Motifs 11 and 12, progress on LandofLaces doily

 These darling little earrings have been complete for some time, but I finally added the hardware.  Ruth's Tatted Heart, motif adapted from a Jan Stawasz pattern in Tatted Treasures, and orchid flower (adapted) by Jeanne Lugert.








Never Smile at a Crocodile by Jane Eborall. I couldn't wait to try this pattern when Jane posted it to her blog!  My sister already snatched it for a bookmark.


Below is 3 rows of LandofLaces heart doily.  She has canceled the 4-5 rows for now.  Eager for them to be redone!

I have several more goodies complete or in the works but no pix yet!  Love to see YOUR work too.

Tatting blahs! and more completed motifs (7, 8, 9,10)

UFOs: Jane E's TIAS scissors, Jan Stawasz's Robotki doily, Renulek's 2015 Spring doily, Renulek's 2014 Summer doily, and Land of Laces' Heart doily tat along.

I've made very little progress on the Jan doily since my last posting Jan 21.  I made some hearts etc in the meantime, but still...

Renulek started a new tat along doily, pictured above in green/ecru/apricot.  I haven't finished that round because the long chains are driving me nuts!  I am so tempted to cut the 4th round off and start it over, but I won't let myself, and thus, stalemate.

Pink variegated doily is Renulek's Summer 2014, and I am at a standstill after 9 months of having it folded in a drawer because I cannot find beads to match the ones I ran out of, and I want to look a bit more before cutting the crown row off and doing it over again.

Finally, pink and white is from the Land of Laces blog tat along, and so pretty!  The pink section is a single, very complex round.  Fun to tat.  The outer round has become monotonous--nearly done though.

The hubs was out of town for 4 days, so I tatted tons on the Renulek 2015 and the Land of Laces, alternating until I found myself....
SICK.  OF.  TATTING.

How could this happen?  I am flabbergasted!

I broke up the monotony of those 2 doilies with this:

from Yarnplayer's blog, a Celtic knot shamrock adapted from Ruth Perry's pattern.  I was super stuck at how to do the knot, having never done one before, but my tat friend LeQuita pointed me to a video demonstration and voila!

You will never meet someone more stubborn than I regarding doing my projects without tying knots and weaving in ends whenever possible.  I made the shamrock in one pass, starting at the little ring on the stem where my paperclip is hanging, then working all the way around to make the leaves in a single pass.  Size 8 perle cotton.  

This one was for practice while I wait for my green beads to arrive from Fire Mountain Gems.  Can't use the ones I got at JoAnn's as they randomly bleed on the thread.  

Cute red mitten in size 40 Lizbeth is from Nancy Tracy's bookmark publication, Tat's Where I Stopped.  I have made 2 and intend them for tree ornaments.


Such fabulous ideas in her book!

I have made hearts for Valentine's exchange as well though I'm late sending mine out.  Heart O' Daisies from Teri Dusenbury's book and Old Fashioned Heart design by Etha Schuette.  The daisy hearts are size 20 in white Lizbeth and size 10 Red Lizbeth.  The others are pink size 20 and red size 40.  I loved that pink so much that I made the Land of Laces doily center with it.  It's just beautiful!  Doily picture shows the color better.  I had to mess with lighting and such to get the hearts picture right--red tatting does not photograph well for some reason.  I have noticed this on other ladies' blogs and facebook pictures as well.

I am counting 2 hearts and the shamrock as motifs--not counting duplicates of the same motif.

Progress on the Robotke pattern by Jan Stawasz, new motifs (#6)

I am about 1/4 of the way around on Round 8, and I'm loving the look of the wide piece of lace created when R6, 7, and 8 are all done!  It amazes me that I made something so beautiful.

I borrowed Fox's idea of putting beads on top and bottom of the clover rings.  Mine are clear.  I started out with green ones, but they were of poor quality and bled onto my lace.  ANGRY!  Chop chop.

Tiny little ball of thread, size 70, Oren Bayan I got from Tatting Corner

Earrings I made with the Oren Bayan and silver Mill Hill beads.  The motif is taken from a larger piece in my Jan Stawasz book.

Motif #5 and TIAS

A Little Owl by Barbara Payne

Day 2 Jane's TIAS

Love these cute owl earrings I made for a friend--may make some for my sister too.  I got the pattern from the Palmetto Tatters CD, but you can also get it on Craftree for free.

I've never participated in TIAS before, so this is fun!  The shuttle on the right was decorated for me by Susan Fuller.

Keeping busy on the Stawasz Monster Doily too.

New year! 2015 Motifs 1, 2, 3 and 4

Featherline Snowflake, Jon Yusoff designer

This was tatted in size 20 white Lizbeth, from Jon Yusoff's blog.  It was a fiddly tat, but I'm glad I stuck with it.  Nice result, hanging on my new shelf DH built and gave me for Christmas.

Could be that the fiddly-ness was my own fault for doing it "my way" instead of following Jon's directions, but I was determined not to cut and tie. Success--made it all in one go!

I made this cute little doll (which has a treasure box in the bottom--opens across the belt to reveal hidden goodies) for my niece for Christmas.  We put some bracelets in the compartment, and my brother said she squealed when she opened it, so I guess I "done good" this time.

The kimono has tatted flowers  on it, tatted in size 80 Lizbeth Vineyard.

For some reason the spot right in front of the microwave was the only spot in the house I could get good light and get a clear picture of her.  haha

Jewelry box doll, crocheted from etsy pattern

I am going to count Chura's doll as a motif, because I came up with the adaptation for her cherry blossom flower myself.  :D  Super fun.  I hope when I get more experienced, I will be able to design things more often.

Pretty sure I executed Heart of Texas by Teresa Woods in one pass as well.  Sometimes this stubborn desire results in fiddly-ness, as I mentioned above, and I'm not sure happy with the cleft of the heart on final round, but I'll probably do it again to get it right, because OCD.  Completed in Lizbeth red size 40.

Teri Dusenbury's Forever Young pineapple doily

Please check out Teri's blog.  She has posted her lifetime's work on it, so generous!  Here's the link to Forever Young.

Used size 40 Lizbeth in purple marble.  I'm not entirely pleased with my result--I think the range of variegation detracts from the pattern, and the doily ended up very small, only about 6 inches across.  In addition, my own execution flaws made it super ripply.  I had to modify the final two rounds to get a semi-flat result.  Upon re-do, I would likely use a solid color to best show the pineapple design as well as a larger size thread to shoot for 8-10 inches in diameter.  I also have some stitch count variations in mind if I would have the same rippling problem.  

All the same, it's a lovely little piece and I would definitely try other of her pineapple pieces, which I think are primarily butterflies.  I also have Doretha Albee's Pineapple Heaven in the huge list of "stuff I want to tat."  :D

Progress on Jan Stawasz doily from Robotki magazine

Motif 26

Pictures of the same motif based on a design from Anne Orr's collection.  I had to modify the pattern to prevent cupping.

Thread is #10 white crochet cotton with a silver twist in it.

This thread is soft and more consistent than the Aunt Lydia's but the metal twist doesn't "stick" where it belongs.  Aunt Lydia's has the metallic thread wound with the cotton, and the Garden Metallic has it kind of alongside/around the cotton thread.  It is NOT good for tatting as the metallic filament stretches and bunches up when closing rings.  Result-- a lot of breakage of the filament.  I figured out tricks to make it work for me, but I would NOT buy this as a beginner.  Aunt Lydia's metallic would be a better choice.

I really like the daisy in the center of this motif.  There is a daisy-style center to my star in the previous post, and I've chosen a Jon Yusoff snowflake which also has a daisy center to add to this holiday collection.