Snowflakes, Bookmarks, Letters, Leaves, Doilies, Hearts, Wreath, Hummingbirds, Windmill, Ornaments, Snowman

Administrative note

As we say goodbye to 2014 there has been some tidying up completed. The 25 Motif Challenge exists to encourage us to keep on tatting by keeping track of what we have accomplished and goading one another on to greater successes. By making 2 bits of tatting in a month you can easily tat 25 things in a year, but when several months go by with no tatting at all, it's harder to tat 25 things in a year and most people just give up. So when a blog doesn't show any new tatting in 5 or 6 months it gets dropped off the list of links in the side bar on the right and I stop checking it for tatting content. Sometimes a blog becomes inaccessible and these too will be dropped off the links list. Anyone who has been dropped off the list, but continues to tat and wants to get added back on, only has to email me at sharon at rsbriggs dot com to be added back on. However, some people ask to be added back on, tat one motif and then don't tat again for several months, so they will again be dropped off the links list. Anyone is welcome to join, but occasionally someone will ask to join but fail to give their blog location and that makes it impossible to find their work for display here. So, please, if you want to join, let me know where to find you.

Muskaan made Jessica Snowflake based on Kersti Anear's Jessica Bookmark in white Red Heart size 20 and shares the pattern, which coincidentally finishes her first 25 Motif Challenge. She jumped right back into another challenge with a new snowflake design she has named Neemiss. She discovered that it was easy to design in needle tatting because mistakes could just be unravelled, instead of having to cut and discard, so the name comes from NEEdle tatting MIStake. She used Anchor Mercer Size 20 White and variegated Navy Blue/White and shows all 3 rounds of the snowflake, although it looks pretty in 1, 2 or all 3 rounds.

Erisnyx tatted Frivole's Flowering Quatrain in Lizbeth size 20, #684 for a birthday gift. She used letter patterns from The Tatter's Paradise in shades of blue, the favourite colour of her cousin to make this birthday present. She made a few leaves using Frivole's La Feuille Frivole pattern in Lizbeth size 20, #100, to put on the front of letters that she was sending out.  Robin Perfetti's First Snowfall pattern was done in Lizbeth size 80, #601. She tatted part of one motif of Jane Eborall's Diamond Patchwork pattern in a Christmas red and green as a white elephant gift for a Christmas party she was attending.

Claire tatted the Kiss Curl Heart by Nicola Bowersox and this charming design makes 25 motifs completed. Once was not enough so Claire has decided to take the challenge again. This snowflake pattern comes from a Polish web site and is the first motif for her next challenge.

Grace is making progress on the Jan Stawasz doily from Robotki magazine. This is one of those designs that is worked in pieces with a centre section, a row of individual motifs and a row of tatting to join them together, followed by more rows of tatting. It's also one of those designs where you work for hours and then ask "Are we having fun yet?" As tedious as it might be to tat, it is a glorious design.

Fox tatted another Jan Stawasz pattern, this time in white, #60 DMC, which is what her daughter ordered.

IsDihara tatted the Christmas berry wreath by LaRae Mikulecky and the pattern is still available through the Way Back machine.

Margaret recently bought Mastering Tatting by Lindsay Rogers and made the Daisy Bookmark in Lizbeth thread No 20 in white and Summer Fun, adding more daisies because it didn't seem long enough. These two hearts are part of a Doily called Love in the mist, and she used Purple and white and white and summer fun Lizbeth thread no 20. She used Lizbeth thread no 20 in white and red burst to make this wreath and she has plans to make more for next year.

Marie found Jane's hummingbirds so entertaining she had to make a bunch of them. The windmill is another pattern by Jane Eborall that Marie made for her aunt. This is one of her Christmas ball designs that she wrote for needle tatting.

Phyllis tatted the unfolding Heart by Marilee Rockley, adding silver beads  for a little bling, which was given to her daughter.  Ars Colaris "My Wonderful Tree" is in the process of being stiffened.  The recipient will have to attached the pieces into a tree.  The last are shuttles her wonderful husband made for her out of exotic woods he found.

Wanda created a wonderful snowman doodle, but it didn't want to sit still to have it's hat and scarf put on. Have you ever tried to tie a scarf on a teeny tiny bit of tatting?

Easter Egg

Administrative Note

I have just gone through the link list and removed the tatters who haven't had any new tatting content since November, since, if there isn't anything to show for the last 6 months, you've probably lost interest.

Barbara completed Egg #8 in the book TATTED Easter Eggs by Kirsten Wind Hansen in Lizbeth size 20 in white and #104, Summer Fun but the number of twists to use in different sections was not very clear in the book.

Christmas Ornaments and Clean Up

Administration note

It's time for a clean up. We have quite a few people who haven't blogged about tatting for months so those blogs will be removed from the list on the right. If your blog was removed and you suddenly find that you're tatting again, let me know and I'll add you back on.


Sue tatted the Christmas ball Sun from Christiane Eichler's site done in Lizbeth Christmas Delight size 20. Her ball was the specified size so it isn't exactly the same but it's still pretty awesome.

Snowflakes, Bells, Angels and Lady

Administration Note:

We currently have over 60 people signed up for the challenge and visiting each blog to do an update takes a lot of time. Some of the participants haven't had tatting content on their blogs for months and in the interest of helping to keep things current I'm going to start removing the names of those participants. If your name is removed and you want to be back on the list of participants email me at sharon#gagechek.com (change the # to @).

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Katie has finished her first hanky with tatted edging. It's a generic clover leaf pattern that was tweaked a bit. The thread is Lizbeth size 40 in Caribbean and it's lovely, delicate and totally charming.

Mica had two shuttles wound with white thread was flipping through Rebecca Jones' book The Complete Book of Tatting when this bell caught my eye. Tatted in DMC special dentelles 80 in white with gold seed beads.
Wanda hasn't gotten much tatting done with all the family things going on, but she did tat this snowflake in Lizbeth size 20.

Ellen has a new paperclip angel posted with a link to the pattern. Sweet and simple as usual with lots of character.

Heather has just completed her most recent Lady, Lady Pink. The skirt of the dress has an ingenious pink awareness ribbon tatted into it. Utterly charming and a most magnificent lady. She has close up shots of it on her blog that you'll want to see.

Jeff tatted the Bell Ornament from Heirloom Treasures in Tatting,using Lizbeth size 20 in silver, #605. The last round has some silver beads, and he added some ribbon and a little jingle bell inside. The Third Day of Christmas snowflake tatted in Lizbeth size 20, #663 (Dark Turquoise) for the centre and Lizbeth size 20 in colour #142, Turquoise Twist for the outer round. The snowflake from Lene Bjørn's book,The Second Day of Christmas needed a lot of blocking to make it look presentable. Made in Lizbeth size 20in colour # 611, Gold.

Angels, Earrings, Bookmarks and Dragons

Administration Note

This blog is a lot of fun for the tatting world, getting to see regular postings with tatting content, but it's a lot of work for those of us who provide you with the condensed version of these tatting delights. Some people join in and then have other things like work and family that take their time. In order to make things easier for the team that does the work I am going to be ruthless and delete all of the names in the links list of people who haven't posted any tatting content in months. If your name got deleted and you are still participating, email me and I will add you back to the links list. I have had some people volunteer to help out, but we could use more. The more people we have to help, the less any one person has to do.

Mica has been trying out onion rings and makes the observation that when they are done in rings they seem to stack, but when they are done in chains they lay flatter.

Wanda designed an angel some years ago and recently she has added a modification to it. Here are both versions done in DMC 30. She participated in the inTatters bookmark exchange and did several variations until she settled on a design similar to this. She just had to do an extra so now she has a little gift for whenever she needs it.

Heather is on a roll making lots of tatted earrings and dragons using leaf shaped sequins.

Sherry has completed Iris' TIAS made with some of her lovely HDT "Rose Petals" and she notes that it took her 2 skeins of HDT and about 40 yards of the contrasting black thread. Sherry made the same design but it only took her one skein of HDT. One of the problems with HDT is that dyelots can vary drastically so if you are working on a larger project the sensible thing is to buy more than you think you need and then buy one extra in case you make an irreversible boo-boo and have to cut something out.

TattingChic posts a lovely celtic tatted bookmark she received from Ruth Perry.

2009 Changes to the Challenge

Administration note:
We currently have 33 first time participants and 15 repeat participants in the challenge, which means that the update team has to visit about 50 blogs to present the information in a condensed form for your enjoyment. In the past we have also visited the blogs of 25 past participants who continue to post lots of fun tatting things. Because the participation has grown so much we just can't keep up with it, so we will no longer be visiting the blogs of past participants and reporting on it here. However if there is good reference information like the tutorials Jon has done, or something of special note that we become aware of we will try to make mention of it. You will notice that the links in the side bar have been broken into current and past participants so that you can easily check any of the links for yourself at any time.


Kelly is new to the challenge and she already has her first 3 pieces done. Her first motif is the Celtic Style Christmas Wreath by Birgit Phelps done for an Iris friend. The snowflake is from Ruth Perry's (Rozella Linden) book Easy Tatting. Her third motif is a square version of the snowflake from the same book that she plans to keep adding to and make a table runner. Angie has the second round on the toe of the baby bootie done.
Steph's second motif is Pam Palmer's Miniature Peacock from Tatting Treats, tatted in Sherry's size 80 'Helms Deep' with blue beads for the eyes in the feathers. His body is DMC color 3747, very light gray.
Vinnie finished off the cross she had been working on and the colour choices really make the pattern pop. It's in the Priscilla Tatting Book1 available from the Antique pattern library. She used split rings for the corners and avoided an lot of extra ends to hide. Here's the finished celtic motif she was working on and it looks like the stitch count worked out. I think it's pretty terrific for a design worked on the fly. Just to use up the thread on the shuttles here are some little squares.
Wanda tatted Micheal's snowflake,made in DMC size 10 with silver beads. The red one is one she designed a few weeks earlier, in maroon DMC size 10, with white pearl beads.
Carolyn has tatted Simplicity by Lyn Morton from "Tatting Patterns" in size 10 thread and it's 2 3/4" across.
Heather tatted this small motif with her "the tropics" HDT and she thinks her shuttle tatted chains need a bit of work. She started playing with a 2 shuttle piece which eventually evolved into Teri Dusenbury's Wheel of Fortune Snowflake Pattern in her curried pink HDT and white. The pink should be in her shop soon.
Joy finally got around to sewing the lace onto a pillowcase that she's had finished for weeks. The picture and the lace are a perfect match.
Wally finally has an internet connection again and although she's been tatting she hasn't been able to post anything. This heart is her newest challenge motif a pattern by Nancy Tracy from Be-Stitched. She used the pink and blue El Beida perle #8 I had left on the shuttles.