Victorian Red Spinning Wheel

My mom's favorite color is red. So the whole time I was tatting this Spinning Wheel, I was thinking of Mom. Isn't it pretty?

The thread is size 20 Lizbeth, Victorian Red #670. So far, I've been meeting my goal of tatting at least one Spinning Wheel glass mat each week!

Late Winter Snowflake

I finished Robin's "Late Winter Snowflake" last night, and gave it a shot of steam this morning. It looks like I should really pin it down properly before sending it off to Mom.

This is a snowflake I will definitely tat again! If I had only looked at a picture of it, I think I would have made it more complicated than it is. The snowflake is tatted in one round... my favorite type of design!

Yesterday's mail brought a new tatting book! I have way more tatting books than any single person could ever use in a lifetime, but I can't help myself. It must be the librarian in me!

There are some beautiful designs in this book. The author, Tomoko Morimoto, is the daughter of the fabulous Teiko Fujito. The pictures are fantastic, and thread yardage is given for each design. The shuttles used are the pastel Clover, which I happen to love using. There is a fabulous silk shawl that I'm tempted to tat. I'll have to do the math to figure out how much silk thread I'll have to buy. I dread doing math!

There was one aspect of the book that surprised me. Tomoko Morimoto doesn't hide her thread ends! She ties a knot, snips the threads close to the knot, and glues the thread down. I've done that in an emergency, but it is not my preferred method of hiding thread ends. If I decide to make the silk shawl, I may have to use a dab of glue to keep the thread from sliding out, but I think I will still sew in my ends for a bit.

There are some interesting threads introduced in this book, ones I'd not heard of before. I didn't do an intense study, but it appears that all of the threads used in the book are available at either Handy Hands or Lacis.

I also managed to start the next round of Renulek's Letnia. I do love Arctic Waters!

A little time to tat

This is my husband's busiest week of the year, and I help him out a little bit by totaling invoices. I'm not a math person, so I find it very boring. It is nice, though, to know that I'm helping him in some small way.

Despite helping to total invoices, I did manage to find a little tatting time. It seems I can almost always find time for tatting!

As I was working on the third round of Renulek's newest doily, I noticed that I made a mistake in round two. The stand-alone ring is tatted incorrectly. It didn't seem to matter, so I decided to leave the mistake rather than fix it. I want to see if it will cause me problems later on. If it does, I'll probably just start over.

Robin's "Late Winter Snowflake" is coming along nicely. I hope to have time to finish it tonight.

If I don't dawdle, it looks like I'll have a little time to tat before leaving for school this morning!

Back and forth

I love the shades of blue in Arctic Waters, and I'm really enjoying the way the colors flow in Renulek's Letnia.

I finished another spoke of Robin's "Late Winter Snowflake."

I wish I could focus on one project at a time, but I just can't seem to do it!

Joining the fun

I've long admired Renulek's beautiful doilies, so I decided to join in and tat Letnia.

I know I didn't get very far, but we all have to start somewhere! I'm using size 20 Lizbeth, #185, Arctic Waters.

I'm also working on another snowflake designed by Robin of Tatting by the Bay. This one is Late Winter Snowflake, again in Victorian Red. I hope Mom likes all of these red goodies I'm tatting for her!

Woodland Medallion

Here's another pretty motif designed by Robin of Tatting by the Bay. I happened to have the same finding in my stash, although it's a different color than the one Robin used. I think the red is really striking with the gold tone finding. This was a fun and easy tat. Wouldn't it be pretty as a Christmas star?

Solstice

Have you visited Robin's blog, Tatting by the Bay? She has been creating some fabulous designs using her iPad, and since I would love to learn how to design some day, I've been following her adventures!

Robin has some wonderful patterns that she shares on her blog. This is the first one I've tatted, named Solstice. It's tatted in two continuous rounds. Robin gives instructions for climbing out of the first round with a split ring, but since my split rings sometimes leave a lot to be desired, I decided to tat it in two rounds. I'm very happy with the result!

Arches

First, I'd like to thank all of you for your kind words yesterday! I'm resting and taking my medicine, so I'm confident that all will be well soon.

I was a little distracted over the weekend, so I forgot to post a picture of Paige's latest motif. I'm looking forward to getting back to school so that I can see what the kids have been tatting!

I finished Marilee Rockley's "Arches" doily in size 20 Lizbeth, #670. It's about 7" in diameter. This is for Mom, because red is her favorite color! 

Arches, Round 4

After snipping off my unfortunate mistake, I finally finished Round 4 of Marilee Rockley's "Arches" doily.

I've started the final round, and I hope to have it finished by the end of the week.

Peyton finished six rings, and now she's ready to tat a ring and chain pattern.

4th grader Zoe tatted 12 inches over the weekend. She's going to be concentrating on Fancy Pants now.

I've been busy decorating tatting shuttles. I just can't help myself! I'll show pictures when they're finished.

37!

 It has been an unbelievably busy and exciting week... too much to blog about... but one of the most wonderful parts of this past week was the after-school tatting class today. Why? There were 37 students in attendance! We met for about an hour and had more fun than should be allowed. I meant to take a picture, but the time flew by and kids were headed for softball practice or home before I had time to remember my camera.

I did get pictures of tatting throughout the week, though.

Fancy Pants

Fancy Pants

Fancy Pants

Alternating threads for Fancy Pants using two shuttles

A tatted bracelet

A tatted ring - alternating threads using two shuttles

Shelby's first motif, earning her one of Marty's shuttles

Tatted ring and bracelet

Long chain with picots

A long, long chain!

A tatted ring and bracelet

A tatted ring and bracelet

Owen's Fancy Pants

Fancy Pants

Grace's bracelet

Fancy Pants

Picots!

 As you can see, the kids have been very busy tatting!

And what have I been up to?

I finally finished round 2 of Marilee Rockley's "Arches" doily tonight! I looks like it needs a little blocking, but I'm too tired for that tonight. I think I'll take the Scarlett O'Hara attitude and think about it tomorrow... "After all tomorrow is another day!"

Good night, all!

Starting Round 2

I didn't get much done on Round 2 of my Arches doily (pattern by Marilee Rockley), but at least I started!

We had a busy day at school today. Third graders have been writing and illustrating their own books, and today one class read their books to the first graders. Tomorrow the other class will be reading their books. Having fun can sure be exhausting!

I'm off to bed... good night all!

Arches, Round 1

This was a nice, easy round to tat. I really like seeing the Victorian Red next to my grey pants. I actually considered using charcoal grey thread for this round, but when the ball of thread wasn't where I thought it should be, I continued with the red. I was just too lazy to continue looking!

Chains seem to be in fashion at Grant Park Elementary!

Today, I gave a lesson in blocking to a group of girls. Paige finished another motif. I showed the girls how to hide the ends of the thread, and then Paige thoroughly wet the motif. The girls watched as I pressed the motif into shape with my fingers. Paige carefully carried her motif back to class to dry.

Shelby is getting very close to finishing her motif. I can hardly wait to show it!

Starting another doily

I couldn't help myself. I'm really into doilies right now. I've been wanting to tat Marilee Rockley's "Arches" doily for quite a while, so after school today I took the plunge!

I decided to keep tatting with the Victorian Red. Now that I have the center finished, I'm ready for Round 1!

Molly has been perfecting her chains, as well as learning to make picots.

Grace is having trouble with rings, so she decided to practice her Fancy Pants and picots for now. There's nothing wrong with practicing the familiar before moving on to something new!

Russian doily finished!

I think it looks so pretty! It's about 8 1/2" in diameter, and I think the Victorian Red is the perfect color. The shuttle is one of my Handi-Wind shuttles from Grizzly Mountain Arts. It's one of my favorites!

If you'd like to make one for yourself, the pattern can be found in this book. Don't worry if you don't speak Russian. The diagrams are terrific!

Motifs!

Paige has finished her first two motifs! They're simple rings and chains, but she's very proud of her accomplishment, as she should be! As her prize, she chose one of LaCossette's beautiful shuttles. You should have seen the kids trying to help her choose the perfect shuttle!

I knew I'd forget, but I know the kids will remind me of who tatted this beautiful length of chain, and chose a bookmark as her prize.

Third and fifth graders swarmed the library after lunch today. It's so much fun to see them helping each other out, and it's amazing to me that they spend their precious 10 minutes of recess time practicing tatting!

Karl finished another length of chain and chose this tatted lion as his prize.

Madison is also enjoying tatting lengths of chain. She chose a tatted necklace as her prize.

My next project is from this book. I don't speak or read Russian, but it doesn't matter. This book has wonderful diagrams!

This is the first round of the doily found on page 53. The thread is Lizbeth Victorian Red, #670, size 20. The color doesn't show up well in this photo, but it is a beautiful deep red.

Tomorrow will be another fun day... more shuttles arrived from Handy Hands!