#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.

#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.

#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.

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.

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

Out of the nest and 3rd 25 motif challenge

Today was the day. I checked the baby bird this morning, while out hanging laundry on the line and it looked very alert and had most of it's feathers so I figured it was about ready to leave the nest.

I had to go in to work this afternoon to catch up on some things, but took the time to check on the bird before leaving and was I ever glad that I did.

Take a look at who I found out of the nest. Sitting on a branch just a little ways from the nest.

Here is a closeup. you can see the white eyebrows, wish I knew what kind of bird this is.

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

on that tatting side, I have decided to do another 25 Motif Challenge. I started my first one in june 2008. I don't know if you are supposed to count every item that you tat, or only those from different patterns. After finishing that one this spring, (well, if you count everything I tatted I finished it before Thanksgiving).

Then I tatted the items needed for my daughters wedding as well as a few other items. That would have been my 2nd full Challenge.

So I am going to start my 3rd one. I will put the list gadget back on my blog for this Challenge.

shopping, wedding tatting, 25 motif challenge & Lucet cording

I thought that I would show you a bit of what I have been doing.

this is the tiny heart and flower pattern from Jon you can find the patterns here.

I too am making these for a wedding. our Daughter #4, Elizabeth, is getting married this fall.

And these make the end of my 25 Motif Challenge

This will be the 6th daughter to get married. What she has decided to do is pick a color palette from the paint store. Then give the bridesmaids the paint palette and ask them to get a dress that matches one of the 6 colors of blue that she picked. That way it is hoped they will like the dress and be able to wear it more then once. As an accent color, she has chosen a trio of reds. both of the threads above match the red choices The brighter one is an antique thread size 30 from my grandmother Eulalia that I wrote about before. The other is called Crescent Colours Hand Dyed Perles #8 in Cupid. I picked this up from Nordic Needle in Fargo ND. When I grabbed it, I thought it was a skein, as it said 10 yards. It is 10-1 yard pieces. It took 1 of the strands to make the small flower above, and I finger tatted the last ring so I could make it. I also picked up some beads and will experiment with them too, before sending the choices to Elizabeth for her decision. These small flowers or hearts, will go on one end of the ribbon streamers holding the brides maids bouquets together.

The other streamer end will be a tatted initial so each bridesmaid will have a personalized bouquet. I do have one more red thread, it is a Silk pearl that I also got from Nordic Needle, but I haven't done anything with that yet.

Also at Nordic Needle, I bought 2 pattern books.

I've been wanting one of Iris Niebach's books for a while, now I have one. and the Farm animals will go over well with the grandson's.

While in Fargo, I stopped at the Hobby Lobby. I found a very poor selection of Lizbeth, but did get one ball.

I also did some shopping online at Handy Hands. I bought some of the thread that they had on their Spring Thread Sale.

The pattern book will come in handy and I liked the look of the 3 Omega threads size 50. The yellow is a Manuela and I always enjoyed that brand of thread. The small purple is one of Handy Hands own Cordonnet. Being partial to purple, I decided to pick up a SewMate shuttle in that color. my normal choice for a tatting shuttle is the Silent tatters with a hook from Roseground. but in a pinch.... I wanted a couple more sizes of mini crochet hooks - these are size 14 & 15. I have a size 16 and some of the larger sizes, but occasionally I need one of these. The small spool of thread is a sample of Lizbeth in Magenta/white/teal. I just realized that I missed the second pattern book. Here Be Dragons by Karey Solomon. That will be an interesting challenge.

and I went shopping on ebay.

I have been thinking about Lucet cords off and on, wondering if there was a way to make a heading with picots to join too and maybe a substitute for Coronation cord. So I picked up a Lucet made of cow horn - I could have found one of wood or bone, but the horn appealed to me.

As you can see, I will need a lot more practice before I would use any of the cord with my tatting. The book that I also got gives directions for cords with gimp, picots, and a suggestion for how to make a cord that could sub for Coronation cord.

This post is long, so time to hang it up.

Round Medallion

I decided to do the Round Medallion from the booklet in the previous post.

The thread that was called for in the pattern is Clark's O.N.T. or J.&P. Coats Mercerized Crochet, size 20 or 30; or for daintier medallions use J.&P. Coats tatting Cotton, size 70.

So I checked my grandmother Eulalia's stash of thread and found a ball of Clark's Big Ball Mercerized Boilfast in size 20 color Ecru.

As I mentioned in the post below, I tatted it using a more modern method. The original directions called for cutting and tying after the center ring, and the first round. Instead, I used a split ring to climb out of the center ring and a split chain and split ring to climb out of the first round. If you look closely, you can see that I messed up the split chain. I didn't snug the thread up short enough when I joined, so the split chain - which always grows - ended up too long and didn't match the corresponding chain.

While working on this, it looks to me like a good doily center, so instead of taking some of the WIP that I have with me on my trip at the end of the week, I will wind my shuttles and work a doily based on this medallion for a center.

The other patterns in the booklet are a simple 1 shuttle edging I would call flower and bud, ( it is shown on the cover), a simple ring and chain edging, (you can see a small peek on the cover) and the classic Hen and Chicks. The other medallion is a square which also might make a good doily center.

Some medallions only look good standing alone, others lend themselves to larger works.

I can find no information on the booklet that would lead me to a contact to find out if this is still under copyright or not, so hesitate to post a scan of the page with patterns. If anyone has any information, I would appreciate knowing it.

The blizzard is hanging around longer then was hoped, but I should be able to get to work by noonish. I hope.

Happy tatting

just a thought

I was checking out some other blogs tonight, one of them belongs to Shay of the Little Grey Bungalow . she has some interesting posts with vintage clothing patterns and recipes. one of her posts is a quote.

Grandchildren are God's gift for not killing your teenagers. Anonymous

It hit me, now I know why I practiced patience during those years. I am enjoying all my grandkids - 8 and growing. I love all those wonderful little people. They have so much potential. and what wonderful things they say.

I am posting a simple angel that I tatted in 2 hours on Sunday night. Robert Kent included the pattern with his Thread Exchange threads. The pattern is adapted from the July 1989 Better Homes and Gardens. It looks lopsided, and my rewrite of the pattern will then be an adaption of

his adaption.

I am waiting for the rest of the threads to arrive from the thread exchange and then I will post a pic of all of my new threads.

Happy tatting

ornament and hat

I received a question about the pattern that I used for the ornament in yesterday's post.

The pattern that I used is based on the snowflake The Sixteenth Day of December from the book 24 Snowflakes in tatting by Lene Bjorn.

The pattern originally calls for rings and chains, but for ease in loading beads, I revised the pattern so all rings are SCMR. that way I could load all beads on the ball thread and only needed to wind 2yds on the shuttle.

After each SCMR I did an unflipped first half DS to lock the SCMR, otherwise if the entire work was a chain with no anchors, it seemed to me it would get rather loose and shift around.

I had to increase the DS in the center SCMR to accommodate the top of the ornament, otherwise the number of DS in the pattern are unchanged

I am posting another pic of the hat. I haven't decided if it is finished or not, but for the time being, it is. I might do some leaves, but then sometimes less is more.

This next pic is of a bookmark that I did for our Priest for Christmas. I based it on the Madonna and Child motif that Mark Meyers has posted on his website. I did a few slight changes. If I had had more time, I would have added to the length sort of like a skirt, but it was given as is. Here is the link to Mark's blog, you might be able to access his motif patterns at his temporary site http://tatmantats.wordpress.com/

The following pictures are of some crochet projects that I have finished.

The first is a child's size 8 shirt.

It is going to a charity. The pattern is the "T" top sweater from the Guideposts magazine website.

The second pic of an afghan that I made for my DH. I had started and thought that I had finished it several years ago. It is about 8' long so that it will cover him from his feet to his neck when laying down and tuck under his feet to keep them warm. but it was a bit narrow, so his elbows got cold. So I added to the width and it is now almost 4' wide.

The cream strips are crochet, but they look more like knitting as you make your next row in the back loop of the stitch below. Also I did all the double crochet using the Elmore method, where you do a chain stitch at the beginning of each stitch to add height. it goes like this for a regular double crochet - yarn over your hook, go through the stitch below, yarn over, pull through - you have 3 loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through 2 loops twice. and you have 1 loop left on your hook. for the Elmore method. you start the same. Yarn over your hook, go through the stitch below, yarn over and pull through - you now have 3 loops on your hook. here is where the difference come in. Yarn over and pull through only 1 loop, you still have 3 loops on your hook. now yarn over and pull through 2 loops twice and you have 1 loop left on your hook.

I really need to finish this and get it posted, it is long past time to get to bed.

Happy Tatting

Are you ready?

Are you done guessing yet?

Here is what I did with my snowflakes. I used them to drape clear glass ornaments. They reminded me of a beaded lampshade from the Victorian era

I did 12 of them, of course, I only took pictures of one, and almost didn't get that, as I got them wrapped and ready to give away as I finished them. Each of them was done in a different thread color and different color beads so that no 2 of them were alike. I couldn't post them before as my children received some of them. Although, my one daughter hasn't received hers yet, as I won't see her until Easter.

the project that I am working on tonight is below.

I bought this brown slouch hat from www.duluthtrading.com for my trip to South Carolina. It came with the green embroidery on the right side of the brim. I couldn't let it just be plain, so am adding tatted flowers to the embroidery. I will show you the finished project as soon as it is done.

life has it's ways

Hi All, you have no doubt gotten tired of waiting for me to update this blog.

Life has it's ways of getting in the way of things you want to do versus the things you would like to do.

I have decided that if I am to have a blog, I will need to discipline to occasionally post.

I have some tatting and some crochet to show you so that you won't think that I just while away my time twiddling my thumbs. but that will need to wait for tonight or tomorrow. Today is Saturday and the housework is calling. Also there are some comments that need to be moderated. I apologize for the delay.

Most of kids decided as a New Year's resolution to do a Biggest Loser Challenge. we are half way through, and though I decided to try to lose 10% (15lbs) of my weight, I have only been able to lose 6lbs. That may not seem like much, but for someone who suffers from hypothryoidism, that is big.

Just a bit of news, we were notified this week that Grandbaby #9 is on the way for this fall, so we will be busy, a wedding and a new baby all in a couple of months time.

I am also in the planning and getting ready stages for a trip to South Carolina leaving here on the 12th of March. I have never been east of Milwaukee Wisconsin, nor have I flown before so this will be a very interesting time. I am going with a neighbor who has a daughter in the area. I will tell you all about when I get back.

It is now Lent. I decided to do the following: no eating between meals, and only clear liquids such as water or tea. No reading other than the newspaper and religious books. both of these will be hard. I read like a vacuum cleaner, I just suck up books, but that gets in the way of housework or other things I should be doing. Also the not eating between meals - the worst part for me will be during meal prep times. I have a tendency to grab a handful of nuts or something "to tide me over" until the meal is on the table. all the extra calories are really not needed, just a crutch. So, maybe this will help me get a bit more weight off.

I am also trying to walk at work. I have a route figured out that takes about 300 steps so if I do that 4 or 5 time 2 or 3 times a week that will increase my activity level over sitting in my office chair all the time. That should help my metabolism I hope.

Alright, you got me, just to whet your appitite, I will post a pic of part of the tatting that I did for the Christmas presents. Can you gues what I did with it?

Stay tuned for further updates.

Gotta go wash the dishes and do another load of laundry.

A Bunch of Rosaries and 25 motif challenge

I have been off my blog for the past 10 days.

during that time I have tatted 5 rosaries. Ombre purple, lavender, pink, green, multi.

I started last weekend at the Marian Eucharistic Congress. I was able to tat almost 2 per day. until the last day, when I decided to make a multi colored one. That one is pictured here.

I used the shoelace trick between the split rings and changed colors on the Our Father rings. Other wise it is my basic Rosary pattern.

This rosary took me all week to sandwich in between other things.

I was tatting the rosaries during the talks, and many people came up to me to ask what I was doing. I gave several small quick demonstrations during breaks. All the rosaries except this one were given away on the spot. This one has a designated recipient as well.

I am adding the 5 rosaries to my 25 motif challenge as 1 item, since I don't have pictures to show of all of them.

I am hoping that this week will be more productive for tatting as I need to get the Christmas Presents done.

too much life and not enough time, so off to bed for me.
Happy Tatting
Ladytats

Finished!

Hi All,

The 4th T.I.A.S is finished and here is my version. I am also counting this as #18 of my 25 Motif Challenge.

And to top it off, I was right. Sherry has announced that it is a lighthouse bookmark. A couple of weeks ago near the beginning of this process I emailed a guess to Ladyshuttlemaker that what we were making was a lighthouse as the 2 clues she gave were - Knotical and Illuminating.

She didn't let anyone know if they had the right anwer until now.

my lighthouse is a bit lopsided as it is not blocked yet. I was in too much of a hurry to get it posted to spend the time to wet it and wait for it to dry, or to steam it and wait for it to cool. I only use the steam method if it needs just a bit of blocking, the lighthouse bookmark above needs a lot of blocking so I will get it wet, roll it in a towel to remove any excess moisture, then lay it out on my blocking board, pin it into shape and let it dry.

my blocking board is a piece of 1" thick styrofoam isulating board covered with an old piece of white cotton sheeting.

This serial tatting puzzle was fun. It is the first one that I have done, but I will be waiting for the next one to show up. Jane Eborall has done the other 3, I wonder who will do the next?

Friday I am taking off work to go to the next largest town for a conference for Directors of Religious Ed for church and then attend at least some if not all of the Marian Eucharistic Congress. What a blessing to be able to attend these events. Because of getting ready for this trip and being gone most of the weekend, I don't expect to get much of any tatting done until next week. I will take a project with me, the last time I attended a Marina Eucharistic Congress, I did some tatting during some of the speechs. I can focus on what they are saying much easier if my fingers are busy, and tatting rosaries is so easy.

Happy Tatting

Ladytats

T.I.A.S and Challenge

I am posting Motif 16 & 17 for the 25 Motif Challenge and steps 2 & 3 for the TIAS.

Yesterday was our Granddaughter #5's birthday party. They live an hour away. It was a rainy day, and DH wasn't able to do any farming, so he drove which I like, as I could care less about getting behind the wheel, and if he is driving, I can tat. I was able to finish 2 motifs that I had started, but it was a busy day as we had shopping to do as well, so didn't get online last night to post anything so this will be a combo post.

Above is Motif 41 from Patti Duff's Mini Tats in a Manuela size 20 thread. The label has been lost so I don't know what color. I left the tails long, threaded one through a picot and tied the ends so it can be used as an ornament. this is the first thing that I tatted with my GMA purple shuttle. I wasn't too sure about how it turned out, but after wetting and blocking last night, I think it wasn't too bad for tatting on the road.

This is a rosary that I made for a friend of mine at church. It is also size 20 Manuela in colorway 204. This is not blocked, but I usually don't block rosaries, they are intended to be carried in pockets or purses, so I don't feel there is a need for blocking.

I love this color way. There is some left on my shuttles, so I think I will work up a set of earings.

Here are all 3 steps for #4 T.I.A.S. so far Sherry's pattern has lots of block tatting. I think that everyone doing the TIAS will be an expert at block tatting by the time we are finished.

It was very windy today. The last several days have been mostly calm. One of the things we were shopping for yesterday as a new TV antenna for HDTV We have the box, but needed a new antennae as well. We took the old antenna down, and put the new one up during the wind today. not fun on top of the roof, but DH was impatient to get it done. After not falling off the roof, we watched the Vikings lose. The only good thing about that, was I did some more tatting on my companion glass matt. ( see post below with the green & purple motif) This one will be the opposite colors.

Another thing I did tonight was to shorten the sleeves on my turnout coat for the fire department. The smallest one they had pretty much covered my fingers, so after washing it, and hanging it outside to dry, got rained on too, I shortened the sleeves a good 2". Now they won't be in my way so much if I need to actually do first aid at a fire.

midnight. time for bed.
Happy tatting
Ladytats