Tatting Tea Tuesday - Dead Battery

As odd as it sounds, today's Tatting Tea Tuesday post has been derailed by a dead battery.

Before I go off on a dead battery rant, (We've all been there, right?) it is time to confess. I did not tat over the holidays (*gasp* Horrors!) but have started tatting again.

Here are my current works in progress.

Goodness! Please pardon the sad state of my apple accent rug. I swear I vaccuum it. There is nothing like a tatting photo to really show the lint and dirt, eh?

Lately Lady Grey tea has been helping me get back in the tatting swing after an extended bout of "winter plague." Thankfully everyone at Silly Hat Central is recovered and healthy.

The photo shows three projects in the hopper, with Jane Eborall's TIAS making four! I haven't yet done today's TIAS Day 1 bit, but will post my progress once complete.

The lavender satin Christmas ball will have this simple motif attached at the top and bottom. I am playing around with a strip of dark purple edging for the middle, if I decide the top and bottom pieces leave too much empty space around the center. Stay tuned for the finished product.

Next up is a bookmark-in-progress using Lizbeth® 20 Autumn Apple Pie #169. The pattern is the marvelous Broomstick Tatted Bookmark © 2010 Martha Ess.

Dirt aside, the apple rug shows the close match of the color chosen to represent the flesh of the apples. Sort of a pale, greyish white offsets the rich red and golden tones. Lint, dust specs and dog hair are not part of the plan. (sigh)

A whole separate post about Autumn Apple Pie is coming in a few weeks, but for now let me say that I am (as I suspect many of you are) dissatisfied with this colorway.

Remember my post from September 15, 2011, ♥ Lizbeth® is here ♥? Autumn Apple Pie was my favorite of the lot.

On the ball this colorway looks good enough to eat. I stand by that assessment.

But let me come right out and say it -- tatted up, this colorway does not deliver the way many other Lizbeth® colorways do. In some cases the colors "pool," in other cases the resulting lace resembles a dog's breakfast. Or worse, the by product of a dog's breakfast.

Here is the same bookmark tatted using Lizbeth® 20 #125 Seascape:
Motif #15 - Broomstick Tatted Bookmark

What makes #125 Seascape so enchanting and #169 Autumn Apple Pie fall flat? Is it the irregular lengths of the colors? Is it the way they blend (or don't blend) together? Is it the pale, greyish white that throws off everything else?

These are the questions I am willing to get to the bottom of.

Hey, that last line reminds me of a movie...was it Sleepless in Seattle? When Tom Hanks talks to his son Jonah about starting to date again?

The final unfinished snippet of lace is a half-finished heart tatted in Lizbeth® 20 Purple Iris Fusion #162. Even half-done this heart looks splendid. Captivating colors in pleasant progressions that add to the appeal of the end product are what I am accustomed to with Lizbeth® threads.

But I digress...the heart pattern is called Broad-Shouldered Heart © 2004 Karey Solomon. It appears on page 23 of her booklet Hearts Belong to Tatting.

SwankyL4c3r, my needle-tatting pal, chose this heart for a Valentine-themed tat-a-long (TAL) held on Sunday, January 8, 2012. What a fun afternoon we had, tatting this winsome heart! The only change to the pattern is the ring making the heart's bottom point.

White seed beads add a dainty outline to the sweet shape, don't they? Can't wait to finish this one.

Well, I have rambled on a whole lot longer than intended. Thank you for sticking with me through the end!

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

2012 TIAS Announced

Wheee! I want to shout from the rooftops, skip with glee (not from the rooftops) and start winding shuttles in anticipation.

Jane Eborall has announced the starting date for the 2012 Tat It And See (TIAS). Here are the details, in Jane's own words:

Subject: Happy New TIAS
From: janeluvs2tat

Happy New TIAS!

Happy New Year to all in Tat Land.

I would now like to announce the arrival shortly of a new Tat It And See. The starting date will be the January 10th.

As usual I will announce each part on on this blog (http://janeeborall.blogspot.com/) and on the TIAS blog (http://tatitandsee.blogspot.com/).

The introduction can be found from a link on both blogs and gives details of what you will need.

Let the fun begin!!!!!

Jane

Christmas Snapshots

The tree all ready for Christmas morning.

The Sprout included a Note to Santa with the cookies and carrots for hungry reindeer. You can see he still doesn't take writing too seriously, but he does write his name and wrote "Merry Christmas" on gifts for his teachers.

Grandpa received a gift of Christmas Candy Coal this year, since he told The Sprout he was on both of Santa's lists! (Naughty and Nice) Tricky Grandpa.

The Sprout got a letter from Santa and boy, oh BOY, was he happy to know he made Santa's Nice list!

Decorating a Gingerbread Train was a highlight of the days leading up to Christmas, and here is the little rascal eating candy off the finished train before we even got a photo!

Mommy got a tabletop trebuchet for Christmas and we all have had fun flinging mini-marshmallows, Cookie Crisp cereal, jelly beans and doggie treats around the house. Finding (and eating) the flung bits fell to the two hounds, who took their jobs very seriously.

And a few parting shots of The Sprout being The Sprout...

Cherish the simple things and never stop seeing the humor in life's unreserved moments! Best wishes to all and to all a happy, healthy and joyful New Year!

Secret Santa Snowflake

Now that Christmas Day has come and gone I can share this photo of the snowflake I tatted and sent to a lady in Alabama whose kind request for 3 snowflakes was forwarded to one of the online tatting lists by Marilyn Jones.

While I couldn't send three, I could send one as a Secret Santa. It was Kira's Star, designed by Birgit Phelps and tatted in Lizbeth^® 20 Snow White #601.

Kira's Star has been on my Must Tat List for a long while so I met two goals at one time with a single action. And this seemed like a doubly good way to unofficially kick off a new tatting year.

Wishing everyone in Tat Land a prosperous, happy and healthy 2012!

"Read all about it!"

Donning my "newsboy" hat to help Barbara Foster get the word out...

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

Handy Hands has been working on a new web site and is getting close to being done. They need sample photographs of tatting made with Lizbeth^® threads to use on the new web site.

Here is what Barbara had to say, in her own words:

I would like to post photographs of finished projects that have been made from the Lizbeth^® thread, It can be tatted, knitted, crocheted, needlepoint etc. We are only going to post ONE per Lizbeth^® color. We have to have the following information.

1. Name of the person that made it.
2. Where the pattern came from.

a. If from a book, the name of the book and page number – the book needs to be in print.
b. If online, the link to the pattern.

3. Attach a picture of the finished project.

So Barbara can contact the person who submitted the photo, be sure to include a valid e-mail address with each photo submitted.

E-mail - staff@hhtatting.com

ALL SAMPLE PHOTOS SHOULD BE SENT TO HANDY HANDS.

Motif 11 - Tatted Jewelry

Sipping Dream by the Fire tea and surfing tatting blogs has been a guilty pleasure that has distracted me from today's Tatting Tea Tuesday post. Huge apologies, Tat Land!

But I have been tatting. Tatted Jewelry by Marilee Rockley has been at the top of my list.

One Shuttle Glamour Earrings
Designed by Marilee Rockley
Tatted by IsDihara

Motif 11 - One-Shuttle Glamour Earrings
These intermediate level earrings are quick to tat, use around two (2) yards of thread and yield a big, sparkly bang for the buck. What's not to love?

The ones pictured above use Lizbeth^® 20 Rootbeer Float (#150) and Sea Island Citrus (#161), size 11 seed beads, 6mm and 4mm round beads and Swarovski crystallized^™ 4mm bicones. Goodness! How fast my bead "garden" grows.

A question for more experienced tatted jewelry-makers: Are split rings always preferred over jump rings to attach findings?

Thank you, Marilee, for getting this pattern booklet published. It is a treasured addition to my tatting library.

Whether you're tatting jewelry, snowflakes or something else, may you all find time to dream by the fire and create something beautiful. See you next Tuesday for more communi-tea!

Snow Angel Poetry WINNER!

HO HO HO! Here's the prize!

Thank you for all the inspired entries for this contest! You all did SO GREAT at filling in the last line of poetry. Talk about tapping into creative energies and taking charge of a challenge! You rocked it in ways I never considered.

I wish I could award prizes to each and every one of you, but as they say in Hollywood, "There can be only one" so. . . *drumroll*

The winner of the Snow Angel Poetry Challenge is....Crazy Mom.

She followed up Fox's playful entry (which was spot on for expressing frustration) with a sly rhyme. Both were terribly clever and made me laugh out loud.

Does anyone else see the humor in the photo? I stuffed the prizes into Santa's pants! (But seriously, what a cute gift bag, eh?)

Thank you for helping me celebrate my 300th post! And a hearty HO HO HO with mistletoe and lots of tatting joy for the remainder of 2011 and into 2012.