We had a nice relaxing, do nothing, Thanksgiving weekend. I didn’t just do nothing. I worked on finishing the lace for a card exchange. Then I had some more tat time so I did a bit of an experiment with pearl tatting that has been on my mind for a while. I made the pearl tatting zigzag with connecting picots to create a neat braid. It could make a nice hanky edging.

Then after making about an inch of that I decided to turn the corner. An inch you say????? Yes, I am tatting in Coron Cotton size 160 which is what I was working with for the lace card exchange. Will show you what I did after I get the card made and mailed off and know that the recipient has it in her hands. The corner worked out well. Since I have been in the Christmas tat mood, I got the idea that it looked like a Christmas tree. So I continued for an equal length and proceeded to fill in the center and after 3 rows of the braid and a makeshift trunk, I have my tree!

It is a tiny tree using 160 thread. Measures 4cm(1.5 inches) tall. It would make a nice pin or turn it upside down as a pendent on a necklace. The 3 rows of pearl tatted braid makes a nice beading. So I may weave a ribbon and tie a bow at the top. I always design with just thread and then make improvements with beads/ribbons/colored threads later on.

I am here….cough..sputter…hack! It has been almost a month since my last post!

I have been sick with sinus infection/cold/whatever. But I have been working on lots of things and kept quiet for a bit. Been so busy I haven’t had time to post anything. Well….now I do!
There has been a lot of chatter on the tatting lists about awareness ribbon patterns. And seems there are only a few online patterns. So I thought I would give my own version for you. What came about with this pattern was that our HS football team made it to the final 4. Sick as we both were(Kim has it too) we weren’t going to miss this historical HS event! We arrived 1.5 hours early to get good seats. Of course I can’t just sit there doing nothing, except chat with our friends. Gotta keep those hands busy. So I picked our school colors(blue, silver and white) and came up with this ribbon pattern featuring the (HRB)half ring braid. Simple one shuttle work. And you can weave in a thick contrasting color after it is finished.

I started and finished it a couple of minutes before the national anthem was sung. It was an intense and exciting game! Unfortunately we lost by one goal(score: 46 us to 58 them) So we don’t get to go to state champions. But we all had good sportsmanship.

Here is a picture of the pink breast cancer awareness ribbon

You can find the pattern on the side bar of this blog under my tatting patterns section. Later on I will announce when my free patterns section on my website is available. Will be the same list that is on this side bar.

Enjoy!!!

The Holiday season is fast approaching.  This is my busy season.  Not that I’m not busy the rest of the time, goodness knows I don’t have time to think recently.  But the holidays always bring new opportunities for me to be crafty.

My first opportunity of the season came in the form of a Christmas ornament decorating contest at work.  Everyone who entered was given a silver-colored glass ball ornament to decorate however we see fit.  I have some cool ideas rattling around in my brain for this one.  I can’t wait to get started, though it will have to wait until after Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I would love to make some homemade cookies with Danica this year, but I’m sure that I won’t have the time.  I’m making dinner this year for around 15 people… now that’s a crafty adventure right there.  Maybe I’ll think of something cute to make with Danica before Thursday.

This year I plan on doing some Christmas tatting.  I have a dear friend that I want to make something special for.  At first I was thinking that I would tat her a cross bookmark, because I know she would really appreciate that.  But now I have found some large yarn bobbins at Hobby Lobby and they look like they would make great shuttles for yarn.  So I’m considering tatting her a scarf make with yarn.

I also want to make some tatted snowflakes and angels.  My Sister loves snowflakes, it would really be nice if I can make her a special, one of a kind, snowflake for Christmas.

Oh!  What a great idea… what if I make a scarf from tatted snowflakes connected together?  Tomorrow I’m heading down to the yarn shop to scope out white yarn that would be suitable for tatting.  I can’t wait!!

It’s tatting!

I didn’t know that. I had to look it up. Since I know nothing of yarn and these kinds of things, I will at this point simply quote the definition from wordnet.princeton.edu:

• needlework consisting of handmade lace made by looping and knotting a single thread on a small shuttle
• lace making: the act or art of making handmade lace

At any rate, I am absolutely awestruck by the work Pamela from TotusMel is doing.

It definitely has something of old times. It’s so delicate and elegant and  it is also absolutely stylishly goth or vampire.

And here we are again at the South Park episode that seems to follow me. Please refer to this post if you would like to know what I am babbling about =) but this time I will refrain from putting Pamela’s work on the cartoon characters.

Insertion Worked in Tatting

Beeton’s Book of Needlework was originally published in Great Britain in 1870 by Ward, Lock and Tyler.

Instructions below as per the original.

For modern tatters, oval means ring and purl means picot.

This strip of insertion is worked with two cottons. Work with the cotton in the left hand over that in the right hand. Both ends of cotton are fastened together at the beginning by a knot. First work one half of the insertion the long way in the following manner:–1 plain, 1 purl, 1 plain (the purl must be very short); turn the purl downwards, 6 double, 1 purl, * 6 double, 1 purl, 1 plain, which must all be turned upwards; then turn the work so that the upper edge is turned downwards; work 6 double, fastened on to the last purl turned downwards (the fastening of the stitches is made with the thread in the right hand); a loop turned upwards is thus formed; turn the work downwards, draw the cotton in right hand underneath that in left hand, and work 6 double, 1 purl, 6 double, all turned upwards; fasten these stitches on 1st purl turned [10] downwards. In this pattern 1st of border pattern is thus completed; turn it downwards, 8 double, 1 purl, 8 double, 1 purl, 1 plain, turn work downwards, 6 double, fastened on last purl of last pattern, turned up. Repeat from *. When the insertion is of sufficient length, work the other half in same manner, and fasten it on the 1st half by means of purl stitches between the 8 double stitches twice repeated.

• Designed by: Isabella Beeton

Let us know if you try this one and how it worked out.

Tatted Christmas Tree

A lovely Christmas Tree pattern suitable for beginners, with pine-tree like picot needles. A perfect ornament for the holidays!

I prefer to make useful items, so I’m really pleased with this little tree. You can use it as an ornament for your tree, a decoration for a gift, an embellishment on clothing or Christmas quilts, or you can thread ribbon through it to make it into a bookmark. Add beads to it to make it sparkle, too.

I purposely made the branches so they looked thick and “fluffy”. I tried at first to join more picots or to add a few less so you could see each individual one, but it just didn’t have the right effect. Pine trees have needles going every which way, so I thought the tatting should look similar.

This pattern is beginner level and uses one shuttle (or needle).

Instructions:

Lower branch

R: (3ds p) 5 times, 3ds close
Leave 1/2″ thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
Leave 1/2″ thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
Repeat last R 2 times more to make clover leaf
LJ to closest open thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
LJ to next open thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close, turn
Ch: 12ds p 12ds, turn

Middle branch

R: (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds j to center p of last R on lower branch (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds close
Leave 1/2″ thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R 3ds p 3ds j to cp of next R on lower branch (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds close
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
Repeat last R once more to make clover leaf
LJ to open thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close, turn
Ch: 12ds p 12ds, turn

Upper branch

R: (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds j to center p of last R on middle branch (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds close
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
Repeat last R once more to make clover leaf, turn
Ch: 10ds p 3ds, turn

Tree top

R: 3ds p 3ds j to center p of last R on upper branch (3ds p) 3 times, 3ds close
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
Repeat last R once more to make clover leaf, turn
Ch: 3ds j to p on last Ch, 10ds, turn

Upper branch

R: (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds j to 4th p of previous R (3ds p) 2 times, close
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
Repeat last R once more to make clover leaf, turn
Ch: 12ds j to p of next Ch, 12ds, turn

Middle branch

R: (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds j to center p of last R on upper branch (3ds p) 2 times, close
Leave 1/2″ thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
Repeat last R 2 times more to make clover leaf
LJ to open thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close, turn
Ch: 12ds j to p of next Ch, 12ds, turn

Lower branch

R: (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds j to center p of last R on middle branch (3ds p) 2 times, close
Leave 1/2″ thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R , 3ds p 3ds j to center p of next R on middle branch (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds close
Leave 1/2″ thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
Repeat last R 2 times more to make clover leaf
LJ to closest open thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
LJ to next open thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close, turn
Ch: 10ds p 3ds, turn

Tree base

R: 3ds p 3ds j to center p of last R on lower branch (3ds p) 3 times, 3ds close
Leave 1/2″ thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 4 times, 3ds close
R: (3ds p) 5 times, 3ds, close
LJ to next open thread
R: 3ds j to last p of prev R (3ds p) 2 times, 3ds j to center p of first R made in first lower branch, 3ds p 3ds, close, turn
Ch: 3ds j to p of previous Ch, 10ds

Cut and tie.

If you prefer looking at the diagram

Copyright 2007 by Nancy Tracy, All Rights Reserved.

 The veeeery first tatted stuff I’ve done, may I present! ;OD  It took some unraveling every once in a while AND I did take a shortcut in the end, other wise I’m happy. The thing on the left is a matchbox, for scaling the…. thing.

Split rings!  Whoo!

I have wanted to try split rings for years, but I just couldn’t motivate myself to try them without guidance.  At my Lafayette Lacers meeting on Saturday one of the members demonstrated the technique for me.

It’s very simple.  Really simple, yet, so dramatic in contrasting colors.

I’m already contemplating the ways that I can incorporate more colors into my tatting.

So this quilt show I went to last weekend was a lot different then I thought it’d be.  It was really pretty neat.  I don’t really know anything about the history of the Davies Manor, but it’s this really neat old house set off in a wooded area of town.  It’s on a bit of acreage, and there are several old buildings on the property too. 

This is the main house, and all the antique quilts in the show were displayed here.  But they also had a lot of neat old antiques around, and the house was all furnished like it might have been back when it was built.  I’ll show you some of my favorite quilts there, and you can see the neat furnishings too.

For all the tatters, here’s some antique shuttles on a very delicate tatted doily.

All these squares were about an inch.  I can’t imagine how much work that would be all by hand.

My grandma went with us and I think she really enjoyed it.  She liked seeing a lot of the stuff that she remembers from when she was little.  There were very ornate pee cans under the bed in this room.  My grandma said that’s why you don’t pronounce the nut ‘pee-cans’, they’re ‘pecans’.  She said a pee can is what you keep under the bed.  Words of wisdom.

This neat little sewing set up had a gorgeous old machine.  The papers there were set out to tell about old Singers, but I think it ruins the look a little bit.  The machine had gorgeous flowers painted on it.  Makes me want to paint some on my machine. 

This man was demonstrating how to cane a chair. 

And there was a woman demonstrating how to make bobbin lace.  All those sticks are called bobbins, and they’re weighted so that they stay where you put them.  It might be hard to see, but up on the roll are a bunch of straight pins stuck on a paper pattern.  She was weaving the different bobbins between the needles, and coming out with the lace edging you see on the left side.

My Mom said she didn’t realize ‘wonky’ was an old thing.  She thought it was a new idea.

Then there was this other building that had all the ‘contemporary’ quilts hanging in it, and a few vendors.  I apologize to this lady for putting her back end on the internet.  This is the building my 2 quilts were in.

This picture is a little blurry, but I really liked this quilt because of all the 3D stuff in the scenes.  It was a really cute version of sunbonnet sue.  And I’m just now noticing, as I look at the picture, that each scene is for a different month.  Now I like it even more!  How cute!

This quilt was impressive because all the veins on all the wings were stitched.  The wings are made out of solid fabrics, and the person went back and did all that. 

And I love selvedges, so these were 2 of my favorites.

And here are the 2 quilts that I entered:  the first is the Washington’s Cherry Wreath, and the second is the Chubby Chicks.  If you read my blog regularly they probably look very familiar

These are just a few of the one hundred eighty something quilts that were there.  It was a really neat show, and I’m already looking forward to next year.

Here’s a bit of an unveiling to cheer your Monday up (or maybe to cheer my Monday up).

The Beige Extravaganza has a proper title and frames… and will now be known as Hand Idle.

I’ve been trying to get a fair whack of the pieces finished so that I could add them to my application.

Here’s what I’ve got so far:

Of course now that I’ve seen them framed, I want to change everything…

This is my favourite one, which is a little unexpected, it was one of my least favourites while I was making it.

Just goes to show, there’s no accounting for taste!

Last night my mother had a birthday party at her house in the hills.  It was the first time my sister and I had been back there since the wake, and I must say I was a bit creeped out by the photoboard she made for that, with photos of my dad, still being up.  However, it went quite well, mostly, I suspect, because I hadn’t been thinking about it and therefore hadn’t had a chance to work myself up about how terrible it would be.

Lots has changed and nothing has.  It was so strange driving up there, along a road I travelled twice a day for so many years.  On the way there, ‘Dr Worm’ by They Might Be Giants came on and everyone was saying ‘oh, this makes me think of the summer I was…’  It reminds me of driving to school with my dad – it would be played once a morning when it was popular and he thought it was ridiculous.  I remember arguing with him trying to explain why it was, like, heaps cool and stuff.

But somehow none of that made me anything more than thoughtful.  Which was nice.

I also had a lovely chat with my year 2 teachers.  Wendy and David job shared, and they are possibly my favourite teachers ever.  They have a daughter approximiately my age (I think a year or two older?) who knows my cousin.  Ahhh, Adelaide.  My mother is and was quite good friends with them.  I went to their house a couple of times as a child and while I have a vague memory of the layout and the feel of their house, I have this extremely vivid memory of a spinning wheel sitting in front of the window.  I’ve had arguments with my mother about it who doesn’t remember that Wendy spun.  I remember looking at this fabulous contraption and not knowing what it was but knowing that it was somehow magical and I wanted in on the secret.

Wendy tells me she used to spin in the playpen, so that her kids couldn’t throw themselves  in front of the wheel.  We had a good hour or two of natter about knitting, with David joining in.  It was absolutely fantastic.  How lovely to connect with these people who were so instrumental in my life, of whom I have such fond memories – and now to be able to connect with them as people!

I also got my tatting stuff from my mother.  Because what I really need is more craft things lying around the house.

Najnowsze kolczyki z kryształami Swarovski z  frywolitkowej kolekcji. Kojarzą mi się nieodparcie z baśnią o Królowej Śniegu. Do kupienia na www.friform.pl

/ New tatted earrings with Swarovski Crystals. It brings to my mind a Snow Queen fairy tale.  Buy on www.friform.pl /

Kolczyki Królowa Śniegu

Tatting needles arrived this morning. Also got a couple of the cotton hankies prepared for edgings. I have the sets containing sizes 3, 5, 7, & 8 and individual needles in sizes 3 & 5.

I worked on the pumpkin diagram and pattern over the weekend. So it is now available for everyone to download. Click HERE to get the pattern.

ENJOY!!

EasyCelticWreath

I’m making these easy Celtic Tatted Wreaths for a craft fair at the Lebanon YMCA on Wednesday, and thought I’d share this pattern with everyone.  Rings, Chains, & Joins with one shuttle and one ball CTM.

Enjoy!

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just doesn’t belong.

You know, because one of the angels is light pink instead of white.

I’ve been on a tiny tatting kick lately and wanted to make some small things. I don’t seem to have the patience to make large tatted things, unlike knitting.

I wanted to make a cute little snowflake, but I was having trouble finding a pattern that I really liked. I searched my books, the blogs I frequent, and several free pattern sites, but I just couldn’t find a pattern that I liked. So, I made one up!

If you are a tatter and want to duplicate this snowflake, it is shuttle tatted with No. 10 DMC Cebelia cotton. The pattern is as follows:

Ring A: 2 ds, *1p, 2ds* repeat from * to * 6 more times (7 total picots), cr, rw
Chain: 3ds, *1p, 3ds* repeat from * to * 3 more times (4 total picots) rw
Ring B: 2ds, 1p, 2ds, join to 6th picot of previous ring, 2ds, *1p, 2ds* repeat from * to * 4 more times (6 total picots and 1 join), cr, rw

Repeat the Chain and Ring B until you have 6 total rings. For the seventh and last ring, join the 2nd and 6th picots to their adjoining rings to finish the middle. Make one last chain and weave in ends.

After we had passed all the candy out to the ghoulie kids, I desided to work on a design that was Halloween-ish for the rest of the evening. Doesn’t have to be for Halloween. Works for any Autumn season. I finished it at the bewitching hour of past midnight while watching classic movies like “It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”, “Boo, To You Too, Winnie The Pooh”, 1944 Spencer Tracy movie of “Dr. Jekyle and Mr. Hyde” and “The Witches” with Angelica Houston to name a few. The thread I used was Majestic(about a size 80 and felt like rope after tatting with 160 Coron Cotton). It is a single shuttle design. It features half ring braid on the outside part of the pumpkin. The fillings are single shuttle flowers, stems and leaves. I will try to have a pattern made up sometime soon. I would like to make a tall pumpkin design to accompany it.

Below are pictures I took of this years Halloween decorations. Pretty much the same as last year except we had these decorative ceramic pumpkins with blue or amber flicker lights that were used at my niece’s wedding. Extra blue flicker lights went into the lanterns lining the walkway. It made a nice glow to welcome the ghoulie kidlets dying for a treat.

OK….so I lied about not tatting again for a while! I usually don’t do this because I tend to be lax and not get projects done or I sign up for so many I can’t get them done in time and I am late. But this time I only signed up for ONE exchange and I am putting all effort into it. I went and joined the Arachne Christmas Card Exchange through the Arachne Lace List. Of course I wanted to design my own instead of using someone else’s. And I design best in tatting. Plus I will share the pattern with all lacemakers that will be featured on the card exchange. Nice to give back to the lace community when all I seem to do is take….mostly. So there you have it. I have until the end of November to get my card made and mailed in.

My life is anything but boring. You think we could just settle down and be couch potatoes. NOOO! I have had a couple of senior photo shoots with a couple of senior HS guys in different location around town and trying to schedule around the sunlight/clouds and rain that seems to be pooring daily. Plus working around their schedules. I am not the only one busy! Also some indoor shots had to be scheduled. They are turning out nice so far. Also I have 25 caricature drawings to do for my aunt’s place of work for their employees Christmas presents. So I am without nothing to do for a while as I had hoped. My bobbin lace hasn’t been touched since you last saw my progress on that doily. Maybe I will get to it in December??? PAH!

Just to brighten your day after all that, I found this cute Halloween animation. It’s like….GIMME, GIMME, GIMME! hehe

They don’t generally go together and they aren’t this time, in the way you are thinking.

I’ve been on my diet, the best that I can. I’ve lost 13 lbs so far in a little over 2 weeks. A few days I had to eat out, which they recommend you not do, because you can’t control the ingredients. I tried to make good choices, so far so good. I’m only staying on this diet until Thanksgiving. I know better than try to diet during the holidays but will try to maintain. Then in the new year I’ll go back on this low-calorie diet.

Now for the wine part, the wine is percolating. Turns out I keep my house pretty cool and it’s just above the minimum temperature for the wine. I had to wait about 12 hours to get the wine fixins to cool down into the range before finishing adding the rest of the ingredients. Now I’m going to have to watch and make sure it stays in the temperature range. But I should be able to bottle it near Thanksgiving. I really like the idea that it won’t take months in my kitchen before I have to bottle it.

The kit said it would only take half hour to start, 10 minutes in the middle and a half hour at the end. Well, that’s not quite true. But it is still pretty quick. I have to check it everyday. Hoping that it will turn out good so I can do more in the future.

I’ve learned how to do needle and shuttle tatting. Needle tatting I like a lot more. Probably because I’ve done lots of other handwork with needles and it feels comfortable to me. I’m planning on making several Christmas gifts with needle tatting. I’ve got the thread and a pattern and will start them during the World Series.

Thought my favorite team is not in it (Cardinals) I still try to never miss it. Same goes for the Super Bowl. I don’t watch hardly any football anymore. Story for another time.

This was our first needle tatting class. I brought samples of what I have learned about different thread sizes and needle sizes.

Thread size 80, 20 and 10, all four needle sizes

Those that wanted to practice on how easy it was to learn needle tatting were able to, though we had to share tatting needles. Lorene has found a supplier she can get tatting needles from, visit her blog to see when she gets them in. http://yarnbasket.wordpress.com/

I forgot to get some pictures of Angie’s relative’s tatting and they were beautiful work too. So I’ve put two pictures of some tatting I found that was made in 1919.

Now I know you are looking forward to see what some of the ladies brought for show n tell check it out:

Blah! I never did like Halloween – it’s too gross and dark for me (btw, I don’t like Harry Potter either because it’s so dark). And sadly most of the Instructables this week have been for Halloween (yes, some if it can be used year-round and I do enjoy costumes, but I still don’t like gross).

Luckily I did find some good ones:

• Easy Fruit Fly Trap – Definitely have to try this one! Sadly most our fruit flies are gone now that the weather is cooling down.
• Tatted Mask – I first found this lady on Etsy and have loved her masks ever since. I want to make one out of fishing line with Swarovski crystals to give it an ethereal look. She uses a method called Needle Tatting (I personally prefer Shuttle Tatting) which is actually fairly easy to learn. (BTW, for any Shuttle Tatters out there, it’s easy to convert the pattern, but it won’t fit the same at all.)
• Candy Sushi (or Mock Sushi) – Don’t fish (or worse – seaweed) then try this fun food! It’s simply rice crispy bars (or wheels as the case may be), fruit leather, and various gummy candy. It’s really fun! (And great for playing tricks on your friends.)
• Star Trek Comm Badge – Okay, so I just had to include a costume Instructable. This one was just too good to pass up. My sister once made one out of foil, hot glue, and sand burs (a prickly weed seed). This one is obviously better than hers (sorry sis).
• Using a PSP as a Computer Joystick Controller – Sweet! This is like turning your computer into a wireless Nintendo system (but without the Nintendo games)!

After a gruelling many months of work on the wedding dress, cake, flower arrangements, etc…….IT IS FINALLY OVER!!! We were totally exhausted before, during and after the event(as you will notice in some of the pictures of us. Death warmed over!). The last week was non stop work and every available body was put to work on the dress and anything else we could come up with. My main disappointment was that no matter how hard we tried, we didn’t get all of the lace applied and beaded. So the overall design was much simpler than anticipated. But the personality of the dress fit the personality of my niece. Simple and elegant. In THAT I am happy! And she was happy and told me how grateful she was with all our hard work.

Instead of showing you all 117 pictures of the dress, flowers and wedding, just click on one of my favorite wedding photos of my niece to go to the photo album. While there you can select the first picture and then use the zoom button to get a real closeup. The slide show button is on the upper left of the page.

ENJOY!!!

From Gasser-Haas-Wedding

I am trying to do some crash time after the wedding, but have two senior photo shoots to do and a birthday cake for Sat. Plus this Sat and Sun we have a heritage demonstration to do. I guess more crash time for next week. UUUGGGHHH!!!!!

Ozdobna bransoleta z frywolitkowej kolekcji z kryształami Swarovski Twist i Simplicty w kolorze Silver Shade. Srebro oksydowane i przetarte. Do kupienia na www.friform.pl

/ Beautiful, silver bracelet made with tatting and Silver Shade colour Swarovski crystals. Silver was oxidised and polished. Buy on www.friform.pl /

Bransoleta Sunset Boulevard