Goodies in the mail

I've been a bad girl lately! I can't help myself. When I see pretty shuttles needing a new home, I'm willing to provide that home.

Recently, Karen Bovard, The ShuttleSmith, started making beautiful enameled copper shuttles. I missed the boat on Karen's earlier shuttles, a case of finding out about her too late. I wasn't about to miss out this time! Aren't they pretty?

Recently, Fox posted that she needed to find a home for her recently purchased plaid and fleur-de-lis shuttles. I love plaid, and I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Fox is not fond of Clover shuttles, but I love them! As a bonus, she sent me some alphabet beads, which I'm sure I can use. And did you notice the pretty pink pouch? It has paisleys on it, and I love paisley. Paisley and plaid... how can you beat that?

Have you seen Carollyn's cute bunny shuttles? I just had to have them. I've seen that others have given their bunny shuttles names. I've never been big on naming things. It was tough enough coming up with names for my children! I will think about it, though. ;-)

Today's weaving adventure produced a chenille bag large enough to hold a Kindle Paperwhite. I still haven't developed Mom's technique, but I'm trying!

And now... tatting time!

This is the pattern...

that started my interest in tatting!

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a long time know the story...

Back in high school, a new girl in the neighborhood tatted a cross for me as a thank you gift. I still have it in the house, someplace really, really safe! ;-)

For 20 years I tried off and on to learn to tat from a book with no success. Then one day, Denise called me and told me that she had learned to tat in 20 minutes from a video. She lent the video to me, and the rest is history!

I was very excited to see this picture on Pinterest, so I printed the picture and began searching for the pattern. I discovered that this is an old Workbasket pattern, and some day I'll take the time to search for the December 1958 issue that I believe holds this pattern.

I've tatted this pattern before, using the original cross as my pattern. However, I really wanted to find the original pattern. There is an Etsy shop that sells a reprint of the pattern for $3.99, but I was sure I had seen the pattern, or something similar, somewhere else.

Sure enough, there's a free pattern from Becky Dempsey, dated 2002! My stitch count on the rings is different from Becky's. Her rings are 8-8. Mine are 6-2-6... such a minor difference!

I need to decide on a tassel for this cross. It is a gift for Rachel, who is going to try her hand at blinging some of my tatting shuttles. She creates fabulous nail art, and she has decorated cell phone and camera cases. I'm really looking forward to seeing her creations! Rachel is a former student of mine, as well as a friend of my oldest daughter, Alison. I now teach Rachel's children in school, but I will be retired before her grandchildren are born! ;-)

I had an unexpected parcel in the mail yesterday... a tatting gift from Fox! She knows my weakness for shuttles, and she sent me two that she was sure I'd enjoy. She is so right! I do own two of these shuttles that I have never taken out of their original packaging. They were a gift from my son-in-law's father, who lives in Slovakia. I am thrilled that I will be able to tat with these little beauties and still have a set in the original packaging! Thank you Fox!

I guess it's time to get on with my day... so much to do, so little time to tat!

Just plain stubborn!

Yup, that's me! Yesterday I tatted the last ring of this pretty little motif, Toshti, designed by Jon and named by Fox. When I finished the ring, I realized that I had joined it to the wrong picot. I tried to retro-tat, and I managed to tighten one of the knots tighter than I had ever done before... not a good thing!

I spent hours trying to get that knot out... at least three hours yesterday, and at least an hour today. Finally, I decided to take the scissors and snip the darned thing out. After all, I could have re-tatted the whole motif in that time!

I very carefully tatted and joined the last ring, and to my dismay, I realized that I never needed the ring in the first place! I had forgotten to join the last clover to the correct ring. I took out the last ring and just did a little sewing to join at the forgotten spot. I did consider retro-tatting to fix the join properly, but I had already spent way too much time in this one spot. You'd better believe, I won't be making that mistake again!

By the way, this is size 40 Lizbeth, Niagara Falls #158. The finished size is about 3 1/4" square.

Hearts for Misha

Never let it be said that I tat a pattern correctly the first time.

Case in point... Fox's "Heart for Misha." I was so excited about my doodads arriving, I sat down and started tatting using the first doodad package I laid my hands on. See the heart on the left? I made a mistake. How is it possible to make a mistake while looking at a diagram? I have no idea, but I managed to do it!

I did not feel like retro-tatting, so I tried to make the best of it. It's okay, but not nearly  as pretty as the heart tatted the way Fox intended it (heart on the right). Of course, maybe that's because the heart on the right uses the same doodad as in Fox's picture.

I think I may have miscounted the stitches in the large ring at the bottom. Luckily, I have some more doodads to play with!

P.S. ~ I ordered my doodads from Fire Mountain Gems, a very dangerous place to shop! ;-)

Valdani?

The next shuttle in my cabinet was a gift from Tatting-Marie, and I love it! There was thread left on it from a Mary Konior pattern I tatted a while back, so I wound some of it on to my new Tatting Forums member shuttle and tatted my Stumpy motifs. I'm pretty sure the thread is a Valdani sample from Fox. I do like the color combination!

Sulky Blendables #4015 ~ Cool Waters

Isn't this a pretty color? I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying working with these threads! I feel like a real tatter! ; )

The shuttle was a gift from Fox. I had tried it before with some size 20 Lizbeth, and it just didn't work well for me. You may remember that for a while I didn't enjoy using the bobbin shuttles with the fine thread. Size 40 seemed to be the best fit for me. However, now that I've been using the 30 wt Sulky Blendables with the bobbin shuttles for a while, I'm finding that I really like the bobbin shuttles.

I think this is one of the Pony shuttles, and except for the protrusion at the end, I really like it. I love the ratcheting sound when I unwind thread from the bobbin. Maybe I should have a Pony shuttle in every color... or two! 

...and then there were two!

...of Iris Niebach's beautiful motifs! Iris presented this design as her Christmas present to all tatting friends in December 2002.

Fox has been inspiring all of us with her beautiful beaded versions. While I haven't taken the beading plunge yet, I did want to get back into working with Iris's designs. They're amazing!

Thank you, again, Iris and Fox!