I'M ALIVE!

Hello dear friends. I really am still around. I just can't tat and it is unbearable! I hope you are all well and enjoy the holiday season.

Here are two pictures of my tree this year. I will have to start turning it around and get pictures of the other sides. It is covered.

Here are pictures of the angels and snowflakes I have tatted or been given this year. I really expected to have many more made. Oh, well.

Maybe I can force myself to get back into blogging even if I can't tat. Merry Christmas!

5th Snowflake in Tropicana Series

 

This is Jon's "Radiant" snowflake from her book, "Snowflakes Collection." I really like it in Lady Shuttle Maker's Tropicana hand dyed thread. I had not tatted this one before. I think because of the long picots. It was very simple, however. I just used my picot gauge and made them the size Jon suggested.

I am thinking I will need a revolving tree stand for my Rainbow Christmas Tree this year!

Sweetheart Snowflake

 

I couldn't wait to make Jon's new snowflake and here it is. I tatted it in Flora variegated green and a dusty blue. I just pressed it so it is darker than it will be dry. Oh, size 20. I thought these colors would look good on my Rainbow Christmas Tree.

I will tat the other pieces of the set in pink and green or pink and raspberry.

If you haven't ordered by patterns, I hope you will. They are so pretty.

Floret in Tropicana

 

 

The newest addition to the Tropicana snowflake family, is Floret from Jon's book. I am so glad that Lady Shuttle Maker made this thread. I am having a good time with it. Hand dyed thread just can't be beat. Floret took about 1 1/2 yards on each of two shuttles. You might need more. I wouldn't start without 2 yards on each shuttle. I need to go back and give you the amounts on the others. I'll try to do that soon.

I thought you might like to see a picture of the four different ones together. It gives me an idea how they are going to spread the color out on my Rainbow Christmas Tree!

Circle of Crowns Snowflake in Tropicana

 

I already loved this pattern from Jon's book. Now I love it even more in this thread from Lady Shuttle Maker. My Christmas tree is going to be covered in rainbows!

Last Milky Way Snowflake (For right now!)

 

This interesting thread is "Tropicana" in size 20 by Lady Shuttle Maker. I think it will make a nice addition to my Rainbow Christmas Tree. I am starting another of Jon's snowflakes, Circle of Crowns, in Tropicana right now. Tatting Milky Way is so easy that I can do them on auto pilot. But, it is time for some different ones.

On another note, if you haven't visited Ornaments.com, please do so when you have time. I hope the article that they posted under the blog tab will bring new interest to tatting. Thank you to Ramona for publishing the article.

Another Milky Way Snowflake

 

I tatted this snowflake in size 20 Lizbeth thread, both the pink and the green. I wish I could tat with more delicate thread as I think it is so much prettier. My hands and eyes both say NOOOOOO! Maybe one day. Here is the link to Jon's site where you can order her snowflake book.

 

I think this would make a lovely edging if you needed one. I just don't want to invest the time right now. Too busy making ornaments as you all know I don't have nearly enough to fill up my Rainbow Christmas Tree!

Quantiesque #2

 

I liked the way Heather used her own HDT called Many Colors with white to tat one of her snowflakes, so I did it with this thread. Trouble is, I don't know what the thread is except size 20. I thought it was Sherry's Grapefruit until I started tatting with it and realized it I was wrong. If you dyed this thread, please forgive me and let me know so I can give you credit. It kind of looks like a store bought variegated, but I just don't know!

By the way, I want to thank my friend >Jane for a wonderful favor. She has given me the rank of "stark staring bonkers." Now I can forget all kind of things and not have to worry about it! Come to think of it I can proabaly get away with all sorts of mischief too. Thanks Jane! No, really.

Quantiesque #3 halfway done in Sherry's Old Saint Nick and Country Christmas. Thank you again Jon for this pattern. I love it.

Quantiesque Snowflake #1

 

Yes, there will be more of these. Probably lots more. It is Jon's Quantiesque Snowflake that she so sweetly shared with us as a gift. Thank you so much Jon. I love it and can't wait to see how many color combinations I can find. The thread is Pamela's Coral Reef with the solid blue to match for round 2. Both are size 20.

Way to go Jon and Pamela!

Oh, this is snowflake #72 on my tree.

Rainbow Christmas Tree 2008

 

 

 

 

I couldn't wait until tomorrow. I wish there was some way I could get pictures from every angle. I also wish I could make it look as amazing in pictures as it does in my den. No brag. Just fact!

By the way, there are 71 snowflakes on this tree, 61 of them tatted by me. Just in case you were wondering.

Oh, the reason there is no tree skirt can be explained by the little boy who eats apples by himself!

Snowflakes, Stars & an Angel

 

These last 13 were tatted by others. I received them, either as gifts, or in trade. The snowflake on the top left was given to me by my friend J.B. when we first met in person. This was before we did our friendship doily with Elizabeth. Thank you J.B.

The off-white snowflake, angel and star were from an older man on the other side of Birmingham. I don't remember how I got in contact with him. This was back when I was first learning to tat. We never met in person, only on the phone. He was of great help to me and these are precious gifts.

The four variegated blue snowflakes were tatted by Tattingchic. I just had to have them! Thank you Tattingchic!

The golden colored one at the bottom was tatted by Jon. She surprised me with it and I like it very much. Thank you Jon!

The purple variegated is from Diane (Lace Lovin Librarian). This is one of the lovely gifts she gave me when she and her mother met me for lunch and came back to my house to visit. I am blessed to have met Diane. She is now planning for Ella and Isaac to grow up, meet, fall in love and make us grandmothers-in-law! Thanks Diane!

The three beauties on the right were tatted by Clyde. Clyde is a dear friend and we just surprise each other occasionally. Thank you Clyde!

If I have any of these mis-labeled, please let me know so I can correct it. If you have given me a snowflake that I haven't credited you with, please let me know that too!

I am truly blessed with my tatting family. I love you each and every one!

Now, everything made so far is starched. Most of them are back on the tree. I will put these on tonight, along with the non-snowflake ones and get pictures made. Maybe tomorrow!

3rd batch 21 snowflakes

 

This is the 3rd batch stiffened. There are 21 in this lot. I took Jon's suggestion and used a paint brush to do these and I like it much better. They are not quite as stiff as the others which is good! Thank you Jon! I did not dilute it as I wanted to see if the brush would make the stiffening a little lighter and it did.

More tomorrow.

Stiffened Snowflakes

 

 

This is one of the reasons I have been so quiet. I finally gave in and started stiffening snowflakes. This is the first time I have done this to any of my tatting. I had great misgivings until I got started, but now I like it a lot. I'm going to try and get them all done before I put any of them back on the tree. Poor little tree looks so sad! I am using "Stiffy" from Michael's and a piece of 3/4" styrofoam covered in plastic. I did the first ten last night and didn't wear gloves. My hands are sooo dry. Today I wore gloves!

I can't wait to finish them and get the tree decorated again. I'm not going to tell how many more I have to go!

Presenting Rainbow Christmas Tree 2008 (in progress)

 

 

 

 

Here we go! I'm sure there will be more pictures to follow, but this will get us started. Many of you will notice your designs, hand dyed thread or a snowflake you have tatted and very generously shared with me. Thank you all so much for all of your help and encouragement. I am very pleased with me tree so far. My friend asked me last night if I had enough snowflakes. The answer is "NO." Hopefully if I can tat one or two a week until Christmas I'll have it filled up!

Still unidentified snowflake

We've yet to identify the designer of this snowflake. I am really enjoying tatting it, as you can tell. If no one objects and anyone wants it, let me know and I will post it here or email it to you. I don't know what else to do.

I tatted this one with the last of the blue/green size 50 hand dyed thread from New Zealand that Clyde so generously shared with me. You will notice red spots in a few places where I joined on the outer chains. The only other size 50 in this thread is a variegated with red in it. I had to use it for the shuttle thread and switch the left over blue/green shuttle thread to the ball thread. Phew! I was afraid I wouldn't make it. As it was, I still had to leave out the last regular round of chains before I started the outer round with the long picots.

I think these little snowflakes will be perfect to fill in between the big ones on my Rainbow Christmas Tree this year.

Thank you again to our phantom designer!

Pizzazz Snowflake #1

Woo Hoo! (borrowing from Lady Shuttle Maker). Designing is fun, fun, fun! I had a third round planned for this little snowflake. (It is 2 1/8" in diameter.) However, I like it too much the way it is. I did both rounds continuously so there are only two ends to hide.

Don't look too closely. I put an extra picot on three of the rings in round one, but it will be correct on the diagram and in the pattern. I have the diagram almost finished but haven't written the pattern out yet.

Marilee aka Yarnplayer's hand dyed thread in Pizzazz size 50 really makes this pattern stand out for me. It will be perfect on this year's Rainbow Christmas Tree.

Winter Blend Snowflake (1st two rows)

Not finished tatting, but here's a preview. My first snowflake design from start to finish, when I finish that is! Believe it or not, it is size 80 HDT from Marilee. I know it doesn't look like it in the picture, but it is only 1 1/2" in diameter so far. The white is regular DMC 80. I had meant for this second row to be two colors, but somehow forgot until I was over half way finished. I am very pleased with my design and can't wait to finish tatting it and show it off. It is a bit ruffled, but I think the next row will solve that problem.

This will be my first original snowflake for my Rainbow Christmas Tree!

Snowflake Rose #2 for Rainbow Tree

Here is rose #2. I crocheted the center much tighter, but still in DMC 80. The leaves are tatted with Sulky #12 which has a very subtle shading. I think it gives a much more delicate look to the leaves. Thanks to Clyde for suggesting a smaller thread for the leaves.

More to come. Keep watching!

Surprise Package from my friend Clyde!

I recently received this card that Clyde The Mad Tatter made. In it were two skeins of HDT from New Zealand and the star and snowflake in the color of the skein pictured. They are for my Rainbow Christmas Tree this next Christmas. The other skein is on two of my shuttles and is what I used to make this blue/green/purple snowflake you have already seen.

The thread is size 50, but was much easier to tat with than I had expected. The hand dyeing really makes a difference. He is now going to send me some size 80 to try before I start buying more HDT! We are both in serious trouble with this addiction!

Clyde is a good friend and was very kind to share with me in this way. Good friends are hard to find.

Rose Snowflake for Rainbow Tree 2008

I have been tatting on this occasionally for a couple of weeks, at least. The center is the same one from Denise Munoz' book that I have tatted so many times, but the leaves are all mine. I wanted to see if I could make up my own outer round, so I just did it. You wait and see - one day I'll start from scratch and do the whole thing on my own! (I hope.)


I was kind of worried about the leaves being too frilly, but I like them. I had first drawn it out to chain around them for an outline, but I didn't like the way it looked. I know in real life rose leaves are not frilly, but in my world they now are!

The red thread is Sherry's hand dyed Red velvet size 20 and the green is DMC Cebelia size 20.

I just got two skeins of hand dyed thread from Sherry today. I hope be tatting snowflakes all year for the next rainbow Christmas tree. Clyde and I definitely have a problem with HDTA. However, we really don't want any help towards a cure!