Flags and Stars and more challenge Fun!

Diana has been tatting flags in different sizes of thread. She wants to make one into a pin but can't figure out how to add the pin to the back and not show through. Any ideas?

Clyde is working on a doily from the pattern Distinctive Luncheon Set that he is adapting from the book Tatting Doilies& Edgings By Rita Weiss.He is using a beautiful thread from New Zealand called Hand Died Hues colour 1202 size 10 but notes it tats up more like size 40-50.

Sharon has issued another challenge. A lot of people have completed their first 25 motives and started over again so we are getting to the point where some people are looking for a new project.On several of the tatting lists people have been asking about what kinds of things can you add tatting to so that it's more visible. Still others have asked the question, what do I do with all my tatting bits, especially the bits that have mistakes, or had coffee splashed on them or the dog chewed a corner of it, or whatever. So here's the challenge. Take an old pair of denim jeans, cut off the legs and sew across the bottom part to make a bag. Add a strap to make it into a bag or backpack and decorate it with tatting. It can be old tatting or new tatting, you can add a little or add a lot. If you are interested in joining the new challenge let Sharon know by adding a comment to her blog or sending her an e-mail. This challenge will have it's own blog page and you will be able to add your own updates to the challenge page so she needs your email address to be able to contact you. You can send email to sharon at gagechek dot com if you think you'd like to participate. This will be fun!

Marilee has started listing her gorgeous designs on ebay and in her etsy shop. Mother's Day is coming up, how about getting Mom some original design necklaces or earrings?

Charlene has been tatting the motives from the Tat Along project and can't see where number 3 should start. She made a lovely blue variegated bookmark in Finca size 12 and added elongated aurora borealis beads to the end. Charlene has been perusing the books in the Project Guttenburg web site and discovered Therese de Dilmont's Encyclopedia of Needlework. That book will keep her busy for a while.

It's a star, it's butterflies, it's a butterfly star motif. Marty was working on a square design in green and white, but it just didn't lay flat. She tweaked the design adding one more repeat, some Josephine rings and some larger rings in places and suddenly it all fits together with butterflies holding things in place. There is one problem though, she wants to see what it looks like with several joined together and she has run out of the red ombre thread.

Alece has finished her embroidery and Melissa showed her how to turn it into a cute little pillow. Melissa is working steadily on creating a hummingbird and roses for her quilt block.

Square Motives and Tatting Business Cards

Sharon has been toying with the idea of tatting with square motives and making a vest or shrug or something. She's not quite sure yet what she wants to make. The current square motif is in time out for not behaving and will probably need to have it's edges trimmed.

The kids at Melissa's house are stitching merrily away.

Sherry has created a notice page to hand out while she's "out in public". It's something that she can hand out with additional tatting information for interested parties. We all ought to have a little business card or something with our phone number and e-mail address, website and maybe links to some teaching sites so that we can pass the information on while people are interested.

Socks and Crabs and 3D Roses

Mark and Kim spent the weekend camping out at the annual quilt show in Paducah. Mark was able to meet up with his bobbin lace teacher and visit a lot of vendors where he picked up some bobbins and lovely threads as well as this shuttle for his collection.

Snowy has added a delicate lace edging to some socks for a feminine touch. Does anyone have tips for putting lace on socks?

Ta Da! Donna has finished her knitted sock. It has a few problems, but it is a sock.

Laura has tatted another critter for Isaac's room. This is one is Jane Eborall's pattern for a crab and Laura can't wait until the little guy wakes up to see his new crustacean.

Melissa is busy working on CQ block that needs to be finished by the 15th and they currently have kids staying with them while their mother who's in the army is away in the field. The kid's are 6, 11 and 12.5 and have been learning to embroider. What a great way to both entertain and educate the young.

Patti observed one day of blog silence May 1st, in honour of the victims at Virginia Tech.

Sherry tatted Jeanne Lugert's 3D rose earrings for Mother's day, and she had so much fun doing them that she did a bunch more in a variety of colours to give away to the mothers on her list.

Tons of Terrific Tatting

Gail has started this doily again and she has reached the point where she's wondering if she should stick to the pattern as written, or let creativity take off and go in a whole new direction. See the shuttle? It's one of Sherry's ceramic shuttles and it looks like it tats very nicely. Ceramic!, think of all the possibilities.
Jon has been working on an edging that she plans on attaching to a tablecloth. She doesn't like the way the outer row looks so she's leaving it off for now. She plans on attaching the edging to the centre section, and not the outer edge. So far, it's looking really great.

EeKoon has laid aside the cross stitch for a while to do some embroidery. As for tatting she has picked up Iris Niebach's book "Tatted Doilies" and has begun to work on one called Beatrice. Stay tuned for pictures as the lace develops.

Marilee attended a day put on by the Prairie Mill Lacemakers. It sounds like it was a totally Victorian day from the laces to the sumptuous tea they enjoyed. Check out the pictures on Marilee's blog and keep a bib handy to catch the drool.

Marty has done a square motif from "Tatting together square motifs" edited by Iris Niebach. This one is made in DMC Cébélia size 20 in green and white. She has also been working on this lovely oval design also by Iris. Should she add more blocks to it or design a complimentary border? Any ideas?

Sylvia passed the time on her coach ride tatting a cross from the Mary Konior book Tatting with Visual Patterns. On the coach going to Ostend she tatted a snowflake from book by Lene Bjorn called 24 snowflakes in tatting.

Melissa and her husband both learned how to shuttle tat this weekend. They are working on a MOM bookmark.
Sherry posts a tribute to her great grandmother and a picture of the tatted flowers given to everyone at the Shuttlebirds convention.

Motives and Butterflies

Gail purchased some ceramic eggs than she wanted to tat covers for. Her first design doesn't want to work as an egg cover, but it's making a pretty little doily.

Sharon posted a motif and thinks that you have to tat several motives just so you can see what the corners will look like.

Laura has framed some of her purple tatting for a friend who loves purple. What a lovely idea. Laura has also done her first block tatting in a bookmark using size 10 thread. The pattern is one of Karey Solomon's.

Charlene has created her own Thread comparison chart. It's so hard to know which threads can be used as a suitable substitute when the manufacturers all use different standards. Check out Charlene's chart and let her know if you have suggestions to add.

Patti has been getting ready for some local festivals and hasn't had time to tat and blog recently.

Sherry has posted a marvelous butterfly she designed using all of the new techniques she learned at the Shuttlebirds Tatting Convention. How delightful to absorb a whole bunch of new tatting ideas and immediately create something wonderful with it.

Butterflies Bookmarks and Tatting to drool over

Gail enjoyed her trip to Las Vegas and managed to do some knitting while she was away. She returned and her daughter gave her the first handspun yarn that she has made and wanted it turned into something. Gail obliged by knitting a nice bag for holding lots of projects.

Mark spent his lunch hour teaching a lady at work how to tat. That's the way to do it. One at a time we'll get the whole world tatting.

Snowy was one of the nurses attending a group of patients who went to Lourdes and during her spare moments she tatted Lenore English's bookmark in a beautiful variegated thread. She also managed to teach one of her colleagues to tat. There's another one to swell the ranks of tatters.

Donna is working steadily on knitting her first sock and with much perseverance she has managed to turn the heel while only dropping one stitch. Just think of all the things she'll learn doing this one sock. Knitting in the round, turning heels, picking up stitches. After this it's all downhill.

Laura has added a bevy of tatted beauties to her blog. She added beads to the flowers of the blue Sunbonnet Sue and it really makes it stand out. The celtic button butterfly is from the May 2007 "Tatting Times" by Karey Solomon and was made in size 20 DMC Cebelia using a 3/8 inch button.

Charlene has been working on a selection of tatted bookmarks. She used Finca perle 16 for 2 of them then did a finer one in DMC 80 and then she tried a new thread from Paraguay she won on ebay. Rubi size 20 in white seems a bit stiffer and fuller. Charlene watched a program promoting aid to impoverished places and decided to take the money she had earmarked for a craft trip and give it to people really in need instead.

Marty tatted another of Iris Niebach's designs. This little one is called "Cactus" from the free patterns at Iris Niebach's Tatting Online made with DMC Cebelia size 30 thread. Melissa has been working on her quilt block and ordered a lovely little pincushion to hold all her needles. She has embroidered embellishments on the quilt block and even added a tatted dagger bead dragonfly to it. The block is truly one of a kind since Melissa designed the dragonfly herself.Sherry attended the Shuttlebirds workshop and met a lot of friends for the first time. She shares pictures of all the happenings on her blog that you will love to see. Keep a towel handy to wipe the drool off your keyboard as you watch the pictures of the lace displays.

Square Motif, Butterflies and a Garland of Daisies.

Barbara has added another lavender motive to her blog. This one is tatted with a variegated Anchor thread in size 20. Just a few more to go and then this shawl can get assembled.

EeKoon has posted a revised wish list of treasures.

Marilee did some butterfly bookmarks into the store to sell on consignment, and received orders for more of them. She has also shared with us her pattern for them. So simple yet so pretty.

A lanyard to hold the hook she uses for tatting makes Charlene's 25th motif. The garland of daisies was the project from the Palmetto Tatters guild project and now she thinks she might just join in an exchange. That sounds like fun.

Melissa has been perfecting some silk ribbon embroidery roses to go on a CQ block.

Orchid, Rose, and a Doily

Clyde has a new family member, a Congo African Grey parrot.

Mark has been furiously tatting to get these 2 gorgeous flowers done in time for the GLLG Spring Fling. Wow.

Donna has cast on a sock and tatting has taking a back burner while she explores a little more knitting.

EeKoon is excited about the news that some of the stitching samplers she likes are about to become less expensive.

Eliz was home with a sick child and got to do a lot of work on the Cecelia doily. Motif #40 of the doily is completed and it's looking great.

Melissa has been hard at work on her CQ blocks.

Patti shows us a period looking dress from a more modern pattern. Hmmm, where's the pocket for your tatting?

We've been having so much fun with our challenge that Sherry decided she had to join. If you love post style shuttles, check these out. Sherry does them in ceramic. How cool is that?

Butterfly, Bat, and a Gaggle of Geese

I'm in a rush so this will be quick. There's a lot happening in blogland that I don't have time to mention, so use the links at the right to check things out for yourself.

Mark has completed a Milanese hummingbird. He's working on patterns and worksheets for a workshop this weekend and in between he's been checking out the garden and corralling dust bunnies.

Jon had a reunion and got to meet a lot of old classmates and the lovely doily that she did was exchanged with one of them. Now she has been working on hand-phone ornaments. Aren't they clever?

Carol shows us the bat necklace she made to go with her bat mask. Both were shown off at the lace day. They're just marvelous.

Pamela has tatted up a gaggle of geese. Her first samples are Martha Ess's block tatted critters done in Flora 10 and 20. Isn't is wonderful how changing the thread size gives you goslings instead of geese. Jane Eborall's pattern was done in Flora 20 then Pamela tweaked the design a little to create a new species. Now she's experimenting with adding in some variegated size 80 to change the colour a little. It will be interesting to see where this leads.

Eliz is working on the online class homework, Tina Frauberger's Edging published in 1913, tatted in size 30 crochet cotton. I neglected to mention it in the last post but Eliz has cataloged a lot of useful links at the bottom of her blog so that everything is neatly organized in one place.

Patti has been playing with the thread she won on ebay. Her first motif is a beautiful pattern by Sherry Pence made with a #5 needle using #10 DMC Cebelia for the body and #10 Flora for the body. Patti has been checking out the vast resources of the public domain tatting books and she has listed a number of sources on her blog.

Bat, Butterfly, Dragon and Meercats

Mark has finished the Half Ring Butterfly and now he's looking for another lunch break project.

Riet's has posted pictures of her new project, her granddaughter Nora.

Carol has been working on some secret projects. One of them is a 3D dragon necklace for Sherry. What an awesome project! Her other creation is a bat mask made for the Lafayette Lacers meeting, where their theme this year was masks. Wonderful work, these are must see pieces so go check out Carol's blog and the link to all the other pictures.

Laura tatted Eliz's egg from the Tatting Pattern Calendar. And another Sunbonnet Sue, this one is done in size 10.

Charlene has been reading up on blocking and she picked up some artists frames which she used for blocking and then she sprayed them with stiffener. One of the projects she did was a bookmark that she created. It all looks good from here.

Pamela has added a gang of meercats to her collection using Jane Eborall's pattern in a variety of threads. After she had done several she asked Jane for permission to create one looking in the opposite direction. Pamela is getting a real menagerie. Eliz decided to change her blog around and doesn't have any eye candy to show, but she has been working on the Cecelia doily.

Melissa show us pictures of her hubby and herself at the military formal they attended. Melissa is wearing the lovely heart she tatted and it looks just perfect with the dress.

Patti has just joined the challenge and although she hasn't posted any new motives yet you can see all other things she has already been working on. One of her recent posts shows a huge number of balls of thread she won on ebay, along with some pieces of crochet a bit of tatting and an attached shuttle.

Tatting for a Pashmina, Butterflies, and Sunbonnet Sue

We have had a number of people who have completed the challenge and originally I planned to remove them from the link list, but many people have just jumped right back in and started another 25 motives. So, if you finish your challenge and you'd like to be removed let me know. You can either post a comment or send an email to me - sharon at gagechek dot com

Mark and Kim finished the cake. You should check it out, it looks yummy, but too marvelous to eat.

The new cutie has arrived! Riet has laid aside her tatting to pick up Nora, her beautiful new granddaughter. Congratulations Riet.

Barbara has tatted 2 of Jon's designs. The first is done with DMC Cordonnet 20 and the other with a variegated lavender Anchor size 20. That makes 18 motives done. This pashmina is going to look marvelous. Hurry up and tat, I want to see the finished shawl!

Sharon has add a lengthy reference on blocking, stiffening and storing tatting. If anyone has more information, let her know and she'll add it so that it's available as a permanent reference.

Carol's page is full of puppy love. She will be attending the Lafayette Lacers Lace day on Saturday and will have more pictures to show of tatty surprises.

Laura has been tatting butterflies from the Big Book of Tatting by Darlene Polachic. The gold butterfly was tatted in #20 DMC Cebelia, the purple one in Altin Basak and Cebelia. Sunbonnet Sue from the same book, done in the same threads as the purple butterfly completes Laura's second set of 25 motives. At this rate we'll cover the globe in tatting.

Charlene has plans to join the online Beginners Tatting course.

Eliz has put aside the Cecelia doily for a while to tackle the Tatting Proficiency Program. No doubt we'll be seeing more tatting soon.