Coloring the Renulek WIOSNA 2016 Doily

I'm somewhat of a coward when it comes to planning for color, but we've got some tatters in our midst who have a fantastic gift for it. They inspire me to want to be bolder in my use of color, but my bold is still rather tame by comparison. All of this leads me to share my approach to selecting colors for Renulek's latest tat-along doily. I printed several copies of the image through round 3, grabbed my colored pencils in the colors I was most interested in trying, and tested some of the different combos. My selections were also limited by the fact that I'm determined to work from my stash. I am going to need more white size 80, but that's a justifiable purchase, as you have to have plenty of white in any thread collection. Right?

I have more colors available in the size 80. That's a lavender color rather than a pink, by the way. I'm going to start with the size 80. If the final product is too small for the location I have in mind for it, I can always start again with the size 30 also featured in the picture. The only green I have in the larger size is a size 50 Altin Basak, but it tats up very similar in size to the size 30 I have.

I'm starting with a golden yellow center. It just so happens that I still have some thread of that color loaded on my shuttle. If I don't get anything else done tonight, I want to get that center tatted.

Weekend Tatting Report

Two snowflakes and most of a third are completed for the Craftree Tat-along of 24 Snowflakes in Tatting by Lene Bjorn before the year ends. I invite you to get a copy of the book and join in the fun.

I'm using Lene's snowflakes to practice some techniques I rarely use or haven't mastered yet. My split chains are still failures. I really wish I could find David's email instructions as it worked for me every time way back when. I shall persevere.

The Sixth Day of December

Motif #13 for the 25 Motif Challenge

Tatted in DMC size 80, it is just over 6 cm in diameter.

The Seventh Day of December 

Motif #14 for the 25 Motif Challenge

Also tatted in DMC size 80, it is 7.5 cm in diameter.

I started with a center ring so I could climb out with a split ring of 8/8 to tat the outer round. I practiced onion rings to form those layered circles.

Round 1 with the beginning of Round 2

The Eighth Day of December

Also in DMC size 80.

Lene provides instructions for block tatting with ball and shuttle as well as with two shuttles. Since the Eighth recommends ball and shuttle and the Ninth recommends two shuttles, I thought I'd enjoy trying both methods of block tatting to see if I prefer one method over the other. 

Thanks for dropping by my blog!

Benporath Cake Doyley Complete and Delivered

Many thanks to all of you who answered my call for feedback about adding the center medallion to Norma's Cake Doyley.  With a fair amount of trepidation, I decided to add the center medallion. It's done and delivered, and Mom was thrilled with it.

Norma suggested using the buttonhole stitch to sew around the motif, catching the outer picots as you sew. The first thing I had to do was an internet search for instructions on the buttonhole stitch. For a first effort, it came out pretty well. I was really nervous about cutting the fabric away behind the lace, but so glad I did once I saw the difference it makes. Laying the lace atop the fabric circle really didn't give me a clear idea of what it would look like once the fabric behind it was removed.

Insert or No Insert

I'm excited to report that the tatting of the Norma Benporath Mystery Cake Doyley is complete. I'm seriously torn about whether to add the motif to the center. Norma provides enough instruction in the pattern that I think I could create the cutout behind the center medallion. Two things make me reluctant to finish it as Norma intended. Firstly, Mom will not use it as a cake doily and may be reluctant to sit anything on it that might hide the center medallion. Secondly, I'm concerned that I chose such a small fabric circle that the motif is a bit too large by comparison. So I'm asking you for your input. I confess, though, that there is a part of me that wants to see it through so that it is a good reproduction of what Norma tatted for her original pattern.

Motif #12 for the 25 Motif Challenge

Very Little Progress

In the last five days, I've managed to complete only two more scallops on the Benporath Mystery Cake Doyley. Three more to go.

Bits and Pieces

I had fun playing with my shuttles today. It began when I decided to empty a few shuttles making little bits to share at demonstrations (mostly for the children).

I decided to try Wanda Salman's button motif idea first. I didn't realize how close my motif was to hers until I visited it again so I could add the link for you. I guess I remembered it more precisely than I thought as I was not trying to copy your pattern, Wanda. The larger heart is an attempt at Kiss Curl Heart by Nicola Bowersox, but I didn't follow the stitch count very closely. Of course, the butterfly is a very common idea. 

Then I decided to practice some techniques. I had the larger clovers already tatted and practiced the single shuttle split ring to hide the ends securely. 

The small clovers are a pattern by Gina Brummett, Lucky Seven Shamrock. I just hate to tat the dimpled ring that uses a picot. Gina's pattern uses Josephine sets. I like this method so much better. So I made two of them and used SSSRs to hide the ends. Then I made a couple of hearts by making only one 'leaf' of the clover. You see only one of them because I immediately lost one of them., two of them, but somehow I lost one of them immediately after tatting it. 

The last little item was an attempt at Abbytatsalot's caterpillar, but I ran out of thread at the 3rd ring. I  was especially interested in it because of its frayed picots. Even as a little 3-ring creature, it's pretty cute, I think.

Happy tatting!

Tatting at the Library

I had a wonderful time today demonstrating tatting at the Laman Library in North Little Rock, Arkansas. I spent 2 hours there at a table in front of the main desk. The picture below is part of my display. I wasn't very well prepared since I had not planned to do a public demonstration today. However, the opportunity was there, so I did it.

My display included some works in progress and some designs in progress, as well as completed pieces I had with me. I arranged everything in groups according to size thread. 

I think the children who came over to watch were more fascinated than the adults. Some people had no idea what I was doing. Others told me stories about friends or family members who tatted. One woman thought it was crochet at first. While she had no desire to learn, I enjoyed visiting with her and her husband. I enjoyed visiting with them all!

As I was packing up to leave, the librarian asked me if I would be willing to teach some classes at the library. Of course I said yes. I left my contact information at the front desk for her. I don't know what we will be able to work out in the way of a schedule since I don't live or work in North Little Rock, but I'm excited about sharing our hobby with others and possibly adding to our tatting community.

I'm also determined I shall never again be caught unprepared to do a public demonstration. I'm going to put a few things together to leave in my car.  My list includes: small tatted items to give away; a few shuttles loaded with thread for the eager to try (I think I'll make some more business card shuttles); a Tatting Demonstration sign so people won't hesitate to approach; and some business cards with my blog address. Can you think of anything else I need to include?

A Bluebird for fun

Wanting to tat, but feeling too tired to attempt further progress on the doily, I decided to empty one of the business card shuttles working the Tatted Bluebird by Nancy Tracy. I accidentally omitted 2 ds and a picot in one of the rings and I adapted the pattern to practice an inward-facing picot for the beaded eye, but it is a darling pattern--lots of fun to tat! I used the Reverse Join to change the place of the shuttles for the chains that form the head. It's a handy technique. Considering the number of mistakes I made in this little motif with size 10 Manuela thread, I'm glad I didn't try to work with the size 80 tonight.

Motif #11 for the 25 Motif Challenge

Just 5.5 repeats left!

I found myself with more time to tat today than usual, so I made good progress on the doily. I have just 5.5 repeats left. It's finished diameter is about 9.5 inches. I'm very close to the end of this ball of thread. I have another, but I didn't expect to need it. I really like this bright, sunshiny yellow. It is so cheerful.

I had actually planned to do this outer round in white, but I reloaded my shuttle and started the round without thinking. Now I'm glad I forgot the plan.

I don't expect to have much time, if any, to tat tomorrow, so it will be the weekend before I finally finish this round. I still have a center motif to tat. Once it's tatted, I'll decide whether or not to attach it. It looks rather lovely without it. I will post a picture of it with and without the center and you can tell me what you think.

If you remember, I originally started this project by tatting the center motif first using Finca size 16 perle cotton. I've got an idea for finishing it into a larger motif that keeps with the theme of the doily. If I don't use the DMC center on the doily (and I like the enlarged perle cotton motif), I may complete the DMC center the same way. Thinking and planning is half the fun.

Started the Final Round

I finished round 2 and began the final round on the Benporath Mystery Cake Doyley. I encourage you to visit Craftree to see this project. When you are working from a pattern without a good picture, it is sometimes hard to know what is a mistake in the pattern and what is intentional.

Norma didn't write reverse works into her instructions. If you make the unattached rings on round 2 as second shuttle rings, the chains will arch rather than form the sharper point of my chains. I made the round with one shuttle and a ball thread so that the unattached rings want to face the same way as the other rings. I then folded the rings outward to form that sharp angle to the chains.

Both the first Benporath Mystery project we did and this one contain instructions to join into one picot immediately followed by instructions to join into another picot. If you assume it to be a mistake, you must add what you believe to be the missing stitches between the joins. If you assume it is intentional, you must decide how to make the joins. This was what first motivated my explorations into joins to 2 picots. I chose to believe it to be intentional, and I'm using the down picot joins (the last in my practice sample). It is in this last round where the single ring joins to the two middle picots of the 4-picot chain segment (between the scallops).

This pattern also has a motif for the center of the fabric. The fabric would normally be cutout behind the motif. I will tat it again in this thread, but I haven't decided whether I will sew it to the doily. I know I won't cut the fabric out behind it.

The thread I'm using is DMC size 80, color 743. I'm really enjoying tatting this edging.

Weekend Tatting

I made some progress on the Norma Benporath Mystery Cake Doyley. I attached the first round to the fabric before starting round 2. The fabric gets quite wrinkled as I work, but it will all be pressed nicely later.

I also had the opportunity today to test a tutorial by Tamara for creating tatting shuttles from business cards or cardboard of similar weight. She has posted the tutorial, but please note that she is still editing it. Tamara has limited access to tatting supplies in the Dominican Republic, so she developed this idea to meet the need for some shuttles for a workshop she plans to teach. These use supplies she had readily available at home. I used the same materials and I am very impressed with her shuttles. I   made one of each of the two designs and tatted a centipede with each shuttle using size 10 Manuela threads. which is the thread size I usually use when teaching. The pattern is by Lisbeth Johansson and I found it in 2003 at http://www.frivolitesknuten.com but that link is no longer working.

These little centipedes are #9 and #10 for the 25 Motif Challenge, too.

Happy International Tatting Day!

I hope all of you tatters have a wonderful day today that includes time to tat! If you don't know how to tat yet, many of us will be tatting in public today to share our art.  We love adding new tatters to our community. If you want to learn to tat, just ask us.

My International Tat Day gift to you this year is the pattern for the Dorothy Edging that I designed for a handkerchief for my mother this past Christmas. Some of you asked for the pattern, so I've been busy trying to refresh my limited diagramming skills to get it ready for you. I still have a bit to learn about using my graphics program, but this was the best I could do. I hope you enjoy using it. Just click on the image and you'll be taken to the pdf of the pattern. It will be added to my patterns page soon.

Joining to 2 picots at one location

The Dorothy Edging that I designed for my mother for Christmas requires you to join to a picot from two chains at one location. As a result of some confusion about how Norma Benporath intended for us to make a similar join in a round that was part of the Norma Benporath Mystery Border,  I started to explore different ways this might be done. I settled on making those joins by joining to each picot separately without completing a half stitch between rather than joining by pulling the thread up through both picots at the same time. It produced a different look. Since then I've tried up joins and down joins in various combinations as well. Click HERE to see the results of my explorations. This was not an attempt to explore all of the ways this could be done, but to explore the effects of some of the different ways of which I am currently aware.

I plan to celebrate International Tatting Day (April 1) by sharing another free pattern with you. I hope you'll drop by to see it.

Motif 8 for 25 Motif Challenge

It always feels good to finish a project, and especially so this time as it was such a challenge. I attempted to use some tips from Nina Libin's Beanile tatting to create the jewels for the top center of the crown. It isn't perfect, but I'm very happy with my first effort at this type of use of beads in tatting. I used Gale Marshall's pattern for the Queen Mom Memorial Crown and substituted lots of different beads and made the changes necessary to make them work. So that's motif #8 for the 25 Motif Challenge.

Lastly, I had to revisit the eyes of my brown-eyed sock doll. I brought her eyes closer together, and I think she looks better. 

Tatting on Sock Dolls

Butter Bean is about to turn one so I've been busy creating something special for her birthday. Her mother was about the same age when I made her some sock dolls. I didn't tat then, so they didn't look as fancy as these two. I like the eye placement on the blue-eyed one better than the brown-eyed one now that I look at them together. I didn't compare the two as I worked, instead creating one and then the other. It has been an all-day project.

I needed an edging for the neck that would curve in a very tight circle. I was inspired by the current round I'm working for the Norma Benporath Mystery Cake Doyley. Rings have the same count and picot placement as that round, but the arrangement of the rings is different. I shall count these as Motif 7 for the 25 Motif Challenge.

The thread on the blue-eyed doll is Lizbeth Juicy Watermelon in size 20. The thread on the brown-eyed doll is an HDT by Jess Foster aka Tat-ilicious. I love all of the threads I received from Jess.

Almost done!

With the crown, that is. It is really coming together nicely. Just one more section to go.

And I managed to get a few more inches done on round 1 of the Benporath Mystery Cake Doyley.

More Time Than Usual to Tat

A drive to Memphis with my daughter for a day at the Memphis Zoo yesterday meant that I had more tatting time than usual. I worked on the Norma Benporath Mystery Cake Doyley during the drive, then loaded beads and tatted another section on the modified Gale Marshall Queen Mom Memorial Crown when I got home. The zoo was wonderful in spite of the wind. It was a fantastic day.

Progress on the Crown

I made some progress last night, completing the next section. I'm having some problems getting it to curve as I wish, but I'll just have to see how it does after I add the center piece. I haven't attempted to block anything yet.

The teardrop-shaped beads in this upper section are actually a very soft pink, though they look rather brown in this photo with the black background. This is an adaptation of Gale Marshall's Queen Mom Memorial Crown.

More Lene Bjorn Snowflakes and WIP progress

December 1 and 2 are done. I need to do a better job of blocking, but I plan to wash all of them before the final blocking. Join the Craftree challenge to tat all 24 snowflakes in 2016. I'm considering these to be motif #5 and #6 for the 25 Motif Challenge.

I'm starting over on the Norma Benporath Mystery Cake Doyley. While I love Finca size 16 perle cotton and it was looking wonderful, it was proving too fragile for me for this project. I'm beginning again with DMC size 80 in the closest color I have on hand.

Now I'm off to work on the crown this evening.

Happy tatting!

The fairy tale tatting was finally framed

I'm not quite ready to post images updating my works in progress, but I remembered that I hadn't shared an image of the tatting I did for my granddaughter's bedroom. We finally got it framed and hanging on the wall. Thumberlina (that's how it is spelled in the book) and the Princess and the Pea are from 12 Tatted Fairy Tales by Inga Madsen. Pegasus and the Unicorn are in Flights of Fantasy by Martha Ess.

I hope to have pictures of the WIPs in a day or two.