Happy New Year!

I want to wish all of you a very Happy New Year! Please be safe. I also want to thank all of you so much for this past year. 2007 was a wonderful year in a lot of ways. I feel as if I have learned and accomplished so much and I owe a great deal of that to several of you.
Thank you especially for all of the friendships I have made and all of the things we share. I find that tatters have so many things in common and I think that is what gives some of us our special bonds. My life is so much richer and more rewarding now that I have all of you.
Whatever you choose to do tomorrow, have fun doing it!

Scan #2 - Isaac's 2nd Christmas!

No words necessary - proud grandma!

MY FIRST SCAN!

Same snowflake as the last one, but MY FIRST SCAN of my own! I can't believe I have got working on my own.

Thanks to all of you who were so supportive when I was asking Santa for one. And, especially to all of you who dropped hints of your own to Santa. I think I'm going to like this.

Of course, I appreciate so much that Karl has been scanning my tatting for me. You are a good friend!

Tatted Christmas Tree from Be-stitched newsletter

No, I haven't given up on snowflakes. I just wanted to try this little tree. Especially as it can also be a bookmark and other useful things. It is from the Be-stitched newsletter which can be found at www.be-stitched.com

It was quick tatting and would be very pretty with beads - either tatted in or added on. I also think it would be sweet with "snow" on the branches made with little seed beads or pearls.

I've not stiffened anything this year, but I will have to do some of them next year. This one will definitely have to be stiffened to hang on the tree. I used DMC Cebelia size 20 and it is a bit soft.

I wish for all of you a Happy New Year. Be sure you do lots of tatting tomorrow and New Year's Day to start the year off right!

Snowflake Rose #3 in Yarnplayer's Rose Thread

The first picture is a scan of Snowflake Rose #3 in Yarnplayer's hand dyed thread called "Rose." I used DMC Cebelia for tatting the rings so I wouldn't waste the hand dyed thread as the core thread. As always, the hand dyed thread is such a joy to work with and I love the look of it. Clyde has renamed my Christmas tree the "Rainbow Tree" so I can leave it up all year! I just can't bear to take it down and pack up the tatting.

The next two pictures you have already seen, but I asked Karl to scan them in for me to see how much better they would look. I'm reading the instructions with my scanner so I will know how to use it when we get it hooked up. We are waiting the arrival of a special USB cable so we can transfer files from the old computer to the new one.

Back to my tatting!

New Level of Addiction!

My tatting addiction seems to have moved to a new, more serious, level. Total immersion has always been my way. Mother used to say that I scared her to death with anything new. I always jumped in head first, sink or swim. I thought I was managing this tatting addiction pretty well on my own, but after this morning, I think I might need some professional help! When you read this, you will probably agree.

Bill was flipping through channels, as men are compelled to do, when he stopped for a minute on NBC. Ann Curry (spelling?) was on screen and I was curiously drawn to her eyebrows. Go figure. I just kept looking at them and thinking how pleasing they were and wondering what she had done to them and why I liked them so much. It was starting to worry me a little. I've had a cold and cough and thought maybe I'd had a little too much cough syrup. Then, I realized what it was. They reminded me of beautifully executed block tatting where it flows back into a chain! Now, I'm sure even Jane, the consumate tat addict, would agree that this is extreme. How do you look at a woman's eyebrows and see tatting? I can understand that those of you who design see tatting in leaves, butterflies and animals, but eyebrows?

Please let me know if you think I need therapy for this condition and where I might find it. All I ask is that you don't tell my Dear Hubby as his idea of therapy for this condition would be total withdrawal from tatting and we all know THAT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN!!!

I hope you get a good laugh out of this. I did!

Snowflake Rose in Lady Shuttle Maker's Hand Dyed Grapefruit

This started out to be one of Denise's snowflake roses. However, when I started tatting the points, I made a mistake and left out a ring on each side of the first point. Rather than cut it out, I decided to try and make up one for myself. So, I guess I can call about half of it my own. I finished the points then used Flora light green and DMC dark green for the last row. I should have put in more ds as it wants to bowl up, but I managed to press it flat. I'll know better next time I decide to tat out of my own head.

Once again, thanks Sherry for your fabulous thread and more praise to all of you who design tatting for yourselves and to sell or share with us. I don't know how you do it!

Wonderful Christmas

Praise God for sending His Son to save us from our sin - the very reason for the season!

We had a wonderful Christmas day blessed with all of the family here except my brother and his family. My brother and my "sister in love" live in New Smyrna Beach, Florida which is about 10 hours from Birmingham. Their son and his family live in North Carolina. We missed them, but had a good day. Bill surprised me Christmas morning with these four hibiscus blooms from one of our trees. It had stopped blooming outside and has now started up again in it's winter home in the basement. I also have one Dendrobium orchid with 11 blooms on it that is over 3' tall. My Jewel orchid has SEVEN bloom spikes maturing and now I have two Phalenopsis orchids with their first bloom spikes since I bought them in bloom years ago. I'm so excited!

The cake in the picture if Mark's "Tatter's Chocolate Cake." My, oh my! There are no words to describe it, except be careful! It is adictive and potentially deadly. The taste is superb. Thank you Mark for sharing the recipe.

For those of you who have been following my quest for a scanner, "Santa Baby" came through for me. My daughter and her husband gave me said scanner. Well, really it was "from Isaac to Lala." They just had to do the shopping for him! I can't wait to get it hooked up to the new computer that DH got for Christmas. They also got me a lovely world globe. I'm sure Isaac and I will have fun exploring geography with it. My youngest daughter, the bride, and her husband gave us several lovely gifts, including a neck massager. Maybe it will help my migraines! My nephew gave me a "Jeep" hooded jacket to wear when I drive my Jeep. We are both Jeep fanatics. He has one to match, but says we have to be sure we don't wear them at the same time. So funny! My lovely neice gave us home made tamales! Her first attempt. She says there is definitely an art to it. I'll let you know how she did!

DH says he doesn't care if I leave my tree up and keep tatting snowflakes as it is small and out of the way. Now, if I can just figure out a way to keep the kitties from stealing my tatting, I'll have it made. Any ideas?

I just wanted to share my day, and my blessings with you. I hope all of you had as happy a day as we did.

The Last Tatted Snowflake Before Christmas (barely)

I just had to finish tatting one more snowflake before Christmas and get it on the tree. This is Sherry's (Lady Shuttle Maker's) Berries 'N Cream hand dyed thread in size 20. The pattern is by Lenore English copyright 1998. I really appreciate you sharing this pattern on the internet, Lenore.

"Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!"

Last of my Christmas presents (as far as I know)!

Here are the last two skeins of Marilee's, (Yarnplayer's), thread that I received. I guess this is the last of my presents. I shall remain a faithful member of ATHDT, but better slow down for a while! I can't wait to see what I can make with these!

Tatting with this thread is a whole new world and I like it!

Passion Flower Inspiration?

Clyde said my purple snowflake looked like a passion flower. I searched back through my pictures to find these I made in June of 2006 in Baldwin County Alabama, (near the coast.) That is where some of you know we plan to retire in about 10 years. There is a farm in Elberta, Alabama owned and operated by a German American couple where they make cheese that is to die for. These passion flowers grow all over the fence around the side yard of the shop from which they sell their products. All of the cheese is made on site and is limited in quantity. If there is something special you want, you better call and see if they have it that day!

Anyway, I think Clyde is right. These could definitely have inspired my tatted snowflakes. I never would have thought when I made the pictures that I would be tatting something even close to this beautiful!

Two more tatted snowflakes IN COLOUR!

The first one is Sherry's hand dyed "grapefruit" with DMC pink for the rings. I'm going to have to work all of my DMC and Flora threads into my tatting somehow. I can't just waste them and they are lovely in their own ways. However, I have joined the club of "Addicted To Hand Dyed Threads." I guess we just need to abreviate it to ATHDT! The pattern is from Bestitched. There is a link to their website on my sidebar.

The second snowflake is Flora variegated with DMC chains around the outside. I had the,(I think), bright idea to do the block tatting in the Flora. I really like the way it looks. Bill said that it really looks like a flower.

I'm still having fun!

Merry Christmas to all from Santa Isaac!

I just had to share pictures of our little Santa. He certainly has brought loads of joy to our house! Now all I have to do is figure out a way to get these two best friends apart after Christmas.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Snowflake, hand dyed thread and Christmas tree

Well, this snowflake is an experiment and far away from what I would normally do. Very far away. In fact, I almost cut the last row off and started over several times. I'm glad I didn't. I like the way it turned out. I know it was a stretch to use the red that really doesn't exactly match the rose color in the Rhubarb Crisp, but it worked. For me anyway. The red and green are both DMC Cebelia size 20 and I think they set off the Rhubarb Crisp nicely. It shows up real well on the white tree too.

Speaking of hand dyed thread, I received these four skeins from Sherry today along with her book. I am so excited to get started with the thread and the book! The treads are, left to right - chocolate, grapefruit, red white & blue, and mandarin. Yummy!

The last picture is the bottom of the tree. I added branches of cranberries around the bottom and it looks gorgeous! Even DH is impressed!

Merry Christmas to all of you!

White Christmas Tree

This is the new white Christmas tree so far. I put the white snowflakes, or most of them, around the bottom so they would show up. I'll be tatting coloured snowflakes for a while yet!

Snowflake Rose in Berries N Cream & DMC

I am finding so many ways to tat these snowflakes and save thread while making them more and more interesting. (I think!) This is Sherry's Berries N Cream thread with DMC in the center and the outside rings.

I finally found a white Christmas tree this morning and I am busy filling it up with coloured tatting. So much fun! It is 4' instead of 3' so I may be tatting snowflakes all this next year to fill it up. It looks pretty even now with a lot of empty space. I'll post a couple of pictures in a while.

Happy tatting!

Snowflake Rose in Rhubarb Crisp & Flora

After tatting this one, I think I have enough Rhubarb Crisp to tat one more snowflake rose (center part.) I used DMC for the starting ring and core thread on this one, then green Flora for the last two rows.

I guess most of you are too busy for tatting right now, but I sure do miss seeing posts and hearing from you!

Happy Holidays to everyone,

Laura

Snowflake Rose in Red Velvet

I told Sherry there was a rose hiding in this thread just waiting to be tatted! I think it will look great on my white Christmas tree one day! I'm wearing out my book from Denise Munoz!

Thanks Sherry and Denise.

The right scan!

I got it wrong on the previous post. This is the scan I meant to show you!

Two new tatting scans from Karl

The top snowflake is tatted with Flora size 20, both the blue and the white. I thnk the result is pleasing.

The Berries 'N Cream you have already seen, but the scan is so much better. Tatting really REQUIRES a scanner, don't you think? LOL

I'm almost finished with another one made in one of Sherry's threads that she sent me a sample of - Red Velvet.

I still haven't found a white 3' tree to display them, but I'll keep trying.

Mama's Crocheted Doily

This is one of my recent finds during "Fall Cleaning." (UGGHH) My grandmother, Maggie Noreen DeFoor, crocheted this sometime in the 60's or so. I washed and pressed it, but it wants blocking. I hope you can tell that the flowers stand up from the rest of the crochet. This is just another example of how my tatting reminds me of her crochet.

My husband tells Isaac that he has the best grandmother in the world and that he will realize that one day. I hope I can be half as good as mine was. She was a very special wife, mother, grandmother, sister to us all and I miss her terribly. I am very blessed to have so many of her tatted, embroidered and crocheted pieces to treasure.

Snowflake Rose #5 in Berries "N" Cream

Tatting this snowflake in Sherry Pence hand dyed Berries "N" Cream thread was so much fun! Clyde had suggested that patterns with lots of chains, especially long ones, were great for tatting with hand dyed thread and he was right. I am so glad that Sherry had an extra skein for me!

The thread is still size 20 and the pattern is from Denise Munoz's book.

I'll ask Karl to scan this one in for me on Thursday, but I couldn't wait until then to post it!

Tatted Snowflake Rose #2 in Rhubarb Crisp

Karl scanned this one in for me this morning, as opposed to my snapshots of the other two. I think the difference is amazing. It looks pretty on white too, but DH thought the black looked best.

I have really been stretching this wonderful thread. On this snowflake, I used DMC Cebelia size 20 in yellow as the core thread for the rose medallion. I wish I had thought of that for the first two. As it is all chains, it really doesn't matter and just uses up the hand dyed thread. (Sorry Marilee) LOL I used DMC in pink to tat the outer round. Tatting it this way left me with eight ends to hide, but I think it was worth it. It only took a little while to hide the ends.

If anyone gets tired of seeing tatted snowflakes, just let me know, (or don't look!)

Remember Our Soldiers

Please go to the link for Karl and Madeline on my sidebar and read the last post. It is very touching and a great reminder for all of us.

Snowflake Rose #6 in Rhubarb Crisp

I believe I am in danger of tatting taking over my life. It's a good thing I have Isaac here or we'd be in trouble! I just can't think of enough to say about this thread of Marilee's. I should stop talking about it so I'll have a better chance of buying more of it! Tatting with Marilee's thread is like tatting for the first time. I especially like the way this snowflake tatted up. The flow from ring to chain in this pattern was better than in the first one, but I like them both. Now, I just need a white Christmas tree to display the colored tatting.

These are still Denise Munoz's patterns and size 20 thread.

Isaac and Momma

Here is Isaac in his new hat I knitted for him. His momma had to hold him to keep it on his head! The i doesnt' show up very well, but you can get the idea.

Now, back to tatting!

Snowflake Rose #3 in Rhubarb Crisp

Wow! I may never use regular thread again! Yeah, I know. That's impossible. I have loads and loads of perfectly good thread that I have to use. Unless..... maybe elves could come in during the night and steal it to make doll outfits or something! LOL

Yarnplayer's thread is fabulous. I loved tatting this snowflake and watching the way the colors changed. It was particularly interesting to see the play between chains and rings. I am hooked! Tatting with regular DMC or Flora will never be the same again!

Thanks to Marilee for her wonderful thread, Denise for her design and especially to Clyde for suggesting that I use the thread for a snowflake. I wouldn't have thought of that, but I love it.

I know I should have waited until Thursday when I will see my friends Karl and Madeline so that he could scan it in for me, but I just had to show it off tonight.

Happy tatting everyone!

No Tatting Today!

I just finished knitting Isaac's hat that my daughter wanted for him. It is bright red with a black lower case i on the front. It looks real cute. I used the same pattern that I did for the light blue one, I just made it a lot smaller!

I had lots of Christmas decorations out for him this morning. He is so much more animated and really seems to be enjoying the new things around him. He isn't even afraid of my 5' tall Santa!

I think I am going to tat a snowflake with some of my "Rhubarb Crisp" thread from Yarnplayer if I can measure out just enough for tatting one snowflake and not waste any. I bought it for tatting a doily and want to be sure and have enough.

How do those of you with cats keep them from stealing your tatting? I know you don't all have Christmas trees, but wherever I try to display any tatting, it better be tied down. I put the tree on the breakfast bar to keep the baby out of it and now the cats are knocking the snowflakes off and running with them if I'm not fast enough! I guess they are just showing appreciation for my tatting! LOL

Snowflake Rose #1 in Yellow and Green

I am glad that some of you talked me into tatting more snowflakes in colors. I like the pink and green better, but this yellow and green is pretty too. The variegated green is Flora size 20 and the yellow is DMC Cebelia size 20.

Tatting these rose snowflakes of Denise Munoz's is so much fun. The outer rings on this one tat up real fast. Of course, I've got the centers memorized and can knock them out pretty quickly.

Happy Tatting everyone!

Tatted Christmas Tree with crochet stockings

Well, I just didn't have enough Christmas tatting to fill up the tree, so I added my crocheted stockings yesterday. I don't see myself getting enough tatting done before Christmas, so I had to compromise, but I think it looks pretty. I made a picture of the stockings before I put them on the tree so they would be easy to see. I found the pattern yesterday if anyone is interested. It came out of a magazine back in the 70's. I don't remember which one, but I still have it some where!

By the way, the three stockings on the top right have some of my hand spun thread incorporated into them. The fleece is virgin wool from a lamb in Suffolk County, England that I picked out on a farm up the lane from where I lived at that time. It was so neat to see the lamb shorn and then spin the wool. I still have a sweater that I knitted from the yarn.

DH is so tired to watching me tat snowflakes and hearing about them, I'm going to have to start tatting in secret. Humm, switch from sneak eating to sneak tatting! That might be a new diet craze!