Two months into the Challenge

Has it been 2 months since we started this challenge? It doesn't seem that long, but we have certainly seen an amazing amount of lace. So many different motives and so many different reasons for making them.

What's really terrific is the number of people who have made their first attempts at designing their own patterns. I am so impressed with the people who have just started tatting and took on the challenge. It's a sizable undertaking for an experienced tatter, but it takes real effort and dedication for beginners. We all remember the struggles we had learning. It's hard enough just getting the flip, and then trying to read a pattern when there isn't a lot of consistency in how patterns are written, and learning new techniques just to be able to complete a motif, and all while trying to develop consistent stitches and picots. Bravo! Keep up the good work.

Janet has created a heart with a silver centre in memory of her aunt. Very lacy and delicate looking, and just the sort of thing for a lady.


Barbara has been busy. She has completed Kersti Anear's sweetheart bookmark, just for a change of pace, and a medallion from Ann Orr's Classic Tatting Patterns. After all f of the lavender, lilac and ecru motives, I thought I was in the wrong blog with these 2 latest motives in blue and variegated yellow/orange.


LaRae joins the challenge and posts this first snowflake that is a pattern out of "Tatting" by Myra Piper. The Shuttlebugs of Omaha are decorating a Christmas tree at the historic Dodge House and LaRae has been doing snowflakes for the tree, so she thought she might as well join in the fun of the challenge while she's at it.

Motif, Snowflake and Windmills

Gail has done a motif from Mark's newest book. This rings only motif has been done in two colours in which Gail used up a lot of smaller pieces of thread. Sooner or later we all do that, searching through the stash for just a little more of one particular thread to complete a project.


After a wee break, Clyde has done 4 more motives for his tablecloth. Sometimes you just have to break up larger projects into smaller chunks and take a break from them. Otherwise the pattern gets boring and the joy of working on it becomes drudgery.


Riet has done another daisy picot snowstar. This one sparkles with tiny green beads. These beaded motives are really sweet and they don't look like they'd take a lot of time to make.


Sharon had posted more designing info along with the pattern for snowflake #3. It's amazing the possibilities in a few snowflakes.


Donna has done several more of the windmill motives to see how they look together but the overall pattern isn't emerging yet.

Lots of Daisy Picots

Keeping up with all of the blogs is keeping me up way past my bed time and my thought processes aren't the best at 2:00 in the morning so tonight I promised myself I'd get this done before midnight. I might make it.


Gail has taken a pause from tatting to do some knitting for Christmas. A felted bag is the results.


Lynda has been working on her Christmons. She began with a pattern from Mary Konior's book, Tatting with Visual Patterns in gold and white but didn't like the effect of the gold thread in the inner part of the pattern, so she re-did it using the gold thread only as an external outline. Both are pretty in different ways.


Jon used Riet's daisy picot instructions to create this red and green delight. She thinks it needs some tweaking, but it looks good from where I'm sitting.


Riet has done a daisy picot earring with beads and a snowflake with beads. They're both adorable.


EeKoon has been doing some creative beadwork.

Flowers and Leaves and Creepy Crawlies

Mark was busy while he was away and his blog looks very autumnal with lots of tatted leaves. He's also showing some interesting little motives and a spider web complete with a little spider.

Riet has re-done her daisy picot edging and given it a corner. I agree with Jane that an edging without a corner is incomplete.

Sharon has added more information on designing and answered some of the questions that have been posed.

Azie has posted her second motif, a design by Darlene Polachic from a crochet magazine.


Laura has posted her first original design, a nosegay of flowers done in Sulky thread.

A doily in progress

Meme has posted an unfinished doily. It's the first three rounds of the Arachne Round Robin Doily from LaRae's page.

Tatting Galore!

Ruth is looking for the source of a snowflake she received n an exchange. Does anyone recognize it?

Sharol has another sun motif completed, but she thinks this one looks more like a snowflake. Maybe it's because it's the season for snowflakes. Points are hard to create in tatting. Rings and chains just naturally curve so creating points for a sun isn't easy. I think you're doing really well to have come up with the designs you have.


Clyde is starting the challenge again and has already posted 3 heart motives.

Mark is back from his holiday and would appreciate our prayers for his wife's aunt who collapsed with a ruptured aneurysm while they were away.


Kathy has posted a pattern from the April 1972 Workbasket done in Tennessee Orange.


Riet shares her instructions for making the daisy picot and a picture of Roesje the cat, a pattern from Martha Ess.


Sharon has more of the design primer posted with the instructions for row 2 of the doily.


Maria is having computer problems and will post again as soon as she can.


EeKoon has done another design from the Blomqvist & Persson book. This one is a gift for a co-worker.

Laura has done Jon's heart again, this time in size 10 so that she could see it clearly if she had to take it out. The thread is South
Maid colour 995, Ocean. Very pretty.

Wow! Look at all this lace.

My computer was being used yesterday, so I didn't get to post and today there's an amazing amount of tatting to show.

Ruth is teasing us again with pictures of her new book. She's in the midst of moving so the book has been delayed. Lots of terrific celtic designs.

Gail has committed herself to make a number of projects for Christmas so she hasn't had a lot of time for tatting. Check out the felted Jack-o'-lantern

Arlene finished her Rose Bouquet in red and green that isn't quite heart shaped and plans to do it again in pinks and reds to see how she likes it. Maybe an outward facing ring at the bottom would shape it more? She has also created a modification of another heart based on Teresa Woods' "Heart of Texas". Lovely work Arlene. Today she has posted a Lenore English ribbon pattern

Riet has re-done her bookmark using 2 same size threads. Both samples are beautiful.

Sharon has posted a picture of a 50th anniversary present tatted in gold thread.

Meme has posted a gorgeous picture, as usual, internet translation isn't the best, but I believe she said she is working on an Iris Niebach pattern in size 20 thread and she's getting 14 motives out of each ball of thread. I'm not even going to try to explain, just go check out her blog while I clean the drool off my keyboard.

Azie has posted a motif from Wally's Tat- Along. She's used size 80 thread for this motif and look at her even picots and her neat joins. Good job Azie.

Carol has decorated her blog with a tatted Jack-o'-lantern and is using a tatted bat pattern as a background

Tatting From On-line Patterns

Several of the patterns today are fom on-line sources. I am trying to link to the appropriate web sites, but I don't always have the time to do so. I am also trying to colour code the links so that they are easier to find, using blue for challenge pages and purple for reference pages.

Diana has re-worked the snowman using different connection points for the rings. That looks good Diana, now lets see a slightly different variation. Larger rings, smaller chains, or replace the single rings with small cloverleaves or how about Josephine knots in place of the picots on the chains?

EeKoon has working on an edging in variegated blue Size 10 Floretta. The pattern is from Be-Stitched.

The Winter Rose from Teeny Tatted Snowflakes by Samantha Melnychuk is Jeanne's latest motif. Samantha began selling her patterns as a way to help finance her education. She used to post to the e-mail lists, but as her school workload increased she had less and less time. The link for her web site has been included, but the page hasn't been updated for 2 years.

Laura has been tatting some on-line patterns and today it's one of Jane Eborall's wonderful designs, a little butterfly worked in DMC #20 Cebelia. Jane has an awesome collection of patterns you can see here.

Note: Some of the pictures that have been posted include a lot of excess background and it's harder to fit the pictures on the page. I am assuming that if there's a lot of extra background "noise" it's because you don't have the software to easily crop the images. So that I can fit things in, I'm going to start croping out the extra background. People will see the real thing when they go to your page which I am linking the pictures to anyway.

Celtic tatting, spiders, bookmark, heart and more

Ruth has posted some more of her celtic motives. She's been busy moving to Kansas and hasn't had time to get her book out yet. Ruth you are such a tease, tormenting us with these incredible designs and then making everyone w- a- i- t. In addition to the letter "O" and the celtic pumpkin, Ruth is also displaying some big hairy spiders. Arachniphobes be warned, Ruth's web site is scary.

Riet has created a bookmark using the daisy picot technique and discovered at the end she had used 2 different sizes of thread. It's very pretty, will it look the same if the threads are the same size?

Azie is just getting into tatting and has posted some pictures of her work so far. After the flip, everything else gets easier.

Laura did the blue heart Jon created the other day in yellow, pink and green.

Diana tatted the snowman from Christmas Angels and Other Tatting Patterns by Monica Hahn and then taking the idea from Sharon's blog, did it again with a slight modification. Now she has plans to take another step in designing her own patterns. Modifying a published pattern for your own enjoyment or for a learning experience is not infringing upon copyright.

A Shared Pattern

It's been another quiet day. Jon has posted the pattern for the blue daisy heart she did yesterday.

A Day Late

I checked all the blogs last night but decided that I'm not coherent when I'm falling asleep on the keyboard and that's not a good state to be in while trying to do something other people will read. So here's yesterday's post- today.


Jon has posted a blue heart made up of lots of little daisies surrounded by an outer chain. This is a design that would look like a strawberry done in red. Maybe for a strawberry a bit of green could be added on the top.


Lori has created a sweet one inch snowflake.

Donna B has been experiencing computer problems and just got a new MacBook, so she is able to post again. Today she has more motives showing. The first is "Thistle" from Tatting Patterns, one on Konior's books done in a colour she doesn't care for. Have you ever noticed that the colour of a motif affects the way you feel about a pattern? The second motif is "Windmill" from another Konior book and she's gone back to using the blue variegated thread. Windmill is one of those motives that you really have to see several of them connected to get the full effect as one motif by itself doesn't let you visualize the whole. The blades of the windmill start in the centre of one motif, spread out to the edge and when connected to the second motif the blade narrows down to a point again in the centre of the second motif.


Laura has just completed a button motif that was shared by Janet earlier in the challenge. This is terrific. One tatter creating a design for the challenge and another tatter using the design for their own challenge collection.

Lori has designed yet another one round motif using a mystery thread that she thinks is about size 40. This motif is about 5 inches across. It was supposed to be square but it has 5 sides.


Sharon has added another segment in the series on designing. These segments have included the pattern for the articles being used. I'm beginning to feel like a split personality, always referring to myself in the third person. It is kind of weird.


Laura has just completed Julie Patterson's Flower Cross bookmark and did a lovely job with it. She used size 80 thread, but feels that she was too inexperienced to work on something this intricate with a fine thread. The bookmark may have stretched Laura's abilities a little, but she was obviously able to rise to the occasion.

Another Tatter finishes 25

Congratulations to Clyde who has completed his 25 motives, 16 large and 9 small for his tablecloth. The tablecloth will take 276 motives so Clyde only has 251 more to go! He's now going to work on Ruth Perry's boa pattern for his daughter in something colourful. Clyde comments that working on white can get boring after a while and I think we all agree. After he's finished the boa and maybe a couple of other colourful items he'll come back and join us for another 25.

Barbara has posted another ecru motif for her pashmina. This design is from Tatting with Anne Orr, Done with DMC Cordonnet Special Ecru 40.

I have posted the 3rd entry on designing. I have been tatting motives but need to hide ends and block before I can scan them.

Snowy has done a motif from the Julia Saunders book using more of the luscious hand dyed threads. This one's a beautiful green, and she's also done a little one in purple just to use up the thread on the shuttle, but it's pretty too.

Jeanne has tatted a key from Judith Connors book New Designs from an Old Art. This book may encourage her to finally tackle split chains. Go ahead Jeanne, once you learn you'll never go back.

Chrismons, Crayons and Bears

Lynda thinks she'll use the Motif Challenge to tat some ornaments for her own Christmas tree and she has 2 new motives up in some lovely variegated colours. There are 18 types of Chrismons, and she's not sure that the article she has is complete, so she will be designing some of them because she hasn't found tatting patterns for all of them. I think most of us give away more of our tatting than we keep and it's not unusual to look around our homes and see that the one person we don't tat for, is ourselves.
Diana has posted a necklace she's working on that incorporates crayon buttons. Very kitsch, in the nicest sense. After several unsuccessful attempts to sell some of her necklaces on ebay, she sold $70.00 worth of merchandise in person in a 2 day period. Location, location, location; it's always true that you have to match your product with your clientele. Some venues don't work for some things.
Mark has had time for one more motif, a simple SR shuttle motif that has rings thrown off the bottom half of the SR that is enclosed inside.
I have added the second part of the design primer to my blog. No new motives for me until I get the tatting for my brother's 50th anniversary done.
Carol's Thread Bear is just adorable and she gets the award for the most creative use of an old thread label.

Blomqvist and Persson pattern

All of Wally's motives for the challenge are designs she has created. Today she posts a heart motif that uses block tatting. She needs to tweak the design a little to give it a more distinctive heart shape. Mark won't be updating his blog for a while as he enjoys the fall colours with his family, but he assures us he'll still be tatting. Barbara remarks that she's running out of the variegated lilac thread for the pashmina. She has the Tatting with Anne Orr, medallion No. 31 half done and she has switched to using Ecru thread for a second shawl. For this one, she chose Design No 13 from A Japanese book (101 Tatting Designs), made with DMC Cordonnet Ecru No. 40. Sharon has begun a designing primer for people who want to see the process she goes through in creating new patterns. EeKoon has worked the Flowery Meadow pattern from the Blomqvist and Persson book and had some difficulties with it. Has anyone else managed to complete this pattern? I recall someone stating that it was not workable and that the design is shown incomplete in the book because it can't be done. Marilee has added 2 more necklaces to her blog and she shares the pattern for this latest design. It is interesting the difference subtle changes can make in a design. Look at the difference in these 2 bookmarks. Laura joins the challenge and has posted several bookmarks that she has completed including LaRae Mikulecky's "Celtic Bookmark" worked in both size 20 Cebelia and size 80 tatting cotton.

Critters and Teensy Tattys

Lynda has had surgery on her foot which means she has to stay off of it for a while. She's been working on an edging for a hanky and buying up lots of supplies from a store that's going out of business. Sharon has posted some diagrams showing possible variations of the motif morphed into a heart and a butterfly. Jeanne has tatted a penguin from Martha Ess' book - New Critters on the Block. Her partner "needed' it for her truck. She also did some little floral sprays from Tatting Collage by Lindsay Rogers. Carol has posted 5 more tiny motives. She's calling them "Teensy Tattys". Clever tiny scraps of tatting. So many people doing amazing things with lace.

Teeny Tiny Tatted Treasures

Jan has completed another one of the motives from Patti Duff's Mini Tats. This is the most complex motif she has done so far. Jan has been doing the same motif several times until she's happy with the results. Many tatters perfect there stitches by doing lots of edgings. Edgings let you memorize the pattern so that you can pay more attention to your stitches. After a while you tat on auto pilot so you can spend more time making sure that your picots are uniform and your tension is consistent. Little things like how tightly you close your rings and how snuggly you pull up your chains, have an impact on your lace. It's harder to hone these skills when you are practicing on motives, so it's more of a challenge. Arlene has posted 2 hearts and the centre of "Rose bouquet heart" from Becky Dempsey formerly posted Maus' site. Now that she's done these, she thinks she'll try her own designs. Sharon has added another snowflake to the collection. These will be morphed into hearts and butterflies for a study in designing. Carol has created an itty bitty angel with cluny wings that's less than an inch tall. So sweet!

If you've been watching the challenge, but haven't jumped in yet, remember that you have one calendar year from the time you start. So if you start now, you have until next October to tat your 25 motives. If you were afraid to start because you thought you'd missed the inception date, don't worry, you can start now. If you thought you were too much of a newbie, think again. One of our participants jumped into the challenge only 2 weeks after she first learned to tat. Anyone can join. Just add a comment below or send me an e-mail at sharon at gagechek dot com and give me the address of your web page, blog, or photo page. At the first opportunity, I'll add your link to the list on the right.

Tatters are already approaching the finish line

Ruth has already completed her 25 motives and is in the process of publishing the designs. Now Clyde has now completed 15 large and 9 small motives for his tablecloth. One more and he will have reached his first 25 motives. Then he'll only 251 more to go. It's coming, slow but steady.
Snowy has found a good match for the thread she ran out of and has posted a new picture of the motif. Donna B has another motif, also from Tatting in Lace, this motif is called “Rose Garden.” There are only 7 rings in it — the center, and the center of the six half-flowers around the outside. The thread is the same as last time: Altin Basak #50, variegated white to blue.
Marilee spent an afternoon with the Lotsa Knotsa tatting guild and she posts their logo which was designed using the tatted alphabet idea in Mary Sue Kuhn's book: The Joy of Split Ring Tatting.
Just a gentle reminder. A number of people have joined the challenge which has been running since the middle of August and have yet to post their first motif. To tat 25 motives in one year means that you are tatting roughly 2 motives every month. You might be planning on doing everything in just a few weeks like Ruth did with her Celtic designs and you're just waiting for a block of time to be available so that you can tat like mad, or you may be thinking that you have a whole year so there's no hurry. 25 motives is really quite a lot of tatting, so if you have just been procrastinating, now's the time to get busy. Besides, we want to see what you're working on :-)