During the pandemic I resolved to tat patterns that I have "loved from afar" -- designs lovingly purchased but left to languish in the Land of To Do. It was time to take the plunge and work on my tatting list even if only by one or two To Dos. What better choice than a Spring Napkin?
Taking the Plunge!
Renulek's patterns are perfection and while other tatters around the world were creating the 2023 Spring Napkin, I "took the plunge" to tat Spring Napkin 2021 (pattern sold on Etsy.com). For round one I chose the warm yellows of Lizbeth 20 #180 Honey Drizzle. Marilee Rockley's hand-dyed colorway Roses is an elegant compliment for round two.
Round one and the start of round two
Those who have attended zoom meetings for Tollway Tatters this year have witnessed the beginnings of my journey through this gorgeous pattern. Here is a snapshot of rounds 1 and 2 complete:
Today I dove into round 3 with Lizbeth 20 #676 Leaf Green Dark. It is a straightforward, relaxing tat. Very soothing, with no direction changes!
I am taking the time to enjoy this process and (fingers crossed) building the stamina to keep going once the work gets significantly larger. Stay tuned!
Just Chicken In: 🐔
Spring Cleaning project #2 is a 3D Easter Chicken from this Polish magazine:
Issue No. 4 Moje Robotki 2008
The pattern calls for size 10 thread and I chose a Lizbeth Limited Edition color for the body: Lizbeth 10 #9100 Arctic Evening. It approximates the colors of a Swedish Isbar chicken.
Swedish Isbar Chicken
3D Easter Chicken - humble beginnings
head and neck
The stitch marker indicates the first ring of each new round. It helps me to climb out with a split ring at the right spot.
Completing round 6 tail section
The complete pattern is only seven rounds, so I am almost done with the body. I decided to tat an additional section of tail feathers in a coordinating color for visual interest. Then round 7, and the comb, eyes, beak and wattle. Et voila! My chickie will be complete. Stay tuned!
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!
Round five is complete and round six is in progress. The square doily is past the half-way point & now measures 11 cm. (4.3 inches) from corner to corner.
It is tatted in size 40 Lizbeth Linen (color #693) and size 50 Treebeard HDT from LadyShuttleMaker.
I stopped halfway through round six to show you how the scallop from round four turns into a square.
Sw4nkyL4c3r is right, though. I obsess over trivial things when it comes to lace. I am still distracted by the difference in thread sizes. Nobody else seems to notice!
As I tat, the refrain from this Queen song is buzzing in the back of my brain.
Under pressure! It must be from all the obsessing. ツ
Bali Fever
In spite of the need to focus on the square doily for the fair, Bali fever continues. It's all Heather's fault for dying such an alluring colorway. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!)
But some of the blame must also go to Mary Konior (may she rest in peace among a choir of tatting angels). The two-row repeat of her spinning wheel glass mat is positively addicting. "Just one more ring," or "just until the next color change" eat up the tatting time.
And I am equally, if not more, to blame for allowing myself to get distracted by thread and things such as this:
WPlus9 Mehndi Medallions
Lookie what came in the mail – clear stamps that look like tatting. I saw these on one of my obscure, late-night blog crawls. Another crafter had made a gorgeous card featuring one of the stamps and it just leaped off the screen and said, "Don't I look like tatting?"
I was powerless to resist the impulse (Wouldn't you have been? Okay, maybe not.) and bought a set the next day. Late night blog crawling makes you weak.
But what fun I will have creating labels and cards with tatting-like stamps. Already a small, but creative corner of my brain is buzzing with images of tatted teapots affixed to pretty papers with tatting designs stamped, maybe even embossed, on them.
More Beguiling Stamps
Last week I shared a striking stamp from Australia that arrived with samples from The Thread Exchange site Fox launched several weeks ago. Here are some from the bonny shores of Ireland.
The sender had me at "Eire". Aren't the flowers pretty and inviting? Something about them just says come see our bonny shores for yourself. The sight of them made Ciarrán homesick.
More Love from Postie
As if the stamps, threads and songs weren't enough of a distraction, a book search that I set up several years ago turned up a hardback copy of Cathy Bryant's "Tatting" for a reasonable price. Usually when I find it online it is being sold for some astronomical sum! So I purchased it used from a library in Iowa for $15.00. It is in excellent condition. Une bonne affaire!
Round four (4) is complete and thankfully went smoothly. Except for the final ring with that blasted final join. It took three tries to get it right.
(Fox be praised! She sent me instructions to understand how to make the final join correctly.) Thank you, Fox!
This motif now measures four inches (10.2 centimeters) from corner to corner. It is tatted in size 40 Lizbeth Linen (color #693) and size 50 Treebeard HDT from LadyShuttleMaker.
The split-ring clovers in round four are why I chose to tat this doily. When I get to round seven (7) you will see a pretty scallop emerge after the second round of split-ring clovers are added. Cas tatted this great example in blue and white in 2005.
Whether or not the scallop stands out in my doily remains to be seen. The ladies from my lace guild think the mossy/linen combo looks elegant and "not at all old-fashioned." What a nice compliment.
Tatting Tea Tuesday
Brewing up a cuppa green tea Kombucha to settle in for some much needed tatting zen.
It has been melancholy around Silly Hat Central since Saturday, May 1st, after learning of a SCAdian friend's death from lung cancer. The news came as a shock since I hadn't known the lady was ill.
That's all I have to say about that.
Two packages arrived in the mail over the weekend: one from Jane Eborall and another from Jan Stawasz. The first mailer, Jane's, was destroyed in my enthusiasm to get at the contents.
It contained two superb Pop-a-Bobbin shuttles: one made from Iroko and the other from Ash. That brings my greedy total to four Pop-a-bobbin shuttles. Gonna load 'em up for a test drive today!
Jan's mailer included these two shuttles.
Two Jan Stawasz Shuttles
These generously sized beauties are three inches in length (7.6 cm) and 5/8 inch wide (1.5 cm) so they are well suited for larger projects. Gonna give them a go too.
Today I will attempt Dragon in Egg from Heather, the Tarnished Tatter's book, "Afternoon Tatting."
Since I have "geared up" my tatting goals lately, I am adding tatted wedding hearts to the list, plus a stab at a treble clef. That's a tall order!
Better get tatting . . .
Wishing you all blissful me time to create something beautiful. See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!
