Checking In

Well, I've been tatting on a couple projects, but don't have a finish to post today. I have also been getting my ideas together for my Farm Show entries in August. We have a large county fair at the beginning of July, but the real needlework/craft competition in our area is at the Farm Show. My sister-in-law and I have entered and won ribbons for the last 12 years in the cross-stitch and knitting categories. She won Best in Show a couple years ago for a counted needlework sampler. I'm still chasing that award.

This will be the first year that most of my entries will be tatted. I expect them to do well because I haven't seen many (any?) tatted items there before. So. . . the odds are good for ribbons :) Half the fun is trying to see how many different categories we can get things into.

Here are my ideas so far:

1. TOYS/STUFFED ANIMALS - a knit poodle (finished)
2. NEEDLEWORK ORNAMENTS - tatted snowflake ornament (finished)
3. DOILIES - duet doily (finished)
4. TATTED ITEM - star doily in a trivet (tatting finished, have to get trivet and mount)
5. USEFUL ARTICLE - tea towel (edging and insertion motifs about 1/2 finished)
6. TABLE SCARF/RUNNER - dresser scarf with painted design (if I can resolve my edging issues)
7. FLORAL ARRANGEMENT/HOLIDAY, NOT CHRISTMAS - thinking about putting the tatted easter eggs in a vase with a ribbon and some greens
8. PICTURES/NEEDLEWORK - may tat a butterfly and mount it in a frame
9. PURSE - made a bag from an old corduroy mini skirt, may embellish it with tatting scraps if I have time
10. STOCKING - This is a longshot, but if I get really ambitious at the last minute (which is always a great adrenaline rush), I have visions of a velvet stocking embellished CQ style with tatting.

Summertime is so much fun (one of the huge benefits of teaching)!

25 Motif Challenge #21

This doily is about 5.75 inches across done with size 30 Cebelia thread. It is from A New Twist on Tatting by Catherine Austin.

25 Motif Challenge #20

This is "Blue Doily" http://www.geocities.com/leen_tats/BlueDoily.html done with size 30 Omega thread. I know - it's pink, not blue, but "pink doily" is a different pattern altogether. I did use a blue background. :)

Today's Adventure (#19)

I'm not currently participating in the TIAS because it was just a little bit intimidating, but I'm watching and thinking about it for later. However. . . the excellent diagrams of how to join to the button from a ring were a huge help, as I have struggled with this concept several times trying to complete "Snowflake from Avalon" shared by Mary Hickox in Online Tatting (1999 book edited by Georgia Seitz). I was so excited this morning when I saw the diagrams and realized that they were exactly what I needed that I loaded up my shuttles, grabbed a plastic ring, and started tatting. Here ends part one of the adventure.

Part 2: In my copy of the book, there is no size for the plastic ring, and apparently mine is too large, because I completed the number of repeats in the directions, and I was nowhere near close enough to join and finish the round (without creating another basket!). No problem, I think; I'll just add one more repeat and add another point to the snowflake. So it will be a little bit asymmetrical. I finish round one.

Part 3: Upon completion of climbing out to round 2, I realize that something looks wonky. This isn't the right ring, and of course, I've already closed it and chained to the next one. Sigh. This adventure is getting to be less than wonderful. Okay, what to do? I can't bear the thought of cutting and going back to fix the climb out, so I just keep doing what I was doing, making rings and chains and joining them to whatever I come upon next. The points of the snowflake have officially been abandoned.

End of adventure: Look at this cute ornament! No cutting, no more cussing, done. {I planned it this way all along, really I did}.

I did it! (#18)

Last month I started and abandoned a square doily pattern that was in my Dad's notebook. All I know about it is that it was tatted by my aunt. Well, this week I gave it another try, and I did it! It is made up of small square motifs joined together and then edged. I just did a little coaster-size to see if I could figure it out, but now that I get the pattern, I could make it as large as I wanted to (theoretically). Here is a picture of my masterpiece and the pattern page from my Dad's notebook.

Sneak Peek #2

I like this simple edging much better for the dresser scarf. The pink was just becoming too heavy and overwhelming for the delicate linen. This edging is done with size 12 pearl cotton. I think it will move a lot more quickly too.

UPDATE: The white pearl cotton was too white, and color #712 was too dark. I tried a couple colors and an even lighter design, and I'm still not happy. For one, I think I made the edge too wide, so it's throwing off the eye. Secondly, this linen is so fine that everthing seems to be too heavy. Right now I'm having 2 thoughts - I need to think about using a very small tatting thread (70 or 80) OR it doesn't need an edging at all. Sigh.

25 Motif Challenge #17 - Elizabeth's Basket

I've said recently that I am not a designer, and I certainly stand by that comment. However, this little basket just seemed to emerge from my shuttle this weekend. I came home from visiting my very sick niece, Elizabeth, in the hospital and really needed to sit in my chair and tat, but I couldn't seem to focus on any pattern or plan. I loaded the shuttle with some size 30 thread and started what I thought would be a little motif, but it curled up. I was going to throw it away when my daughter said, "Don't throw it away - it's a basket. Put a handle on it!"

Here is the pattern:

Center: R 4 ds, sp, 4 ds, p, 4 ds, sp, cl

Repeat for 6 rings total, joining into a little flower

Tie & cut

Round 1: join to a picot

ch 4-4 , shuttle join to a picot from center

Repeat all the way around

Tie & cut

Round 2: R 4-4-4+4-4-4 cl

Ch 4-4-4

R 4+8-4

Ch 4-4-4

Repeat around, joining final ch to base of first R

Do not cut

Handle: Ch 4-4- until there are 17 picots

End with 4 ds, shuttle join to base of opposite R

Tie & cut

Block & Starch

Sneak Peek

I worked a little bit of my planned edging to see if I like it with the dresser scarf. I think it will be just fine. The thread is size 30 Omega, and the pattern is "Babylace" from Mary Konior's book. Onward!

UPDATE - The edging has stalled after about 13 inches. I made a mistake that has to be cut back, and that may just be the final straw for this pattern, because it was looking a bit heavy on the scarf as I got further along anyway. I'll have to think about it.