Tat's All She Wrote

'Nother Modification

2009-07-14T17:10:00.007-06:00

Our assignment in the Design-Tat course was to take a snowflake pattern and adapt it into a heart. I used my own pattern (because I already had it in my drawing program). If this looks familiar -- well, it should! This is based on the same snowflake as the butterfly in the previous post. The first incarnation just wasn't working at all, so I cut it off the shuttles. It needed something lower between two of the points, but certainly not the upside-down overly-long chain that I started with. The first complete heart doesn't look too bad, but didn't dip down enough at the top to suit me. Back to the drawing board. With a change in the top and the addition of a couple more little rings, it looked more heat-like to me. This time I worked it in blue Cebelia size 30, because I didn't want to use up ALL my red thread before I got to the final one. It worked, so I was happy and redid it in the nice red Lizbeth size 20. That would have worked better if I hadn't make a goofy right in the beginning. I had to cut that off and start over -- then I ran out of thread at the end. Piffle. Next time I do this I think I will have to use smaller thread to fit enough on my Aero shuttles, or break down and use those two little clovers I bought.

Butterfly Exchange

2009-07-01T23:53:00.006-06:00

New butterfly, but not really a new pattern. This is an adaptation of the snowflake I designed from the post "Flake-y Tatting" earlier in this blog. This is about the third, or fourth incarnation of the butterfly, and it finally suited me. There are still other possible alterations or additions that I'm going to try. First, though, I need to get this version diagrammed and written down. I'm pretty lazy when it comes to that. I usually keep a piece and just make more by looking at it. That's not really all that efficient, though.

Anyway...

Once it looked like a reasonable butterfly to me, I added forty-bazillion beads to create this turquoise butterfly for the InTatters June Butterfly Exchange.

This butterfly is made with Lizbeth size 20 thread and measures almost 5.25 inches wide (13.5 cm) and 3 inches tall (4 cm).

Betsee Annie and Brenna Annie

2009-06-30T08:58:00.003-06:00

Betsee Annie and Brenna Annie are looking for new homes. Cyndi's Distinctive Creations is having a give-away, and the winner will get to choose one of these adorable hand-made dolls. I don't do a lot of give-away entering, but my niece would dearly love one of these. Aren't they cute?

Donation Ornaments

2009-06-14T10:01:00.004-06:00

Finally! Picture -taking not being my forte, it took me a while to get out the camera and snap a photo of these ornaments.
(Okay, shoot off about a dozen in hopes one of them would come out unblurry)
This is another attempt at items to be donated for the Festival of Trees. The thread is right (size 20 ecru Flora); the ornaments are the question. I have no idea if this is the right color. Maroon is such a subjective color, don't you think? At any rate, I'll trot these out for the July meeting (because the June meeting is this Saturday and I'll be on vacation -- wheeee!). Somebody will either say they are the right color or they won't. It doesn't matter, because I can always find a home for ornaments! These are both covered in my own split ring pattern. I've got it written down somewhere, but it needs diagrams. Thanks to Sharon Briggs' Design-Tat course, I now know how to do that -- and will once I dig my Roundtuit out from under everything. :)

Still Ringing

2009-06-11T11:24:00.003-06:00

Inspired by Jon Yusoff's wonderfully beautiful earrings, these are made from a bit of leftover size 20 Lizbeth thread. They have nylon hooks, which don't have the beads on the shank yet -- they didn't show up in the scan, so I cut 'em off this image. Next time I try this, I'm going to add some beads -- that'll make 'em more attractive, right?

I've been working on other things, but don't have pictures of some and the rest are for an exchange, so I can't show that either.

One Ringy-Dingy, Two Ringy-Dingy

2009-05-26T20:53:00.004-06:00

Rings of all sizes -- cover 'em up!

Using adaptations of the center-ring snowflake from an earlier post, I've been covering rings like a mad fool. I've made two of these using Flora size 20 ecru thread (which is acceptable for the Festival of Trees), two with Day and Night Rainbow thread (a size 30), and one with Lizbeth Christmas thread (a red, green and white size 20 colorway). My dad has one of the rainbow ones, and the Christmas thread one. Hey! When he says he likes 'em he's stuck with them! I happened on two sleeves of bangles in a bargain bin, one is just silver-color and the other is silver and shades of green. I've got two hundred bangles to cover -- that's a lot of ornaments!

Not just ornaments, either. With a little more adaptation, the pattern can fit into these smaller hoops for earrings. I need to work on sizing (and counting, apparently) but these are for my sister's birthday -- tomorrow! They are made from the shades of green size 80 thread she dyed for me. You know, they'd look better if I had photographed them instead of squashing them in the scanner, because they bow out from the outer ring a bit. If she wore necklaces, I'd make a bigger one for a pendant. It's a thought for another time.

Ring Flake

2009-05-17T20:53:00.004-06:00

See, ecru isn't nearly so interesting. Of course, this is a little busy looking, but seen "live" it's really very nice -- not too busy at all (I think it's the shadows in the picture). This is "Midnight Escape" (DMC size 80 ) thread and an (as yet) unnamed snowflake pattern around a covered ring. Once it was done, I decided to practice that covered ring thing some more, so I fastened it to a covered silver bangle. That worked -- so it had to have a hanger. The only problem is that's it's slightly too big for the bangle. I'm going to solve that by drying it over one of my niece's little rubber balls. Right now, it bows out from the bangle anyway, so I'm going to encourage that. I'm going to make more, with a change in stitch counts to see if I can get it to stretch side-to-side without the bow.

Flake-y Tatting

2009-05-16T09:19:00.007-06:00

Waiting for inspiration, sketching, figuring, fussing, doing, re-doing, waiting for further inspiration, fussing some more. I really have been doing something, it just doesn't look like much! Since I've been so lax about blogging what I'm doing, I'll just dump it all in here at once.
First, Bonneville Tatters is donating a Tree to this year's Festival of Trees (those are Christmas trees for a local children's charity). It's being done in maroon and ecru and is intended to look Victorian. (Personally, I would have done a Tattycat tree -- white with rainbow snowflakes!) I've done nothing maroon, but will be donating this snowflake from the last pattern I worked out. It is made of size 30 ecru Cebelia. Of course I'm going to be working on some other stuff, too. This is just the bare minimum start. It's just soooooo hard for me to tat in ecru. I'm always convinced I've made a dirty spot (because I carry it all over the place) that is never going to come out. If you see one on this snowflake, don't tell me!

As for the fussing and figuring, I saw this bit of machine embroidery and thought I might be able to make it into a tatted snowflake. The pattern I drew out looked really great. Ummmm...I couldn't tat it the way I drew it. There were too many disconnected open bits and all the little hearts had to be done separately (lots of ends to hide). I couldn't get the shape even close, except by using lock chains, and they don't look quite right -- well, not as I had invisioned this thing looking, anyway. It needs a lot of work. I've set it aside for now and am thinking about it. This test piece was made in Opera size 10 cream thread. I didn't weave the threads in very well, but had to do something with them to see if this looked even halfway interesting. It does, but I couldn't get six points in, so it's no snowflake! I'm thinking about it, because i do like that center star.

Finally, this one was also from a bit of machine embroidery. It didn't end up looking much like the embroidery flake, but it pleases me. The first test of the drawn pattern didn't work well at all. It's SCMR connected by chains. Right, those don't have a lot of substance and the center shape is all weird. The second try turned out pretty good, but was a pain to do. It has a central ring with 11 picots and one mock picot to work out to the round with the SCMR and spacing chains. It works fine and doesn't look too bad, just a bit gobby at the center. So, for the third incarnation, I tried out covering a bone-ring (which is actually plastic). Since this is the first time I'd tried covering a ring, I just tied the threads together so I could work out how many stitches would cover the ring. Hey, I guessed right and put the little picot gaps in the right places too. How weird is that? Then I had to deal with those thread ends and the knot where I tied my two shuttles together. There's a lumpy spot right at the base of one of the arms. The fourth one is the one I will be donating to the Tree. I still have work to do on getting the ring covered evenly, and need to figure out how to do rings at the edges, but I think these little rings are nifty. Oh, this flake is made of size 30 Cebelia, as well.

New Snowflakes

2009-05-06T16:12:00.006-06:00

This is what I've been doing lately -- my latest homework from Sharon Briggs' Design-Tat course. (This is just so much fun!) She found this image for us to use for inspiration. To me, it looked like a blurred paper-cut snowflake, so it took me a while to see anything else. Then it took time to figure out how to connect all the little rings I stuck on the picture. Everybody's work looks different, and mine look a little different from each other.
The first one is from my original drawing and is made in two rows. Made with size 50 Omega thread, it is 4 inches (10.5 cm) across. It's actually the one I made last, because the pattern looked too round to be a snowflake. It might make a good beginning to a doily, though.
The pink one in the middle is the one I did first. By leaving out the center ring and changing one element of the top, it looks quite different. That change also allowed me to start at the outside of the first round and complete the entire thing in one pass. It is made with size 20 Lizbeth thread and is 5.5 inches (14 cm) across. I thought maybe the center was too unsupported; it seemed a bit limp. Sooooo...
The third one has a more dense center, but is still able to be completed in one pass. I changed some of the stitch counts, so it looks a bit more relaxed than the pink one, which had to be severely blocked to lay flat. It is 4.5 inches (11.5 cm) across and is made from "Singing the Blues" thread (hand-dyed on a size 30 Cebelia).

Bookmarks

2009-05-03T12:40:00.009-06:00

InTatters is having a bookmark exchange in which I am participating. This is NOT what I'm sending -- don't want to spoil the surprise! However, this is my square bookmark pattern without the buttons. After all, who really wants buttons stuck in their books? It's made in size 30 DMC Cebelia thread dyed into "Day and Night Rainbow". It looked like a really good idea to me -- much harder to lose a bookmark that colorful than a little piece of white paper (which is what I usually use).
I thought buttonless was such a much better idea for bookmarks that I redid my butterfly bookmark buttonless as well. It needs more repeats of the butterfly top, I think. Of course, this is NOT what I'm sending either, so that doesn't matter.

Really, I DO have something to send, though, really!

Memory -- That Would be Nice

2009-04-30T11:13:00.004-06:00

Would you look at that!
Valerie of Val's Simple Passions gave me this nice award way back on the 17th of April, but I can't remember my own name some days. That was so kind of her--makes me blush. I'm just no good at these things. It's not excess modesty or anything (I think I'm pretty wonderful -- 'cause if I don't, who will?), mostly it's just that I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings and there are lots more than 10 blogs I look at all the time. So, even though the rules are:
1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.
2. Put a link to the person who sent you the award.
3. Nominate 10 blogs.
4. Put a link to their blogs.
5. Leave a message for your nominees.
I only did the first two. Do go take a look at Valerie's blog -- she's got some really pretty tatting there -- as well as some really cute bears!

Even More Color!

2009-04-27T21:50:00.011-06:00

More thread! Bonnie had her dyes out again this weekend. I unwound thread like mad so she could make it more interesting than ecru and white. This is the result. I know it looks tangled, but it winds up very nicely. These skeins were wound off the ball on the the arms of my office chair. That worked much better than anything else I've tried. Unfortunately, once they'd been through the dye process, got washed, and dried, they shrunk so I couldn't get the skeins back on the arms of the chair. Bonnie is also my thread swift. Nice of her, eh? From bottom to top, these are Singing the Blues, Oh-Baby, Midnight Escape, and Purple Potion. Bonnie named them while we were winding them back into balls.

Singing the Blues is rather obvious -- it's all my favorite shades of blue (well, all the ones she had in little bottles, at least). It used to be size 30 DMC Cebelia ecru.

Purple Potion which is also a size 30 Cebelia, was named because all the dye color names sound like this:

Double, double, toil and trouble
Raspberry, plum,
wisteria, bubble gum,
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Sometimes I do wonder what she's cooking up in all those little bottles.
Oh-Baby is all soft pastel baby-shades, baby blue, bubblegum, seafoam, and wisteria. It looks like baby lace to me, especially as it is a size 80 DMC tatting cotton.

Midnight Escape is the darker side of the baby pastels, caribbean, raspberry, caman island, and imperial purple, also on a size 80 DMC tatting cotton. It reminded Bonnie of the baby-escape in the movie "Baby Geniuses".

Colorful Weekend

2009-04-19T16:51:00.008-06:00

Look how lucky I am! My sister had her dyes out this weekend and did three balls of thread for me. These first two are 20 gram weight DMC size 80 that used to be white. Now they are shades of pink, purple, red and blue in one ball and a whole bunch of different greens in the other ball. I told her she had to name them. Uh-huh. Her names were redishpurplelbluepink and Irish Spring (because it looked like the bath soap of the same name). Those just aren't romantic enough, so the first is Sunset (yes, we have those with pink and purple and flaming red). The second is Desert Green, because it's not a bright spring green -- there's even something that looks a bit like fresh sagebrush to me. According to my sister, the green has kilt, new-emerald, bright green, Kelly green, and better-blue-green (thank you Dharma Trading for the dye names). They are all on the blue end of green, not the yellow, so I like them very much.
This second ball of thread is a DMC size 20 that used to be cream colored. It's now "Day and Night Rainbow". Okay, that will work. There are dark and light colors in it: from the dark end are lemon yellow, tangerine, fire red, imperial purple, Caribbean blue, and Kelly green, on the lighter end are paler versions of the orange and green, hot pink, wisteria and robin egg. It's very cheerful.

She dyes the thread just like she dyes everything else, so it goes from a cold rinse in the sink into a wash bag and into the washer for both a cold rinse and a hot dye-setting wash in Synthropol. After the wash it goes into the dryer. This is how it come out. Scary, huh? But it winds up really well for all the curls and squiggles. Isn't she clever and aren't I lucky?

2009-04-14T23:07:00.011-06:00

Tat-it-and-See and Choose-your-own-pattern by Danni. There were three versions, but I did only two of them. This first one is version A. Completed, it turns out to be "A" for "Aigg" -- well, okay, egg. Too bad the "Desert Bloom" isn't very good Easter Egg color.

I was working on version A and C at the same time. I thought the pink and purple might be a better choice, but when I got version C done I just sat and looked at it in bewildered confusion. "What is this?." I asked my sister, holding it up. "I can't figure out what this little point is. I thought it might be two eggs, a big one and a little one, but not with that bump." She gave me the most disgusted look, reached out, and rotated it 90 degrees. "It's a chick, Marty...duh." Oh, yes, so it is. Darn -- I should have used the yellow!

Motif Diagram

2009-04-08T21:13:00.004-06:00

There's no written pattern, but for anyone that can work from a diagram -- here ya go. Join to the next motif at the picots on the 8ds, p 4ds chains, at the small joining picots on the 2ds, p, 2ds, p, 4ds rings, and at the center picot (which is a larger picot than the other small joining picots) of the 4ds, p, 4ds, p 4ds, p, 4ds rings at the corners. I hope that is more clear than mud. Oh -- if you click on the image it should get you a larger size image. If it's not large enough to see, will someone flag me, please?

Better Thread

2009-04-06T22:12:00.004-06:00

There. Yes, it does look better in a solid color. It might be okay in a multi-colored thread, but the thread would have to be very carefully selected. This is back to the rest of my DMC Cébélia size 30 stash for a nice plain purple. I like the spot where the motif's join, even though it is very dense (sometimes I am too, so that's okay). Next step is writing out the pattern for this one. I didn't do that. I like working off a made piece -- must be something I got from my Gramma. She crocheted beautiful things, but couldn't read a pattern. She just used made pieces and duplicated them. Still, if I'm going to share, I'll have to write it down. I just don't have time to make everyone a pattern piece to work from (as if "everyone" wants to make the same thing!). I thought about making this bigger, so I've left the joining picots on all the edges, and this is just lightly pressed, not really blocked or starched.
At any rate -- this was really a good lesson in being careful of the colors I pick!
I've been asked to share the pattern. I'm happy to do that, as soon as I get some time to actually make a pattern. Right now it's just the original motif that I keep following.

Thread Selection

2009-04-04T17:03:00.003-06:00

This is my second homework motif worked into a little mat. It is 4 inches (about 10 cm) square. The thread is size 20 Lizbeth "Desert Bloom". I think the motif turned out really well and makes a very nice decorative mat. However...

The thread was a severe mistake -- especially for this piece. The colors are wrong and change in odd places worked in this pattern. Purple, orange, and gray-white might make something really pretty, but I can't think what. I do believe this thread was a mistake, for me, and I won't be buying any more of it. Of course, if I had picked a different pattern to make with it, I might be feeling better about the thread.

I need to try this motif in a nice solid color and see how the mat looks.

Francesca, Finally

2009-04-02T21:17:00.002-06:00

"Francesca" from Tatted Doilies by Iris Niebach has been a real challenge for me. I've been trying to work this pattern for very nearly five years. Ummmm...not constantly, mind. Every time I've started it I've gotten hopelessly lost somewhere before completing the second repeat. I've unpicked and re-tatted and decided that was wrong, too. I've unpicked and broken the threads. Finally, I've cut the bit off and chucked it out in disgust at my absolute inability to follow instructions. This time, I decided to outsmart myself. I scanned the pattern diagram then, using my PaintShop program layered the bit of the diagram over and over until I had a larger diagram showing the progression through three repeats. That seemed to work (not that this doily didn't undergo an ample share of retro-tatting) I managed to get clear around and actually finish! I used some of my new Lizbeth size 20 to work this pattern. The color is "Caribbean" and is actually much more defined purple, navy, and turquoise than I can get my scanner (or my limited ability with color brightening) to show. I probably should have dampened this one and stretched it out on the starch board before showing it -- but I just trundled it off to the ironing board for a quick press. It can go on the starch board later.

International Tatting Day

2009-04-01T09:20:00.006-06:00

Here I am, sneaking in to say "HI!" for International Tatting Day.
Am I tatting? No. (I'm working -- yes, really, I am!)

However, I do have a picture of my original homework motif with some little computer assisted SCMR modifications suggested by Sharon Briggs. This would allow the motif to be connected to others of its kind to make a rather interesting looking mat.

Okay, I didn't tat today (YET!) but I have thought about it!

P.S. I DID tat at my niece's indoor soccer game. I made little blue butterflies and gave them away. There -- tatting in public, and giving it away -- that works for celebrating! :)

Varied Homework

2009-03-28T10:29:00.005-06:00

I played with my homework motif based on some group suggestions. It turned out that I liked my original motif best, but created a whole new one that I like as well. If I add just a few joining picots, it will make a pretty mat. I tested it out using a computer rendition, but I might actually tat this one.

PS...I've started. I'm using a size 20 Lizbeth thread called Desert Bloom -- I'm not certain I care for the purple and orange together, but we'll see...

Back to School

2009-03-21T20:01:00.010-06:00

I'm involved in Sharon Brigg's Design-Tat course, and am thoroughly enjoying it. We have homework! First time in my life I ever really, really liked homework. The first two lessons were back to rings and chains -- building blocks. How to get different configurations of rings and chains by changing the stitch count or where and how connecting picots are used. It's not something I consciously think about when working someone else's pattern -- but how essential to making one's own!
The third lesson was to take a round 8 ring and 8 chain center and build a second round with some interesting negative space connected to only 4 chains. All of this cream-colored Opera size 10 thread was just crouched under my bed waiting to grab an unwary ankle. I wrestled some into submission and wound it onto a couple of shuttles (that size 10 stuff is big and tough!) and came up with this:
Hey, I like it (but you should have seen what I threw out!). Today I had to go get the oil changed in my car so I took a bit of thread and a couple of shuttles (well, of course!). These bits of orange and blue ombre size 80 went meekly into my bag and onto the shuttles. It looks different in two colors, doesn't it?

Interesting scale as well. These pieces were scanned side-by-side. Maybe I should have posted them the same way -- or how about this:

Iris TIAS Doily

2009-03-17T22:48:00.004-06:00

I finally finished the whole doily. It's an amazingly gorgeous design. We're so lucky to have Iris share it with us! I have to make another one of these (one? maybe two or three or more; it's addictive).
I didn't complete it in the original pink and maroon that I started with. The center picots weren't joined and I didn't want to do some kind of retro-stitching at the end. That piece will be a decoration instead. Ha. The whole truth is that I got all this new Lizbeth thread and had to try it out. It's so much smoother and more crisp to work with than the Cebelia. Really. Now I have lots of size 20 thread! These two are Leaf Green (the variegate) and Christmas Green.
It seemed appropriate to post this bit 'o green for St. Patrick's Day.

Blog Queen?

2009-03-12T10:37:00.005-06:00

Sherry Pence gave me this shimmering bit of recognition. According to her blog:

The "Blog Queen" award recognizes female bloggers who are:
SEASONED; She has blogged for at least one year.
PROLIFIC; She writes several posts each month.
FUNNY; She make us smile with her witty humor.
ADDICTIVE; She keeps us coming back for more.

You may accept this award or not.
There are no rules to follow.
You may pass it on as you please.
This is just to let you know that you make my day!

I'm not good at this sort of thing, so I will accept with gratitude, but decline to pass it on. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings by leaving them out or annoy anybody who doesn't do awards by including them. How's that for totally wishy-washy. Okay, I'll admit it. sigh. I'm just greedy. Look at that crown! It's covered in jewels. I'm not sharing -- they're shiny and they're all mine. Oh, wait, Sherry already shared it with a number of more worthy people. I guess I'll have to make this one just mine, like so:

Right. That's so not funny.

Thank you, Sherry. You've just made putting all these words on this electronic page worth the effort. :)

Another Ornamental Cornelia

2009-03-08T12:59:00.003-06:00

Yes, "Cornelia" by Iris Niebach from Tatted Doilies, again. This is such a beautiful pattern! This one is made with one strand of green ombre cotton quilting thread and one strand of dark green rayon embroidery thread on one shuttle, and corresponding threads of red of the other shuttle. There are red or green beads matching the threads at each picot. Because of the size of the threads, this one has only five pattern repeats, and I changed the number of small rings at the tip of each repeat from five to four. It curves around the ornament better that way. The bottom is just simple rings and chains, but that's what fit best. I'm working on a companion ornament with the colors reversed. They'd make a nice gift as a pair.

Split Chain

2009-03-07T20:48:00.003-07:00

Split chains are a new technique for me. As a matter of fact, I've been scared to even try 'em. (Yes, all these years tatting, cutting, and hiding threads before moving on to a new round -- pitiful, eh?)
A couple of weeks ago I went to the monthly meeting of the Bonneville Tatters and learned along with a whole bunch of other people. That was fun. So, here's my split chain. Don't look too close, though, because I think I worked from the wrong side and my stitches are frontside and backside on the same chain!
I'll be practicing this again with the "fast and easy" way of Marie Smith, courtesy Jane Eborall's techniques pages.
The motif is something I tatted up the night before the meeting so I had a piece on which to practice. I used the size 10 thread my sister dyed for me so that it would be large enough to see what I was doing (then did it backward anyway). I rather liked the motif, and think I might try to develop it into something larger -- after all I've got that split chain just waiting there...