It’s A Wrap For Row Eight

End of Row #8 

(un-blocked)

11 1/2 inches so far

Ready to begin Row #9...

Honey Napkin designed by Renulek

I am glad to have begun this, but I will also be very glad now when it is complete. It is a LOT of tatting! And I am worrying that Renulek is probably about to release the next row on the other massive work - the Snowflake Doily.  Woe....

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Mail today:

These are wonderful little helpers. I hope that they 

do not lose their shape and that they remain effective:

Clever, eh?

Later:  

A lot of you asked where I got these:

http://123stitch.com/

I am not endorsing this site - though the service and price was very good - for there are numerous places like eBay that sells them; even Amazon does, but they were very expensive there. You have to look around and consider mailing costs...

Conquered - The Celtic Picot!

Thank you to those who read my frustration, and in the last post explained it to me. I got it! Sometimes I have to read many different wordings for the instructions to make sense; Shannon-in-love’s  hit the spot!

TA-DA!

                                                                                                           12/100 MC

This is, of course, one of Jennifer WIlliams’s patterns.

I love it. And the technique is well worth mastering.

I had some left over thread - Lizbeth, sent to me by Ladytats,
so I tatted a small Mary Konior motif - always wonderful.

                                                                                       13/100 MC

I liked these colours well enough to order a ball of it this weekend. 

There are some great sales to be had at Bestitched - till Monday . 

Thank you, Nancy!

See what happens when you clear out your stash - you order more! 

I was very restrained - only two balls and I had sampled one
of them before I relented and sent in my request.
So, I am proud of myself.   : ))

Lastly, a small re-arrangement in my small kitchen...

Small and Satisfying + 20% Sale!

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All jewellery in my Etsy shop is on sale at %20 of the regular price!

Just use coupon  - FALL1234 - on any jewellery purchase!

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9/10/100 MC

Teiko Fujito patterns tatted in Ladytat’s Wildflower thread are

 exactly what I needed between sessions with the Big Ones! 

Anybody had experience with this thread? I quite like it, but you have to really tighten the rings - and I didn’t realize that till I had already completed several. This motif would probably have been a bit smaller, had I tightened it up as much as I ought to have.

11/100MC

This is another Jennifer WIlliams pattern and so pretty - except I could not - absolutely could NOT - understand the instructions to tat the celtic picots. So I improvised and made up my own join! Not too shabby either - compare it to Jennifer’s:

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Honey Napkin Update

As there will be beads...

More red coming...

Splendour of Seven!

First of all,

Happy Thanksgiving 2012 

to my American Family and Friends!

Then the Honey Napkin at the end of seven rows.

Moving on to row 8.

*

Inspired as always by:

Little Bits Rushed

I see I have been more product-oriented in the past two days, as these are not to my liking as far as the quality of my tatting is concerned. Phooey.

I have been working on the Honey Napkin and feel a tad stressed, as I suspect there is another round to appear very soon for the Snowflake Doily from Renulek, and I want to get as much done as possible on the Honey doily before this occurs. How on earth and why, oh why did I manage to take on two of these gargantuan projects?

But, I do like the shapes!

8/100 MC

The first one, tatted in Ladytats’s Grandmother’s thread is the 5-pointed motif as written by Jennifer Williams.

9/100 MC

The second one is also from the same Jennifer Williams collection and looks very different from the one tatted by Frivole the other day, here!

Jennifer Williams Rocks

7/100 MC

The thread here is some of the vintage sample that Ladytats sent to me. 

It is wonderful to work with and feels like silk.

Seems that I have tatted the same Jennifer Williams design that Frivole also tatted today! Here is mine. I really like this pattern because of the Josephine Knots to which I am very partial and the double picots.

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Speaking of double - a little anecdote...

Remember these?

These photos depict the dollar store hankies that I tatted edgings for, using a Karey Solomon and a Bessie Attenborough pattern, respectively.

Seems the two people I gave them to are not at all enamoured with tatted hankies! I watched their faces when I gave them the hankies; the hankies were small surprise gifts for these two friends of the family. The women looked mystified and then - it appeared to me - slightly horrified! 

Goes to show you - you have to be very careful to whom you gift these things! I had thought they would be delighted, as they travel to hot countries and they could have popped these little cotton numbers in their handbags, just to have like a kleenex... oh well! 

Live and learn. I was so uncomfortable with their reaction - gave them at the same time, so the effect was double! It was one of those situations where you mentally scramble to find a new topic immedietely, to take the emphasis of the situation immedietely. Ohhhhh..... : (

Afterthought: You must understand; these are wonderful women! I love them - and I am certain they would be appalled at my emotional outburst here! 

I imagine that this form of artistic expression just leaves them cold. Nothing wrong with that. My reaction was reasonable, but I was foolish to subject myself to tatting-rejection in the first instance. Perhaps I should have asked before I gave them the packages if they liked tatting and would enjoy receiving it. Then there would have been choice.

Tat-Land Magic

Jennifer Williams has some very lovely patterns. 

I saw this one on Frivole’s blog and she thoughtfully
published the link to Jennifer’s patterns. 

6/100 MC

I downloaded a bunch of patterns and chose randomly, to break from the Honey Napkin.

Having just checked Fivole’s blog, I realized this is the same pattern! Out of the 17 patterns in a folder on my desktop, I pulled out this one. Well, not surprising  -  Tat-Land Magic!

Ladytats sent me the thread and is one of the prettiest Lizbeth variegates I have used: Vineland Harvest, I believe it is called.

This thread is #20, which was surprisingly nice to work with after all the #40 I have been using exclusively - except for the #8 of the Honey Napkin.

The Finca #8 is becoming very tedious to tat.

Forgive the analogy, but while tatting with it the thought of toilet paper springs to mind.It really is a s-o-f-f-f-t twist. Separates and fluffs if I just breath on it. But, it is sure looking pretty.

I tried adding too much red in the next round and decided to forgo it. However, I do know where I shall be adding it later, for I can finally see the next available spot ahead in the pattern. It has just revealed itself to me. : ))

The Update The Surprise The Thanks and The Challenge

The Update

The Honey Napkin

Design by Renulek

The Surprise

The Thanks

I love everything here - the fabulous thread, the needle holders, beads, buttons, findings and GR-8 shuttle!.

When I opened the package, which I saved till the end of the day, having been entranced by the sheer size of it, I was speechless.

WOW!

Thank you so much, Denise!

I am certainly one very lucky tatter...

I used the GR- 8 shuttles all last night on the Honey Napkin, and though I have used them before, I have never had a wooden one, only resin. It is lovely to work with.

The Challenge

You remember that I threw down the gauntlet for Jess? 

Well, she is a marvel:

See this on Jess’s Blog 

*****Afterthought******

This is the other part of my recent  

travelling gear I mentioned earlier:

Cameo Performance

A Fox Original  Brooch 

Zwicky Silk and Gold Delica Beads    

5/100 Motif Challenge

Lots of work here, and I am delighted to say I am really pleased with it, for it is substantial and the Zwicky silk thread (now sadly unavailable, also vintage) which Krystle sent me ages ago, in a deep, rich burgundy, is absolutely the perfect thread and colour for this brooch.

Although I found this gold-plated vintage piece months ago, I have not quite known what to do with it. Since then, it has been sitting on my table, challenging me.  But, I had to wait for the muse to speak.

It is now listed in my Etsy shop. Maybe someone will like it as much as I do and will purchase it as a Christmas gift. I can hope!

Speaking of challenges... While out walking - not running yet with this virus, but walking, finally - I could not help but notice some leaves on the path and I had to bring the selection home for a photo op. 

I am not sure if Jess has already included this in her very broad, beautiful and bodacious colour options, but I do not think she will mind if I attemot to tickle her fancy with this...

Just a thought and an excuse to play with my poor neglected Canon!  I used to spend the time I now spend tatting wresting f-stops, with a big black thing stuck on my face and my finger at the ready!

One other thing...

Always on the lookout for the perfect case, like so many others of you out there in the big, bad world of consumerism as it applies to  Tat-land, I grabbed a tin of Altoids. I dumped the mints right away - hate peppermint - and hoped that this would be “THE ONE.”

You see, I have gone through about three recent adaptations of the ‘travelling tatting kit’ and not one of them has lived up to expectation. 

So, I am back to the original, tried and true method. Just a plain old tin and a zippered case to hold it plus my scissors, extra thread and the tatting. The original item. The real thing. It works.

Now, they ever brought back Ipana toothpaste I would be a happy camper! Ah, sometimes I feel like a walking anachronism...  : ))

Feeling The Need...

...For Beads!

#4/100 Motif Challenge

Myra Piper Motif  #40 Lizbeth

I had to tat something small, beaded and pretty; this filled the bill. I really like the way I now add 4 beads, instead of three, to the picot in the middle.

If you look closely, there are gold beads at the inside and three pink-toned at the top. The centre beads are plain pink. That is three different kinds of beads in a motif measuring under 21/2 inches!

Update on the Honey Napkin

Beads added here too.

I found some that do not stand out but add just a hint of glitter. 

Thanks Miranda. Seems your gift will go on for years!

A One Inch Leaf & Ten Inches Larger!

Update on Renulek 'Snowflake Napkin' 

Row 5

The leaf by Karey Solomon is about one inch across.
The doily is eleven. : o
Largest thing I have ever tatted.

It is tatted using Ladytat's Grandmother's vintage thread, 

which is lovely - like silk.

Lots of tatting - 12 motifs, followed by 12 joining motifs...

I had no idea what I would do for the joining motifs as I was getting VERY bored with the fuchsia, and I thought a colour break was appropriate - but I was SO UNSURE! I tried a bunch of different colours against the doily:

I chose the variegated green.

Nothing, but NOTHING, is remotely what I would call one of my favourite shades or colours. This whole doily is composed of colours in my stash I am trying to use up!

I actually had to be brave to experiment with this strange and unfamiliar pallette; that is difficult to do as a creative person.

I learned a lot reading Bonnie's blog yesterday, concerning bravery and creativity. I had not thought about creativity in these terms:

to live a creative life,

we must lose

our fear of being wrong.

                                                                   ~ joseph chilton pearce

Check it out here. Thanks Bonnie. 

Miranda has been tatting a lot of leaves. I was inspired by all her lovely motifs and I intrigued with this one of Karey’s from this month’s “Tatting Times’ called the Globetrotting Bookmark; thus, the leaf, tatted with Ladytat’s thread.

#3/100 Motif Challenge

Speaking of Miranda...  Last year Gian got a gift from her - a harp string! What could be a better toy for The Boy than that?

It has been in hiding for several months, to ensure a renewed interest from His Highness. I believe the tactic was a roaring success. See for yourself.

Stawasz Sequentia

Design: Jan Stawasz      #2/100   #20 Lizbeth

Love this design. Great for taking needed breaks from the little motifs I am tatting for the Snowflake Napkin.  Only 4 left to tat! (Home with a bad cold so lots of sitting and tatting with yucky tea.)

These two colours are the remaining Lizbeth #20s that I have in my stash. I just could not part with them, though there have been knots... Finally, I found this pattern which is perfect for the palette.

I notice how much easier it is to see, and quite frankly to tat, using the #20. I still prefer the #40,  as it doesn't feel so much like rope, but still this was a pleasant change.

This morning I found a package in the mail - Ladytats sent me WAY more than she was supposed to. We exchanged some thread and I was expecting two shades of Lizbeth.

Instead I now have enough thread to last me all year - and then some. Thank you, Ladytats, for your generosity. I am enamoured with the thread from your Grandmother's stash.

NOW,
The thing about synchronicity: Gian bounced his ball into my threads today as I was looking at the colours and look at this:

Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

One more thing:

Jess had the most marvellous pun yesterday on her blog. She said:

"However, I don't wear belts, so..... that would be a waist. "