Sunday, September 30, 2012

2012 25 Motif Challenge: Motifs # 24 & 25

I was having a rough week this past week and really couldn't handle much, so I sat down and tatted....an angel.  :)  She is from the book Christmas Angels and Other Tatting Patterns by Monica Hahn, page 8 Angel #2, and she is tatted in Lizbeth size 40 Tropical Punch-she is #24.
And then I got a wonderful chance to go join an awesome group of ladies Saturday.  They are the Tollway Tatters!!  Cheryl and I were blessed to meet such wonderful ladies and enjoy a day of tatting, chatting, and learning.  And we got goodies too!!!  :)  Hope we get to go again!!
While there I was able to learn from Marilee Rockley some techniques I can use(hopefully soon!!!).  And I did get some tatting done.  This little motif called Masquerade from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior.  Every time I have looked at this pattern all I could see was flowers and leaves, so...I tatted flowers with leaves.  :)  It's tatted in size 40 Lizbeth Fruit Fizz, and size 40 Yarnplayer's HDT Celery(which I love!!).

I will have to upload the pictures from Saturday tomorrow hopefully!!

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

2012 25 Motif Challenge: Motif #23

I have been working on these for some time now and gave a little glimpse the other day.  Here they are all completed and ready to give my mother-in-law for Christmas this year.  She had seen the flowers I had made quite awhile back and said they would make a great collar edging, so...I decided that would be a great gift for her this year, and her favorite color is blue so I did a blue edging too-which is my challenge #23.















This edging is from Tatting Doilies & Edgings edited by Rita Weiss.  It is from pg. 33 Gift Edgings(the bottom edging in the picture).  It's tatted in size 40 Lizbeth Peacock Blues.















This one is my flower design based on Mary's Butterfly( http://maryshandmade.blogspot.com/ ).
It's tatted in size 40 Lizbeth Island Breeze(funny, in the picture the colors look like swirling pinwheels).
Can't wait to see her face!!!  I might have to remember my camera quicker this year!!!  :)

Oh my Goodness!!!

There was a knock at the door just a few moments ago.  It was a mailman(and I truly think that if he knew what treasures he was delivering...he would have kept them for himself-or a friend, but I am thankful he had no clue!!!).
This is the package he handed to me.
I had won Jon's( http://tatsaway.blogspot.com/ ) give-away a few weeks back and she sent all these beautiful items to me.  Thank you so much Jon!!!  That gorgeous doily will be gracing our television stand where it can receive the most attention.  It is absolutely stunning!!!
And there are notecards with envelopes, a tatted heart dangle, wooden buttons, a postcard from Malaysia, white plastic rings, a beautiful blank card with a Mary Konior tatted motif on it, 4 bags of beautiful beads(which should go well with some of my new threads!!), a small bag from Malaysia, self threading needles, a Mary Konior motif keychain(I collect keychains so this is awesome!!), and a Mary Konior glass mat!  All so beautiful I feel like Christmas is here early!!!  Thank you again so very much Jon!!!  May your day be extra blessed!!!  :)

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

A glimpse of tatting, new book, other things















I have been doing some tatting and trying to finish up some Christmas presents.  I want to show the finished projects, so today is just a glimpse.  :)

Second glimpse.  :)












My mother-in-law went to Indiana with a friend and found this book for me in a small shop.  She was so excited, but even more so when she found out that I have wanted to get this book since seeing many of the lovely projects on the blogs tatted from it.  :)




This mess in my livingroom is the start of a princess costume for my oldest granddaughter, and there is another costume soon to be in progress for the youngest granddaughter-a fairy.  I will post those on my craft blog when done, but this is just to show that my tatting will be slowing down a bit cuz' time is very limited to get these both done.  :)

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

"Doodad" Snowflake patterns

I have the patterns typed up(to the best of my ability-please let me know if there are mistakes if you tat these). I posted the patterns in the order the snowflakes are shown here. Happy tatting !!! :)

Tatted "Doodad" Snowflake # 2

*2 shuttles needed
R: ring
Ch: chain
TOR: thrown-off ring
j:join
cl: close ring
rw: reverse work
sw sh: switch shuttles

R 2 p 4 j(to doodad) 4 p 2 cl, rw
**Ch 10 do not rw -sw sh
TOR 2 p(x5) 2 rw -sw sh
R 6 j(to previous ring) 4 p 6 rw
Ch 10 rw
R 2 j(to previous ring) 4 j(to doodad) 4 p 2 rw
~continue at ** to the end.
[will cup when the last join is made, force to lay flat]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tatted "Doodad" Snowflake # 1

*2 shuttles needed
R: ring
Ch: chain
TOR: thrown-off ring
j:join
cl: close ring
rw: reverse work
sw sh: switch shuttles

R 4 p 2 j(to doodad) 2 p 4 rw
**Ch 6 do not rw - sw sh
TOR 2 p(x5) 2 rw -sw sh
R 6 j(to previous ring)4 p 6 rw
Ch 6 rw
R 4 j(to previous ring) 2 j(to doodad) 2 p 4
~continue at ** to the end.
[will cup when last join is made, force to lay flat]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tatted "Doodad" Snowflake # 3

*2 shuttles needed
R: ring
Ch: chain
TOR: thrown-off ring
j:join
cl: close ring
rw: reverse work
sw sh: switch shuttles

R 2 j(to doodad) 2 rw
Ch 8 do not rw- sw sh
TOR 2 p(X3) 2 rw - sw sh
R 15 rw
Ch 8 rw
~repeat 6 times

Monday, September 17, 2012

2012 25 Motif Challenge: Motif #22

Well, I have come very close to the design I have been trying to mimic. This last snowflake was tatted (in motion-we were on our way to buy a new van). And the tiny snowflake was just emptying the shuttle. All the snowflakes were tatted in size 20 Lizbeth Blue Ice.
I wanted to show them in order, but I messed up and don't feel up to realigning them. The order they are in is #2, #1, #3, and last. :)

I can type out the patterns if anyone wants them. And just a note* they are all 2 shuttle patterns(except the tiny one which can be a shuttle and ball). :)

Help with blogger please...

Can anyone tell me how we "follow" blogs now, and how we "un-follow" blogs now. It seems they have changed it and I don't know how to use mine, as well, I can't tell Cheryl how to use hers cuz' her "dashboard" is different than mine and I don't understand it at all, nor do I understand why I can't follow or un-follow anyone as I did before.
Thanks for any help I can get!!! :)

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Cheryl has a blog now!!! :)

For all those interested...Cheryl has her first blog. Worst part is that her set up is different than mine so we are learning it together(frustratedly!!!). Oh well, we will survive!
She has posted 3 pictures and will be posting more since I just saw her first small freestyle doily. :)
She is really doing well, but I need to get her working on patterns more than just "wingin' " it. :)

Friday, September 14, 2012

For those looking for these centers

Jolimama wants to know where to find these, and for those who haven't seen them in Hobby Lobby, I just found them on their website-they call them Assorted Dream Catchers.
Here is the link:
http://shop.hobbylobby.com/products/assorted-dream-catchers-547943/
Hope this helps! :) Have a great day!!!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

2012 25 Motif Challenge: Motif #21

Well, I didn't think I would start another today, but sometimes life surprises me. This is the same pattern, but the stitch count has been revised a bit. I still think it needs a bit more and I already have some thoughts in mind to make it a bit closer to the design I was trying to mimic. :)

2012 25 Motif Challenge: Motif #20

Last night I gave into the temptation to tat on a doodad (as many have called them). I bought these at Hobby Lobby. They have no real name, but they are in 4 metal like colors(gold, brass, copper, and silver), and they are strung together like a charm bracelet. I think they are plastic even though they look like metal. And they are about the size of a dime.

Well, I wanted to try one of Diane: http://lacelovinlibrarian.blogspot.com/2012/09/snowflake-3-without-doodad-pattern.html doodad snowflake designs(this one #3), but her doodads must be smaller cuz' I didn't even get half way around with the first 3 rings and I realized this wouldn't work. But I think I was doing pretty good. I even tatted the Josephine rings which were new to me! :)
So, hesitantly I decided to find some inspiration to tat my own. So, I looked for snowflake designs(since there is a snowflake design in the center of these doodads) through Google images. And I found one (which I would post-but I don't want to cause copy write problems). It was a drawn snowflake which had a male and female deer drawn where the point rings are, but I like the rest of the design. My snowflake doesn't really resemble the drawn one well, but I do like the result. And I may try again with this one, or another inspired one(later!). :)
Thank you to all those out there doing the doodad challenge-you have all inspired me greatly!!! :)

Oh, this is tatted in size 20 Lizbeth Blue Ice.
Have a great day!!! :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Teaching doily

So....if you saw my friend, Cheryl's tatted heart:
It was formed from the center of this doily which I was tatting and having her tat the same thing, but her picots were too large and it stayed in a straight line as if it were an edging and she formed it into the heart. Well, I just kept mine going till it formed a circle to show her what could be done. Then, she wanted to see if and how you could add more to make a doily so I did a second round(no pattern used on this whole project-didn't think I could do that). She really likes it and then asked if I could do more, and I said there were several options and I would do something and show her later. Well, you get to see it first. It's all tatted in size 10. And I am going to write it up for any beginner who wants to tat it. And I think she is going to want to see if I can do more(which I am wondering already)-good thing I have so many awesome tatters to watch for inspiration and ideas!!! Thank you all for sharing your projects with us beginners!!! :)

Have an awesome evening!!! :)

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Cheryl's first pattern project!! :)

Cheryl just tatted this today. It's the Small Rosette from Easy Tatting by Rozella F. Linden. Tatted in size 10 Lizbeth Navy Blue thread. She did an awesome job for her first pattern tatting!!! :) I am so proud of her!

Friday, September 7, 2012

Cheryl's first tatted "heart"

My friend, Cheryl, has been learning to tat and last night I got to teach her how to make chains. She tatted a "chain" of rings and chains and wanted to do something special with it, so she made her husband a card and formed the "chain" into a heart and glued it to the card. She is proud of it, and I am too!!! :) Great job Cheryl!!!! I gave her her first tatting book today. It's Easy Tatting by Rozella Linden. I showed her several projects that I feel she could tat without too many problems, and I can't wait to see what she does!! :)

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Mary Konior Small Crosses

These 2 are tatted with size 10 Navy thread. The are from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. I have tatted this pattern before so I am not counting it in the challenge.

Everyone that I tatted crosses for seemed to like them, and the ladies loved their bracelets!! :)