Don't let this juicy gem fade into antiquity. It is getting harder and harder to find. Save the pattern. Tat one today!
Strawberry Heart with a Celtic Top by Birgit Phelps
Showing posts with label Birgit Phelps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Birgit Phelps. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
A Heartbeat Away...
AUGH! It's frustrating to be so close and yet so far from completing this project. It is the project [original SweetHeart by Birgit Phelps, © 2003] I have been picking up (and putting down) since July.
The thread is Tatskool's lovely Rainbow Bright.
See that top ring there? The partially open one showing signs of an extended wrestling match? I am determined to reopen that ring. I have been working at it for over an hour now.
Not sure if my nerves or the thread will break first!
So it is time to unwind with a relaxing cup of Italian chamomile herbal tea and redirect my energies. Perhaps even write the instructions for round three and draw the diagram for this pattern.
UPDATE: Perseverence pays off! The ring is undone.
The jury is still out on whether this heart will have a pronounced enough gap between the bumps at the top, but I like the length of the point at the bottom. (That negative space around the tip is a bit floppy...some tweaking may be needed there.) And I'm not sure if the variegated thread is overpowering the design. Perhaps pairing it with a color-matched solid. Maybe black to lend a stained glass look?
Can you tell I'm one of those types who can go on indefinitely tweaking? LOL!
Moving on.
Sharon Briggs has said that once you start, you will find inspiration everywhere you look. Look at this surprising source of snowflake inspiration.
Image Source: Wegman's Garlic Naan
Graceful little flake, isn't it? Because it is printed in a warm green, it reminds me of henna paste or an ivy plant. The dark green, bell-shaped bits could either be rings or Clunies. The dots could be joins or Josephine rings or nothing at all. The outlined edge could be large clovers or onion rings or dimpled rings or ...
Sharon, (if you are reading) you are a bona fide tatting genius!
Does this image inspire you? If so, please, please share. Would love to see where this leads you.
Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful. See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
In Praise of the Color Orange
There is no blue without yellow and without orange.
~Vincent Van Gogh
This week I have been busy tatting doodles and pumpkins and working on adding a second round to the Sweetheart motif that Birgit Phelps designed in 2003.
I also have been working on finishing the two giveaway prizes from last week. But I don't want to reveal those just yet. Let's just say one of the prizes may arrive with an orange doodle or two.
So far, this one is my favorite.
My Mondo Monday Giveaway prize arrived in the mail this past week! The mailer was packed full of Halloween-y goodness! With gorgeous thread like this I could tat a whole patch of pumpkins. Really sincere ones. Worthy of The Great Pumpkin!
Isn't it superb? Honestly, my cup overflows with an embarrassment of tatting largesse.
But that's not all! I can't wait to share some of the goodies I got on loan yesterday from a new needle tatting friend named Bonnie.
Bonnie and I met at LacySusan's shop so she could partake of the trove of tatting riches (books and supplies) Lacy Susan has for sale (along with a vast array of bobbin lacing supplies).
Bonnie showed amazing restraint. Me? Not so much. (Unrepentant thread junkies disavow all knowledge of such words in their vocabularies.)
Look! A sneak peek of Tatskool's scrumptious new colorway called Bracken Crunch in a size 60, six-cord cotton. It is a member of the mouth-watering ChocoLime family of colors. Just winding it on the shuttles triggered a wicked Heath® toffee bar craving.
Along with the 2 purple Sew-mate shuttles pictured above, I purchased 2 Aero-style shuttles (They are the bulk shuttles, labeled "made in Germany." They do not say "Aero" on them anywhere.)
. . . a size 22 (0.5 mm) crochet hook for joining, a bobbin lace pricker, a pack of needles for the pricker, and two bobbin lace books.
The two bobbin lace books are both authored by Rosemary Shepherd:
1. Introduction to Bobbin Lacemaking
2. An Early Lace Workbook: Bobbin Lace Techniques before the Baroque
Quite a haul, if I do say so myself!
But I digress. Bonnie loaned me her copy of Contemporary Tatting: New Designs from an Old Art by Judith Connors. This is a lovely book that includes a pattern for a tatted "take anywhere" cup of tea. It is a darling teacup design that includes split rings. Can't wait to tat one up!
She also printed out a copy of a 3D cup and saucer 2003 pattern by Roger a.k.a. Freedman that had been posted on a needle tatting group site at msn.com. It includes a tatted spoon pattern! It looks as though msn.com has closed its groups site. So having a printed copy of this pattern is like hitting the TTT jackpot!
Since I can't show you this doozy of a tatted teacup find, here is another teacup and saucer pattern originally published in an old Workbasket magazine. Suzann Welker rewrote it so there are no cuts and ties. It involves split rings and split chains, but only short ones.
And just so you don't think ill of unrepentent thread junkies in general (or me in particular) I was not completely greedy. I promised to share my copy of Let's Tat by Angeline H. Crichlow and The Tatted Artistry of Teiko Fujito (Lacis Publications) with Bonnie when I see her on Sunday, October 25.
More later, tatting friends! The hour is late and my eyelids droop. Want to know more about the tome pictured above? Ask and I will answer. (in my next post) Now it is off to bed with me.
As Fox so eloquently puts it . . . "Anon"
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Celtic Tatting Tea Tuesday
Tatting Tea Tuesday started with me sitting down with a steaming cup of Celestial Seasonings Irish Cream Mist tea. The warm aroma suited the crisp-but-cool air. Sadly, this flavor of tea has been discontinued and my stash is nearly gone. Just like summer.
At the end of July I posted about getting a package in the mail. It included two Celtic tatting shuttles, plus a free spool of Olive Green DMC cotton in size 80. Getting free thread rocks!
What a whirlwind these last 60 days have been. My head has been spinning for weeks, and I seem to be in perpetual "catch up" mode. But I have been itching to try my first bit of Celtic tatting. So today I broke out the Olive Green size 80 to tat a Celtic top for a strawberry.
For the first sample I played around with two colors on the leaves. Do you like it? I used DMC size 80 tatting cotton in mint green for the leaves and Handy Hands size 80 Majestic in Christmas Green (color #829).
The basic berry is tatted in Coats & Clarks "boilfast" size 70 tatting cotton. I thought the bright red made the berry look perfectly ripe and ready for picking.
Birgit Phelp's original pattern page shows a strawberry with solid green leaves.
My second basic strawberry still needs to have a Celtic top added. This is how far along I am.
Sorry about the poor image quality. I had to make due with a quick snapshot using the "dinker dog" camera since The Sprout is late for his follow-up appointment with the pediatrician.
Being woefully indecisive, I can't make up my mind if solid green, mint-multi or olive-multi looks better. What do you like best? (You can leave a comment or click on the check-boxes at the bottom.)
Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful.
See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
End of Summer Blues?
Copyright © 2009 Carol Gillott
We all hate to see the lazy days of summer come to an end, don't we? I'm no exception. As August heat gives way to cooler breezes and geese trek across the skies, it is getting harder to ignore the unavoidable truth - Autumn is around the corner.
But before Fall's dazzling foliage, pumpkins and hayrides take over the landscape, I want to bask in the illusion of Indian summer.
Tatting Tea Tuesday pays tribute to everyone who, like me, is in denial about the end of summer. All hail its glorious last days!
(Celtic-style Top to come later)
As I settle in with a cup of strawberry herbal tea, I pull out some Coats & Clarks "boilfast" size 70 tatting cotton in a perfectly ripe, juicy red.
Another of my flea market finds, it came in a 12-inch metal tin that was filled with partial spools of vintage tatting thread. Apparently they had been stashed away for a rainy day, then sold at auction.
What better way to honor summer's last hurrah than with a symbol of its bounty? My freezer is filled with juicy strawberries fresh-picked in May so we can
enjoy mouthfuls of sunshine all winter long.
I'm making two of these strawberry hearts for a special Teapot Tuesday project I have been keeping mum about for awhile now. More on that later.
This bitty berry project would be done except that the only green cotton I have is either size 80 in a pale, mint green or size 20 Manuela in a dark, Hunter green.
So I await the arrival of a size 80 Christmas green from Handy Hands. It should arrive by parcel post later in the week.
Once the Celtic-style tops are done I will post again and share the surprise that Mothermark over at This is My Story has in store. I'm so excited about it and can't wait to share it with you!
But my part in this project has had to simmer on a back burner while I focus on the lessons for the Design-Tat class. Mothermark waits patiently, but I figured I had better send her something before summer was well and gone.
You, however, won't have to wait longer than Halloween (October 30th) for news of our awesome little collaborative tea project.
In the meantime, revel in the glorious pseudo-summer days that remain and prepare for Autumn's splendor.
Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful.
See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
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!
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!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Big Lofty Ideas
Progress has been slow on my experiment to use Birgit Phelp's 2003 SweetHeart as a base for a bigger heart. What you see above is my third try at round two. While the round has potential, it is not working right for this project. The design gods are laughing.
It might be time to confess that I signed up for the new design-tat beginner course. Having tatted off and on for almost 30 years, I figured it was high time I actually learned to design.
Two Celtic tatting shuttles, plus a free spool of Olive Green DMC Cotton in size 80. Woo Hoo! Celting tatting here I come!
However, before the first design-tat lesson was complete, I go and upset the applecart with my Big, Lofty Idea. It is a curse to have a brain that leaps ahead instead of learning step by step.
Design-Tat lesson 1 homework
In this case, as I tatted out a simple ring-and-chain homework assignment I contemplated both the best way to achieve a straight edging and what role mathematics might play in achieving pleasing compositions. Sounds complicated, doesn't it?
It would not be surprising if my tombstone read: Done in by BLI's.
One of the other students in the design-tat class mentioned wanting to tat Moorish-style designs. I was immediately intrigued! Which led my over-eager brain to leap about spouting random bits of geometry and music theory.
By no means am I an expert in either category. Far from it! But as geometric shapes danced in my head, I mulled over how they might be used to their best advantage. Imagine a heart shape as a triangle with two half-circles on top. See a snowflake as either a cluster of triangles with a core hexagon or a spoked wheel or a spidery web.
I also toyed with bits of music theory, namely ABA rhythm structure. Could ABA structure be a signpost to Moorish-style design?
Honestly, I get these ideas and then cannot resolve them, because I don't have the necessary in-between information to get to the logical conclusion. That's why I need the design-tat course.
But it is not right to bewilder the other design students with my BFIs. So I will table them for now.
On a lighter note, I got a package in the mail this week. Wanna see?
Two Celtic tatting shuttles, plus a free spool of Olive Green DMC Cotton in size 80. Woo Hoo! Celting tatting here I come!Saturday, July 25, 2009
Motif #1 for 25 Motif Challenge
I did it! I have signed up for the 25 motif challenge. See me wading into the waters with SweetHeart pattern by Birgit Phelps © 2003.
I chose it for a few reasons:
- 2003 was the year I went on a tatting hiatus (until 2008)
- the joins create the illusion of four-petal clovers
- no awkward downward joins
Plus, I think this design makes a terrific central motif upon which to build a bigger heart. More on that later.
The colorful heart on the left was made with an itty-bitty mini skein of Tatskool's lovely Rainbow Bright HDT in size 20. Hee, hee, the center rings remind me of Fruity Pebbles®.
The pink heart uses the same thread as the pink-and-white edging pictured in my last Tatting Tea Tuesday post. This thread came to me in a box salvaged from an estate sale rubbish bin. Not sure, but I think it is a finer quality crochet cotton in roughly size 30.
For the past few weeks I have been experimenting with a lattice-like heart design that includes four-petal, split ring clovers and adapts an edging pattern for the last round. But my end point is awkward and I'd prefer not to have to cut and tie ends to start a new round.
Birgit's SweetHeart motif looks like it will adapt well. It offers a more straightforward "climbing out" point to begin the next round. Hence, the pink heart on the right.
I'll stop here to ponder the best "climbing out" method. Simple chain? Split chain? Other options?
Time to put the kettle on. See you on Tuesday!
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