I'm back and short update

Hi All, I am back in the land of blogger.

our daughter's wedding last saturday was wonderful. pictures and story to come later.

now that I have got that behind me, I will try to get caught up on my lessons for the Design-Tat class and all the tatting emails, and the tatting blogs.

I have been asked where the link goes for my printable patterns. I use the website KeepandShare.com all you need to do is set up an account and you can post documents, or pdfs.
There maybe other websites, but this is one that I was pointed to.

I have not posted the pattern for the Trefoil Bookmark yet, I started to proof tat it, but needed to set it aside for my daughter's wedding. I will get back to it, and try to get it posted soon.

being gone for almost a week has left me a mess at work, so off to bed for me, as I have been working some over time to get caught up.

Meandering Path printable pattern

I have found out how to make available a PDF version of my patterns.

I have edited the pattern for the Meandering Path Motif to include a link to the PDF. click HERE for the link
and HERE is the link to my pattern blog.
As time permits, all of my patterns will be available as PDFs.

Presents in the mail

I have received some presents in the mail, one came while I was gone and the other came today.
First, I was a winner in the contest that Heather Johnston held at her blog, The Tarnished Tatter.
Below is the first page of Heather's book. I have had a small chance to look through it and there are lots of different designs, but most look like you could do them in an evening so you would have a pair of earrings to wear the next day.
When I opened the folder, I discovered in a pocket 2 skeins of Heather's HDT in her Ruth's Irish colorway, size 30. This will be fun. Thanks Heather.

When I got home from work today, there was another surprise for me. I received my skein of Orchid Garden HDT thread from Zarina in the left column is a link to her Dyed Threads page.
I really liked the look of the colorway so sat down and tatted up a pair of earrings for tomorrow.

The pattern for these Orchid earrings is posted on my patterns blog.

Tomorrow I have a meeting in a big city a hours drive away, from 10 to 12noon, and usually I take the day off work and spend it in a more leisurely way, but unfortunately, at least 1 of the other ladies at work will have to be gone, so I will have to hurry up and get back to work in the afternoon.

well that is all for tonight, and I still have not gotten caught up with emails and blogs.

Catching up and Thanks be to God for Blessings

Well, I am back home but can't say it's to stay.
It has been a Topsy Turvy week.

Last Sunday my newest grandson was born so left immediately after work Monday evening to go help with the kids. stayed at my daughter's until Wednesday morning when I got to work about noon. Then stayed home until Friday noon when I again left for my daughter's to give her a hand until today when I got home this evening.

The weather service was telling us on Wednesday that we had a winter storm forecast for Wednesday night until early Thursday morning. they forecast for 3+" of snow. this would be the 2nd measurable snowfall for this month.
we don't normally get snow this early. (yeah, I know my chemist daughter tried to explain it to me, but for all that I have a hard time believing in "global warming" when we are colder and wetter then normal for several years in a row.)

This picture is taken out of our dining room window on Thursday morning when we got up. The trees where so weighed down by the wet heavy snow, and the fact that they still had leaves there were many branches that would normally be high enough for me to walk under that were close brushing the ground. as you can see, this tree just didn't have the strength to hold up the weight. This is an apricot tree about 15' from the house, fortunately, it fell sideways and not toward the house. There were other branches broken off other trees as well.
The weather warmed up enough so by later thursday, most of the snow was gone.

And if you have been waiting for it, here is the picture of Isaac. He weighed 8lbs,4oz and measured 20".
His older brother(7) and sister(1) are enjoying and adjusting to having a baby in the house.


Thank you God for a safe delivery.

I am very far behind on emails and blogs. and housework needs doing too. plus another day away from work on tuesday, as I have the quarterly meeting with the other lay representatives from the Deanerys for the Diocese.

I have got to get a couple more things done and get to bed, or I will not be much good tomorrow at work.

Short Quick news

I have borrowed my daughter's computer to let you know that I will be out of touch for a few days.
my 9th grandchild was born on sunday evening, and I am at my daughter's to give her a hand and watch her older kids.

I will post a picture soon.
Take care and have a very Tatting Tea Tuesday.

P.S. I had to tea this morning, will see if I can fit in the tatting later,

an apology

I apologize to all of you waiting for the pattern for the Trefoil bookmark.
I had said I would get it published this week. That was before I realized that I will need to be gone for 2 days.
I have an EMS conference to attend on friday and saturday. I am leaving tomorrow afternoon and haven't been able to finish the pattern and the testing.

sorry.
EMS = Emergency Medical Service I am a First Responder with our local village fire department.

TreFoil Bookmark again

well, the consensus from comments to the previous blog post and to the answers received on a tatting email group I belong to says that it is a new pattern.

you will have to give me a few days to get it written up and posted. I will want to tat some samples to be sure that I have it correct, so please be patient.

I leave tomorrow night right after work to pick up 1 grandchild and then take her with me to baby-sit 2 others. so I may not get much done on it until next week.

I will let you know when it is posted on my pattern blog.

Thanks for the encouragement.

more then 1 subject for this post

I did it, I bought myself something and it isn't even my birthday.

I have no other reason then I wanted it.

is that bad reason? I have 8 Silent tatters I think, or maybe more. I love them, they are the best shuttles, I don't know why I ever try any others. You can buy them from Roseground in the UK

I also did some tatting this evening, I wanted to test tat one more design from the Design-Tat class so chose Krystle's design.

The pattern worked well but my tatting leaves something to be desired. I made 1 major mistake and didn't exicute the climb out from round 1 to round 2 very well.

I used the same thread for this motif as I did for Miranda's because that was on the shuttles. The varigated is a Manuela size 20 and the green is a Flora Size 20

I plan on having a very good weekend, so if you don't hear from me until next week, don't be too worried about it.

What's that you ask? What am I doing?

I am going to go pick up my oldest granddaughter on friday night and then travel to my youngest daughter's to visit with her and help with a rummage sale, or babysit her other children while she gives birth to our newest grandbaby. Baby isn't due until October 8, but her midwife says any day, any minute so we will see what happens. So I will be enjoying at least 3 of my grandchildren or maybe 4 this weekend.

Trefoil bookmark/Edging

I was doing some cleaning over the weekend, and came across this bookmark that I started several years ago. I was using up some thread that I had on shuttles and I remember having to figure out how many of the small rings to make to match the cloverleaves.

so I don't think that I was following a pattern.


it is all single shuttle work, there are no chains.
A single pass would make a nice edging.
If anyone can point me in the direction of a previously printed pattern, I will say thanks, if not, then I will work up the pattern and post it on my patterns blog.

Since this is several years old and not finished as I ran out of thread on the shuttles, I will not be counting this for my 25 motif challenge.

Tatting Blog Give Aways

LadyShuttleMaker has a mondo weekly give away, sign up every monday.

WickedTats has a Halloween give away on her blog. with mysterious clues to the prizes

Miranda's Playing with Blocks

One of the lessons in our Design-Tat class required us to test tat another students design. This one is by Miranda Rensberger.

Her original design was done in one color, but I thought and several others mentioned that it looked like vines with flowers hanging over a wall, so I chose to tat it in 2 colors. That proved to make the tatting more difficult that Miranda's pattern called for. it required the Shoe lace trick at the corners, as I rings with picots suggested stamens to me, so the outer clovers had to be in the flower color which then required the shoe lace trick twice to get the threads in the proper place before and after.

I used the Catherine Wheel join in the block tatted areas to avoid the dreaded color spot you would get with a regular lock join. This added to the stitch count of the chains in the block tatting, so needed to compensate for that, but since the block tatted areas increase and decrease I had some trouble getting the blocks to look like leaves.


Because of the choice I made to use 2 colors, I had some trouble getting the hanging rings from the blocks in the correct position. my fault not Mirandas.
I do like how it ended up looking with 2 colors.
Thank you Miranda for a challenging pattern

Another Threes snowflake - Edited to add link to Iris's instructions

I decided to try the Threes snowflake in size 80 to see how it would look as an earing.


The first one is size 30 Melamine HDT from Tarnished Tatter and the second one is DMC size 80 HDT in Tuscany from LadyShuttleMaker
The quarter is for size comparison.
by itself, it is o.k. but if I wanted to add beads, I would need to strengthen the motif. either by using some sort of stiffening after it was made or by tatting over a core of wire as Iris Neibach does. click here for Iris's website, you will find the instructions for tatting over a wire core on the left side of this page.

Meandering Path

I have decided to name the motif I designed for the Design-Tat class, Meandering Path.

I have posted the diagram on my patterns blog, the link is to the right.

I will try to get the diagram for the Threes Snowflake posted soon. by the way, Heather caught a mistake in my written pattern, I have corrected it, so Thank you Heather.

And the Winner Is.......

Hello Everyone,

today is the drawing for the Shuttle, Box and the added screwdriver and bobbin winder.



There are 35 individual comments.



I went to Random.org to use their random number generator



The 13th individual commenter is Tatskool.
YYCongratulations!!YY

Thank you to all who left a comment on my post.

#7 for 25 motif challenge

I have been abit out of touch for a few days.

I have been tatting but have not had anything to show.

I have been test tatting a motif from the Design-Tat class, but it is not finished so can't show it yet.

Have also been out of town and then getting my ducks in a row here at home and at work so I can be gone for several days when my youngest DD has her 3rd baby any day now. I will go stay for several days while she is in the hospital and help when she first gets home. The other kids in the family are 8 and 1 so an extra hand will be a good thing.

but I needed to accomplish something the other day so decided to work on an easy edging so I didn't have to think too hard.

I looked in the book Tatting Doilies and Edgings edited by Rita Weiss for something to spark my interest but be fairly mindless due to repetition.

I picked edging No. 3006 from page 10. As I was looking at it I decided to change the confirmation of the one ring so it was easy to remember. and as I got several repeats done it started to curl. I joined repeat 6 to repeat 1 and had an easy snowflake.

I called it Threes Snowflake as all # of ds between picots are 3 and there are 3 picots or joins in each ring and on the chain.

The thread is some of Heather Johnstons Melamine in size 30 left over from the Beatrice Doily that I did a few weeks ago.

The pattern for this snowflake is posted on my patterns blog - see the link to the right, and Heather caught a mistake in my notation, so I have fixed it.

Today is the 15th so will get down to business and get the shuttle drawing done. I will get that taken care of tomorrow unless grandbaby decides to show up in which case I will do it when I get back home.

I have a packed bag, ready to go when the phone rings. It is an hour&half drive to get to their house.

time to get to bed and off the computer, put in 12 hours at work today so I can be gone if necessary.

#6 motif for real this time

a second quickie post for Labor Day.

I have finished lesson 4 for the Design-Tat class being taught by Sharon.

I think it qualifies as Motif #6 for my 25 Motif Challenge. I had miscounted my earlier post today, so this is #6 for real now.

The thread is a ball of what I think is bedspread cotton from my late mother-in-laws stash. I have been tatting with 20, 30 or 50 lately so this felt like tatting with cable and it was soft so the stitch definition wasn't as crisp.

I haven't blocked this yet.

# 5 on the list

this is #5 for this 25 motif challenge. It is tatted in Manuela size 20 color # 210 and the beads are silver lined clear delicas.
because this is a first, I have named it Incipient Snowflake.

I am rather proud of this as it is the first design that I drew out with software before tatting and it worked. well mostly. It cupped a bit but then that was to my advantage as I am actually aiming for an ornament drape instead of a flat snowflake, but with blocking it does lay flat. Since this was a trial, I didn't put as many beads on it as I will for a drape. I have found some changes that I want to make and have designed a second one. that I think will do more for what I need it for.
I will be putting this pattern on my patterns blog possibly tonight.

#4 motif of the 25motif challenge

I have #4 of my 3rd motif challenge finished.

it is another snowflake trial in my quest for this year's ornament drape. the thread is Size 20 Lizbeth in springtime again. It seems kinda funny to be tatting snowflakes in august and september using a thread colorway titled springtime.

The pattern is by Terri Dusenbury available on esnips.

I think I have some ideas that I will put together for what I want, but may do a few more trials before I am satisfied.

A Bit of Clarification

With out meaning too, I have apparently been a bit misleading.

The shuttle being given away and the box it comes with are made by a gentleman in Hungary. His ebay ID is smalcoin

The small brass screwdriver and the small dowel for winding the bobbin actually came with a Silent tatter from Roseground in England. I have a large selection of Silent Tatters ( i love them) and since the shuttle I am giving away did not have a screw driver or bobbin winder I am adding them to the give away shuttle set.

I apologize for haveing mislead anyone.

#3 for 25 motif challenge

Wow, some many comments on my 100th post give away. This is great.

I'm in the process of testing various patterns to determine the ornament drape for this year's Christmas presents.
below is Lenore English's Snowflake #1 from 1999 It was published in the book Tatting Online edited by Georgia Seitz. It was done in size 20 lizbeth thread in the colorway Springtime. ( the label is missing so don't know the color number)


It would work for me with a few modifications, and I may end up with this as my starting point, but in the mean time, I am trying another pattern to see what strikes my fancy.

I like doing ornament drapes versus ornament covers, because they are easier (I am essentially lazy) and if one of the kids drops the ornament and it breaks, all you have to do is put the drape on another one. (I'm thrifty too)

This is #3 for my 3rd 25 Motif Challenge. It turns out I do about 2 challenges a year.

This past weekend was so nice. Almost felt like Indian Summer. I was at my daughters 95 miles away. They are re-doing their basement so they have a couple more bedrooms. They have a small house with only 2 bedrooms originally but 3 kids.
I am so blessed in my kids and their spouses. They rally around each other and between 2 weekends nearly all the family showed up at one time or another to help out. This spirit of cooperation has worked before. The sons in law trade work at one another's places, go hunting together, enjoy getting together at family events. None of them knew each other before marrying my daughters. All good people. one daughter and her fiance drove 3+hours to come help. Another is expecting a baby any day, but came an hour & a half along with her husband. Our son came both weekends to help. I had a wonderful visit and helped with the grandkids. there were 7 grandkids between the ages of 9 mos and 8 yrs for a while. Took them all on a walk to 2 different parks to play and keep them out of the guys way.

DH would have been there too, but is trying to get the wheat combined.

100th post

Here is my 100th post. As I mentioned previously, I have something for you because it is a milestone. But first, I want to show you the shrug that I mentioned I was working on.

I found the pattern on Etsy.com from Rensfiberart and received it by email which was really great as I didn't have to wait for it to arrive.

The yarn is from yarnmarket.com it is a cotton blend of 50% cotton, 45% viscose and 5% silk in a very pretty sage combination. I can't call this a ombre colorway or a varigated colorway either as 2 strands are a lighter sage and 2 strands are more of a silver sage. the 4 strands are twisted together to give a heather appearance when worked.

The shrug pattern worked up very easily but of course, I couldn't just leave it alone. I made the sleeves longer and so had to adjust the body area as well. I have been wearing it at work for the last several days and it has helped with the when the air conditioner is on.


Some time ago, I bought a shuttle on ebay. from a gentleman located in eastern europe. I like to support new artists and since I prefer bobbin shuttles I thought I would give this a try.

It is very nicely constructed and came in it's own handmade box,


It is too big to be comfortable in my hand. I have tatted with it, but keep running into my left hand. So I am going to give this away to a random commenter to this post.

You will receive everything you see here. The shuttle, with hook protector, the handmade box, a small screwdriver and a bobbin winder ( the small dowel).
I will draw for the winner after the 15th of September 2009.
Simply leave a comment to this post. Only 1 comment per reader please.
Thanks

3rd and final edit

Today is my 99th post.

Here is the finish of the Beatrice Doily by Iris Niebach. Heather Johnston of Tarnished Tatter fame had a bit of Melamine in size 30 left and was kind enough to send me some. Please see this post for links to the book with the pattern and a link to Heather's blog.
This doily is now going to Heather to be used in a fund raiser for a gal with breast cancer.
Now my motif #2 for my 3rd challenge is officially done.

I have posted the Alternate Color Daisy Picot Flower to my patterns and techniques blog, the link is in the side bar. (the name is almost as long as the pattern)


I received these in the mail yesterday.
Jeff Hamilton of Bridge City Tatting fame also does Chainmaille and has a etsy.com shop where he sells his creations. I bought the earings and then asked Jeff if he could make me a cross pendant. If very willing obliged and the result is above. I took it to church with me and Father was very interested in it. I asked Father to bless it and he did. I will now wear this one when I want a change from the one that I wear every day. Thank you Jeff, your work is amazing.

I also received in yesterday's mail, some more of Heather Johnston's Melamine thread in size 30. Heather had a bit left and graciously sent it my way. Now I can finish the doily. Thank you Heather.

Now I am going to see if I can post my rainbow test
hhmmm didn't work, let see if I can figure out how to do this.

Your rainbow is shaded green and brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a deep thinking person. You feel strong ties to nature and your mood changes with its cycles. You feel closer to people when you understand their imperfections. Those around you admire your fresh outlook and vitality.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

yup, had to click on the edit Html tab to do it. found that hint on Jon's blog, well, found out 1 thing, if you edit your post, the colors go away. and you need to get the correct html from spacefem.com again for the colors to show up again. I have no idea why my rainbow background is black, it was white before. I have kept a copy of the html code from spacefem.com so I can repost it after I edit this again. because I will be editing it.

I have finished the Beatrice doily. It has been blocked and as soon as it is cool and dry - I pinned it out and steamed it - I will clip all the thread ends, scan it and add it to this post later this evening.

Now back to my shrug. Not sure if I will get it done yet this evening, more likely the next couple of nights.

Oh, since it is my 99th post, I have something in mind for my 100th.

another how you hold your thread story

On the Here-Be-Tatters group and on the tatting groups I was part of previously, we have often had discussions on about how to hold the thread around the left hand and the pinch, thumb and first finger - tatting hold

(this picture found on the website)

or thumb and middle finger - crochet hold.

(This photo found here)

Whichever way works for you is just fine as some have said that they find it difficult to transition from the crochet hold to the tatting hold.

well, here is my story.

I have tatted on and off for 50 years, the past 10 years more tatting the anything else. I have also crocheted for almost that long, many afghans, sweaters, scarves, rugs ..... you name it, I have probably done it.

I use the crochet hold for crocheting and the tatting hold for tatting and never had a problem with either. When wrapping my hand with yarn for crocheting, I don't go around my little finger as you would for tatting with thread, I simply weave in and out around my fingers as that gives me the right tension for yarn.

Well, I decided that I need a shrug to keep me warmer at work when the Air Conditioner blows on me.

I found a nice pattern and got the yarn and started Monday evening.

tonight I was having trouble getting a good rhythm going, couldn't figure out what was wrong until I took a good look at my left hand. I had wrapped my left hand as I would for a tatted chain and was holding the pinch in my thumb and first finger.

(this picture found on this website)

Goes to show where my mind was at.

The website with where I got the tatting pictures is a good one for tatting instructions. I have used them for teaching tatting.

Jeanne (ladytats) NATA #39
in tatting the knots make sense

UPDATED #2 of third 25 motif Challenge and other things

UPDATE: This is the Beatrice Doily by Iris Niebach from her book Tatted Doilies. You can find the book at Handy Hands and other tatting suppliers. The thread is Melamine by Heather Johnston in size 30. Links for Handy Hands and Heather can be found in a previous post about this doily.

yeah, I know it isn't completely done, but it would have been done the other day if I hadn't run out of thread. the additional thread needed is now on it's way to me, so I will get it done as soon as it gets here and then it will be on i't way to the fund raiser.
I am putting my shuttle down for a few days and picking up a crochet hook.
I get so cold at work with the air conditioner blowing in my office since the thermostat is out in the receptionists office. Yet a full sweater is too much so I found an quick, good looking shrug pattern for $5.00 on Etsy and some really nice yarn from yarnmarket.com, so I have started the shrug. The yarn is a blend of cotton, viscose (rayon), and silk in a pretty silver and lt. sage varigated.
I crochet fast so it won't take me very long to get it done. I have only spent about 1.5 hrs on it so far and have a good chunk done. I will show it to you when it is finished.

#2 on my 25 motif challenge

While not entirely finished, I am counting this doily as #2 on my challenge list.

I am working on another UFO at the moment. we will see how that one goes as it is an HDT too.

Exactly What I Feared

I have almost finished the doily that I posted about the other day. The pattern is from Tatted Doilies by Iris Niebach. It is the pattern called Beatrice. This book is available from Handy Hands as well as other places I expect. The thread is Heather Johnston's Melamine in size 30.

As you can see it is not finished and may never be unless I can find some more thread. I have placed arrows at points of interest

1. spot where I am stopped

2. is the shuttle thread - only 14" left

3. is the ball thread - only 13" left.

not enough to finish, so close and yet so far.

The thread is Heather Johnston's Melamine in size 30, if anyone has some they are willing to part with I would be most grateful. I only need about 1.5 yards to be sure that I can add in and finish and hid the ends.

Worst case, I have to un-tat the last 2 repeats and see if I can get a 7 point doily to lay flat as opposed to the 8 point doily in the pattern. That is a chore better left for another day and as I said a last resort.

in my previous post I mentioned that I was going to post about the flower I tatted with petals that alternated color. I still plan to do that, but we have had to turn off the computer due to severe thunderstorms for part of the weekend and have had intermittent internet service when it was safe to have the computer on.

back on track

First up tonight is a pretty little shuttle I received in the mail today. It is from Noreen Crone-Findlay. The same gal who interview Sherry Pence - ladyshuttlemaker. She makes several different style of shuttles.
This little hedgehog shuttle is only 1.5" long. just what I was looking for.

While I was making the Daisy Picot Stars for my daughter's wedding, I was doing a lot of finger tatting with a long strand of thread. It was a bit tiring, so did some thinking and realized that I needed a small shuttle to use just for finger tatting. It didn't need to hold a lot of thread, but be easy to wind, and handle.

So I went looking for the right size shuttle. I talked to Noreen and she was very pleasant to work with and the upshot is this very smart good looking tiny shuttle. It came in the mail today, and as soon as I got home from work, I wound some of the thread on it that was left on another shuttle and tatted a flower using the daisy picot method. The shuttle worked great! Thanks Noreen. It made it so much easier to finger tat the flower. I do a fair amount of SCMR Butterflies as well, and this will work very well for them too.

The color changes on the picots really worked out nicely, although I hadn't originally planned them. They occurred because I alternated between direct tatting the daisy picots and flip tatting them. Something that I discovered while tatting the Daisy Picot Stars. I will post this on my patterns blog.

Now I will show you the doily I meant to the other day. Here is the Beatrice doily by Iris Niebach. I have been wanting to tat some of her work and this turned out to be a good time as any. I volunteered to tat an item for a charity auction for Heather of Tarnished Tatter fame. She had a friend who is dealing with breast cancer and wanted to help raise money.
The thread that I am using is Melamine in size 30 by Heather. She has some interesting colorways available in her etsy shop.



The box in this scan below shows how much of the doily I had to retro-tat but once that was finished and the stitches redone, I was off and running last night. only 2 & a half repeats to go.

Gotta get some supper quick then off to watch the Vikings play while tatting on this doily.

Sigh

I was going to show you the doily that I am working on even though it is only half done, but I discovered that I had joined to the wrong picot 4 rings and 4 chains back so am in the process of retro-tatting and decided not to post it in that condition.

so, you will just have to wait a little longer.

I might not have taken the time to un-do all those stitches since there is a bit of a time constraint to get this done for a fund raiser, but I am unsure if I will have enough thread. I think I will, but... and it is a HDT so not so easy to pick up more if needed.

Time will tell.

trial

I am trying out different headers and a signature, so please be patient.

The header font and these signatures are from GlowTxt.com

and these signature fonts are from Pookatoo.com

a new look for me too

inspired by Sy, Gina and others, I decided to spruce up my blog. my background was always dark and I like this light background better. There is a link to the background maker in the upper left corner and I have placed a button on my sidebar to her blog as well. She does very good work.

I have been tatting but still nothing to show. The cool damp weather the past couple of days has caused my arthritis to act up so I can do a lot of tatting at a time. I only have it in the one knuckle, but it is the one at the base of my right hand pointer finger, and it gets a lot of use no matter what you are doing.

Check it out

If you haven't already seen it, Noreen Crone-Findlay has an interview with Sherry Pence - LadyShuttleMaker on her blog - hankeringforyarn.

Sherry is one of the world's premier maker of Hand Dyed Threads and ceramic tatting shuttles.

Thanks Noreen for interviewing Sherry and posting it for all of us to read.

tatting but nothing to show

Just a quick update.
I have been tatting, doing a doily of Iris Niebach's for a charity auction ----and also test tatting a pattern for someone else. so no tatting to show yet.

JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ

I am hopeing that the tropical islands above will inspire our local weather to warm up. This has been a very chilly summer. I think we can count on one hand the times it has been above 80.

Tatting Demonstrations

For the past several years I have demonstrated tatting at the Rutland ND Uff Da Days the first sunday of October. The link will take you to the website for the tiny town of Rutland, about 30 miles southwest of where I live.
This year I have a conflict. I am a First Responder with the Mantador ND Fire Department.
There is a 2 day training seminar for EMS personel that same weekend. I will miss being at Rutland, there is some oh so good food there. The compensation for spending a day tatting, talking about tatting and seeing friends is Rommegrot, fatigman, lefse, rosettes.... All the really fattening and yummy Norwegian cooking. If you don't know about Rommegrot - Norwegian cream pudding - I found a recipe. There are only 2 ingredients, cream and flour.

anyway..... what does this have to do with tatting demonstrations you ask?????????

I will not be able to demo tatting at Rutland, but I have already been asked to demo tatting at the 125 celebration in 2011 in the little village of Mantador ND which is just 3 miles as the crow files from me. There are less then 75 people in Mantador so they are starting to get things ready now, so they won't have to work so hard.

I go to church in Mantador and my job is there in the former elementary school.
gotta get to bed so will check in with all of you tomorrow.

Grandma's doily

TattingChic posted about the antique collar in her possession. Some of the joins in that collar are picot joins and some are tied joins. I mentioned to her that I had a doily of my grandmother Eulalia's that also had both types of joins. She requested I post it. I was surprised as I had posted it before, then went to my blog expecting to be able to send her the link, and much to my surprise couldn't find the post. I then realized that I must have posted it on my old yahoo360 blog that no longer exists.

Grandmother Eulalia is the one that taught me to tat and whose large thread stash I inherited. I have some other items that she tatted and I will post them another time.

I decided to update my scan of the doily by removing it from the frame it was in. I have never liked the backing fabric it is on and the frame was sealed up tight. it is my understanding that lace needs to breathe. I also don't know if the backing fabric is archival quality. The doily seems in very good shape so maybe it is.

This first scan is of the doily only. the fabric behind it is supposed to be a very deep purple crushed velvet.

The joins within the medallions are regular picot joins like we do now. The joins between the medallions are picots tied together.
There are 11 large medallions and 11 small clovers.
I just realized that I scanned the back of the doily. She hemmed the fabric with buttonhole stitching, then attached the tatting with separate stitches.


This second scan is of the note that is in the bottom corner of the frame. It lists my grandparents names, their wedding date, their children's birthdays, and the approximate date the doily was made - 1920. This display was put together by my aunt Selina over 20 years ago.

you will see in the note that her name is listed as Lala. She did not like her name - Eulalia - I did and would have used it as the middle name for my second daughter if she hadn't been so upset and horrified about the idea, she did allow me to use her middle name Elizabeth instead.

This third scan is a picture of my grandparents on their wedding day. It is in the other corner of the frame.

This is a scan of the arrangement of doily, note and picture in the frame.

The goldish backing fabric is a stiff velour. I am going to see what I can do about being sure this is framed correctly. While this has been in a frame, it has been stored flat in a box out of any light. It needs to be displayed, but I want to do it right. If anyone has suggestions, please feel free to contact me.

Until I get it all figured out, I will roll the doily in clean white cotton.

25mtc, young turkeys and flowers

first in this post is the above collection of decorative paperclips.

#1 of my 3rd 25 Motif Challenge

the idea for these is based on patterns by Ellen Lai as posted on Georgia Seitz' online tatting class website

The pattern for the Heart Paperclips is her's and is posted on the website. The link will take you to the PDF of the pattern.

The left Butterfly is the Shuttle Brother's SCMR Butterfly and the the second Butterfly from left is based on that one.

The 2 Butterflies on the right are also based on the SCMR Butteflies, but are my pattern for a Ruffled SCMR Butterfly. The pattern is posted on my patterns blog. This is the first time I have done a chart so please forgive any crudeness.

Here is a picture of some of this year's young turkeys. There are actually 2 moms and their broods in this picture. the female turkey in the pic has her brood just in front of her, it is difficult to see but there is one chick just to her right behind some of the tall grass. The other 2 young turkeys in the pic belong to the female that is behind them, out of the picture. they are about 20' north of the house, a bit earlier they were right in front of the door to my house.

This is a picture of the wild black raspberries that grow out by the bins. I seem to have missed most of them this year. I think the turkeys got them. right in the center of the picture is one that I picked tonight - yum!!

this is just a small part of the old fashioned Daylilies that grow behind the house. I planted the patch 20 years ago and if we didn't mow them off they would be allllll over.

This Daylily is actually a very deep maroon. The flash from the camera brightened up the color a lot. These do not spread as much as the old fashioned orange ones.

This is a picture I found on a website of a hummingbird that was visiting the Hollyhocks outside my dining room window this morning. I was torn in two - go get the camera, stay and watch, go get the camera, stay and watch, in the end, the in decision allowed me to enjoy the pretty little bird, give thanks to God for his wonderous deads and smile all day every time I thought about the pretty little bird. I found this photo on this website

blog challenge

Krystle from Krystledawne tats has issued a tatting space challenge for tatters to post pictures of their tatting space.

so I have accepted the challenge, I hope my mom doesn't see these, she will think she didn't teach me how to clean house. but tatting is so much more fun then picking up and putting away, that at the end of the day at work, I much prefer to sit and tat.

This first pic is of my recliner. right now it has a box of threads from my late mother in law. I was looking at them for a project that is at the moment on hold. my tatting books are in the bookshelf behind. they take up close to half a shelf. The light is not an Ottlight, but it works. It was my mother in law's lamp

When I am not sitting in my recliner, I am tatting on the couch. above you can see the project I am working on at the moment. and a box of beads from previous projects that I haven't found space for.

Here is the coffee table in front of the couch. My tatting is allllllll over the house.

Here is my thread stash. all 3 drawers have lots of threads in them. I have them sorted by size, 3,5,&12 perle, 10 and 20 are in the bottom drawer. the middle drawer holds 30&40 . The top drawer holds 50,70& 80 and other miscellaneous items. ?Quit a few of my threads are either from my grandmother Eulalia's stash or HDT from several of the venders on etsy or ebay.

please ignore the stacks of books along side. I read a lot too.

oh well, that is not all of my tatting stuff. I have a display board ( hmm I may post about that another time) and another drawer in a cupboard and stuff in a couple of carrying cases.

I envy Krystle's neat space and Sherry's very pretty room, but I am me and this is me.