Motif #5 of 25

As promised, here is Ruth's Celtic Tatted Bookmark tatted in Altin Basak thread. I enjoyed making this and it was easy after I got the hang of keeping the shuttles separated and always pulling the chain from back to front before joining the next ring to the previous one. Sometimes I am so hard headed! Okay, most of the time!

I wish my grandmothers were still with me so that I could share all of these new techniques and patterns with them. I don't think they ever tatted anything but edgings.

It is now 10:58 in Alabama on New Year's eve. Maybe I will make it until 12:00 to ring in the New Year. Happy Tatting tomorrow, everyone. Remember to spend as much time tatting as possible!

Tatted Motif #4 of 25

Here is the center of my first friendship doily ready to go! I am so excited about this. It is No. 34 in the DMC Book of Charted Tatting designs by Kirstine Nikolajsen and Inge Lise Nikolajsen. I tatted it in DMC Cebelia #20. If the colors don't show well, the center is creamy yellow and the two others are purple. The ring around the flowers is a creamy white. It reminds me of doilies that my grandmother crocheted when I was younger. She loved to make the flowers in different colors surrounded by white or ecru. I think she would like this. I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I have always had trouble with picot size and keeping them even. Thanks to my friend Elizabeth in South Alabama, I think I have that problem solved. She uses a seamstress' tape that you cut to the size you want, peel the back off and stick it on your finger to measure the picots. If only I had known about this years ago. It is great, even if it took me a while to get it positioned in the right place and get used to it. I will probably never work without it again!

I will be posting pictures of the progress of my doily as it goes around. I'm not sure if the other participants will want theirs posted as yet, but I think they will. I hope there are some of you who would enjoy seeing them from start to finish. It will be fun to see how we all interpret the pattern and what colors we choose for each others doilies.

Ruth's Celtic bookmark

Just wanted to talk about what I am tatting right now. Ruth is such a talented designer/tatter and so generous to share her patterns! Her Celtic edging/bookmark is a delight to work, and the pattern is easy to follow. I started it last night but didn't have any time to work on it today. I have almost finished the first half tonight. If all goes well, I should be able to post a picture tomorrow. I must admit working with four shuttles is a challenge for me. I find the most important thing is to put my work away at night and not tempt my little "tattycat" to help me finish! You can imagine what a temptation a piece of pretty lace with four dangling shuttles would be to a girly little feline. Anyway, I straightened it out and she promised not to touch it again! If you look at the pattern you might say that I don't really need four shuttles - just two and two ball threads. However, I find I just can't work with ball threads. I need the weight of the shuttle to keep my tension uniform. Besides, it seems it would be even more tangled without the extra shuttles. You can find this pattern and others at the following website.

http://rozellalinden.com/FreeCelticPatterns.html

I can't begin to tell any of you what my tatting has meant to me in the last months. Being confined to my home so much of the time due to my migraines leaves me with a lot of time to fill. I can't spend as much time tatting as I would like due to the very thing that keeps me confined, but when I can, I love it! Also, being able to share my passion with others is wonderful. Thanks so much to Sharon for encouraging me to join the 25 motif challenge and to all of you who have been so generous with patterns, support and instruction. Tatters are a wonderful bunch of people who always seem to be willing to step up to the plate. If only all the world was "in tatters!"

The best Christmas ever!

What more could a proud mother and

grandmother ask for?

Praise God for healthy children!

Tatted Motif #3 of 25

I had to make one more of Sharon's snowflakes. What is a Christmas tree without at least one purple snowflake? This one is in Sulky 12 weight cotton from Discount Embroidery Supply. Hope introduced me to this thread and I just love it. She sent me some samples of it a couple of months ago that I used and then ordered some for myself. This is the first I have used from the order. The variegated is #713-4032 and the light is #713-1031 lilac. It is so much easier to work with than DMC size 80 and about the same size.

Tatted motif #2 of 25

This is Sharon's little snowflake from her newsletter. I am so thankful to all of you designers. You are a real blessing to those of us who are "design challenged!" I tatted it with DMC #80 and used red, glass beads. It is a tiny 2" snowflake that looks so sweet on my tree. One of my cats really likes my tatted ornaments. Every morning I find that she has been inside the tree and removed at least three things. At least she doesn't take them away and hide them like her older sister!

Merry Christmas to everyone!

Santa came early!

I am so excited, I just had to share this with my tatting friends. We found this pattern maker's box on line yesterday and arranged to pick it up today. I have always loved boxes and cabinets with lots of little drawers and now I have one!
This is what it looked like before I filled it up.
This is what it looks like now! I'm going to have such fun and be so much more organized! LOL!!! Merry Christmas to all of my tatting friends. I hope all of your dreams come true!

Tatted motif #1 of 25 (2nd set)

Sharon inspired this sweet, little thing. I couldn't figure out how she had done her's, but I just had to try. She was kind enough to let me call it my own since I changed up the middle, but I would never have thought of it or done it if not for her. I tatted it in size 80 DMC with tiny glass beads so it is less than 2 1/2" tip to tip. I would love to have a tree covered with them next Christmas. Uh, make that a very small tree! Thanks again Sharon for all that you do!

Smoky Sunrise

No tatting pictures today. There is no work I could do that would come close to matching these sunrise pictures! This is our view from the restaurant where we have breakfast with friends lots of mornings. Don't tell anyone, but Birmingham is a beautiful place right at the foot of the Smoky Mountains. How blessed we are!

Tatting and Crochet Christmas Tree

Here are a couple of views of my little tree this year. I don't have enough tatted ornaments yet, so I pulled out some of my old crocheted stockings to fill in. I have probably made around 150 of these crocheted stockings over the last 20 or so years. Everyone I know has at least one of them! Maybe by next year I can fill it up with tatting!

Next 25 tatted motifs

I haven't gotten started on the next 25 motifs for the challenge as yet. I am working on my friendship doily due to be mailed on January 15th. I'd rather be ready than be under a deadline. I started over making the picots much larger and with different colors of thread for rings and chains. I think it looks much better. Maybe I will use it for the first motif after I get my part done. I am enjoying looking at all of the pretty Christmas tatting everyone else is doing.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of my tatting friends across the world!

Tatted motif #25 of 25

I'M DONE! Well, this time around. I've had so much fun and been so motivated to tat.
I guess I'll have to start over! My husband will be so thrilled, NOT, that I will be tatting even more! On this candy cane of Julie's, I used Cebelia #20 white mixed with #80 variegated pink for the lightest color and #20 pink mixed with #80 white for the darker pink. Not as much contrast as the others, but still pretty I think. 

Tatted motif #24 of 25

Only one more to go in this round of the tatting challenge, then I might have to start over! I just had to do Julie's candy cane again. This time I used #20 Cebelia and added one strand of #80 variegated pink to both the red and the white. I think it gives it a nice, muted look and kind of sugary too! Thanks again Julie. 

Tatted Motif #23 of 25

This is Ruth's Celtic tatted wreath worked in Cebelia size 20. I really enjoyed this one! She said it was easy and it was. It is about
1 1/2" across and worked up real fast. I think I will put some red "berries" on the next one. Thanks Ruth! I just love tatting! 

Tatted Motif #22 of 25

This is Julie Patterson's candy cane copyright 2004 that she was kind enough to share with Goddess members. I tatted it with #20 Cebelia. (I've got to use it up so I can buy more!) I enjoyed tatting this pattern and will probably do more of them when I have time. I need to find a candy cane colored variagated thread. I think that would be fun. Thanks to Julie for sharing and thanks to Paul for telling me about it! 

Tatted Motif #21 of 25

This is my first attempt at Celtic tatting that weaves as you tat. Yes, I do see now that I made a mistake. If there's more than one, don't tell me! This is, of course, Rozella Linden's pattern copyright 2003 that I got from the internet at http://rozellalinden.com/ Thanks Rozella. I'll try to do better next time! Oh, size 10 crochet cotton.

Merry Christmas Mom!

Here is the finished poncho for my mom-in-law. This is what has kept me from my main passion - tatting - for so long! I just finished it a few minutes ago. Not too bad for a few weeks work. Merry Christmas to Glenis! 

Tatted Motif #20 of 25

This is Janet Perkin's Celtic Snowflake revisited from Motif #5 done in October. I enjoyed tatting it so much that I wanted to try it again with a smaller button. Also, it didn't hurt that I have four of Georgia Seitz's new Celtic shuttles! It was so much easier and more fun with the new shuttles. I worked the first one in #30 Cebelia. This is #20. It looks huge here but is a little less than 2" across. I have some very pretty little red buttons that I would love to use, but they only have two holes. Oh, well.

Tatted motif #19 of 25

This is from DMC's book of Charted Designs worked in size 20 Cebelia. It is a practice for a friendship doily I am going to participate in this January. I am going to change to another kind of thread in size 20 as I am not entirely happy with this one. I will probaly use at least three colors also. I guess I will finish this one day, but right now just use it as it is for something.