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.