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.

A Corner to Call My Own

A new (used) chair

Silly Hat Central has a new (used) chair and, before the two hounds get any ideas, I have claimed it for my new tatting corner.  (So there, hounds.)

You see, this is what the hounds did to the previous chair that sat in this corner. Bad dogs!

Julie Beagle on a shredded chair cushion

The new chair is comfy and sits next to a big front window. The heating vent underneath will warm my toes and (so say the hounds) keep my tushy toasty.   

The black floor lamp will most certainly be swapped out for an OttLite^® and the side table nook will soon overflow with threads, tools and pattern pages. (Sorry, Bad Piggie.)

A good spot in which to tat while waiting for the season's first snowflakes, don't you think?

Motif #17 - "Angels in the Snow"

"Angels in the Snow" © 2010 Tatting Fool
Snowflake HDT in size 20 by Yarnplayer

Motif #17 - "Angels in the Snow" Flake

Time to show off my pretty snowflake tatted in size 20 Snowflake HDT by Yarnplayer.

It measures 9 cm. (3 3/8 inches) in diameter and took somewhere in the ballpark of 14 yards to tat.

Tatting Fool (also known as Miranda) offers this dilly of a design as a PDF download for $3 US to help raise money for the Brain Injury Association of New Mexico.

Tatting Tea Tuesday

With the the US Thanksgiving holiday just two days away, I should talk about turkey, the Macy's parade and football. But here I sit, sipping Santa Spice tea, nibbling Pepperidge Farm "Milano Slices" and listening to holiday music CDs while I wind shuttles.

"Angels in the Snow" © 2010 Tatting Fool
(same snowflake on a black background)
I am trying to stay motivated to tat snowflakes.

What I want to be doing is crafty tatting to decorate satin balls for my holiday tree.

Other tatters have a flurry of snowflakes to tuck into seasonal greeting cards. So far I have completed one. (Hey, I'm not knockin' it. One is better than zero.)

My next flake will be another "Angels in the Snow," but this time adding a few beads. Shocking for me, I know!

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

Motif #16 - Magic Moment Snowflake

Jon Yusoff's Magic Moment Snowflake
Heather the Tarnished Tatter asked me this past week what tatting was I working on? So let me show you my completed Magic Moment snowflake.

This snowflake will be #16 in my 25 Motif Challenge. It is tatted with size 40 Lizbeth #154 Wildflower Garden and used roughly 14 yards.

I just love how the natural floral colors play out and can't wait to pair it with matching or coordinating solids.

This colorway really does remind me of a wildflower garden. The only things missing are wee fairies flitting among the colorful petals.

Magic Moment Snowflake
wrapped around a satin egg.
Hee, hee, doesn't this look like a baby eggplant?
Here is a cute knit baby eggplant too.

Can't wait to get my hands on some of this Wildflower Garden in size 20 when it arrives in late December. It will be great for Easter projects.

More Design Inspiration

Image reprinted with permission,courtesy of Urban Threads.com

This machine embroidery pattern is one that I thought was cool. (No pun intended.)

Wouldn't it be lovely on hand towels for the holidays?

But I digress...I see a tatted snowflake in this pattern. Do you?

Christmas in July: Snowflake Card

Saturday I received a piece of email marketing (what I like to call SPAM mail) from Jo-ANN fabrics. Normally I just delete these but the copy caught my attention. It was promoting Christmas in July.

Growing up in small town USA we always looked forward to Christmas in July celebrations such as sidewalk sales, lifeguard wearing a Santa hat at the local pool, strolling around the KOA campground admiring holiday decorations and making Santa smores around a campfire. Do people do this anymore?

A Christmas card project in the email got me thinking about how a small tatted motif could personalize or "kick up" a card design.

Replacing the paper flower in the card above with a tatted snowflake would be a nice addition, don't you think?

Booth Crasher
For lack of a better phrase, I crashed a lace demo on Saturday. Thinking it would have slow stretches when no one was around, I took along a small snowflake pattern book and my tatting bag to help pass the time and to demonstrate the versatility of tatted lace. A mini Christmas in July project seemed to be just the ticket.

Long story short, I never did start a snowflake at the Piedmont Lace Guild demo booth. After dropping by to introduce myself, I stayed for three hours. Bobbin lace was the focus of the demo but tatting got attention too, especially after I arrived.

In fact, I taught two ladies to tat and both of them got the flip on the first try! The second young lady left with one of my shuttles and some ball thread as a gift so she could keep practicing. At the end of the demo I felt so energized.

Since I didn't get a chance to start that mini-snowflake, it seems only right to invite you to create one with me.

Tomorrow is Tatting Tea Tuesday and a new post will go live with an edging pattern I had promised to share. But it is also my birthday. Here's a weird fact: I'm as old as the Super Bowl.

I'm sure you were hoping for a giveaway, but my birthday wish is for you tat a mini-flake for Christmas in July. Oh, and enjoy some tea-time cake to help me celebrate!

Thanks to each and every one of you for making this space so much fun to write in and update. Hope to see you again tomorrow for a birthday session of Tatting Tea Tuesday!