A new doiley

This is Doily 8 from Tatting Patterns and Theory by Jan Stawasz.  The center is made up of 19 of these little motifs joined together. Each one takes about an hour to hour and 15 to make, depending on how coordinated I am at the moment.

I'm using size 40 Lizabeth in Latte Foam.

Wedding garter

This is a wedding garter I made for a coworker of Scott's. It started out as Gina Butler's Wedding Garter. No matter how much I practiced, I could not get the dimpled ring to look right. So I modified it to a simple ring with 3 picots at the top. On I went until it was long enough, then I rounded the corner and started back up with the lock chain. Me and lock chains do not get along. Again, no matter how much I practiced I could never get the chains to be the same length even though I figured about 16 lock stitches was about the correct width. Oh, did I mention that the bride gave me 1/4" wide ribbon. (Note to self: next time give a width).

It got to the point where I stopped working on it and put it aside. I debated on starting a new one from a different pattern. Finally I couldn't wait any longer and ran out of time to start from scratch. In the mean time I saw someone else's garter on facebook where they just used a satin ribbon and attached the lace like an edging. So off to the craft store for a premade garter. I get it home and out of the packaging and it looked really small. I put it on and it almost cut the circulation off just above my knee. I wasn't sure if she wanted this as a keepsake or to actually wear on her wedding day.

So back to the craft store for ribbon and elastic.

I studied the premade garter and it looked like they just folded the ribbon in half and stitched very close to the edge. So that's what I did and then threaded through the elastic. Now what? How do I close this up? So I just sewed the ends together and hoped the seam wouldn't irritate her too bad if she did end up wearing it. After hand sewing the edging on, I used her ribbon to make the bow.

The bride loved it and I still don't know if she wore it for the ceremony.

Different color way

Hello from Meridian, ID.  The Hubs is off at a Dyno Days/swap meet thing.  I walked across the street for a pepsi and have spent the morning sitting outside, enjoying the sun and tatting.  Whiskey alternates between the sun and shade.

After finishing the second round on Renulek's Spring Napkin, I decided I didn't like the color choice. So I restarted using white for the chains and different pastels for the rings. So far I like this a lot better.  I missed a few joins so I'll take care of those later.

Spring Napkin 2014

I recently started Renulek's Spring 2014 Napkin. So far it's done in Lizabeth Lilac Med #642. I know I want to make it in white and lilac but not sure if I want to throw in a green or yellow round for a truly spring look.

11-21-14 Updated to add: I didn't care for the solid purple so I finished that round and called it done. Now I can't find it to add a final photo.

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.

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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.