Wednesday, June 20, 2012

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

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

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!

Monday, June 18, 2012

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.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

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?