Doodad Snowflake #3 ~ Boysenberry Dk

Here's my snowflake for the day! I do like my little doodad snowflake patterns... they're quick, easy, and achievable... important for this time of year!

The shuttles are two of the first ones I blinged. I love the jewel tones, but my decoupage technique was not as finely tuned as it is now. Still, I do like my shuttles!

Lily's Choice

When everyone was here at Thanksgiving, granddaughter Lily chose this thread for snowflakes... DMC Light Effects Classical Blends, Midnight Madness #E133. It is a gorgeous thread, but a real pain in the finger tips for tatting! I used three strands, which made it a little too big for my doodad centers. Maybe next time I'll try tatting with two strands. Thread Heaven did help a little bit, but not enough to make this a thread I really enjoy using.

Again, the pattern is the first round of Kira's Star by Birgit Phelps.

So far, I'm keeping up with Allison on the snowflake-a-day for December... but, what's that I see? A plain shuttle? Blasphemy! I think I may need to break out the Mod Podge and glitter over Christmas break. I think that if I'm going to work with glittery thread, I must have glittery shuttles!

Keeping up with Allison

I decided that the first round of Kira's Star by Birgit Phelps makes a beautiful little snowflake by itself! Again, Lizbeth Grape Splash... trying to use thread already on the shuttles. The shuttles are two Clovers that I blinged. Apparently I didn't use enough glitter. ;-)

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

...or so I've been told!

This image was posted on Facebook. I was intrigued, so I followed the link to Pinterest, and then on to an embroidery site. It looks like tatting, but it's not.

I decided to try and tat the design from the image, and this is how it turned out. The thread is size 20 Lizbeth, Grape Splash #165. For this post, I wanted to give credit to the person who created the machine embroidery, but of course I couldn't find either the Facebook or the Pinterest post, so I Googled and found a tatted image of the same snowflake...

by Birgit Phelps! I hope the person who "imitated" Birgit's pattern gave her credit. I will not be posting a pattern for this snowflake. It's Birgit's pattern from 2002, Kira's Star.

Birgit, if you're reading this, I would love to hear from you. I don't know if this is a pattern that was for sale, or even if it was ever offered to the tatting community. If it is a pattern for purchase, please let me know so that I can compensate you, and thank you for designing such a beautiful snowflake!

Update ~ I just found Birgit's pattern here. My stitch count is different, and my second round is different, but it is still Birgit's pattern. Thank you, again, Birgit!

A snowflake a day for December?

It's a goal, and it's totally achievable if I keep my eye on the prize... a beautiful tree!  You'd think I'd be sick of tatting snowflakes by now, but I'm not. What inspired me? Allison posted her goal today, and I'm going to try and match her snowflake for snowflake!

So, sticking with blue, here's my first entry...

Again, I've chosen size 20 Lizbeth, Wedgewood DK #656. The shuttle on the right is a cherry wood Pop-A-Bobbin made by 'im in the garage, and they're sold in Jane's shop when they're available. Keep your eyes peeled... they go fast! The shuttle on the left is a Clover shuttle that I blinged. I do go on blinging binges... I just can't help myself!

It had to be blue...

I just had to indulge in a blue snowflake! I think this one may be for me!

Size 20 Lizbeth, #656, Wedgewood DK

Fantastic Thanksgiving

Dave and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family! We spent Thursday with Dave's sister Karen, her husband Larry, and our daughter Carol. Friday brought Andrea and family into town, and Saturday Alison and family joined us. We ate way too much food, laughed, told stories, played games... all in all, a wonderful holiday!

I finished up the last of my skein of 4-Eva thread on this pretty little snowflake. Luckily, I received a new order of thread from Jess today with 4-Eva as part of my purchase!

Granddaughter Lily loved the snowflakes I had on hand, but had a hard time deciding which she liked best. She chose this glittery DMC thread (Classical Blends, Midnight Madness #E133), but she also loved the 4-Eva thread because of its colors, and she loved the white with lavender beads that I tatted a while back.

I wish I could capture the glittery beauty of this thread.

You might have to go look at it yourself to see if you can be inspired by it. I found mine at Hobby Lobby.

Now it's time to catch up on my blog reading!