Spectacular Doilies, Ornaments and Nativity Set

Eva has tatted up to day 4 of the TIAS challenge in turkish thread size 50 in variegated thread seen here with her paua shuttles. Lynda has been a very busy tatter, but as she was test tatting some things for friends for publication she can't show them here. Her Christmas tatted ornaments were a hit and she has taught the daughter of a neighbor how to tat and while visiting Bina she got into playing with clay. Lots of things going on including some cataract surgery at the end of the month. We'll be remembering to pray for you. Wendy is wondering what she should do with her daughter's cut hair. The last time she used it to make hair for a doll. This time she's wondering if she should do something with it or throw it out. She has found English instructions for Kanzashi and she shows how she does English paper piecing.

Connie did Jon's Heart Snowflake again, this time she did every other ring the same colour as the chain so the hearts stand out better.The thread is Rubi Thread Colors 1242 pale yellow and 9172 variegated violet/blue. Using the same colours she did Bob's motif but it didn't turn out with the pretty shape his has.

Iris' family have had the flu and she's had sick grandchildren to care for so she posted a picture of the Palmetto doily with lots of techniques to practice. A couple of years ago she did a class in Denmark and the ladies tatted her Delia doily in a plethora of colours. All the same, and all so different. Iris designed a doily for a Danish magazine, but as it was similar to a doily donated to the Danish tatting ring they preferred another doily. Both of these are one round doilies.

Mrs John shows what to do with a bookmark when you're too young to read - you wear it. My kind of girl! Like us, Mrs John has discovered that it is easy to get ripped off when buying tatting books. Shay was doodling with her shuttles and produced a traditional style edging which she plans to mirror image so that she can make a bookmark out of it. She has shared the pattern for it on her blog. Jeff tatted Mimi's kite pattern in Flora size 20 thread, colour number 55 which gave him great practice doing clunies. C4G has given a direct link for the video that wasn't working.

Bonnie has just started tatting and shares a lovely cross made by her great uncle Francis, who inspired her to learn to tat.

Mary has made some awesome greeting cards.

Diane's broken arm is forcing her to actually READ the instructions in her tatting books. Reading instructions, what a novel idea! Let me see, now what was your occupation again…librarian wasn't it. Just kidding Diane, we all do the, jump right in and tat thing, I think it has something to do with wanting to be tatting and seeing the lace fall from our fingers.

Joyce tatted these sweet but simple earrings in size 12 perle cotton.

Mark was doing the TIAS challenge and was on auto pilot tatting so he needed to retro tat and fix a small error. I was thinking if a tatter wanted to do an art show, what kinds of things would they tat? What do you think belongs in an art show for tatting? This tatted bit is incomplete. Can you guess what it's trying to be? Marilee has split a 6 cord thread so that we can see all 6 plies. 3 pairs of strands twisted in one direction then all 6 twisted in the opposite direction. Ooooo look another book in the making. You know what nearly made tatting die out? Lack of new and innovative patterns. Thanks to the internet tatting has been FOUND. Well I didn't see that coming. Laura has done the unexpected and placed the variegated Rhubarb Crisp thread at either end of the doily and the pale yellow along the sides. Then she had the misfortune to be in too much pain to tat, so we'll have to wait to see where she goes from here. Melissa is working on some quilt blocks and a tutorial on beginning to make a CQ block.

Sherry used one of Jane's designs for the TAT program and tatted it in size 20 Rubi thread. Things have overwhelming recently so the news that they won't be moving quite so soon has given Sherry a little more breathing room. Spring Poppies is the sunshine-y colour blend she has created named for the flowers that inspired the colour.

Wally tatted this little doily in Altin Basak #10 in a variegated pink color and has plans to do a mate for it and then another larger doily. If you don't like the colour Wally, you can send it here. I'll be happy to find a home for it. Martha's MIL gave them a camera for Christmas and she's been trying it out. The tatted nativity set designed by Ineke Kuperij was tatted in size 80 thread. It's just simply gorgeous.

Fans, Gecko, Flowers, Hearts and Bookmarks

Administration note:
Anyone can join the challenge but as a reminder for those who want to join, I need your name and your blog address to add you to the links list on the right. Email addresses are handy if I need to contact you, but aren't essential. It's frustrating when people say they want to join, but don't sign their email or sign the email and don't give me a blog address, or they give me an address that can only be accessed if you are a member. Remember that other folks want to read about your tatting trials and tribulations and see all of the other things that are important to you too, and they can't unless the location is publicly accessible. Many people who follow the 25 Motif Challenge regularly aren't able to participate themselves but they do enjoy following what everyone is doing. So help me out by giving me the necessary information to add you into the fun. If you have any questions you can email me at sharon at gagechek dot com or leave a comment on any of the challenge postings. (Don't forget to give an email address where I can respond to you.)

Wendy's daughters have long hair and Wendy is looking for information on making Kanzashi in English.

Connie has a guestbook on her blog and a video slide presentation of the things she has tatted.

Mrs John has the motif from the Priscilla book blocked and it's looking good, although she's not happy with it and plans to try it again. The variegated thread is Aunt Lydia's Oasis and she has plans to make a doily for herself using this thread.The fan pattern has been repeated in a very dramatic red and black and it looks wonderful. She thought the rings on the outer edges stuck out too far so she modified the design by removing them and she likes the results. Modifying an existing pattern is a great way to begin designing your own patterns. Mrs John has done the fan again in white and variegated jewel tones and now she has ideas for a different pattern that might make a nice fan. Do we have a budding designer here?

Shay has shares a quote of the day and a kitty picture along with a recipe for home made yogurt. I may have to try this one.

Jeff tatted Jane's gecko pattern and plans to attach this one to a shirt. He used Marilee's hand dyed thread in "Deep Ocean" size 30 and wishes he had bought more of this wonderful thread. Jeff is also working on Jane's TIAS. Notice the blue shuttle, Jeff is another Canuck with access to these Aero-like shuttles. Laura was asking Jeff about his orchids so he posted a picture of his gorgeous Phalaenopsis orchid, "Salu Princess", which has been flowering for more than a month.

C4G has just learned to tat and already she's addicted. We could have told her it's addicting, maybe tatting shuttles should come with a warning! Her first motif was supposed to be a 6 petal flower, but she didn't know how BIG a big joining picot would have to be. Now she knows, so her flower has only 5 petals.She's currently working on a snowflake from Easy Tatting. C4G has been making some beaded jewellery, wait until she finds out that tatting and beads go well together. I couldn't get the video about Folk Artists in Wyoming to work for me.

Joyce is working on her quilt block and using a lot more yellow that she's used to.

Pamela was looking for a topical and relatively quick design to use for her daughter's wedding in 2006 and used Jane's double heart design. 260 hearts is a lot of tatting.

Arlene has a podcast about tatting and knitting called Arlene Tats and Knits and if all goes well she has plans to do regular pod casting. Lots of fun and lots of useful information too.

Clyde's doily pattern isn't working out well and he's had to re-start this row several times. That's not something you want to do too often when using hand dyed thread because you can't just go buy more if you run out so I'm sure this has been frustrating. Clyde has also given a list of reasons why he loves hand dyed threads.

After trying out one of the old patterns to answer a question for Mrs John, Jon tatted another of the vintage patterns that had always intimidated her before. Once she go into working on it she realized that it was a design that could just go on and on. This one went on long enough to from a triangle into a square.

Marilee has been tatting bookmarks with her "Peace" and "Peach" hand dyed threads and playing around with the Catherine Wheel or Split Chain Join. Along the way she needed to add in new threads so she took time to photograph how she does it.
Laura is still working on her doily and she's not telling us what she's doing, but she has a lot of ends to hide. We'll have to wait and see. Laura has also finished the second installment of the TIAS challenge.

Charlene has been tagged for the "You Make My Day" award. She received a lovely little gift in the mail and is continuing to work of cross stitch pieces. Her father is recovering nicely from kidney surgery. We'll keep praying for him.

Melissa has finished making the royal blue velveteen purse. How sweet.

Marvellous Motives and Creative Challenges

Wendy's kids had a snow day and created some snow sculptures before coming in for hot chocolate and doughnuts. My kind of winter fun!

Laurie is trying out her new camera and pets always make willing subjects.

Bev has posted motives 13 to 15, beginning with holiday earrings, a watering can and a wheelbarrow. She has also taught her daughter Kristen to tat and she's quite proud of Kirsten's ability to master split rings so that she could tat the first heart of a bookmark from Nancy Taylor's book, "Tat's Where I Stopped."

Mary celebrated her 40th wedding anniversary with her husband John.

Mrs John tatted the fan from Annie's Attic Ultimate Book of Tatted Doilies and had cut and tied her ends then realized she had one more ring and chain to tat. Her most recent motif just doesn't seem to want to cooperate. She's having trouble remembering to join, trouble remembering how many picots she should make and she's repeating the same mistakes over and over. It's a good thing it's almost done. A good press with an iron will melt it into submission.

Shay has just heard that her nephew is going to be in the desert for a while.

Diane has had Monica Hahn's book Christmas Angels and Other Tatting Patterns for a while but she was too intimidated to try the patterns in it. She thinks that as soon as she has the cast off she'll give it a try. She is showing us a picture of the first section of Jane's Tat it and See (TIAS) motif. How did she do that with a cast on?

Clyde loves hand dyed thread and treated himself to 12 skeins of Marilee's hand dyed threads. I agree with him that if you are going to spend a lot of time tatting something you might as well use good thread. Anything else is a waste of your tatting time.

Mark has also done the first instalment of Jane's TIAS motif and he's looking for the next bit. He's had to come to the rescue of family members who got flooded out. Please pray for them.

Jon took a look at the vintage pattern that was giving Mrs John so much trouble and she modified the design so that the whole thing could be done in one pass. Beautiful!

I have changed the links on my blog to show the archive pages of previous newsletters. A lot of people asked about the lace on the V neck of the shirt I was wearing. It's in Volume 5 Edition 2

Laura has begun her doily with the Rhubarb Crisp thread and she outlined the centre with DMC Cebelia in buttercup yellow. Doesn't if look yummy?

Charlene had a busy winter break with her father in hospital undergoing kidney surgery and now that she's back to work and back to normal, whatever that is, she has jumped back into doing cross stitching again.

Melissa has just done some SRE embroidery for a purse. It's Victorian and beautiful.

Sherry has been dying some more threads. There's Shades of Gray available from her Etsy shop and Coffee and Cream that she is using for Jane's TIAS challenge. The pattern she has been teasing us with is an edging design that she worked from sketch to final design tweaking it along the way going from size 100 to size 20 and her most recent variation is done in her hand dyed Rainbow Sherbet tatting thread.

Wally's latest entry is a classic one shuttle flower and she has provided the pattern for it. Classic and pretty. Her next entry is a take off on a Jan Stawsz design that she has named Polish flower.

Hankies, Gingerbread House, Butterfly and a Tease

Sylvia's birthday present is a pair of silver shuttles…for her ears. Can hankies make a comeback? They can if we show them off and pique the interest of non tatters. Look at the sampling of beauties Sylvia has. Wendy post a link to a blog that shows how to crochet bottle tabs together to make a flower.

Anne has posted the link to her You Tube video on knitting. I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around the idea of months of twilight.

Tami was surprised by one of her friends who did a quilt for her. It's in her favourite colour - purple. Back problems and sickness have kept her from her normal routine so she used the time to work in crochet miniatures. Teddy bear and frog are crocheted in thread and they sit no more than 2 inches tall.

The weather outside if frightful. Shay missed her doctor's appointment due to flooded roads.

Jeff was tagged to post 7 weird/random facts.

Since tatting with a broken arm is quite difficult, Diane is reading her tatting books. She's even tried tatting with a flat shuttle and some variegated cotton knitting thread. Twelve minutes for one ring isn't bad for one handed tatting.

Pamela has been tagged for the Make My Day Award and today she posts some special beaded gifts given to her by a friend who lost her home to Katrina and had to recover her precious beads from the mud and disinfect them all before creating these treasures.

Carol's gingerbread house now has a partial roof. It does look like snow on the shingles doesn't it? Carol is so talented at these 3D designs.

The CBC show aired today and I was somewhat disappointed that they didn't give the address form my web site, choosing instead to give the blog address.
Laura is having fun with Tat it and See. After a lot of consideration she has decided to use her Rhubarb Crisp thread to tat the pattern for the friendship doily.

Melissa has posted some more SRE patterns for people to use and she's added colour to the patterns.

Sherry has posted another tease of the design she is working on. Some new thread colours are in process as well.

Bluebird, Edging, Doily, Teneriffe and Tatting

Wendy has been making lots of garlands for St Patrick's day, Valentines, Easter, Baby shower and more for the shop. The tatting is ruffly two inch wide edging which is one of her favourites and it brings her to about half way through the challenge.

Kate has been tagged to post 7 weird or random things about herself.

Mary has been working on some hand crafted cards. These cards are so beautiful they are works of art and I'm sure that anyone who receives one of these would treasure it. I don't mind throwing out bought cards, but one of these I'd just have to keep forever.

Shay's first motif is a bluebird tatted in vintage J. P. Coats #10 boil-fast cotton with a little glass bead added for the eye. It's not quite done as per the pattern but that's because Shay was imbibing while tatting.

Jeff has combined a Teneriffe Lace centre with tatting done in Anchor Pearl Cotton size 8 for an enchanting motif.

Diane has been tagged by Melissa for the You Make My Day Award.

Clyde is on the 8th row of his doily and it's now too big to scan. As with all doilies each round is taking longer and longer to complete, but it's stunningly beautiful.

I just heard from CBC TV that the episode of Living in Toronto that will feature tatting will be on Wednesday January 9th at 1:00 PM. For interested people who can't get CBC, you can view it on their web site. The tatted carnation is a design from my book Transitions in Tatting from Flat to Floral done in size 20 Opera.

Marilee has a new colour available. This one is called Peace in shades of a Peace rose.

Melissa has added some patterns for silk ribbon embroidery to her blog.

Snowflakes, Icicles, Suncatchers and Flowers

Tami shares a picture of the bride and groom. The wedding is over but the memories remain.

Norma has been nominated for the "You make my day" award.

Mrs John has her second motif done. This is from the Priscilla Tatting Book No. 3 available from the Antique Pattern Library and was tatted using two colors of shaded #10 crochet thread. The pattern or a very similar one is also in the Dover publication Tatting with Anne Orr and it forms the toe of a baby bootie.

Shay has posted a recipe for chicken stock.

Joyce has posted the centre for a new quilt round robin.

Pamela tatted a remarkable wall hanging with tatted snowflakes on it for a secret Santa exchange. She receive a tatted icicle, some earrings done in one of Marilee's patterns and a bunch of other goodies from Mary. Jane Eborall sent her one of her suncatchers and a Christmas tree brooch and Janes' sister Sally sent a different kind of suncatcher and some sequins so that she can design one of her own. Gina has challenged everybody to think of three things they want to be a priority and focus on them. One of Pamela's priorities was to get her web site in order and she's working on it.

Melissa has been tagged for the You make my day award. She's working on a cream on cream CQ round robin and she's using some of the tatting that Marie sent her a while ago.
Wally was playing with some digital tatting an this Taina flower is the result. It's tatted in Miquita size 20.
Martha is back to blogging about her tatting with these 2 pieces. Mark Myer's Madonna and Jane Eborall's Snowflake #2.