A Traveling Adventure Series?

Gentle tatters, our community is poised to create a new custom.

Two "traveling book adventures" are in progress and a third is in the preparing stages. All in loving tribute to tatting paragons who have gone before, but who are not forgotten.

It all started with Angeline Crichlow.

Through the generous efforts of Fox in Canada, a copy of "Let's Tat" has been "on loan" - whisking its way around the globe from one interested tatter to the next and so on. Three Cheers for Fox and Angeline's Traveling Book Adventure!

[Responding to a request I have received for information on how to acquire books published by Angeline Crichlow (deceased 1997): This is the information I have:

Angeline Crichlow*
order by mail C/O her daughter, Jeani Crichlow Wieck, 4309 SE Flavel Portland OR 97206. Contact IsDihara (me) privately if you would like a phone number.]

Here is a link to my 2009 post "Let's Tat"


Mary Konior*
A year and almost 4 months ago, Tat Land lost another treasured rose in Mary Konior. We all love her patterns and will likely love them for generations to come.

Here is a link to my 2009 post No Rose Without a Thorn

Martha Ess (a great tatter in her own right) has generously launched a second "on loan" traveling book adventure. Yes!  A copy of Mary Konior's "Tatting in Lace" has also begun traveling. Three Cheers for Martha and Mary's Traveling Book Adventure!

So tell me, what do you think of starting a "traveling book adventure" series?

My two cents: it would be a lovely tribute to the tatting paragons who made their own textbooks when none were available, who published so that tatting did not perish, who shared of themselves to keep our gentle art alive.

Queen of Hearts Three Ways

My color study continues somewhat circuitously with Mary Konior's "Queen of Hearts."

Mary Konior's Queen of Hearts
All threads are size 40 Lizbeth
All three hearts are charming in their own right. And yet...

My July 27th post stated I wasn't sure how shoe-lace-tricking my way right-and-left-grand style through the rings affected the color flow.

Let's take a closer look.

Switching threads to alternate rings mixed things up in an intriguing way, but the effect got lost. You really have to scrutinize to see that every other ring is a solid orange.

Look again - variegated rings are surrounded by solid chains and vice verse. This is an appealing effect, but two solid colors are needed to really show it off. 

See how the stripes leap off the screen? The contrasting waves of color make this a winner.

Heart 3 surrounds colorful rings with solid chains. To me, the variegated rings add more visual interest than solid ones. (Not that there is anything wrong with solid ones.) The purple chains hug the graceful curves of the design and compliment the Fruit Fizz.

Does this create a stained glass effect?

Not quite, because the dark chains do not completely outline the bright rings. They Allemande Left around the rings instead.

Last but not least is Heart 2. Tatted with Fruit Fizz on two continuously-wound shuttles and tatted according to pattern specs. It might not be as flashy as the previous two, but it is so pretty!

If the color distracts from the design (some would say yes, some would say no), I would still choose to tat this again and again.

For folks who like to know:

	Shuttle 1	Shuttle 2
Heart 1	#139 Fruit Fizz	#696 Autumn Orange medium
Heart 2	#139 Fruit Fizz	#139 Fruit Fizz
Heart 3	#139 Fruit Fizz	#633 Purple Dark
Heart 4	#696 Autumn Orange medium	#633 Purple Dark

My three-way analysis turned into a four-way analysis. And in answering my first questions I came up with a few more. But look at all that I learned (and you too) from this little experiment with color.

Thank you to Mary Konior, God rest her soul, for designing this versatile and always lovely heart.

This will be my last post before leaving on Thursday morning (before the sun rises) to catch a plane to Toccoa, GA, for Tat Days. But I am taking my camera and laptop so I can (cross your fingers) deliver at least one live update from there.

Gotta start packing!

Tatting Tea Tuesday -- Goodbye July

Let's kick off the last Tatting Tea Tuesday for July with a photo of my pretty new teacup. It's perfect for steeping loose leaf teas and comes with a handy lid.

It's hard to think about hot tea when the thermometer is once again threatening triple digits.

Is it just me or is this scorcher of a summer spinning out of control? I was hoping for a few cool barbecues, some front porch tatting and hammock time by now. Would someone kindly stop summer from rushing headlong into the fiery arms of Autumn?

Motif #11 - Spinning Wheel Glass Mat

Summer may be spinning out of control, but the glass mat I have been working on reeled off without incident. It is tatted in Heather, the Tarnished Tatter's Bali HDT in size 30. The pattern is from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. It measures 4 inches (10 cm.) across.

This will be motif #11 for my 25 motif challenge. Now that it is finished I wonder if all the central rings could be tatted in yellow. Or . . .

How would it look tatted with a stained glass effect?

A Tatting Lesson

While in my home state last week, I started teaching my niece Jalice (not her real name) to tat. Want to see photos of our first lesson?

Jalice getting acquainted with her purple Sew-Mate post shuttle. She picked up the flip in 2 - 3 minutes. That's the fastest I have seen anyone leap that hurdle.

Jalice picking out her first knot. Alas, she did a lot of this during the first lesson. If she got discouraged she didn't let it show.

Here she is showing off her first double stitches. She picked up the basics quickly, but didn't close the ring (5-5-5-5). An impromptu lesson over the phone (using YouTube videos) served to illustrate the process.

Motif #12 - Queen of Hearts

Last but not least is my latest bit of tatting. Mary Konior's Queen of Hearts in Lizbeth size 40, color #139 Fruit Fizz and #696 Autumn Orange medium.

This heart measures 2 3/8 inches (6 cm.) at its widest point and counts as motif #12 in my 25 motif challenge.

I like these two colors more than I expected to. The Autumn Orange medium looks like a fresh-cut jack-o-lantern. The Fruit Fizz looks like something straight out of a Nigella Lawson recipe. (Enlarge the recipe image to see what I mean.)

Thinking I was being clever, I employed shoe-lace tricks to alternate the colors for each big ring. Don't know how it affected the color flow. Will have to tat one without the shoe-lace tricks for comparison. I am beginning to understand why Tatskool makes so many test tats!

This heart is not error-free. The first chain, at the bottom tip, is inward-facing. It is supposed to curve outward. Oops! I didn't even notice until I got the whole way around and began tatting the last chain. What could I do, but tat it backwards to match the first one? The final join had to be altered because of this error.

Fox made me feel a little bit better about getting the first chain going the wrong direction with her post: It's All About Karey. At least Fox fixed hers...

There is one more error where I joined a four-picot chain in the wrong place. Can you spot it? I didn't even notice until I enlarged the image 150% in PhotoShop.
Ah well, c'est la vie.

Wishing you all more me-time to create something beautiful.

See you in August for more communi-tea!

Tatting Tea TuesdayRound 6 Finished

Row 6 of Purple and Teal Square Doily
Debbie Arnold © 2002
Round six (6) of the County Fair doily is complete.

Less than four weeks remain before the fair opens. Four more rows to tat. The pressure is on! Maybe I should stop here until after the fair judging?

The next three rounds build the beautiful bracketed square shape. If I forge ahead and don't get all 10 rows done, I risk it looking unfinished. If I leave it as is, it looks like a nice glass mat.

Speaking of which, progress on the spinning wheel glass mat continues slow but steady. It occurs to me that instead of a doily, I could submit multiple coasters for the county fair. But how to present them?

FYI - both mats are the same size.

4 repeats of Mary Konior's Spinning
Wheel Glass Mat in Bali HDT, size 30
Every Time a Bell Rings...
...an angel gets his wings, or so goes the quote from "It's a Wonderful Life."

I snapped this partial shot of the glass mat because it looked like one half of a pair of angel wings. Has anyone else used this pattern to tat angel wings?

Lastly, I attempted to make a birthday card using rubber stamps, scrapbooking papers and a few embellishments. It started out simple, but exploded into a three-trip-to-Michaels event fairly quickly. Why?

I purchased the wrong kind of inkpad for the coated cardstock used to craft the lotus blossom and the ink never fully dried. Not with help from a hair dryer or a heat gun. Even after sitting out to air dry in a well air-conditioned house for a week, the ink rubbed off easily on my fingers. Live and learn!

People like Etha Schuette make it look easy. That just goes to show you how talented they are.

Whether it is a card, a bit of lace or something else, here's hoping you all find time time to create something beautiful. See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

Note: This post was scheduled in advance, but I took along fresh spearmint leaves from my backyard mint patch to brew a refreshing tea before departing home to Silly Hat Central. Hoping your tea was tasty today!

No Rose Without a Thorn UPDATE

Rose Doodle by Mary Konior
This past Saturday Tat Land lost a treasured rose. Mary Konior passed away from Alzheimers. So today's post begins with a quiet moment of reflection.

Mary, rest in peace and tat with the angels.

I never met Mary, but own two of her tatting books and refer to them often for inspiration. The volume of responses to the news of her passing shows how well loved and respected Mary was.

Today I settle in with a steaming cup of Pomegranate Rose tea and tat the rose doodle from Mary's wonderful book, Tatting with Visual Patterns. All the while thanking the powers that be for her time spent among us and the vast talent she shared.

After that I will start Queen of Hearts from the same book. While Yarnplayer's Roses is an obvious and lovely HDT choice, I have been saving Tatskool's Chocolate Raspberry for a special heart motif and this one feels just right. Photos will be posted as soon as I complete them.



I leave you with a beautiful song by Francoise Hardy, Mon Amie La Rose. Lovely, lovely song.

And the sensual and moving remake by Natacha Atlas. It is a song I choreographed a veil dance to several years ago and dedicated to my older sister who died from complications related to end-stage Multiple Sclerosis. Lovely, lovely song.

Natacha Atlas - Mon amie la rose
Uploaded by bernie-noel. - Explore more music videos.

If you would like to see the belly dance, let me know and I will ask Big Daddy to format the video for upload.

UPDATE: WED January 20: Rose doodle uploaded. I left the tails visible to show that I padded the stem. It looks good without padding too, I just wanted to try it to see. That said, I have never finished off padded tatting before. How is it done?

Should I just give the padding threads an extra snug, snip them close and cross my fingers that the ends won't show? Your comments and suggestions are welcome!

And with that, I leave you to your tea and tatting.  Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful.

See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!