Tatted Cherry Blossom Jewelry

Have you seen this amazing cherry blossom jewelry tatted by @mahiru? It is stunning, stunning stuff!

For the Fair

Tatting Tea Tuesday (on Wednesday)

Today's tea is an infusion of minty sweetness that hits the spot during Spring rains. It is Traditional Medicinal's Organic Spearmint. My backyard spearmint crop hasn't come up yet, so this will see me through until Mother Nature provides. Mmmmm, soothing spearmint. ツ

One of my tatting goals for 2010 is to submit an entry into the County Fair in August. This is a huge goal for me, since I have never successfully completed a doily.

The last doily I started (back in the late 1990s) never got finished because at the time I didn't know how to work in new threads. I dug out the "ole' girl" for show and tell:

Still have it and yes, I now know how to add new thread to continue if I wished. But the white cotton I was using was a "big ball" crochet cotton in size 30. It might give me nightmares to tat with that thread now. LOL!

Spoken like a true thread junkie, eh?

Row 1 of Purple and Teal Square Doily
Debbie Arnold © 2002
Row 1 is tatted using LadyShuttleMaker's Treebeard HDT in size 50 and Lizbeth Linen size 40.

With this project, I stressed over color decisions. For example, I didn't want to get halfway through to find the variegated thread overpowering the design. So I paired Treebeard with a solid.

Sounds simple, right? It would have been, if I had a stash of size 50 solids. I don't.

Using mismatched threads bothers me. I can't help but fixate on the size difference. But without a solid in size 50, the best option was the size 40.

It already is bugging me. My eye is drawn to the larger thread. But the Treebeard is so lovely and fine and dreamy that I press on.

It took two days to tat the second row because The Sprout hasn't been napping. So adjust, I must. Please bear with me (and my frazzled nerves) while I carve out "me time" that doesn't involve losing sleep.

Row 2 of Purple and Teal Square Doily
Debbie Arnold © 2002
Started, found errors, retro-tatted and started again three times. And then noticed that I had attached to the wrong picot at the very start! So instead of cutting it off and starting over, I tatted around to the beginning and carefully snipped off the first repeat and tatted from the end over the cut away section.

Good gracious! I hope the rest of this project goes more easily or else my sanity is doomed!

Shamrocks, Equinox and Spring. Oh my!

Yesterday I posted joyfully about successfully completing my shamrock cookie quest.

I credit the four-leaf clover I found on Friday.

Saturday was the vernal equinox aka the first day of Spring. A few days earlier the Spring equilux passed virtually unnoticed.

Equinox means equal night. Equilux means equal light. Cool, huh?

Something I didn't know (thank you, Internet) is that for Persians, the vernal equinox also marks the start of Nowruz, their new year.

Happy Spring and Joyful Nowruz! Tonight Silly Hat Central will feast on Persian fare to honor enlightenment and new beginnings.

Spring Flowers

Warm, pleasant rays have begun coaxing crocus from their sleepy beds.

The Sprout and I have ventured out for walks and playground adventures beneath balmy blue skies. The two hounds are frisking about in youthful abandon. This verve has spread to my tatting.

See this 3D flower?

The Jessica Rose by Sharren Sarver Morgan © 2006
It is an example of my ongoing color conundrum study.

The color changes in the flower are as short as in the edging below, but in pastel tints. My love turns to hate when the color volume is cranked up to bright.

Spring Flowers Bookmark by Julie Patterson © 2002
Why do I hate this edging? Can someone please tell me?

Are there too many colors overpowering the design? Or is it in the intensity of the colors that suck the life out a beautiful bookmark goes wrong?

My hate turns back into love after switching to two solids (again in muted tones).

Spring Flowers Bookmark by Julie Patterson © 2002
This lace just sings, doesn't it? It has a light, delicate appearance that mimics blossoms on a vine.

For anyone interested, here is a thread breakdown:

• The Jessica Rose – Signature quilting cotton, size 20, pastels, and Majestic/Handy Hands size 80, color 829, Christmas Green

• Spring Flowers 1 – Signature quilting cotton, size 20, brights

• Spring Flowers 2 – vintage Star tatting cotton, shade 125, and DMC Special dentelles, size 80, olive green

Julie Patterson's design is the shape of beauty. It would make a stunning handkerchief edging. I intend to use it as a trim for a future quilted ball ornament.

Whatever use you may have in mind, tatting it is a joy. And working through the color issues has breathed new life into my tatting.