Strawberry Heart with a Celtic Top by Birgit Phelps

 

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

https://web.archive.org/web/20150228024339/http://webspace.webring.com/people/qb/birgit_ph/strawberry.html

Still Working on a Snowflake

"Silently, like thoughts that come and go, the snowflakes fall, each one a gem."  ~ William Hamilton Gibson.

I have been working on a mixed media snowflake for several months now.  Like a delicate snowflake, ideas for it have come and gone, melting before I can turn them into reality. I can only presume that other designers have a clarity of focus - or a process - that enables them to progress more steadily, but this has always been mine.

Mixed Media Heart

I began with an article from the Online Tatting Class (founded by Georgia Seitz) that I had shared in August 2003 called Mixed Media Heart. It was a heart my mother found at a flea market in Florida in 2002. My parents had only just begun their 19-season-long winter treks to sunny North Florida. This heart was found after rummaging through a box of crocheted lace doilies. Haven't we all enjoyed a good rummage through the doilies, looking for tatted treasure? 

Carolyn Groves wrote a pattern for the heart from the photos I sent to Georgia. Thank you  again Carolyn for your excellent work! 

Georgia's original post begins with "There is an old saying that needleworkers should not mix their media."  I believe that old saying is wrong. Throughout history artists have excelled at combining mediums as suited their vision. The 2003 heart mixed tatting with thread crochet. I wanted to reshape it into a snowflake with my own creative vision. With any luck it would be a gem.

Round one combines six tatted rings, chains with decorative picots, and a crocheted chain across the top of the picots to add texture and dimension. 

The decorative picots in round two mirror the technique in round one. A single shuttle split ring bridges the gap nicely, but I needed two threads to tat the next chain. See the problem? Several faltering attempts later (see photo below for the most hopeful of the discarded attempts) I changed the plan again. 

Here is an Instagram photo of a pretty snowflake combining tatting with Turkish needle lace. It is my inspiration for round three, if I can recreate the needle lace. Wish me luck!

"I wish I could press snowflakes in a book like flowers." ~ James Schuyler.

Motif 5: ENCHANTER-Inspired Heart

ENCHANTER-Inspired Heart (original design © 2010 Jon Yusoff)

This beautiful little heart flew off my shuttles today. It measures 1 5/8-inches wide by 1 3/8-inches tall (4.5 cm by 3.5 cm) and is tatted in Lizbeth® 20 Boysenberry Dark #644 and Flora 20 #238.

It was inspired by Jon Yusoff's ENCHANTER heart that was offered as a Valentine gift to the tatting community in February 2010.

As I emptied two shuttles of leftover thread (as tatters do) Jon Yusoff's "Enchanter" came to mind. Two minor modifications have been made to tweak the heart shape.

Profuse thanks to the versatile and talented Jon Yusoff whose elegant style and generous spirit have inspired us all since her tatting debut.

Her designs are unquestionable in their elegance and grace, and always a joy to tat. This design is no exception.  The modifications arose from playing around with starting points.  (...'if I start from HERE on the diagram, what would I have to do to climb out to round two?')

---

A Trio of Tatted Crosses

In May I tatted three cross bookmarks from the marvelous pattern by Grace Tran: Jane's Bookmark Cross © 2013 Grace Tran

The first one, admittedly my favorite of the three, was gifted to Sister Mary Seton whose favorite color is purple. Tatted using Flora 20 #64 -- I just love how the dark purple falls at each end of the horizontal bars and the whites seem to stripe down the center.

Jane's Bookmark Cross
Tatted by IsDihara 2015

The cross measures three (3) inches in length (7.62 cm) and two (2) inches wide (5.08 cm). Grace Tan cleverly adapted Jane McClelland's bookmark pattern into a cross, which itself was adapted by Jane from a braid that appeared in the May 1984 Anna Burda magazine.

Isn't teamwork wonderful? The evolution story of this cross is quite good too. Without the Internet bringing these people together would this cross have been created?

Jane's Bookmark Cross

Tatted by IsDihara 2015

Crosses two and three (from top to bottom) were gifted to Sapling's Teacher Assistant and his Reading Resource Teacher.  Top one is tatted using Lizbeth® 20  Caribbean #122
and the bottom cross is tatted using Lizbeth® 20 Summer Fun #104.

So, I have been tatting, even though I haven't been blogging.  Keep the faith!

♥ from Postie ♥

Ooh, it has been a good week for post. An unexpected parcel arrived from a northern cousin, she of the flying shuttles, the magnificent Fox! To what do I owe this good fortune?

Goodies from Fox

The note card caused a brief pause, as I didn't recall doing anything requiring a thank you note...

Fox was thanking me again for sending her a Pansy shuttle from La Cossette many moons ago. (Tat-ology 2011: So Blessed)

...enclosed was a pretty wisteria shuttle from La Cossette to add to my collection. Yippee!
That is not all. Cindy from A Happy Bluebird made a terrific felt needle book to pass along.

Fox's timing couldn't be better, as I am stitching my fingers raw with applique work on the Palmetto Tat Days fund-raiser wall hanging. Applique needles are sharp and having a case to keep them in is a life-saver.

Fox and Cindy, THANK YOU so much my friends!

Blue-eyed penguins for Tat Days charity fund raiser

Gettin' Grape-y with a Pineapple
When my stitching fingers need a break, I ply my shuttles toward a promised heart for JB.  Here is a sneak peek of her heart so far.

In progress:
Pineapple Split Ring Heart © 2004 Sherry Matthews
Tatting by IsDihara

Pineapple Split Ring Heart pattern can be found online at Needle Tatting Forum (registration required). It is also linked from Tatting Pattern Central.  (Registration is still required at Needle Tatting Forum to access the pattern, but once logged in, the link at Tatting Pattern Central opens right up.)

Arlene shared a photo of her two completed hearts back in 2008 on her blog: Arlene Tats and Knits: Sending out Hearts  Check out her blog to see a photo of her lovely hearts.

Time to confess...I improvised the pattern, substituting two joined rings for the clover at the bottom.

Red is de rigueur, but the soft purple shades of Lizbeth® 40 #165 Grape Splash add charm, n'est-ce pas? Once completed, this heart will be a milestone - my first pineapple pattern.

Hoping you have time to indulge in lace-making endeavors today and can also enjoy a summer cuppa.  See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

Holidays, Heart & Gingerbread Boy

Is'Dihara, Anita, Sw4nkyl4c3r and Karen
met to tat and chat at Panera Bread

This past Saturday the Piedmont Lace Guild of Virginia met at a local Panera Bread to make lace.  Pictured above are four of the attendees, including a brand new needle tatter, Karen, far right.

What a fun way to kick off the 2013 lace-making year. Books and patterns were browsed and discussed, as were threads, tools and techniques. Lots of catching up and chit-chat. All enjoyed while we worked on our lace projects. Here is what I worked on:

"Love of Beads" heart  © 2012 Martha Ess
Flora 20 red with matching seed beads
Tatting by Is'Dihara

It may look like a bit like a fan, but this is Martha Ess' "Love of Beads" heart pattern from 2012 Tat Days. It will be a gorgeous Valentine heart when finished, don't you think?

Santa left wonderful goodies under the tree in 2013, like this silky soft shawl. (Pictured here with the Norma Benporath Lace Mat I tatted during Jon Yusof's tat-along.)

Purple Pashmina

JB must be one of Santa's Helpers, because she included two holiday hand towels with her heart exchange mailer.  Photo one is how one looks hanging in my powder room.  And a close up of the exquisite embroidery work on each towel. So elegant!  Thank you so much, JB.

JB also sent (along with a filigree woodcut ornament for my tree) this flirty and fun bracelet.  The beads are made of paper. The best part is that sales benefit BeadforLife.org.  I'm a strong supporter of organizations that empower women and help to enrich/change their lives.  Girl Power!

Sadly, I have run out of blog-writing time. So I must beg your indulgence to wait a few days more to see the progress on my Gingerbread Boy.

Don't forget! Jane Eborall's 2013 TIAS starts THIS Friday, so there will be loads of fun tatting to see us through the cold, dark days of January!

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

Knot-Tea Fun

The Christmas Weed is dead!

Was it Wanda's wise comment that spurred Big Daddy (my husband) to action?

She wrote, "Mr. Pernicious is growing like a weed ;-) You do know what comes after flowers, right? Seeds!"

I may have embellished upon her wisdom a tiny bit, "...come Spring that weed will be tall enough to bite you in the backside, Mister, and babies will be shooting up from the seeds." (*wry grin*)

Applause for Wanda, for bringing the persuasive power of seeds to bear on the situation.




To celebrate this "seedy" victory, sing with me a fractured song lyric sung to the joyous munchkin refrain from L. Frank Baum's film, The Wizard of Oz.

Ding Dong the Weed is Dead

Ding Dong! The Weed is dead. Which old Weed? The Christmas Weed!
Ding Dong! The Christmas Weed is dead.
Wake up - sleepy head, rub your eyes, get out of bed.
Wake up, the Christmas Weed is dead. 

It's gone where the bread crumbs go, O're the fence, you know. 
Yo-ho, let's open up and sing and ring the bells out.
Ding Dong, the merry-oh, sing it high, sing it low.
Let them know
The Christmas Weed is dead! 

Knots and Tea
Just had to share this adorable felted heart pin and the beautiful, white tatted heart sent to me by JB.  Don't they look smashing together?

Here is JB's tatted heart in all its lacy glory. She does such wonderful work.

I did not tat this heart.  It was included in a gift JB mailed to me before the holidays.

As for tea, today I am drinking a lovely tisane (herbal infusion) called Christmas Eve/Veille de Noël by Stash.  It is a festive blend of mint and sweet spices that brews up into a warm, soothing cup.

Check back tomorrow to see the heart on which I am currently working.  And progress on my Gingerbread Boy.

Calling all Pattern Sleuths SOLVED

Does anyone know the source for this heart pattern?  It looks so familiar...

Corazón perfumado
By Corazón Frívolo
http://www.flickr.com/photos/corazonfrivolo/5748222036/lightbox/

I have so far eliminated the following antique patterns sources from my search:

Antique Pattern Library:
 1.  Beeton, Isabella. Beeton's Book of Needlework, 1870 (the tatting chapters)
 2.  Beyer's Handwerkboeken Serie H. 40, Frivolité met Afbeeldingen., 1920
 3.  Bucilla Blue Book No. 3, Original Designs in Tatting, Novelty & Filet Crochet, 1916
 4.  Priscilla Tatting Book, 1909
 5.  Dillmont, Therese. de, D.M.C. Tatting, 1920
 6.  Endrucks-Leichtenstern, Eleonore.  Schiffchen-Spitzen, Die, 1920
 7.  Farnes, Emma. [B] Alphabets in Crochet & Tatting,
 8.  Fitch, Mary E. [4] Crocheted Yokes and Tatting, 1915
 9.  Hayden, Hazel. Round Yoke in Tatting, 1916
10. Hees, Marie Antoinette. Old and New Designs in Tatting, Book No. 5, 1916

Note:  Several of these antique pattern books include four-ring elements, but I have so far been unable to connect them to the ring-and-chain work seen in the heart sachet.

SOLVED!
Thank you to everyone who looked and thought and sleuthed along with me. Kathy Niklewicz commented that she could "'almost positively' say that it's Teri Dusenbury's very popular "Regal Heart" pattern from her "Hearts" book." And she was right! It is even pictured on the front cover.

Incidentally Kathy, I also tatted this heart back in the 1990s. I was intimidated by split rings and never attempted any of the other hearts from this book. (That's why it looked so familiar.)

Thank you, thank you for solving the mystery!  I am adding this pattern to my holiday ornament To-Do List, since it looks so sweet adorning a felt heart.  And I will add beads.  (Fox, you saw that coming, yes?)

Edging Closer to Motif 9

The other day I read a comment sewmuchfun4 made in 2010 about "feeling less than tranquil" with tatting. It brought a knowing smile to my lips. Haven't we all felt like this at one time or another?

Sometimes putting your tools down and taking your mind off the setback will allow your creative muse to recharge. That is precisely what happened when I was playing around with Crazy Mom's Hearts Afire Cross.

I knew I wanted to expand the cross into a heart. Designing my own heart edging was a decidedly "less than tranquil" experience. And research into heart edgings available online left me stumped.

But the pattern book "Tatted Bookmarks - Needle & Shuttle" (edited by Barbara Foster of Handy Hands, Inc.) stoked my muse. On page 8 was an edging by Dee Powell^‡, simply called "Hearts."

Cindy from A Happy Bluebird tatted "Hearts" in February, 2010. Her pretty Valentine Bookmark proved perfect for satisfying my crafty muse.

See how pretty this edging looks adapted into a heart? It takes a curve so beautifully.

^‡Delores "Dee" Powell, 75, of Kansas, died in 2008 of cancer. Barbara Foster (Handy Hands, Inc.) has given permission to Georgia Seitz to post one of Dee' s patterns from the book "Tatted Bookmarks - Needle & Shuttle" online.  Georgia will create an "In Memory Of" page for Dee.

Almost Motif 9 - Cross Your Heart
This heart-in-progress is adapted from Hearts Afire Cross © 2011 by Crazy Mom and Hearts © 2001 by Dee Powell. It is tatted in Lizbeth^® 20 Victorian Red #670 and will measure 4 inches by 4 inches (10.2 cm by 10.2 cm) when complete.

What a tatting journey this experiment has led me on so far! Crazy Mom's cross fueled the fire for a heart. Taking a "less than tranquil" design path led to an existing source for a lovely edging. From there the creative spark ignited again to combine two lovely designs into a dainty new heart.

Or it will be once I finish...

Motif 22 - Ruffled Heart

Ruffled Heart © 2009 Dr. Vickie Clarke

Motif 22: Ruffled Heart
Just in time for Valentine's Day, the January 31st Online Tatting Class examined Set Stitch - also called half stitch or node stitch. Homework was VicTat's Ruffled Heart.

The arches in my first try were a bit off-kilter and the motif had obvious chain joins so I tatted it again, this time reversing the colors. Both hues look balanced.

I loved tatting these romantic darlings! They both measure 1 x 1.25 inches (2.5 cm x 3.2 cm) and have been on my "must tat" list for 2 years.

I used samples of Altin Basak 50, a Turkish 3-ply thread, in a lovely copper (AB#355) and a bluesy-purple (AB#336). They are threads that I had been hoarding saving for the perfect project. TypsTatting sent them to me through The Thread Exchange.

Thank you, TypsTatting, for sharing these awesome samples!

Almost Party Time!
It is a busy week here at Silly Hat Central. The Sprout turns 4 on Thursday, February 10th. He is super-excited about this birthday and wants to celebrate every day.

Last year we threw him a Dread Pirate Party. This year it is to be an Angry Birds Bash.

Angry Birds? Unless you have played the game on a touch-screen mobile phone or an iPad, you probably haven't heard of it, I'm guessing.

A bakery will laser-screen an Angry Birds image onto his cake and I have a plan for embellishing cupcakes with home-made Angry Birds-themed toppers. We are prepared to play a round or three of live-action Angry Birds for party games. But it will be a less elaborate party than last year. We're improvising.

Check out this fully detailed Angry Birds cake. (Shared via Gadgetsin.com, who got it from Geeky Gadgets touching Angry Birds Cake Source.) Gotta love the viral nature of the Internet, eh?

Anyway! The cake was created by Anya Richardson for her 8-year-old son in November 2010. She posted her photo on Flikr and the rest is history.

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!

Piecework Heart Ornament 2010 Winners Announced!

WOW--I just received my July/August 2010 issue of Piecework magazine and was thrilled to see the gorgeous tatting entries that made the winners circle.

Congratulations to all the winners! It makes me so proud to see tatting holding its own in this competition.

Three tatted entries were judged ribbon winners, including a heart-stopping celtic design adapted from Rozella F. Linden's book, "Celtic Tatting - Knots & Patterns." The celtic heart was called "Open Heart" and was created by a lady in New Mexico. It received an honorable mention. It is a stunning, beautifully crafted heart!

A brilliant charmer of a tatted Valentine heart won honorable mention for a lady in Colorado. It was a classy, elegant Valentine that would melt the heart of any recipient. If the pattern is available I would tat it in a heartbeat!

The 2010 Grand Prize was awarded to a lady in Pennsylvania who submitted a tapestry crochet heart that she called "Coeur de Couleur." It is a gorgeous, gorgeous heart!

First Prize in the Lacemaking/Tatting category was awarded to a lady in New Jersey who created a tatted wedding ornament, named "The Bride's Sixpence." It was tatted using leftover silk thread purchased in 1964 for a wedding gown. It is the prettiest "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue" a bride could hope to receive.

I could go on gushing praises, but really, you should see these entries for yourself. It is worth the trip to the bookstore or where ever you find copies of Interweave Press magazines. Go, go now.

Flame Lantana up my sleeve

By now you have probably read Tatskool's post about the first in her new Transitions series of HDT. Code named ROY, it later was named after a lush Australian blooming plant, the Lantana.

You have no idea how hard it has been not to show you this thread. Keeping it under wraps was quite a challenge. Imagine me sitting on my hands resisting urges to madly type out my squeals of glee!

Far be it from me to pass up a "cahoot-y oppor-tooty!" It has been loads of fun pondering names and chatting about color. Here is what ROY reminded me of early on.

How boring is that? Tatskool's fiery lantana flower is so much better. Spot on!

Then the way the orange plays on and off the yellow put me in mind of molten glass^†. Here is a slide I shot in 1986 for a photography class. Tatskool thought the molten glass was better. Closer to lava. She was right again.

^†This nostalgic photo was taken at the glass manufacturing plant in my home town in Western Pennsylvania. The plant closed down shortly after the photo was taken.

Where are the Samples?
Hats off to the wily Fox for tatting a great motif that shows how well Flame Lantana pairs with black. My first thought when I saw her post was, 'Wow, that would make a lovely Monarch butterfly.'

My first sample is Betsy Evans' Rainbow Heart Bookmark.  It is tatted in size 20 Flame Lantana.

You can see that I had to tat it twice. After not following my better judgment, I left a picot open when the diagram clearly showed it joined. (The written instructions said not to join.) The end result was the glaring little blighter on the left. See it?

My second (third if you count the heart do-over) motif is from a doily by Iris Niebach. I downloaded the pattern from her free pages. Here is the border pattern.

See how the colors flow! No pooling whatsoever.

It's too bad I ran out of thread on the final repeat. Only eight inches of thread were left on each shuttle so I had to stop. (If I hadn't tatted the first heart twice I would have had plenty of thread to finish.)

Eagle-eyed readers will also surely note that my center ring of hearts are not dimpled as shown in the diagram.

Fear of breaking and wasting precious thread led me to use the dimple technique in the Jessica Rose pattern. I thought it would be a good substitution since it is worked in half hitches as are the Josephine knots. It gives the center a ruffled look, which may not be pleasing to everyone.

I found this awesome pattern on Dale Marie's tatting blog, Shuttle and Thread. She is combining seven of these heart-filled motifs into an incredibly lovely doily. Please do go visit and compliment her on her beautiful work. The tatting is simply stunning.

Apologies to Iris Niebach for turning her hexagon into an incomplete pentagon. But it was so much fun to watch the colors flow and mingle as this motif took shape.

Tatskool has another first-rate thread to offer. And if her future releases are anything like this one, [I know, but I'm not telling!] you bet your sweet bippy I'll be in first line to get mine.

Round 3 Complete

Done yesterday during Tatting Tea Tuesday, after switching tea flavors. Hee, hee! Italian Chamomile soothed me through the ring re-opening. After a short blog surfing break (you guys always make me feel better) I switched to Lemon Ginger tea and worked the final stitches and end-hiding bits.

What do you think?

Tweaking...
Taking a cue from weavers, I think I will try pairing this wonderful HDT with black or a coordinating solid to bring out the beautiful colors.

Is it just me, or does the Sweet Heart get lost? Birgit's heart makes such a stable and attractive center. It just won't do to have it get lost in the kafuffle.

The gap between the bumps is not pronounced enough for my tastes either. I will rework the pattern to give it a deeper plunge.

A long, maybe even twisted picot connecting the bottom tip of round two to round three would be good too. Oh, the possibilities!

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

Tandoori Flat Bread Wrapper
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!

A Hush Falls

Today's post is a culmination of tatting angst and a nod to the hush that seems to be falling over Tat Land of late.

Please join me as I pour a tall glass of "Iced Tea" by The Carpenters and fracture one of their best loved songs.



I know you were expecting to hear the tune, "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)".

I had originally planned this as a Tatting Tea Tuesday post and it was my attempt at a tie-in. Yes, I hear the crickets...

I freely admit I am not as good at Tatting Tea tie-ins as Gina the Tatting Goddess. But I can fracture a quote (or a lyric) with the best of them!


There's a kind of hush,
All over Tat Land tonight.
All over Tat Land.
You can hear the sound of lacers mid-knot.

You know what I mean.

So listen very carefully
Get closer now and you will see what I mean
It isn't a dream

The only sound that you will hear

Are lacing shuttles [needles] clicking into high gear
Before Santa appears


What? More crickets?!? Y'all sure are a tough crowd.

Before you start lobbing rotten tomatoes, here is a fascinating PDF file. It is a tatting story that The New York Times originally ran on February 2, 1913. The title of the story was Tatting Rest Cure for British Brains.

Can you believe that under the headline it said this? "beats playing solitaire"  Oh sweet mercy!

I particlularly was amused at the spelling of the word doily : "d'oyley."

Another amusing bit was the term "toilet mat." Today, wouldn't a toilet mat be one of those fuzzy rugs that people use to accessorize their bathroom decor? I'm pretty sure that in 1913 they were referring to a lacy dresser scarf or some such.

Now, the next time you find yourself in the loo, the words "toilet mat" will pop into your head. LOL!

Remember — Tatting, it beats playing solitaire!

(To come full circle, it seems The Carpenters released their version of the Neil Sedaka song, "Solitaire" in 1975 and it reached 17 on hit charts of the day. As a kid my first LP was one of The Carpenters albums. Just more useless trivia...)

I know, I know...don't quit my day job.  Aren't you glad I shelved this topic in favor of dishing on HDT stash?

Have a great weekend!

In Praise of the Color Orange

There is no blue without yellow and without orange.

~Vincent Van Gogh

This Tatting Tea Tuesday is dedicated to all things orange: pumpkins, Orange Pekoe (or any other orange-scented or flavored tea), safety cones, tiger lilies, orange juice, Carnelian stones, kumquats and my brand new teapot!

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.

Tatted Pumpkin by Sherry Matthews © 2004Made using vintage STAR tatting cotton, size 70.Green stem improvised from Mary Maynard's Pumpkin Pattern

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!

"Autumn Orange," size 20, by Lady ShuttleMakerand black seed beads for Halloween-y fun!

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"

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!

End of Summer Blues?

Image reprinted with permission
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!

Basic Strawberry Heart © 2003 Birgit Phelps
(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!