Heart, Booties, Bookmarks and Tulips

I began this update April 7 and I'm just getting ready to post it 2 days later. What can I say? Life's been busy. I am omitting the Round Robin entries so that I can post them when I get a minute on the Round Robin blog. So if your RR goodies are missing look for them to show up on the other blog.

Eva only managed a tiny bit of tatting on International Tatting Day, but it looks like there's some serious teaching going on here.

Sylvia posted her TIAS tulip in a lovely shade of blue. What's wrong with blue tulips? She has also posted a picture of her unique "Detach a Bobbin" shuttle.

Anne has passed her first Anniversary blogging and she shows us some pictures of the firsts doilies she tatted.

Jeff tatted the Spinning Wheel Glass Mat by Mary Konior in Altin Basak size 50 thread in colour number 3005. Jeff finds the thread nice to work with but a little soft and it doesn't like to be retro tatted very often. He also test tatted Ruth Perry's Celtic Angel in DMC Cordonnet size 20. It's such a wonderful angel.
Aileen got a David Reed Smith shuttle for her birthday and a beautiful inlaid shuttle. Aileen has started using a picot gauge, and she was wondering what she could use to make home made picot gauges. Wally was her exchange partner and sent her a doily tatted in a vibrant Egyptian thread along with a copy of the pattern. Wow, really pretty.
Bonnie tatted the TIAS tulip using Sherry's Spring Poppies colour and a Flora green.
Joy tried out a section of "crooked mile" edging from Mary Konior's book, Tatting with Visual Patterns in size 20 Manuela. Her doily is almost done and she's planning a dresser scarf with edging all around to enter in this year's farm show.
Carol L tatted Jane Eborall's earrings using Coats and Clark button craft thread, which is like a size 30 thread. Ellen has so many wonderful designs that she just tats and goes on to the next. She tatted her Periwinkle flowers again so that she had something to work from when the time comes to write out the pattern. I think it's a gorgeous design and exquisitely executed.
Ais is learning to tat and joins the challenge with Water Lily from Tatting Patterns by Lyn Morton. Ais tatted it in a viscose polyester blend silk type spun yarn. I haven't used that type of thread before, but it seems to me that it would be hard to work with. Congratulations on finishing the motif.
Diane's Mom learned to tat using a Tatsy shuttle and Diane finished off the thread on the shuttle tatting a length of Daisy Chain from Elgiva Nicholls' Tatting Techniques. Diane will have to think of a special use for this piece. Diane ordered a pair of shuttles the same size as the Tatsy shuttle from Grizzly Mountain Arts so the both she and her Mom could have one. This is her Mom's motif tatted using her new shuttle.Diane has received her matching shuttle as well as one of Sherry's ceramic shuttles and some lovely hand dyed thread. For some one with a gimpy hand, Diane sure is stocking up on tatting supplies.
Pamela tatted the bootees from the Rebecca Jones book. The first try using normal size picots turned out way too small. The second one was a better size but doing things inside out and upside down was a nightmare. The third one was just right.
Clyde is using Marilee's Fern size 80 HDT to tat a doily from Needlecraft, February 1925 that can be found at http://www.georgiaseitz.com/books/nc/ncfeb25pg20.jpg. A mistake on an earlier row meant a lot of retro tatting, so pictures had to wait. The doily will be about 18 inches across when done.
Snowy has tatted another square motif. This one is from Iris Neibach's Tatting Together, Square Motifs.
Marilee learned a new trick from Sherry Townsend and she shares the technique for adding a jump ring. Her new hand dyed thread colours are Nectarine, Golden Fleece. Dusty, and Knitty Gritty.
Laura has just received a new double shuttle from Sherry that she's eager to try out. Her old PC died and she hadn't transferred all of the contact information to her new computer before the old one quit. If you're one of her regular contacts send her a quick email so that she can add you to her new address book. Meanwhile Laure thinks she might have a new TIAS for everyone to try. This 3 Button Heart is a Judith Connors design done in size 20 Flora thread.
Sherry's in a mad dash down to the wire as she packs up stock for Shuttlebirds and packs up house for the move to Korea. Along the way her new hand dyed colour is "Goodness Grapcious" and her new shuttle styles are very interesting. Makes me wish I used post style shuttles.
Gina has pictures of Hector.

Angel, Tulip, Butterfly, and Cat

ADMINISTRATION NOTE:
It's wonderful that we can all share our love of tatting, but there are cretins that will use this public forum to advertise their non tatting related web sites by posting a link in the comments. You should not have to be subjected to such crass behaviour and those comments will be deleted. To make this a more enjoyable site so that people can freely post their comments with the least amount of trouble on their part I have not made the comments moderated. If necessary I may put comments on moderation to avoid the problem in future.


Riet test tatted Ruth's celtic angel and besides being a really pretty angel, the threat ends could be tied in a bow so there were no ends to hide. Riet also translated Diane's TIAS tulip for her guild so they could join in the fun.

Kate has posted a picture for the first of April of some tatting she did with invisible thread. The motives, like the thread, are invisible.

Aileen has finished the beaded bag from one of the Japanese books and it came out perfect without any blocking at all. The little bag is the perfect size to hold a ball of thread while you're tatting.

Bonnie spent International Tatting Day aka April 1st tatting although she missed out on eating chocolate, but she DID get to use her new LadyShuttleMaker shuttle.

Joy tatted a Christmas tree from A New Twist on Tatting for the round robin. She thinks this design would look good done in solid green with beads and a star bead at the top. I think it would too. The butterfly from the Workbasket magazine was a great tatting time quick fix.

Carol L. tatted this cat pattern by Diane Howe which makes a terrific bookmark and the kids just love it. I'll bet the adults love it too. Carol also tatted the butterfly from the Workbasket magazine and used it to decorate some note paper.

Diane has been using a Tatsy shuttle while she is working with larger threads and gaining an appreciation for it. These pieces are intended for a new spring purse.
Arlene is currently working on bookmarks and this is the one she did on International Tatting Day.
Clyde used International Tatting Day to start an 18 inch doily in size 80 Hand Dyed Thread.

Jon celebrated International Tatting Day by working on Laura's Victorian Heart, but she forgot the outward ring at the bottom of the heart. It still looks pretty.

I'm slowly getting caught up. The last newsletter included something I've want to try for a long time, a tatted rose from a petit point chart. Now that it's done I'm not sure what I want to do with it.
Laura has tatted the same snowflake with slight variations and used Sherry's Fuchsia in size 20 on the outer rings and Flora size 20 for the other colours so that this one reminds her of a Ferris Wheel.

Marty got her TIAS tulip done and scanned. She used DMC size 80 in peach and added an ombre green stem. How big is it in size 80? It looks perfect for a lapel pin or baby things or as just a touch of colour on collar points or a pocket patch.

Sherry has a new favourite shuttle and it holds a whole LOT of thread and is still comfortable to work with. There's a note n Sherry's blog about the Tatted Ring of Bloggers. It looks like we all need to make a slight adjustment for the ring to work as planned.
Gina has a mystery motif for folks to puzzle out. Just so that you all know, I am not bringing all of Gina's tatting into the challenge blog. Folks that know Gina know that she is both and accomplished tatter and a prolific blogger, mostly about tatting and it just doesn't make sense to continually re post most of what's on her blog. I mentioned this to Gina when she joined the challenge, but just so that no one thinks I'm slighting Gina when I don't post about what she has done here, now you know.

Terrific Treasures in Tatting

Did you miss me? Life is coming back under control and not being such a whirlwind. So hopefully I can keep caught up for a while.

Eva has finished her Tulip from the TIAS project.
Anne completed 12-18 snowflakes done of the 25. She has an indoor snowfall from Tatted Snowflakes by Vida Sunderman all seven from the first picture and the 2 smallest from the next picture. The 3 others are from Julestjerner i Orkis by Lene Bjørn. Her challenge isn't done until the snowflakes and the dragon are mounted. The last of her beauties is done and here's a picture of all of the snowflakes together. Now if Anne can just find the fabric she wants to mount them on.
Tami has Martha's new book and has been tatting some of the patterns from it. A teenager at church wants to learn to tat and these will be ideal to keep her interested.
Sapna completed a beautiful doily as a gift for a friend. I think it's the same pattern as the doily that's the background on my web site. Isn't it amazing what a change of colour does?
Iris shows us a sample of an earring pattern from her new book, Isn't is gorgeous?
Norma has been dying some of her laces including tatting and using it on CQ blocks. Isn't it wonderful how well tatting and CQ go together?
Bob tatted Jane's Sleeping cat, in Rubi thread just the colour of a ginger tomcat. I'm guessing that by his comment about 74,000 split rings that he wasn't thrilled with doing them!
BJ is tatting one of Mary Konior's edgings in Valdani size 8 using some lovely hand crafted shuttles from Liz in West Virginia. The edging will be used as a photo frame. BJ made Diane's Tulip in Valdani with Finca for the green and that finishes her first 25 motives. Now she's planning on another 25 using Karey Solomon's "Tatting Turns Over a New Leaf". Welcome to the realm of tatting nutters. This gorgeous table runner is made up of endless quarter sized motives and BJ has been working on it forever. The earring is one of a pair of ear rings done in deep, red seed beads with a pearl drop and deep red Perfect Quilter thread done for her cousin's friend.
Mrs John's photos are showing up now. The first 2 are being worked with her own hand dyed thread and the last one is Oasis size 10 thread. They're all beautiful.

Shay tatted this pretty edging from Mrs Beeton, well I'm sure is WAS pretty before the cat used it as a play toy. Yes, Shay it does count, the challenge is to tat 25 motives. Nothing was said about what you do with them after they are tatted.

Jeff tatted Linda S Davies' Arum Lily in DMC Cordonnet size 20 for the white and DMC Pearl 5 in colour number 988 for the leaf. The picture of the bird of paradise flower will have to wait as Jeff forgot to photograph it before giving it to his Grandmother and he'll have to make another one just to film it.
Aileen used Jane Eborall's pattern to tat a Coqui.She's gone on a buying spree and stocked up with lots of tatting treasures. These Easter eggs are great for using up left over thread. Peacock Heart by Brigid Phelps was done in Guterman sewing cotton and will be attached to a photo frame. Style No. 18 by Fan Xiao Jing from the Taiwanese book was done in 20 Coats and sent to Wally Sosa for the March Tatting Exchange along with some beads from the local store. Aileen's project at the moment is a thread ball bag done in this gorgeous teal colour.
Stephanie has sketched out some designs in her notebook and adds this tatted edging to the front of it.
White was Joy's cautious choice for the TIAS challenge so her Tulip isn't as flamboyant as it might be. The colourful tatting on the green egg with size 30 Omega thread is from a pattern in Tatting: It's Not Just Doilies Anymore! by Georgia Seitz and there's a wee butterfly on the top of the egg. Joy's doily is coming along and it looks wonderful. The next egg pattern is called "The Tat Chat Egg" by Pat Greninger, published in Tatting Online: The Official 1999 Tat_Chat Pattern Book edited by Georgia Seitz.
Carol joined in on Jane's TIAS and here's her happy hippo. Diane's second TIAS Tulip had a tassel added to the stem and it makes a perfect bookmark.This latest entry is The Tatted Thistle Bookmark by Jean N. Faeih.
Ellen received Meme's round robin post and collected an envelope from the post office with tatting on the outside as well as a large and small heart on the inside. Ellen tatted Nancy's Clover Heart in Flora 20 and Martha's Simple Flower Heart, in Olympus 40. Ellen designed this absolutely stunning tulip tatted with Flora 20 and inspired by the floral print on a dress.
Mary has diamonds in her heart. This beauty is one of several she has designed lately. The lanyards she designed are elegant and sophisticated. Some of her heart designs are for Palmetto's tat day logo but the Rainbow heart is Meagan's favorite because of all the colours.
Diane tatted Laura's heart but made a mistake on the stitch count and didn't want to retro tat, (I wouldn't either if my hand were in a brace) so she decided to finish the heart and add it to a CQ block. She sat down with her Mom and they watched Mildred Clark's Tatting I - The Basics and now Mom's hooked on tatting. Way yo go Diane, if you can't tat yourself, addict someone else so they can do it for you. And the piece de resistance, finally, Laura's Victorian heart in size 3 thread. I don't care what size thread you use is still looks gorgeous. Congratulations on getting back into tatting.
Joyce is working on her round robin doily and this is Josie's. It so elegant and dainty looking.
Pamela made Diane's TIAS Tulip in a dark burgundy and it didn't seem very tulip-y so she re tatted it in a vibrant variegated Floretta. Now she has a bouquet of tulips to brighten up any room.
Carol has another heart done for the round robin. Thia one is in purple and white. She's still working on the gingerbread house but making artificial snow in tatting is really daunting.
Ruth has all kinds of interesting celtic tatting on her blog. First of all there is a jigsaw puzzle of her celtic daffodil, then there is her "southern belle" and an earring with the pattern on her blog and finally her celtic angel inspired by some machine lace she saw last year.
"Ray of Hope" is the name Clyde gave to third doily he designed. It's done in Altin Basak size 50 and measures 13 inches across.
Marks's work helping on the high school production of Cinderella hasn't left him a lot of tatting time but he did get this motif done over the Easter weekend. Done in size 160 thread it's small enough to be an earring. Mark shows what it would look like if he did more of them and made a doily.
Jon tatted Laura's Easter Egg snowflake in a yummy variegated thread that makes it look like candy.
There's nothing much going on in my life (choke, gasp) except that I've finished the February newsletter (yes I know it's almost April) and I'm reprinting my Transitions in Tatting book. As soon as I get this update done I'm going to proofread it and make sure I'm working from the right zip file so that I can take it to the printers for some finishing touches.
Snowy has tatted another square motif actually 4 square motives that are joined to make a bigger square. I believe it's a Mary Konior pattern.
Marilee did this flowery cross using her hand dyed "Lola" and white thread and they accent each other perfectly. "Blue Green Pastel" is her new colour followed by Knitty Gritty a colour that she used for her Visions necklace. She only did a bit as an experiment.but it worked out so well she'll have to do more.
Laura has caught the designing bug and has bee trying out drawing her own patterns. Her blog already has the pattern for her Easter Egg snowflake, and Nancy Tracy's heart was just a smidgen too small so Laura added her own round to the design.The pizzazz snowflake had and other round planned but since it looked good the way it was, she's not going to add the extra round. Here's another variation in lavender and white.
Marty has given 2 diagrams for tatting Bonnie's butterfly, so if you want your own, there's no excuse.
Melissa is adding some tatted caterpillars to a CQ block for a young girl. The budding garden had Melissa thinking about strawberries and since the real ones aren't ripe yet she tatted a lace one. She has found a number of good books for people like her who both quilt and tat and she has added the list to her blog.
Sherry has posted another teaser with a tied thread on it to remind her which side is up. There are some new shuttles in the making and things are getting prepared for the Shuttlebird's workshop.
Wally has some wonderful new flower designs. There's Patty (for St Patrick's Day) made in El-Beida cotton perle #8 in light pink and bright pink and Trish is a variation with an extra row also done in El Beida in red and light pink. Wally modified the tatted daisy from a vintage pattern and changed the last round of chains and used rings instead. Wally's most recent flower is named Aquamarine because the petals look like seashells.

Connie tatted this doily from "Easy Tatting" in J.P. Coats Cotton Knit-Cro-Sheen Color # 165 Pastels, and green is Aunt Lydia's Size 10 Color # 154 Frosty Green.