Look at the variety in motives

Ruth has been tatting her compound snowflake and now has the first spike done. Don't forget to check out the calendar too. There's some really sweet snowflake earrings posted for today. Designers, I'm sure Ruth could use more contributions as 365 is a lot of patterns. This will be a terrific asset for any guild.





Clyde has posted pictures of the progress on his tablecloth. It's really going to be wonderful. I would have chickened out and made it in an ever increasing rectangle so that if I got tired of working on it, it would still be a usable object.




Sharon has posted written instructions on How to Tat. A lot of begins wind the thread the wrong way around their hand, make larks head knots instead of doublestitches or pull the thread too hard and un-flip their stitches. Maybe this will help some of them to "get it".

Carol has the 3rd round finished and the fourth round begun of her quilting thread doily. Simply marvellous.

Laura has done Jane's Celtic cross in size 20 Cebelia with her mother's pearls added in.

Bhavani has added a split ring motif in vibrant blue with white beads. This is a central part of another design and she wants to do it again adding more stitches to the outer round to see how it looks.

Charlene has created some baskets with flowers that would look adorable on one of her crazy quilt blocks. Isn't it wonderful when we can combine our hobbies? She has also done and a small round motif in brown. The tatting is looking better and better.

Multi Talented Endeavors

Wally shares a pretty and intricate motif she designed a few years ago that utilizes the single shuttle split ring.

I blinked and Ruth added a whole bunch of new stuff to her blog. To begin, she shows us what the edging for the Pattern a Day calendar looks like with a ribbon woven through it. Lovely. Next she has begun work on a compound snowflake. The centre part is a plain ring and chain motif that starts with a chain so that it can end with a split ring to climb into the next motif. The surrounding motives are more circular and alternate plain almost bald rings with tiny rings with lots of picots. Ruth points out that these little rings give a snowflake inside a snowflake effect. Ruth has also posted a picture of another compound snowflake she did for her sister several years ago. What an interesting idea.

Mark's work on costumes and stage settings is progressing.

EeKoon has added a tutorial on Hardangar to her blog.

Peppermint Paddy has a new girlfriend Peppermint Jean created by Carol.

Bhavani has also joined in the TAST Challenge and posted her first entry. Most of us who do any kind of fibre art, often do several.

Flowers and snowflakes and herringbone embroidery

Mark is celebrating the resurrection of his hard drive. The computer guys managed to recover almost all of his files.








Riet has posted a picture of a wonderful flower designed by one of her guild members.






Marilee is doing some experimenting with tatting and polymer clay. Hmmm, I wonder what she's making?



LaRae has done snowflake number 12 in "Tatting" by Myra Piper.






Charlene is working on more embroidered crazy quilt pieces. Wouldn't some tatting fit in nicely?

Who knew it would be so addictive?

Clyde has posted a picture of the tatted curtain tie he did in size 20 Burgundy thread. He's calling this motif #13.

Mark has done some sketches of the costumes for Oliver. They look simply marvellous.

Barbara has tatted one of the motives designed by Jon in blue DMC Cordonnette Special in size 20. The 2 shades of blue are very attractive together.

Carol found what she calls a GORGEOUS variegated machine quilting thread in blues and purples and began tatting this little motif which is rapidly growing into a doily. It is wonderful looking thread, maybe I need to take a trip out to Walmart.

Dawn has finished the challenge with another cross done in size 8 pearl cotton in a deep red.Like so many others, she started all over again with this lovely bookmark in size 20 Opera thread. Who knew this challenge would be so addictive?

Charlene is continuing with the TAST (Take A Stitch Tuesday) challenge and has done some more work on the Herrringbone stitch. When we've finished the 25 Motif Challenge, maybe we should look at doing something similar.

More that just tatting

Ruth has added another variation to the first Calendar motif. Variations on a theme is a great way to explore your own design capabilities. Why don't you see if you can take this pattern or take one of the vintage patterns and see what you can do with it. Change an edging a little, curve it around into a motif. Explore the possibilities and add your new design to the Pattern a Day Calendar project.

Mark is in for a busy year. This year they are doing both costumes and set design for the high school's production of "Oliver". I guess Koito is going on the back burner for a while.

Kathy has had a busy year end with one of her dogs eating collars. My first thought was -horrors- tatted collars, but no these were doggie collars. Poor puppy. Her first motif for the new year is from the July 1959 Workbasket done in Superior Threads King Tut quilting thread. Kathy finds it very fine and smooth to work with and in her opinion, it is one of the better brands of quilting threads for tatting.

EeKoon has listed all of her 19 Works In Progress. With all of the cross stitching going on it's a wonder she finds any time for tatting. We're all obsessed with thread though, so we understand.

Laura used one of Jane Eborall's patterns in Knit-Cro-Sheen in aqua combined with some pearls her mother had given her to make earrings to match the poncho and hat Laura made for her mother's Christmas gift.

LaRae has posted a video of Erik Mongrain, a Canadian guitarist whose lap tapping playing style is simply incredible.

Sue has begun a new Yahoo group called Here-Be-Tatters this was to replace the old etatters group which is being closed. I've included the link to the main page here in case any of our old friends lost track of where we are. Many of the original members of the old group will make the transition over to Here-Be-Tatters and Sue is going to have her hands full for the next little while which won't leave her much time for tatting.

Charlene is sandwiching her tatting in between bouts of crazy quilting. She has joined the Take a Stitch Tuesday challenge hosted by another Sharon. They will be taking a single new embroidery stitch each week and exploring the possibilities with it.

Over 100 entries

This marks post 102. It doesn't seem that long does it? We've seen some really amazing work done here and the challenge has been just the kind of thing to stimulate our imaginations and promote more tatting and more designing. Speaking of which, there has been some discussion on the tatting lists about creating a Pattern-A-Day tatting calendar like those made for knitting, quilting and crochet.

That's 365 patterns folks, so we need everyone to do their part. Some of the designs will be from vintage publications which have passed into public domain, but if there are going to be any modern pieces it will have to come from those of us who design. Ruth has created a blog just to keep track of all of these patterns and the link is here:
http://tat-calendar.blogspot.com/
This is an excerpt from the e-mail Ruth sent to the tatting lists:

"I will be adding the patterns to a PDF file that will be made available to all tatting guilds for no charge to do with as they choose. It will be available to use as a fund raiser, to give away, or just for fun.

Everyone is invited to submit patterns that can easily be shared on one page 8.5 x 11, or a progressive series that build for up to 7 days with a little being added every day for a week. Email me privately to volunteer to share a pattern, manage a week, or a month of this project. I'll put together a schedule and see to it that the patterns get added to the PDF file.

The patterns must be available as public domain or shared with the designer's permission. Patterns easy enough for all levels as well as intermediate and advanced patterns are alright, but beginner patterns should probably be the majority of the designs."

Mark took lots of pictures on his Christmas travels and he's sharing them with us. Ice sculptures and Aquarium life, talk about opposite ends of the spectrum.




Carol has finished her Peppermint Paddy design and he's just so cute I could eat him. (Pun intended.)

Dawn has done Ruth's Celtic cross again, this time with beads. She has also done a horse's head key chain fob. Both of them are lovely.

Charlene has posted a beaded ring and chain edging in a pretty variegated Finca thread.

Happy New Year

Jon has started 2 different motives and in each case ran out of thread before they were finished. Both are pretty and similar, yet different and Jon is deciding where to go from here. Any comments?

Sharon has posted a picture of a some flower patterns she published and she's thinking of reprinting this part of the book.

EeKoon has been industriously working of some cross stitch projects.

LaRae has posted a link to a Jerome Murat video. This is taking Mime to a whole new level.

Another tatter joins the challenge

Clyde has tatted a row of hearts in red and given us a brief review of his thoughts of 2006.
Laura is working on a friendship doily and she has posted her centre and it's just darling.
LaRae shows us another of her favorite patterns. Very simple, but will you look at the gazillion precisely even picots!

Welcome Charlene our newest participant. Charlene has just decided to join the challenge but she tatted these pieces in November and will be including them. The motives already completed are snowflake, tree, bell and swans.

Reflections on the past

We're winding down 2006 and this challenge that was begun in the summer is half over. Several of our participants have finished their 25 and started another 25. The stimulation of participating together has made us all better tatters and better designers. We have watched a number of people go from baby steps into becoming accomplished tatters, several people have been challenged into trying their own designs. Everyone has created the most wonderful amazing laces and we have made the world around us more beautiful. Many of the pieces that were created for the challenge have been shared with the tatting community and we are all the richer for it. Way to go tatters, you all deserve a pat on the back for a job well done.

Ruth has listed her reflections on tatting in 2006. Definitely food for thought.

Sharon shows us what cranberry looks like in tatting.

Marilee has done another pair of her block tatting angel earrings, this time in red.

LaRae shares a walk down memory lane with a You Tube video.

More Christmas Tatting

Mark had an opportunity to tat over the Christmas holidays and he has created a number of intriguing pieces. These designs are a take off on Bedfordshire bobbin lace. A snowflake, a bell, a round medallion and an adorable candle complete with a little handle.

Maria designed this little motif all on her own just to wish everyone Merry Christmas.

Carol shows us some of her favorite Christmas decorations both inside and outside the house. She had some lovely items sent to her in a Christmas exchange, a lovely bag with tatting and some decorated shuttles, and since Carol loves Halloween another partner sent her an exquisitely done bat necklace. Today she has posted the gifts she sent out to her own partners, Santa and Reindeer napkin rings. How clever is that?

Marilee has created some lovely earrings using block tatting.

Want to see a young Santa in training? Just look in Laura's blog and while you're there check out the purple snowflake.

LaRae has done Eva's Heart, it's a favorite of hers. She shows us the motif in both white and purple.

Martha gave some wonderful tatted bookmarks this year. She did Julie Patterson's Candy Cane ornament and added some decorative picots, and then gave it a tassel. She also did her cross pattern called Diamonds and Pearls and the Flowery SCMR Bookmark by Jane Eborall.

Dawn has been having trouble sleeping so she has been working on a celtic cross pattern from Ruth's book.

Sue has uploaded pictures of the tatting she sent out. Earrings, a picot gauge with a tatted fob, a beaded cross and a decorated shuttle were some of the items included.