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. 

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 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 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.

Motif 35

This is a father's day gift for my dad.

It is my variation of Fiona T/One Mad Tatter's variation of Anne Bruvold's TARDIS bookmark.

I made Fiona's version but wanted something a little longer so I added another row of rings to the filled in area.

This is the 3rd one I've made and with it I've decided that split chains aren't all that bad. A bit fiddly and I need to be in the right frame of mind to do them, but not as intimidating as I once thought. Shout out to everyone on YouTube you has made a video demo'ing this technique. I watched every one of them at least twice.

Motif 34

I have a new job! YEAH! I can buy more thread and books and food!

I have a new job. Meh. No more spending my days tatting and reading and hanging with my dog.

Where I work the time cards are kept in a little basket and each time to clock in or out you have to shuffle through to find yours. When I started I was surprised no one was doing anything to make theirs stand out. So after my 3rd week I got the idea of making a butterfly paperclip for mine.

It looks nice here but when I left for lunch it was a but rumpled. It's clipped where people usually grab the cards, so hopefully moving it to the top of the card will help it survive.

I don't know exactly where the pattern came from. I googled tatted butterflies for inspiration and the diagram came up in the image search. Maria was the only name on it.

This is my first time tatting on a paperclip. Several were chunked until I got the hang of joining to a paperclip.

Motif 33

This is Motif #18 from DMC's Tatting for Today. The thread is Lizabeth 108 Sherbert Delight and 644 Boysenberry Dk.

Motif 32 Springtime Doily

This is Springtime Doily from The Tatter's Treasure Chest edited by Mary Carolyn Waldrep. This is another one of my paint color chip projects.  My tatting group loved the colors. I'm not sure if I like the silver on the outer round. I went back and forth on doing the last round with purple rings and green chains, or doing them both in the same color. 

I have two purples in my stash that I could have gone with, the one I used was a bit on the redish side, and the other one was a bit more blue. Neither one matched the color chip, and I could have used either one as they both looked good with the green. I went with the purple I did because I already had an almost full shuttle of it loaded and ready to go from a previous project.

The photo has a bit of a blueish cast to it, the colors are lavender, mid-green and silver/grey.

Motif 31 edging

This is Lace #9 from Tatted Handkerchiefs by Kirstine Nikolajsen and Inga Nikolajsen. The thread is size 80 DMC.

Motif 30 triangle motif

  
This is from Tatting, A Potpourri of Patterns. It is 5 individual triangle motifs joined together. I made it in size 100 which taxed my eyes a bit but I love the delicate lacy-ness of it.  The pattern required different lengths of bare thread depending on if you are working on a side or corner. I did the best I could considering I didn't use any kind of guage.

Here is an individual motif. I thought about pressing it before taking a photo, but with something that small I'd probably just burn myself so I flattened it against the table and hoped for the best.

This pattern is also a part of my resolution project.

Motif 29 Pretty Petal Doily

Pretty Petal Doily from Traditional Tatting Patterns by Rita Weiss. 

For the new year I've decided to tat at least one item from every tatting book I own. I have about 50 books. The books I haven't worked from (about half) will be the focus of this undertaking. I don't expect to finish in a year but I do expect to seriously bust my thread stash and maybe learn a technique or two.  

This doily is the first of resolution projects.

And keeping me company is my faithful tatting buddy, Whiskey, who turns 12 today. Happy birthday, Whiskey Dog, at least one of your hairs is (accidently) tatted in all my projects. 

Motif 27 and 28 Cobweb Doily

 

 I tagged along with The Hubs to Home Depot a few months ago. While he was doing his thing I entertained myself in the paint aisle. I love looking at the paint cards. This one caught my eye as I have thread similar to those colors. At one time I probably did hold the balls together but wasn't thrilled with the combo.

So I brought the paint card home, dug out those threads and made a pair of Cobweb Doilies from Tatting Doilies and Edgings by Rita Weiss.

I had two colors that sorta matched the lighter mauve so figured a little color play was in order. The ecru-y color on the card has a weird green tint to it but regular ecru looks just fine.

Since then I've picked up another card and as soon as I finish a few things I'll find a pattern for that.

Motif 26 Lavender & Lace

This is Lavender & Lace from "Tatting Doilies & Edgings" edited by Rita Weiss. It's 4 of the motifs joined together.

The thread is vintage Star brand in a peach varigation. It came from a bag of tatting threads and shuttles my sister-in-law picked up at a thrift store. I used up pretty much all of what was on the ball.

Motif # 24, 25. a doily study

This trio of doilies marks the end of one 25 Motif Challenge. They are from the same pattern called Tatted Antique Lace Doily by Darlene Polachic. I did it for the first time several years ago, below, and fell in love with it. I liked the way it looked and how easy it was. I made it all in Lizabeth Carousel #112.

After I made it, I decided that if I did the chains in a solid, it would make the rings pop. 

Motif #24

It measures 5 3/4 across and done in Omega size 50 varigated burnt orange and some vintage ecru Mom gave me.The lightest color in the varigated thread is a bit peachy-er than the ecru so the chains don't stand out as I would have liked. Sometimes holding two balls of thread together doesn't always work out in the final product. I think it's still a nice looking doily, but not what I had in mind.

Then I decided to go down to size 80 and try a solid.


Motif #25

This one measures just under 5" and is the first time I had ever used thread that small. The thread is DMC size 80. I believe the green has been discontinued and the chains are in ecru.

A few weeks after I finished the size 80, I was gnawing open the envelope that contained the latest Handy Hands Catalog to see the new colors (we've all been there), saw Blue River Glades and promptly bought a ball of size 20.


This is Lizabeth Blue River Glades, #164 with the chains in ecru and measures 7 3/4". I think is this my favorite color combo of the three.

Motif #20, 21, 22, 23 more bookmarks

Wow, I had no idea I was this close to finishing my first 25 motifs until I typed the header to this post.

The two on the left are Insertion No. 36 from  The DMC Book of Charted Tatting Designs by Kirstine Nikolajsen and Inge Lise Nikolajsen. The rings are Lizabeth #633 Dark Purple and the chains are Lizabeth #611 gold and #605 Silver.

In ecru and #166 Pink Cocoa is the Overlapping Chains bookmark and Mary Konior's Anniversery edging in varigated yellow and dark purple for the centers. I had a full shuttle of purple, can'tcha tell?

Motif #18 & 19 - Anniversary bookmark

These bookmarks are from Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns and its the Anniversary edging. The left one is made with unknown varigated yellow and DMC brown in size 20. The yellow was the first time I made that pattern and it wasn't until after I finished that I discovered that there was an extra picot on each flower. The other one is Lizabeth #166 Pink Cocoa. I don't care for pink but I do like the pink and brown combo. On the pink and brown one, I paid closer attention to the pattern, (and turned off the TV) and it turned out better, with the expecption of an extra petal on the bottom end flower. But you probably wouldn't have noticed unless I pointed it out, huh? ;) 

I read a lot of tatting blogs, and I don't notice other peoples mistakes unless they point it out and even then after zooming in on the photo I still can't find it unless it's a glaring mistake like rabbit ears on a seahorse. The only misktake that I notice and that bothers me is people who put antennas on dragonflies. Dragonflies don't have antennas. Well, actually they do, but they are so super tiny, that it wouln't be worth the time to make them, but they aren't long ones like on butterflies. That is something that bothers me.

.

Motif #17 - Be-Stitched bookmark

This bookmark is from the Be-Stitched.com site. It is worked in size 20 Lizabeth Vineyard Harvest and Leaf Green Med for the border.

Motif # 14, 15, 16 Lace Elegance trio

This trio is called Lace Elegance and is from Tatting Doilies & Edgings edited by Rita Weiss. Size 20 Lizabeth Sea Scape #125. The sizes are 2-3" across.

Motif # 13 - Dresser doily

This is the small mat of Dressing Set from the Handy Hands Newsletter Winter 2010 (vol 18 issue 1). The color is Lizabeth Wildflower #109 and is 7" across.

 I'd like to do this one again in either a solid or varigated and do the two little rings that go head to head in a contrasting color. I tried to make the larger oval mat that goes with this one, but couldn't for the life of me figure out the 3 rings of the 1st round. After going through an entire shuttle of thread without success, I gave up. I don't know if I was making it harder than it needed to be, or if there was a typo / info missing from the instructions, or both.

I was at my grandma's last month and gave her this doily along with a snowflake.