Flower Power from Postie

Lookie what postie brought yesterday in the mail.

Those lovely lasses and lads from the Palmetto Tatters Guild wrote to thank me for sending a donation to the scholarship fund in 2010. You don't see too many hand-written notes these days (more's the pity) and the one I received was especially nice!

As if the thank you letter wasn't enough, tucked inside was this magnificent tatted Autumn posy. I just love this!

If you were the tatter, please know that I can't stop smiling at receiving this very pretty piece of tatting.

Thank you for creating it from one giddy recipient!

1920's Tatted Coaster Set Pattern

Passing along a link that I found today while I was typing up Tatting in the News.

Image Source: Bramcost Publications

Ring in the New Year (Day 12) Vintage Tatted Coaster Set and Box Pattern

Don't know how long the pattern link will remain active, so go look and print it out if you think such a project is of interest.

Special thanks to Bramcost Publications for making this vintage coaster pattern available! It is just one of many vintage needlearts publications they are sharing.

More on Shuttles, Treat Mints and a Teapot

Remember this photo from two weeks ago? I started a holiday recap only to abandon it after the blogging attempt stretched long into the day and night.

Santa's goodies included two decorated shuttles: one from La Cosette with holly, berries and snowflakes.

And the other a Clover shuttle blinged out with pretty pink posies from Lace-lovin Librarian Diane. See it peeking out from the red satin bag? That same bag was tantalizingly displayed in Diane's post, The Big 500. She celebrated her 500th blog post with a giveaway and I was one of the lucky five winners. The prizes were a mystery and I have to say the suspense was palpable. But I couldn't be happier with the prize!

That darling red satin pouch held a treasure trove of goodies: the pink posy shuttle (hand-decorated by Diane), a ball of vintage white tatting cotton, a 12-yard sample of Sulky thread (color 4025), an EZ-Bob for winding thread, and a charm clip. Such nice goodies. Thank you, Diane!

To see a nice photo of all the items together, check out Martha Ess' blog post. Her belated thank you says it all, so much better than I have.

Tathogen^® Treat Mints

To the ladies in my lace guild, who have been nervous about thread-eating microbes ever since I returned from Palmetto Tat Days, I gave out holiday samples of Treat Mints. Everyone seemed to like them and it afforded some peace of mind (particularly to the bobbin lacers who couldn't tat a Thyme leaf cure).

If you haven't heard about the thread-eating microbe, read about it in this Tatting Tea Tuesday post from August 31, 2010.

And on that note I kindly thank you for reading all the way to the bottom, and leave you until anon.

Motif #19 - Elcie

Elcie
Design © 2011 Wanda Salmans
Tatted in size 20 Lizbeth #651 Blue Medium,
#652 Royal Blue and Flora #238 Navy Blue.

The latest addition to my 25 Motif Challenge is a test tat of tattrldy's Elcie motif. Didn't it turn out well?

I loved tatting this. The pattern was easy to memorize and fun to the final stitch. And it makes a lovely mat.

Elcie measures an even 3 by 3 inches (7.6 by 7.6 cm). Three shades of blue give it a tranquil air. Adding this classy little square to my 25 Motif Challenge will bring my total up to 19.

Motif #18 - If He Only Had a Brain

Nutmeg the Christmas camel
Design © 2002 Dolly Hollander
Through no fault of his own, poor Nutmeg has become an unfortunate Christmas camel.

I didn't bother to block him (for reasons to be explained) but will still count him toward my 25 Motif Challenge.

Motif #18 - Christmas Camel

Nutmeg is tatted with Lizbeth #671 Christmas Red, #638 Christmas Green and Tatskool's Nutmeg HDT. All size 20.

He has a size 11/0 black seed bead for his eye and size 8 gold seed beads for his saddle. The flat scan doesn't do it justice, as the saddle bows out slightly for a lovely 3D effect.

Here is a link to Tatskool's Christmas camel from 2007. Hers is decked out so handsomely in his Christmas finery.

A Series of Unfortunate Decisions
Poor Nutmeg's neck is all out of whack so I didn't finish his bridle and reins. But the problem is not with the pattern.

He was coming along so well until I missed a join behind his ears, resulting in a misshapen neck and disturbing lack of brain.

(Now Nutmeg has something in common with a certain Scarecrow.)

Of course, decapitation is an option. I could tat him a brainy new head.

Would you fix him or leave him to suffer his fate?

~ flexiPoll: free online web poll ~

While I don't consider this next bit to be an unfortunate decision, I would reduce the stitch count if I were to tat it again:

I tatted Nutmeg's tail using Jane Eborall's marvelous Padded Double Stitch technique. But I didn't adjust the stitch count so his tail is a bit long.

Okay, I am done being my own worst critic. Whew! Aren't you glad that's over?

Let me stress that this is a wonderful pattern. Tatskool downloaded it from the Internet a few years ago. When I asked her if she could share a link, she was able to screen grab the pattern for me using the Wayback Machine. But my Wayback Machine searches have turned up bupkus. I am not sure where you can find it now.

ADDENDUM: I was lucky enough to stumble upon her phone number and spoke with Dolly on the phone this evening. What a delightful person she is! She shared a trick with me for stiffening lace using Future Acrylic Shine Floor Wax. Thank you, Dolly, for taking the time to chat!

E-mail Dolly Hollander privately at the email listed at the top of this post to request a copy of the Christmas camel pattern.

Bug Gets the Boot and More

The green cloud has lifted and thanks to good drugs, hand washing and TLC, we are all feeling much better.

Instead of purging the house of the last lurking vestiges of germs or finishing up the last few unsent holiday cards, I decided to write a blog post.

That was this morning.

It is now 7:44 p.m. and this post has fought me like a cornered wild animal. Time to put The Sprout to bed and pop in tonight's Redbox rental, Inception.

I'll try again tomorrow.

Holiday Recap

Santa was good to me this year! I received four new shuttles and four free balls of Lizbeth Peacock Blues thread. Two Dresden Files novels, and iPad gadgetry.

Two of the new shuttles are included in the tatting photo below.

Nutmeg the Christmas Camel almost done.
More details after I finish, but doesn't the almost-camel look splendid in Tatskool's Nutmeg HDT?

Check out the shuttles. These beauties were hand-crafted by Georgia Seitz and her husband.

Georgia applied "leafy" origami paper over whitewashed wood for a lightweight, well-balanced shuttle I just don't want to put down. Hand-marbled paper is applied to the "surf board" shuttle for an even more gorgeous look.

Both are great shuttles that make tatting even more pleasurable. I will use these again and again. Can't thank you enough, Georgia!

More Shuttles, Treat Mints and a Teapot

I swear, Ciarrán has been such a poseur lately. Look at him lounging over the adorable teapot I received from Sw4nkyL4c3r. Must be the effect of having Miss Scarlet and Fergal comfortably close since September.

The scuffle of leprechaun boots and orderly habits of Miss Scarlet have been a joyous addition to the house. But sadly, in a few days it will be time to bid our guests farewell and safe journey. Maybe then I will be able to sit down, organize my thoughts and share details of their stay.

Get Thee Gone, Pernicious Bug

Silly Hat Central has fallen prey to a pernicious bug. The good news is that it is not necrotizing filitis, the thread-eating bacteria.

This viral scourge has spawned three sets of double ear infections, an abominable amount of mucus/phlem and now, two cases of pink eye. Oh the humanity!

Needless to say, Silly Hat Central is under quarantine while we fight the good fight.

I leave you with a much happier tatting day, December 29, 2009, when Sw4nkyL4c3r and I met for tea and tatting. Enjoy!

Set the WABAC Machine

Can anyone suggest a good chick flick? I am not limited to preschooler viewing options, as Big Daddy is home with pink eye too and the DVD player is at the ready.