2015 Motifs/doily #33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39

I'm counting this Round Doily from Russian free website as part of 2015 motifs.  I finished on my August trip but just sewed in the ends and photographed last night.  I made this as part of a tat-along challenge.  As with all things I've tried from that website, they don't work out perfectly.  You'll notice I missed a join on round 2 and the doily lies better for the overlap of the rings there.  I am part of a tat-along group again this year that has 2 more motifs from that site, and I'm not super looking forward to it--fiddly and messy but pretty patterns.

 In September I started with the snowflakes and angels.  Here are some closeups of snowflakes. Small white one at left is from Lindsay Rogers' book Tatting Collage.  The blue ones and gold one are from Lene Bjorn's book of snowflakes.  Soooo many snowflakes!  The little gold one is made of Sunlight size 60 color Oro from Edda Guastalla's shop.


The blue variegate pictured on its own (below left) is Master size 30 turchese also from Edda's shop.

The white/blue snowflake is from Joelle Paulson's blog, Le Flocon Frivole, near bottom of page linked above.  Made of size 20 Lizbeth Blue Ice.  This is a super fiddly tat until you get used to how it works.  I love Joelle's snowflakes.  She models them after photographs of real snowflakes.

The small flower shaped flakes at right are from Jennifer Williams' snowflake book.  Made of Range Multicolor also from Edda's shop, glass beads.  Wish the picture showed how beautiful this thread is!

I donated 8 snowflakes to our school for their fundraising auction.  The majority of the rest I made were for an order of blue and white, Frozen theme, a total of 8 pictured below.  I feel like I'm such a slow tatter, but that's a lot of snowflakes!!!!!

The Frozen themed order.  Silver and white
flakes with the distinct center ring are also
from Jennifer Williams' book.

I'm getting super frustrated with blogger.  The pictures won't go where I want them to!  I'll start over with another post--finish up 2015 once and for all.  :)

Motifs 28, 29, 30, 31, 32

Not the best pic, but this is a tea towel with a cross stitch band where I sewed on a teapot from Pam Palmer's book Tatting Treats 3 and Anne Bruvold's Square Star.  The thread is size 12 Sulky Blendables.  I have blogged about this thread before.  The variegation repeats are subtle and frequent enough for a beautiful effect on small pieces, such as the Square Star.  The towel was a gift for my sister-in-law on her birthday.

Another Square Star earring set I made this summer.
Thread is also Sulky Blendables size 12.

This lovely vintage star doily pattern is from a 50's Workbasket I bought on Etsy.  The magazine paper is so crumbly that I took pix so that I don't lose the pattern.  I am making it in Lizbeth size 40 Rainbow Taffy with coordinating green.  I nearly finished it while on our Virginia vacation in August.  There are 8 rays of the star and I think I only have one left, but I took a break from all my doilies to work on Christmas ornaments.  After the first of the year, I'll take a picture of all my doily WIPs.  My goal is to finish all of them next year.  I can do that, no sweat!

 I found this amazing blended thread, cotton with a metallic twist, that is smooth and gorgeous to work with.   For some reason, the red is the best quality for tatting.  It is size 10 Garden Metallic by Nazli Gelin.  In the picture with my green/white quilt, the left snowflake is from Lene Bjorn's book 24 Snowflakes and the star on the right is from Monica Hahn's book.

I have found that red is horrible to photograph (at least on my cell phone), hence the two different pix below to try to show the color on the left and the metallic sparkle on the right.  Still doesn't do the thread justice.

The Lene Bjorn snowflake is such a beautiful piece!  It is all split rings and thrown rings, and I will not be doing another one for a few months due to a repetitive motion injury.  It just hurts too much to do split rings, more than a couple at a time.  I gave away or sold nearly all my snowflakes and stars but this one is MINE and is hanging on my knick knack shelf in my bedroom.

Above left, both snowflakes are from Jennifer Williams' snowflake book.  The yellow/gold snowflake is in Aunt Lydia's size 10 gold with a metallic twist in it, and the blue one is the Garden Metallic with a silver twist.  Above right, pattern is from Lene Bjorn's snowflake book and the thread is size 60 Sunlight Oro from Edda Guastalla's shoppe in Italy.  This is a delicate little piece that I am also not giving away.  :)

I have fallen in love with several of Edda's threads and must curb my habit!  The shipping is pretty high to the US but not exorbitant.  Here's the website.  It's in Italian but she speaks English and you can message her if you need help.  Use Google translate button to negotiate the site.

For the 2015 challenge I decided to only count my motifs the first time I made them to make it harder, so no counting any of the Square Stars or the Monica Hahn star.  I've made gazillions of both!

Thread Zapper and MORE MOTIFS! #25, 26, 27

So here's the thread zapper:









Thread Zap II by the BeadSmith

I leave the battery loosened when not in use.  It's fantastic for using on polyester thread.  I've been using it a lot lately working with my gorgeous metallic threads for tree ornaments.

New favorite Lizbeth thread size 40 Rainbow Taffy
Pattern is from Kersti Anear's blog.

Classic edgings in Lizbeth size 20, colors 696 and 655. Gifts for my aunts on our Virginia trip this summer.



Virginia was amazing.  Look at the collar I found at the Museum of the Confederacy.  The women smuggled these North to sell because there was no money in the South.

This tatted collar is single shuttle, rings only.  Very cool to see it in person!

Still more tatting--this is only up to August--to catch up on.  I hope to do more blogging tonight.

Catching up (motifs 21, 22, 23, 24)

Two beautiful crosses from Elaine P. Gan's book.  Instructions well written and great diagrams.  I highly recommend.  Thread on left cross is multicolor Range thread from Edda Guastalla's web store. Thread on left is size 40 Celery hand dyed by Marilee Rockley at her yarnplayer shop on Etsy.

This little edging is my own schematic--It's made continuously with split rings. Thinking about using it on a blouse with a boring neckline, but haven't gotten to it yet.  I do love it but it's a lot of work with the splits--makes my hands cramp up.

I started this vintage, out of print edging on the train from Utah to Sacramento.  Not the best 16 hour trip I've ever spent!  It's super fiddly but oh, so pretty.  This is done in Penny thread in Royal, size 30 I think, also from Edda's shop.

I bought the pattern from an Etsy shop.  I'm sure it's available somewhere for free.  I was thinking of it as another possibility for the boring neckline.

I have a bead/thread zapper that cleanly melts the ends so it doesn't ravel, as this thread is super slick, shiny polyester.  It is very durable and beautiful in jewelry, and I got a good bit of it in different colors, but it makes me cuss while I use it, so I haven't made any larger projects from it.  It's so lovely but it unwinds while using it--no friction.  The rings are hard to keep closed as well.  Something worth trying to master again, but not at this time.

Completed work: 18, 19, 20

More finished tatting!  I donated this Rocking Horse by Pam Palmer from the book Tatting Treats 2 to an online drawing.   I love the way the wall hanging turned out.

So here's another wall hanging!  The Enterprise, designed by Bat Tatter Carol Amich, pattern purchased on Etsy.  Gave to a dear Trekkie friend.

Here's the finished mystery doily from the Craftree tat-along.  Must post this onto the Craftree site and get my badge.

Doily and horse in size 40, and Enterprise size 20.

That's all for today.  Time to get back to work!

More motifs--I've been too busy to blog! Motif 13, 14, 15,16, 17

I finished this gorgeous Valentine doily from Land of Laces blog!

This is such a sweet piece!  The hearts in the center are repeated on the edge.  Tip:  Don't make 6 like I did.  Make only 5 in the center.  On rounds 4 and 5, don't be discouraged by rippling because it will all work out once you've finished both rows.  I have used size 20 Lizbeth for this doily.

 These cute earrings are made from a motif on Anne Brunvold's blog.  It is not in the English pattern section.  Go to the main blog and use the translate feature on Chrome.  I made several of these in different colors using Sulky Blendables, a new thread to me which I LOVE.  About 6 yards is required for 2 earrings.

I especially like the short repeat on the thread--perfect for jewelry!

This peach motif I made from a Russian website.  I apologize--I didn't record the site!

Pictured here:  Left, Mystery Doily from Craftree, Center top and right top, motif from Japanese book (pictured below) and center bottom and right bottom, heart motif from Lyn Morton's book (pictured below).

All these threads are size 40 Lizbeth except the purple one, which is size 20 Twirlz.  I like the tweed effect of the Twirlz, but it is hard to see the stitches while working it and you lose stitch definition when complete as well.

As always, I am not counting multiples of same motif in my count.  

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.