her older books.

I had a bit of thread left over.  Krystle had sent a little sample of this #80 HDT, which does not photograph very well.  It is a lovely, rich blend of deep purple and greens.

Ah, I hope the dear Dr. is busy, down in the basement over at Krystle’s castle... Get those dye-pots bubbling!

#33/100     Anniversary Motif by Mary Konior

There is a new project on my shuttles, but it is not the one that I had planned.  I was going to tat an Iris Niebach border, but it would have taken too much thread and was VERY time-consuming. Too hot to do a time-gobbling border, I say.

Below is the pattern I am NOT going to do:

It is so pretty, but will use up the thread before I finish, which I am already running out of it after one side!

This HDT is ‘Picadilly’ by LadyShuttleMaker, #50.

Antique Splendor and Fun For Frivole

Here is one of Karey Solomon’s motifs from one of her 

subscription publications that I have not seen before, have you?

#30    Antique Splendor by Karey Solomon  #40 HDT by Tat-ilicious

As in most of Karey’s designs, I had to really pay attention as I tatted this.  It took a while to finish - a couple of days and measures nearly four inches across.

It is a clever pattern with a lot of Shoelace Tricks, which is why it took longer than one would imagine it should. Lots of thread-flipping!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Test-tat for Frivole

#31/100    Design by Frivole             #40 Lizbeth

Frivole is working on this now in order  to publish it for you! The pattern was fun and challeging to tat, requiring some attention. Very satisfying. Thank you Frivole, for the opportunity to test-tat your new work. I love it!

One can certainly recognize Frivole’s unique style in this motif. 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

To finish the Valdani #12, I returned to another favourite:

 Susan Fuller’s famous Heart’s Desire 

#32/100

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

For Suneeti:

I found a small Frivole heart to 

put on the back of the T-shirt.  : ) 

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

The End of #12 Valdani

I enjoyed this thread but I am not sure 

I would buy more of it - too soft and furry.

Which One For The Boss?

A while back, The Boss picked two motifs that she liked. I told her she could have them some day and tucked them away for her birthday in July, which is now fast approaching.

As I did her brother here, I am gong to give her a T-shirt with a tatted motif sewn on, however I am unable to decide which piece to sew on to the shirt I purchased today.

The one I like the best is one she did not pick.  I need some input, Tat-land!

Which one would you put on a pink-T, for a little girl about to turn six?

T-Shirt #1

T-Shirt #2

T-Shirt #3

Happy Heart

 

                                  Design by Karey Solomon           #29/100

Thought I would see if muscle memory had assimilated this pattern. With some trepidation I pulled out Karey’s booklet and ... YES!  I sailed through it this time! (There is a MAJOR error, but this does not even bother me as the heart LOOKS all right.  I will NOT get upset...I will NOT get upset...)

 I used Valdani #12 as a break from all the #80 thread I have been tatting with lately.  Love the colour.

Months ago, I was given some marvellous tips from Victats and Martha about this pattern, and was able to cobble together the first hearts, after way too much wailing and gnashing of teeth. This one - not so bad!

◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍◍

I found this in a shop while visiting a friend and returned to see it three times before I finally succumbed.  It is the perfect container for all tatting gear and more refined than the very small Altoid tin that I have had with me constantly for the past year.  

The old holder did not have room for scissors, 

so I am super pleased with this:

How perfect is this!

Shall We Tat?

Umintsuru  posted a comment on tat-ology last week:

Shall we tat one from Julie's Just Marking Tome? You choose one for me to tat and I will choose one for you. Are you game??

Tatted by Umintsuru
About 6"

She chose Lizbeth #80 Desert Boom for the ‘Petals Variation’ Pattern from Julie Patterson’s “Just Marking Tome” book.

I chose Krystle’s #80 Wisteria Lane for the ‘Eye Spy’ pattern; it was a really fun pattern to tat and I adore this colourway. 

                                         Tatted by Fox                           #28/100
About 4.5 "

Umintsuru and I had a lot of un-tatting to do with the #80 threads we had each chosen! 

My pattern was very easy, in spite of all the Catherine Wheel joins and the onion ring construction.  I really loved tatting it, and cannot figure out why I made so many needless mistakes. Must be the heat!


Also, I used some very tiny beads, that I THINK I received from Jess. Please correct me if I am wrong. I had to use a #.04 hook - so small - because these are the teeniest. But so pretty and the perfect colour.

Rings and Rompers

Pattern by Anni Hansen
HDT - Magnolia -  #50 by LadyShuttleMaker          #27/100

Well, I cannot believe that I have actually completed this - four squares this time - as quickly as I have, in spite of a lot of very unpleasant un-tatting.  The pattern is quite simple so I do not know how or why I made so many errors - but you know!

This is a great little booklet of square motifs by different designers, each with four repeats and I am not quite as intimidated as I was before I finished this one. I would like to tat this again in different colours. It will be way easier next time as the pattern, as I already stated, is very simple.

Halfway through the squares, I read something on InTatters, here, written by PattyD.  She was talking about how to close a ring and she said this:

When you close a ring you are not collecting the double stitches, you are removing the excess thread through the tunnel the stitches make, and you hold the completed ring firmly in the pinch so that the stitches don't move. Pull to the side until the ring is almost closed. You are pulling in a U shape and it will never close the ring until you change the direction that you are pulling. At the end give a little tug (gently, now) toward yourself which should change the angle of the thread by 90 degress and crisply close the ring and leave the beautiful stitches unharmed.


Well! These words made a huge impression on me.  Funny when things make sense that never did before.

The second half of the square has rings that are much better formed than in the first half, in that when I followed these directions with a little tug at the end, the ring seemed to keep all of the last part of the last ds intact, thus not requiring any of that post-stuff that I have stopped doing because it bugged me!

This method seems to work as well without  having to pay attention to adding half-ds’s and posting on the front side... way too much attention needed!

⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛⚛

I want to show you something that my buddy Suneeti has done as a gift for a little boy.  She has re-considerd (I think) this gift, as she thinks it is may be too ‘girly' for a little boy.  I didn’t think so, but what do I know?  My kids are all grown up and things have certainly changed since I dressed them!

What do YOU think?

Re-contextualizing Cross Patterns

#80 HDT by Krystle
#24/100

I am not one for crosses. However, there are so many lovely patterns out there that I had to figure out what to do in order to not miss out on some excellent designs.
  

#40 HDT by Tat-ilicious
#25/100

Because I admire Julie Patterson’s work, I ordered her books, two of which contain only crosses, so I needed an immediate simple solution: I am going to tat a lot of X’s!

Designs by Julie Patterson

☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩☩

☚ Arghhh! This book!

I am at it again - un-intuitive tatting.  patterns that just do not flow and require a lot of concentration.  They are always challenging and just sometimes are satisfying.  Other times, they feed the rubbish heap, sad with the ruined flotsam of tattered dreams. Enough drama?

I tackled one of the patterns from this publication, because I love the ones that umintsuru has tatted, here.

 #26/100
Pattern by Liz Christiansen

To my surprise, it came out okay the first time.

Tweaking Techniques

I finished this:

                                                                       #23/100

It was very astutely identified by Isdihara is a previous post 

and is from The Tatter’s Treasure Chest.

I practiced stitches this weekend, referring often and with better attention than previously to these books by Judi Banashek.

I have had them for a number of years, but just could not seem to get her instructions to resonate in my mind. Now, however, I am finding her explanations excellent and much easier to comprehend.  

Tatting does take TIME and patience if one is to improve.  The process really does develop at its own rate, no matter what you do.

Suddenly and out of nowhere, I saw that I have always been joining picots in a very twisty and inconsistent way, which is useless for me to explain.  Now I am pleased to say that after four years, I  see how that Lark’s Head knot is formed and why it works in tatting so well.  Good, Fox! (Pathetic!)

This is what I was up to four hours, happily using up some extra threads...

To refresh my memory of the SSSR, which always eludes me, I consulted Frivole’s excellent video here, all the while ignored by Monsieur, who had his own business to attend to.

Happy Hankie and Happy Birthday!

# 22/100              Lisbeth #80      Pattern: Jon’s Crown of Thorns    

Oh, yes.  Very happy.  Done with The Hankie : )

I didn’t realize till I saw Frivole’s hankie here, that I could have been attaching the edging to the hankie as I tatted it, particularly as the hankie had holes in it to attach to!  Duh! 

I did add the crocheted border first as the edge was a bit rough looking to me and this gave it a more finished look.  I think I prefer a rolled edge on the cotton, now that I have tatted borders for both types.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

And now... 

ta-da!  Mail!

A beautiful card arrived yesterday in the mail from Britain.  I recognized the return address at once and was totally mystified.  I was expecting nothing from Frivole at this time. Well, I became so intrigued and excited about this eventuality and so opened the package toute suite.

The photo is of wisteria - one of my all time favourite blooms, which Frivole must have remembered, and the message inside is beautifully executed in flawless calligraphy, wishing me a Happy Birthday from Suneeti and Frivole, (Suneeti made her sign the card, though the enclosed gift is entirely from my dear friend Suneeti!)

This is what arrived with the delightful greetings:

FRONT and BACK of the shuttle


Isn’t it marvellous!

Those are my very own patterns on the shuttle!

Suneeti, thank you so much for this thoughtful, extravagant gift!  What a surprise!  

Another big thank-you to the two of you who conspired to carry out this secret mission and found the perfect photos on tat-ology to adorn this piece.  It is beautiful and I know that you know how very much I shall enjoy it. I love my new shuttle.

Planning My Next Move...

Now that I am so close to finishing, I find I am overwhelmed by the choice of patterns that I have at my disposal from which I am absolutely unable to pick just ONE! There is so much.

One of My Diversions

So, I trudge off into Tat-land to view many creative blogs to see what appeals to me - this is spite of just receiving all of Julie Patterson’s wonderful books.  I have not tatted one thing from these, and the pattern that is truly beckoning me is one of Julie’s that I found by chance and downloaded for free!

Maybe yesterday’s rainbow, just outside my window, 

has inspired some ability to choose...

Oh, the trials and tribulations of an obsessed tatter 

are numerous and confounding. 

 Enough for today.