more tatting

I have a dear friend who has moved away and just lately sent me a friendship present.  I am "retaliating" with a pair or earrings.

The thread is a LadyShuttleMaker HDT in size 50 Wildflowers.  The seed beads are unknown.  The drop beads and the findings (doodads) are from FireMountainGems. 

I have been working on the turquoise doily again today. Another row, is nearly finished.  I need to concentrate on that so it gets finished soon.

I have another project that I have started.  Many of you may have figured out that I am Catholic.  Many of you may remember way back yonder when the Catholic women wore a veil or hat to Mass.  I have been feeling called to wear a hat or veil for quite some time now, and resisted for a long time.  I occasionally wore a straw summer hat off and on over the years, but was never comfortable. About a year ago, I started to wear a small black hat I inherited from my Grandmother.

It felt right to wear something on my head in respect.  But I started feeling like I wanted to return to wearing a veil. So I started looking for one I could add Tatting to.
There are many websites online offering Chapel Veils, but they are basically allover lace, no plain net.  I finally found one on Etsy at LizzieLovesVintage  It was perfect.

about 40" along the wide end and about 20" deep to the point.  It is mostly a nice net with some lace along the edge.

perfect for adding tatting.  I am going to replace the edging over time, but for now am wearing it as is.  I will be appliqueing tatting to the net ground. 
The first item to be added is this cross.  It is the pattern Camilla by Lene Bjorn from her book of Cross shaped Bookmarks.

It is tatted in Jess's Grackle Mess size 80.  It is a bit hard to see how pretty the thread is in this picture, so I took a closer one.

If you click on it and make it bigger, you should be able see the different colors in the thread, purple, green indigo...

I will also be doing a bunch of VicTats's Roses are Red.  Her patterns are available on her blog along the right side.  or Click here to go directly to the Rose pattern on Keep and Share.

It rained about .7" by the time it was done today, so was able to spend most of the afternoon tatting. 

Have a great week everyone.

School colors

I have finished another Cross Bookmark for a high school graduate from our Church.

The threads are size 20.  The blue thread is Lizbeth Royal Blue and the white is DMC Cebelia.  The Cebelia is a slight bit larger then the Lizbeth but they worked out o.k.   I am positive I have a ball of  white Lizbeth in size 20, but do you think I can find it?  Oh, well, the ball of Cebelia has been in the drawer for a loooooonnnnnngggg time and really needs to get used up.



When I held the PIF several weeks ago, there was one gal who left me no way to get  in touch with her.  She finally contacted me just after holding the 2nd chance drawing.  I have decided to send her a set of earrings in her choice of thread. 

The thread is HDT size 40 RainForest, the beads and doodads are from FireMountainGems and the hooks are from eebeads

A neat trick I discovered tonight while trying to scan the earrings,  There is often a focus problem when scanning an item that includes beads, but there is no good light tonight, so inspiration struck and I dug out a piece of fake fur. It cushioned the scanner lid and filled in the spaces around the beads and I think it worked pretty well.  I will have to remember this.

The garden is all planted, Yeah, in between all the rain.  We have had a lot of rain the past 10 days or so.  And the crops are all in except a very wet spot or 2 where the tractor would have gotten stuck if farmguy had tried it.

Finally, the PIF!

It is the middle of April. Normally here in South East North Dakota, the grass is greening up, the ground is warming and drying enough that farmguy is busy working up the fields and planting wheat.  I'm planning the garden and starting the tomato, cabbage and other seeds in the basement. 

 This year for a birthday present, mother nature decided that we are not done with winter.  My birthday was Sunday the 14th. It was a snow storm.  This is what greeted me when I got up on the morning of the 15th.

Another 10" of snow, on top of the snow that hadn't melted yet.  Over night the wind went down so the snow clung to everything.  It was very heavy and wet.

This is Shep wading through the snow in the yard.  

Those with good long memories may remember that I won a pair of very pretty earrings from Umi & Tsuru about a year ago.
One of the rules for the giveaway is that you hold one too.

It took me the longest time to figure out what to give.  I changed my mind several times.  When I ran into these cute little tins

They are not empty, but I am not showing what is in them.  You will have to win to find out.

These are made with Yarnplayers Pansy in size 50 with doodads and beads from FireMountain Gems and the findings are from eebeads.com.

These look a bit lopsided for some reason, but they are not.

These are tatted with LadyshuttleMakers Rainforest in size 50.  The doodads are from FireMountainGems and the beads are some that I was give.  I was remiss in not writing the giver on the bag, while I am pretty sure who gave them to me, I am not totally sure so won't say.  The findings are from Gale Marshall of TatsAll in Canada.

And the 3rd pair are tatted from Ladyshuttlemakers Wildflowers in size 50.  The doodads are again from FireMountain, the beads are Mill Hill Seed beads and the findings from Gale Marshall.

So, here are the rules.  I will keep the give away open until the 23rd. That is 1 week. In your comment, Please let me know your chose of earring .,..  Pansy, Rainforest or Wildflowers.  At the end of the week, I will use a random number generator to chose the 3 winners.  If more then 1 choose the same color earring, I will use draw for who gets their choice, the other will receive the 3rd pair of earrings.

UPDATE: PIF means Pay It Forward. If you win, you need to hold a give away of your own at some point showcasing your craft. 

Day 8 and a Beta

I got a bit of tatting done today on the TIAS Day 8.
No clue as to what it is.

I was also privileged to test Jeff Hamilton's new pattern for a Beta Fish

This pattern was not hard to do.  I have done block tatting many times, but never this much in a pattern, so I was very careful to check off each row as I did it so I could keep my place.
Jeff's pattern is not complicated.  Thanks Jeff for allowing me to test your pattern.  Please keep an eye on Jeff's blog, he will let you know when it is available.

I also started a set of doodad earrings from a pattern posted by Marie from West Pine Creations on Facebook

PIF

 A several weeks ago, UminTsuru hosted a PIF.  For those who don't know PIF is simply Pay It Forward.  to participate, you agree to host a giveaway on your blog if you win.  For this PIF, the rules require 3 winners, and they host a giveaway for 3 winners.

I won, and WOW did I win.

 These are gorgeous.  I took them outside for a photo, and hung them on a Holly Hock. It was nearly dusk, and the colors are a bit dark. The crystals actually match the purple but look blue in this pic.  You can get another look at them on this post of  UmiNTsuru.

These earrings had a bit of difficulty in getting to me. They were wrapped very well in bubble wrap, but one of the large crystal dangles was broken during the trip.  Wendy very kindly offered to replace the broken crystal and I took her up on it as I didn't have anything that would be appropriate with this pair of earrings. Thank you Wendy for the additional service. 

Now I will be racking my brain to come up with my own PIF. Stay tuned, I should have it figured out soon.

on another note....
Arial over at Tatting Faerie has discovered she has 4 duplicate tatting books in her stash. To resolve this shocking circumstance she has decided to hold a tatting book exchange. To participate,   Go to her blog to read her post to find out what she would like in exchange.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all 

and a very 

Blessed 

and  

Happy New Year

Melissa over at Green Girl in Wisconson,  is an amazing writer. I recommend taking a few minutes and reading her post about the Reason for the Season .


I have a bit of tatting that I can show you, and some cute crocheted earrings that I received from a dear friend of mine.

The pattern is by Elizabeth Zipay, and I posted about it several weeks back, I changed the thread that I used, this is Cebelia size 30 and the small beads are Mill Hill antique Glass Beads and the larger center pearl is a 4mm glass pearl from eebeads.com

aren't these earrings darling?  a very dear friend of mine sent me these.  they are so cute, as soon as I received them (at work),  I had to change the ones I was wearing  to wear these. 

the final picture shows both pairs on a small Christmas tree that I picked up for displaying tatting items. 

when I was down in South Carolina last month, I saw some Charlie Brown Christmas trees offered for sale at $25.00 each.  way too much for my pocketbook.  but I got to thinking, and did a search online the saturday after Thanksgiving, and found an online store offering Charlie Brown Christmas trees on sale for $9.99 normally $15.00 and with free shipping, so I got 2, one for my office at work, and one to use for displaying tatting at various venues. 

so you will occasionally be seeing this tree as I won't put it away for only Christmas. 

Have a great time with what ever Holiday you celebrate.

Thanks Veterans

I'm at work, so sneaking the time to post this.


I tatted this last night while watching the pressure canner as it canned the stew meat from the 2 deer.  got 5 qrts.

Looking for some feedback on a set of earrings.

point to point this is 1"

 The scan isn't the greatest, it is off white with pearl beads and of course the background on the scanner is white, so had to lay my sweater over it. Also the bead in the center caused the blurring in the center as it raised the tatting above the bed.

The thread is antique Clark's big ball Size 50 and the beads are Mill Hill Antique glass in a pearl finish. The bead in the center is a bicone.

The pattern is Elizabeth Zipay's Tiny Tatted Snowflakes that I bought in her Etsy shop.

The thread is a 3 cord, and I think it is too flimsy. Also for a size 50 it seems to tat closer to a size 70-80, which I am going to try next as it might be crisper and hold it's shape better.  Obviously my technique leaves a bit to be desired, the rings and chains are not as close together as they should be.

what do you think?  leave out the center clear glass bicone?  (I don't have any bigger pearls in the off white color.)      Use picots and  less beads on the points? 

thanks for any ideas you can give me.

some tatting to share ~ updated

I have some tatting to share
the first is a pair of earrings that I made. based on a pair that I received many years ago in an exchange.  I no longer remember who I received the originals from.  They were made in size 80 thread with very small beads.  I love them and wear them quite often.
these are made with size 40 thread so that I could use some small pearls that I had on hand.  Size 80 thread would have been too small.  The thread is DMC Cordennet Special.  I tatted these this past Sunday evening.

they measure just over 1" long as they are now

I still have much to learn about taking pictures with my new camera.  the focus still isn't what I would like for close up .

the second bit of tatting that I want to show you I finished Sunday afternoon during the Vikings/Carolina game. (Yeah Vikings!)

The thread is Marilee Rockley's Green & Gold HDT in size 40.  The pattern is Tatted Winter Star by Susanne Schwenke.  The pattern is available at Interweave.  This is of course in the colors of the Green Bay Packers football team as it is going to my best friend B who grew up in WI and roots for them.

I tatted this without doing a cut and tie.  I used a Split Chain and Split Ring to move from the 1st round to the 2nd round.  If anyone needs help with that, please let me know, and I can give you the directions.

you should have heard us the week before. we were at her house, she was yelling at the Packers and I was yelling at the Vikings.  One of her grandkids was there and exclaimed.  "This house is too noisy, it hurts my ears."  we had to laugh.

I have more tatting that I have been working on, but they are Christmas presents, and I know that some of the intended recipients occasionally read this blog, so can't show you what I am working on at this time.

2 pr christmas trees

Here are both pair of the Christmas Tree Earrings that have been requested by a gal in Texas.

and another bit of news.

I have started an Etsy.com shop so will be posting these there. It may not be a very busy shop, that will depend on what I can get done, but it will not be just tatting. http://www.etsy.com/shop/ladytatslace

I have a lot to learn about taking photos of my items. I have always used the scanner, but tried my camera for the picture above. Some of what I post for sale on etsy,will not be able to be scanned so will be learning how to take good pictures with good presentation.

I have a couple of bookmarks that I tatted over the summer that I have not yet posted so those will come in time. Right now I have them scanned, but I might try taking photos to learn just how to do it right.

If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

I have a Fujifilm FinePix A330 which is listed at 3.2 mega pixels. I have had it for 4 or maybe 5 yrs or maybe longer. It was one of the first things I bought on ebay. I know it was one of the better ones at the time I bought it.