Unrepentant Thread Junkie

New Stash as of June 2009

I used to think that Flora thread was the bee's knees (actually I still do) but since it is getting harder and harder to come by, I am slowly becoming a Lizbeth convert.

Who can argue with the quality or the value? It's 100% Egyptian cotton! 'Go ahead,' I say to my childlike inner fibernut, 'let a lil' luxury grace your lace.'

And so I bought more. This time in size 40 variegated. The recent sale, plus a free shipping/handling offer was simply too good to pass up. Psst, I hear rumors of another sale coming up soon...

Of course hand-dyed threads (HDTs) are the only things thwarting total Lizbeth assimilation.

Since TattingChic has already entertained us with with her clever "Walk Like an Egyptian" clip, I humbly present my own homage with this YouTube clip from "Asterix & Obelix Meet Cleopatra."

Adventure after adventure, these two adorable Gauls almost single-handedly stave off Roman conquest with the help of a magic potion brewed up by the village druid. Love the artwork! Love the French humor. Good ones such as this never lose their appeal.

Much like hand-dyed threads, LOL! I know you can empathize with my HDT addiction love affair.

Oh my! Don't these colors just cry out Hand-Dyed-Thread? Bright. Cheery. A sun-kissed harbinger of Autumn splendor. I think I'm in love.

Vote: Aye or Nay?

Up way too late blog crawling, I caught myself writing a couple of novel-length comments on other tatters' blogs. Now I'm feeling guilty and wondering if I have alienated potential tatting friends.

What is your take on comments? Do you prefer short and sweet? Colorful and descriptive? Are Pride and Prejudice posts more like Crime and Punishment? Don't care as long as the comment is complimentary? Please share your thoughts.

Tatting Tea Tuesday - Motif #2

Last week's short break from designing yielded this (not quite finished) patriotic bookmark. Fringe still needs to be added to each end. But it turned out nicely so I rushed to scan it and post it up for Tatting Tea Tuesday.

This bookmark is my second motif for the 25 Motif Challenge. It is tatted using Flora red, white and blue variegated tatting cotton in size 40. The pattern comes from "Tatting Patterns" by Mary Konior.

Is it too weird to be enamored of a motif? This motif comes together quickly and has enough variety to hold my interest. And the best part? The final join secures a chain to the base of a ring. No twisted picots.

This motif would look lovely repeated around an outer layer of a doily. So don't be surprised if a later 25 motif challenge item includes eight or nine or more of these around the outer edge.

Lastly, the thread has been in my stash for a long time, waiting for a project that would really show it off. I quite like how it looks, though a comparison with hand-dyed thread is warranted.

Tatting at the County Fair

This week Big Daddy, The Sprout and I visited the county fair, taking in the sights, sounds, foods and fun. Of course I scoped out the Home Arts building to see what tatting was on display. I found two entries. Both were First Place, blue ribbon winners. Congrats to the tatters who submitted these entries! (There were no names on the displays, so I have no idea who they are.)

Celtic Motif from the County Fair

Shadow-box of bridal tatting from the County Fair

And this shisha embroidery item really stood out, so I had to photograph it. As a security measure, I have blurred out the county and state names on the ribbon as well as the green entry tag.

There were loads of crocheted, knitted, quilted, home-baked and home-canned items at the fair. One other (to me) unusual display was hand-blown and decorated, Faberge-style eggs. I wanted to include a photo, but there were too many ribbons and tags to alter and I would not have been able to get this posted today if I didn't stop fiddling in PhotoShop. Email me privately if you would like to see.

Ohmigosh, I was so busy finishing the tatting for motif #2 that I forgot to brew a cup of tea to enjoy! Let's pretend that it was something patriotic, like (I'm making this up...) Boston Tea Party blend or something.

I did find a wacky teapot blog to share called Teapots, Teapots, Teapots. There are breathtaking teapots here such as the heart-shaped teapot, plus plenty of unusual art tea pots to tease a grin or two. Like the Purple Teapot or the Ronald Reagan Teapot!

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

Flowering Tea Tuesday

It's time for another Tatting Tea Tuesday.

Apologies for the blurred photo this week. My regular camera is on the fritz and I'm using a "dinker dog" that picks up motion blur easily.

In the photo above you can see my oversize ceramic tea mug. It has an etched blue flower design. Hmm? Not what you were expecting?

I do own a nice selection of lovely china teacups and saucers. But delicate tea ware tends to tip and drip when you're concentrating on your lace. So this big, steady posy mug is my vessel of choice.

Ever try flowering teas? They are breathtaking to watch unfold as they steep. Quite a nice way to start off a lace-making hour. Watch a variety of teas blossom in this captivating video.

Lastly, if you were wondering, it is time to take a small sanity break from my latest design experiment. Just a few days or so to regroup from "one step forward, two steps back" -itus.

The good news is that I have worked out a nice bottom point for the second round of Birgit Phelp's 2003 SweetHeart, but in the process have discovered something that I am told all designers face: fixing one problem often creates several other challenges.

The bad news is that the heart lace really shows the rough treatment I've been inflicting upon it. Dirt stains, broken threads, obvious patch jobs, the first ring joined in the wrong place! You get the idea. It's a mess. But here it is, warts and all.

For all its flaws, the overall shape seems to be coming together alright. Round 3 to come. (If round 2 doesn't kill me first...)

One more thing! Today I discovered a witty and slightly cheeky site called Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down. It will bring a smile to your lips, even if all the time you have to spend is to read their mission statement. It's nice to find two people on this big, blue marble who have their priorities in order. ツ

Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful.

See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

Interview with Jane Eborall

Skipping about on Ravelry today I noticed a tatting group and decided to join. The first thing that caught my eye was this!

Posted by NoreenCroneFindl (moderator) on Saturday, June 13:

> Recently, I posted an interview with Jane Eborall to my blog. She’s a total delight!

> :o) Noreen

I couldn't agree more, Noreen! Here’s the link to the interview:

Hankering for Yarn - Jane Eborall...

Jane is truly a scrumptious and charming lady, full of wit and wisdom. I adore her! Didn't want anyone to miss out on this interview.

Special thanks to Noreen for taking the initiative to interview our dear Jane and share it with us.

Stencil With Your Lace

New CraftStylish post "How to Do Spray Stencil Printing" using lace for the stencil. http://ping.fm/cObUb

Take your old snippets and cast offs to create a collage or scene.

Imagine the holiday gifting possibilities. Lace makes great looking snow and snowy effects.

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!