Motif 43

I made this doily again, Pretty Petal Doily from Traditional Tatting Patterns by Rita Weiss. 

Before i started, I knew I was going to enter it in the state fair. Also before I started I had to learn the magic thread trick so I wouldn't have any visible knots. 

Also brushed up on my down joins so all my blips would be on the same side. 

I've never entered anything in the state fair before so I was very excited to see the best of show ribbon. 

Round 13 of the big big doily.

This is round 13 of my never ending Jan Stawasz doily. Only 2 more rounds to go. I'm about half way through this round.

His diagrams are a bit hard for me to read so each round I rewrite in my own notation along with when I finish each round, how long a repeat takes and how long the round takes. I finished round 12 back in July and it took about 32 hrs. Set it aside for about 9 months. It shares a train case/cosmetics bag with what ever other WIP I have going on. Oddly I never felt guilty for ignoring it as I dug around it looking for an empty shuttle or crochet hook.

Right now I'm also working on a doily for the state fair. And when I'm not in a perfectionist mood I work on my JS doily. There is something about the size of it that takes the stress of being correct away. Because it's 24" at last measurement, the mistakes seem to disappear in the crowd.

Motif 41 and 42

It's amazing how using the same colors, just different color placement can make all the difference. I like this one sooo better.

This is a side by side with the one from last night (on the left) and the one from today.

And last night I realized that I didn't post the bookmark for Feast of Crows. 

Motif 40

I'm about to finish Feast of Crows so last night I finished up the bookmark for A Dance With Dragons.

Not sure I like it with the charcoal in the middle with brown on the outside. I had originally planned to put the brown in the middle but I was with my tatting group when I started and was distracted with the chatting. So I went with it to see how it would turn out. Lovely, but now what I had in mind. So I'll make another one. I have 3 more chapters to go.  

Overlapping chains bookmark by Jon Yusoff

A jar of thread

My husband and I were on our way to his family's place on Friday when we stopped at a couple of antique stores. At the second place I found a half gallon jar full of thread. I wasn't sure if I should get it or not so I put it back and wandered the rest of the shop.

I put a lot of things back as I 'think about it' and never go back to buy it, but this jar of thread would not leave my mind. A quick loop back to the far corner and I had an early Christmas gift for myself.

There are 29 brand new balls of Lily brand thread, never been used and clean. Have no idea what, or if, I'll use any of it, but the jar looks pretty sitting on the coffee table.

Motif 39

This is Frosted Star doily from Traditional Tatting Patterns by Rita Weiss. The colors were inspired by one of @lakesuperior_beachglass stacked seaglass photos.

I've been wanting to do a seaglass inspired doily for a while. And this pattern with its little inset flowers reminded me of seaglass on a pebble-y beach.

When I lived on Whidbey Island, WA looking for seaglass was one of the precious few things that made me happy and peaceful to the core of my soul.  I enjoyed every cold, windy and sometimes rainy minute of it. Now I'm landlocked 2300 miles away but have my little jars of seaglass to remind me of the Pacific Northwest.

Motif 37 and 38

I had to hold off on finishing Clash of Kings until I made the bookmark for Storm of Swords. This is the Overlapping Chains bookmark by Jon Yusoff.

Motif 36

This is the 5 rounds of Rectangular Luncheon Set from Anne Orr's Classic Tatting Patterns. 

 This is another project in my resolution to make something from each tatting book I own. I have never made a single color doily. They have all been multi colored or made with variegated thread. I was doing pretty good until I got to the little trefoils in the corner and a little voice said, 'those would look nice in white'. That was a tough voice to ignore. Then the voice said the rings in the last 2 rounds needed to be white as well.

Jan Stawasz doily in progress

Completed round 12. There are 3 more rounds to go! From Tatting Theory and Patterns by Jan Stawasz. It's about 24" across at this point.