Tatting Tea Tuesday: Farfalla 2

Farfalla  Butterfly 2

Another butterfly flew off the shuttles!

Farfalla (a.k.a. Alfie) Butterfly 2
For this one I experimented with using blended threads for the antennae and SCMR body, throwing off the round one wings in a solid color. It took three shuttles for round one, but it wasn't difficult to tat the three-shuttle part, since it was only two double stitches at a go.

Once again, for those who are interested, the thread list:

• Lizbeth®20 #642 Lilac Medium  for round 1 wings
• A blend of lavender/black/yellow threads for antennae and body
• Tat-ilicious HDT by Jess in Night Thunder for round 2 

You can find the free pattern on the Italian tatting web site:  CHIACCHIERINO  The butterfly diagram can be found on this page: Gioielli di chiacchierino

Still need to snip one thread after this beauty's steam press, but isn't he a clever gent?

I am tempted to call him Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All, after the Doctor Who episode called "Closing Time!"  At the end of that episode the baby decides he prefers the name Alfie.



So Alfie it is. Norma Jean and Alfie look good together, n'est-ce pas?

Norma Jean and Alfie together

Only after examining the two butterflies side by side did I notice that one of Norma Jean's lower wings is missing a repeat of 5 DS and a picot. So sorry Norma Jean!  You're still sexy to me.

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

Motif #20 & Signs of Spring

Yesterday's lace guild meeting was held at Barrel Oak Winery in Delaplane, Va. The winery was bustling with activity: birthdays, anniversaries, social gatherings inside the tasting room and on the lawn...it was a wonderful place to be.

Guildies Joy, Barbara and Anita sipping wine and
noshing picnic-style before making lace.

Guildies Anita and Sherry, who was celebrating her birthday!

We enjoyed a plentiful picnic-style feast and some superb Bowhaus White wine along with our lace making.

The morning started out brisk and bright, but warmed to springtime perfection.

Motif #20 Farfalla (a.k.a. Norma Jean) Butterfly
While waiting for the tasting room to open, I finished the Farfalla butterfly. Doesn't she look darling in the spring sunshine?  (And this is straight off the shuttles, before her "beauty treatment" -- steam blocking to set the stitches and thread-end trimming.)

Even though her name is Farfalla, I think I shall call her Norma Jean, because of her delicate grace and striking beauty. A Marilyn Monroe waiting to be discovered, wouldn't you say?

Farfalla Butterfly

You can find the free pattern on the Italian tatting web site:  CHIACCHIERINO  The butterfly diagram can be found on this page: Gioielli di chiacchierino

For those who are interested, the thread list:

• Lizbeth^®20 #613 Golden Yellow Medium
• A blend of lavender/black/yellow threads for antennae
• Lizbeth^®20 #139 Fruit Fizz for round 2 chains
• Lizbeth^®20 #624 Raspberry Pink Medium for round 2 rings.

Norma Jean is so pretty I will tat her again in some pretty hand-dyed thread.  Now, to choose....

But wait!  I cannot forget to show you some of the lace we worked on at the winery.

Barbara's Salamander

Sherry's Torchon ground

Anita's tatted doily

Great stuff!  I am sorry to say I didn't get a photo of Joy's lace or my own penguin project, but these photos give you an idea of what fun we had on our winery outing. 

Bed Beginnings & Leprechaun Trap

Precious little tatting to report this week. Late-winter/early-spring viruses and allergies kept the whole family down in varying degrees.  As for me, allergy-onset + a 24-hour vomiting spell = several days lost productivity. 

Sprout went to a girl's birthday party last weekend which had a kitten adoption theme, so he came home with a blue beanie-kitten, a crafty ball of yarn, a plastic mouse toy and Swedish Fish candy as take-away goodies.

Sprout & Wilbur

"Wilbur (adopted kitty's name) needs a tatted bed to sleep in, Mama, " Sprout informed me.

So I decided to follow Fox's lead (see her links from March1: Jivin' with Jan and March 7: Delightful Doilies Dominate) and begin with part one of Doily VI from Tatted Treasures by Jan Stawasz,

Lace-lovin' Librarian Diane gets credit too, as her lacework (February 24: Doily VI, Round 1 and March 18: Round V...done!) inspired Fox.  Bravo ladies for enabling me so successfully.  LOL!

My blind stab at Part I of Doily VI
Lizbeth^® 20 # 111 Cotton Candy

For some strange reason I thought that the central motif from Jan Stawasz' Doily VI was published sans stitch counts. (Indeed, the motif in my copy of his first book omits them.)

After a few days I got wise and double checked both Stawasz books to discover that book two does include stitch counts. Mine are not at all close to his!

Sprout insists Wilbur's bed be lined, padded, decorated with tatting (the kid thinks big, doesn't he?) and have a door. I'm hoping this version of the motif will work as an inner round.

How to Catch a Leprechaun

Yesterday was a snow day so I had Sprout home with me. We colored a pot o' gold, shamrocks and told each other tales of leprechaun mischief. Before long he decided it was time to build a leprechaun trap!


We agreed to stage these trap photos using Ciarrán before actually setting the trap. (Yes, that is a light saber toy in the background.)

Note the yellow "o" made to look like a gold coin and the big arrow pointing toward the entrance.  He asked me how to spell gold and thought I had said "e" instead of "g," but promptly corrected his error. He is still perfecting his spacing (runs out of room for all of his letters) but I love it all!

At periodic intervals Sprout would "hear a sound" and rush to examine his trap. Surely he would find a captured pixie!  Here he is peering in to see what he had caught...

He had placed a pirate doubloon inside the box as well as a hand-drawn shamrock as bait.  Sadly, no leprechauns fell prey to his ingenious trap. But all in all, it was great snow day fun!

Tatting Tea Tuesday - butterfly beginnings

The Ides of March are almost upon us -- that ill-fated day when Julius Casear went to the big coliseum in the sky.

My paternal grandmother was born on the Ides of March. Theresa Schill Beary lived and raised 10 children on a small homestead with a chicken coop, a sprawling lawn and a lovely flower garden.  Butterflies often flitted among the spring tulips, summer cone flowers and various wildflowers throughout the growing season.

Today's tatting project is a pretty butterfly pattern chosen to compliment my memories of that lovely garden and its winged visitors. I found it on the Italian tatting web site:  CHIACCHIERINO  The butterfly diagram can be found on this page: Gioielli di chiacchierino

Here is my first round.  And a second photo of this pretty start next to its "schema."  <sup>*

 *</sup> NOTE: Round 1 starts with a knot at the tip of one antenna and chains toward the Self-Closing Mock Ring (SCMR) body. If you are not familiar with this technique, please review SCMR instructions offered by Jane Eborall or The Shuttle Brothers.  I used a lock-stitch chain for the antennae, but a regular chain works equally well.

Farfalla, round 1
Lizbeth^®20 #613 Golden Yellow Medium and a
blend of lavender/black/yellow threads for antennae

Farfalla, round 1
with diagram

Rains pelt the windows as I sit sipping an infusion of green tea sweetened with a lemon and ginger syrup.  It soothes my sore throat and eases the sinusitis brought on by Old Man Winter's (hopefully?) last gasp.  I am winding two shuttles (CTM) with Lizbeth^®20 #139 Fruit Fizz for round 2 as I dream of delicate daffodils and delphiniums, butterfly gardens and the freshness of spring.

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

Tatting Tea Tuesday - TIAS Day 10 & Penguin Head

February tends to fly, but holy smokes!  Has it really been a whole month since my last post?

IsDihara's TIAS 2013 Day 10 progress, red background

Freshly completed January TIAS projects usually energize my tatting creativity. This year I set aside Jane Eborall's adorable TIAS at Day 10 with the intent to finish Gingerbread Boy.  (...before the creative wave washed in.)

Gingerbread Boy still unfinished...

Poor, neglected cookie laddie still languishes in my tatting corner. What's the hold up?  Nothing really, just me being obsessive about not messing him up. Can I rationalize that it would be a whole lot easier if I had a diagram to follow? 

Yes! I even tried to draw a digital diagram to get going again. *grumbles.loudly* Computer wouldn't cooperate.  More on that later.

So I switched to designing with my shuttles instead. This is what I created.

Front-facing penguin head 
© 2013 Karen Beary Parent
All Rights Reserved

Imagine black beads in the center of the white rings for eyes.  Also imagine a triangle-shaped bead for the beak. Beads are intended to be sewn on later but could be tatted in as you go.

AUGH! If only my middle-aged computer could handle "the strain" of diagramming. It is not up to the task. (Hard drive errors linked to memory swap issues....AUGH!)  And I haven't yet been brave enough to try diagramming patterns on the iPad.

For Tatting Tea Tuesday, I sip Chocolate Strawberry herbal tea while I finish up TIAS Day 11.

I am also contemplating a graft of a front-facing penguin head onto a penguin body designed by Jane Eborall. If it works it will be disarmingly cute. If not, the unfortunate fellow could be a freak the likes of a Frankenstein monster. (That wasn't melodramatic at all...)

More photos to come after two prams/baby carriages are done and given a quick steam press. 

Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful (and neck bolt free). See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

We Interrupt this blog to bring you

Geek Chic Cosmetic's new Farscape-themed eye shadow collection.  Called "Scapers," it is an eight (8) shadow, one (1) glitter set that has me wanting to play dress-up!

Check out this tutorial by Phyrra. Whether you're as composed as a Delvian Pa'u or as brassy as a Nebari rebel, these colors are sure to resonate on a personal level. Head on over to Geek Chic Cosmetics to see the whole Scapers collection.

Oh Sweet Mercy!  They have eye shadow collections inspired by Doctor Who called Timey Wimey and Firefly called Big Damn Heroes. There is even a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles-inspired collection.  Name your geek-chic guilty pleasure, I'm betting they've got you covered.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled tatting.

TIAS Day 7 -- What IS it?

Instead of waiting for the weekend, I thought I'd post a quick update of my TIAS Day 7.

IsDihara's TIAS 2013 Day 7 progress, white background

IsDihara's TIAS 2013 Day 7 progress, red background

Note:  These scans are flipped "wrong side" up. Being a left-handed tatter, my "whatsit" naturally progresses with the Days 5, 6 and 7 the other way round (on the right side).


Day 7 had me saying this phrase over and over in my head:  rubber baby buggy bumpers
Say that three times fast!

Here is a photo of my latest guess:  a surrey-like baby buggy.  It puts me to mind of the song from the musical Oklahoma!  -- "Surrey with the Fringe on Top"

Image source: Hap Moore Antiques Auctions, March 21, 2009
www.hapmoore.com

Isn't it fun how each new release jump-starts the creative brain cell(s)?

It really is great to see so many TIAS 2013 bits pop up on the blogs. What a wonderful reminder that we aren't "tatting in the wilds" (all alone) but in a lively global community.