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Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Tatting Tea Tuesday

Today is definitely a chocolate Tatting Tea Tuesday.

Hot, humid & hazy is the forecast for my little corner of tat land. Near perfect conditions for killing fair-skinned folk like me. So I have to curb the urge to take TTT outdoors.

Here's a crazy idea! Gear up with night vision goggles to tat away into the wee hours. Ha ha! Now why didn't I think of that earlier?

All kidding aside, I am "geared up" with Dove milk chocolate hearts, a double-sized mug of chocolate chai and a wicked sharp pencil to sketch out ideas for my latest design experiment.

For a change of pace I worked around Birgit Phelp's 2003 SweetHeart counter clockwise this time, using lock joins instead of picot joins.

How to work around the bottom point is my current dilemma. Birgit's heart offers only one picot-joining option.

This is where a digital drawing program would come in handy. Looking forward to covering that topic in the Design-Tat course, but until that day arrives Mr. Pointy and I remain fast friends.

Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful.
See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

Pink and White Edging
A few of you have asked about the pink and white edging I photographed two weeks ago for Tatting Tea Tuesday. It was a yardage pattern my grandmother used to make in ecru tatting cotton. Unfortunately when I tried to scan one of her ecru samples, portions of it disintegrated.

It is a classic and several pattern books include it, albeit with slight variations. I can't show them to you due to copyright restrictions. But I can tell you where you can find them, so check your pattern books for these titles:

The July-August 1998 issue of Flower & Garden magazine, the Crafts Edition, shows this pattern on page 44 in silver to decorate a pretty barrette. The Rings & Chains bookmark on page 46 also uses this pattern and they even tatted their sample in pink and white.

Tatting - A Potpourri of Patterns, published by Handy Hands Publications, is made up of unabridged republications of both complete and partial works dating back to 1916 and 1861. An unabridged reprint of a section of tatting from 1843 is also included. (Just thought I would mention it for the archival pattern buffs out there.) Page 33 includes this edging, marked as Edging No. 77, and notes that it makes a lovely insertion for a library table runner in two shades of brown.

Traditional Tatting Patterns edited by Rita Weiss shows it on page 41 used to trim a tray mat. The variation is a 4DS straight chain added before and after the curved chains. Plus each chain has three decorative picots (not graduated) evenly spaced on the chain.

J.P. Coats and Clark's Tatting Book No. 229 (originally 10¢) includes the exact same tray mat page on page 20.

Christmas Angels and Other Tatting Patterns by Monica Hahn shows it on page 26 to create a cross bookmark. This version also uses three decorative picots (not graduated) on each chain, and they are clustered at the apex of the curve. Very pretty!

Gun Blomqvist and Elwy Persson share their cross bookmark on page 72 of Tatting Patterns and Designs. They add more pretty picots to their chains and a chain cord.

Ann Orr's Classic Tatting Patterns, published by Dover Publications, Inc. (ISBN 0-486-24897-6) uses this pattern in rows 5 and 7 of the large, rectangular doily in their luncheon set.

Tatting Patterns by Mary Konior includes an interesting twist on this theme on page 28 (photo on page 29) called "interlocking clovers." The chains have four picots (again, not graduated).

Tatting Doilies & Edgings edited by Rita Weiss includes two interesting twists on this theme in their section titled, "Edgings for all Occasions" on page 23.

The first is the interlocking clovers version again. The chains have three decorative picots (again, not graduated) for easy stitching onto a handkerchief.

The second is the four-ring clover edging, but with the rings and chains reversed. Imagine the pink chains on the inside and the two white rings on either side.

Whew! That was a lot of references. Hoping one of these books is already in your tatting library.

Have I made up for being gone last week? I hope so, because all this typing has worn me out. Need. More. Chocolate Tea.

A tout à l'heure, mes amis!

10 comments:

  1. Your "Tatting Tea Tuesday" sounds so relaxing and the pictures are beautiful! I am curious, because I ruined a whole 400 yards of thread, how do you keep from spilling tea on your projects? lol (though it has been pointed out that tea staining is something "they" used to do)

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  2. EnlightenedByAngels,

    *gasp* A whole 400 yards ruined?

    I must confess to nearly knocking over my teacup a few times, so I switched to the double-sized ceramic vessel. Fine porcelain teacups are simply marvelous when paired with biscuits and conversation. But too delicate (and tipsy!) when you are concentrating on your lace.

    Thanks for dropping by. I love your blog and your lace!

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  3. Your heart is loverly. I am no help on your problem about the join. Sometimes I have to put it down I try to visulize it several ways before finding the solution. Chocolate does help Lol.
    Nice to have found you!

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  4. your pink and white edging is very pretty! Looking forward to seeing what your finished design is in the top photo. :)

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  5. Glad you're back! Interesting dilemma on your heart - I have no suggestions. Maybe Mr. Pointy will help you find the solution. That is a beautiful edging. I'm sorry to hear some was ruined. Technology is great, but some old things don't get along with it that well. Enjoy your tea.

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  6. I do love pink and white! Thanks for the typing! Lots of good info and I have a few of those books! : )

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  7. TAT19540 - So glad you found me and Tatting Tea Tuesday.

    I anxiously await sneak peeks of what you tat with your be-yooo-ti-ful new silk threads from LadyShuttleMaker.

    P.s. Your latest project is going great! It will certainly be a gorgeous doiley.

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  8. TattingChic - Thanks for the compliment and the encouragement. I'm working on heart design bit by bit each day. The "trial and error" method is slow going, but I am learning loads and loads in the process.

    Tattrldy - *laughs* Mr. Pointy has been a lot of help!

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  9. OMG! What you do is so awesome! Its wonderful.....I just briefly took a look at your blog and how fun it is! I can see that you love this....

    I love the little teapot you did! How cool is that?? Beautiful!

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  10. Hi! Our Tuesday Tatting group was asked to join ya'll. My question is, how or can I make the site larger? I am only seeing a small area. If that is the only way I can view this site, then its too hard for me to see. If I can change it on my end, please let me know. Thanks in advance, Nancy in Dallas

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