In Memory of Loni

Since last October I've had the wonderful privilage of taking tatting classes with Loni, who was a great teacher and very patient as we tried to learn the elusive thread flip. When I went to the first class a year ago I could tell she had a history of fragile health. I saw her the last time in late Sept when the class went out to dinner. She cancelled class the next week because she wasn't feeling well and as I got off the phone with her I was worried that I may not see her when I returned from vacation a few weeks later.

I hate being right.

She died while I was out of state and I came home to a simple message from a classmate asking me to call her. I knew she was gone.

When her sister and father came from PA over the weekend to clean her apt, they brought copies of photos of her for us to keep.

Our tatting class is now a tatting group. We met as usual and decided that we will continue meeting and for the time being we'd work on our own projects and help the newbie until we're ready to figure something else out.

Motif #8

This is the Bookmark with Overlapping Chains by Jon.

It was a bit of a challenge to keep it overlapped as I started the second round. I ended up cutting the second round out twice because I kept joining to the wrong ring. Finally I ran a thread through all the rings to keep them where they should be. The basting helped and I was able to finish the 2nd and 3rd rounds fairly quickly.

Who knew a quilting technique could help in tatting?

I'm not happy with the ruffling in the 3rd round, but I'm still having tension problems. This is size 20 Lizbeth in Red Burst and white. I left the picots off the last round as I felt it would make it a bit to girly. This bookmark is currently living in an Introduction to Dynamic Meteorology book somewhere in NJ.

Motif #7

This oak leaf and acorn came from Tatting Turns Over a New Leaf by Karey Solomon. Seed beads were added to give the illusion of dew drops on the leaf. I made an extra long stem and attached an acorn for a bookmark. It is now living with a friend who collects oak leaves and acorns.

[Edited to replace the photo with a better one. Much better one. ]

Still here

I'm still here. I've done some projects, but either haven't had time to take photos, or clean up and post the photos I have taken. I've enrolled in Sharon's Tatting Design class. I feel terrible because I haven't posted any of the assignments. I knew that my boyfriend was going to be home from deployment the same week the class started but figured I could get caught up after he left.

Yeah.... I'm working about one lesson behind what is posted. I read all the emails, but I try not to look at the photos until I'm done because I don't want to be influenced by the other's assignments. But the other day I did cave and look at everyone's first attempts at design. So beautiful and original. I don't know if I would have come up with something like that.

I've got Friday off and Labor Day as well, so maybe I can get some photos taken for next week.

Motif #6

This is a pattern called Tatted Antique Lace Doily by Darlene Polachic. It's made with Lizbeth Carousel thread size 20. I didn't do the last round because it was a chain and ring round and I didn't like the way the chain looked so I decided it was finished as is.

If I ever do this doiley over again (and I may, it was a fun and quick doiley to make), I think I'd make the two inner chains white to better show off the rings.

We learned cluney tatting in class the last few weeks. I'm still trying to figure out how to properly close my cluney without it knoting or bunching up. This week we learned how to do split chains, which were easier than I expected and didn't have any trouble learning. Time consuming and fussy, but I did get it.

Just for fun

Doilies aren't just for grandma's end tables anymore. This is my dog Whiskey who agreed to model my tatting in exchange for a walk and an extra bedtime treat.

Motif #5

Here is the ever popular dragon by Anne Bruvold . I had just learned split rings when I did this. The body is single shuttle split rings which I still don't know how to do, so I used split rings instead. Thread is size 20. I made one in a white size 20 which I released during a dirty Santa with ghirardelli chocolates for sustenance.

Motif #4

This butterfly came from Celtic Tatting Knots & Patterns by Rozella Linden. The thread is size 10.

I've done 3 patterns from her book and this one I found to be the easiest.

And I would like to suggest for the next printing of this book, if the samples for the step by step photos all be in the same color it would cut down on the confusion and fustration I had while working on the flower. Changing colors half way through may look pretty on the page but if you're comparing one photo to the other, it's very confusing. I'm off my soap box now, thanks for listening.

Motif #3

I've been busy tatting, but not so much in the taking photos and uploading them department. This is a maple leaf done in Lizbeth harvest orange medium. I tatted this sitting in the sunroom watching the birds and got a bit distracted and missed a ring. This explains the slight asymmetry, but I've never seen a perfect leaf so this goof doesn't bother me.

I recently bought Tatting Turns Over a New Leaf so I'm really looking forward to making more leaves.

Motif #1 and #2

Here are pair of doilies that I did a couple of months ago. The first one was the top one with white chain with green rings. As I was working on it, I wondered what it would look like with the colors reversed. The pattern is Blue Doily by Eileen Stafford. The thread is DMC size 12 perle cotton. They came out to be about 4 1/2" wide.