Sunbonnet Sue wanted to be bigger, so I tatted her in #10 crochet cotton. She is about 4 1/2" tall and ready to sit under the Magnolia Tree and sip Mint Juleps! Last Fall we were in Fairhope, Alabama for Founder's Day. They had a lovely Pops concert in the park on the bluff overlooking the Mobile Bay. In attendance were six lovely "Southern Belles" dressed in pastel dresses and bonnets. I just might have to make Sue some girlfriends with whom she can sashay around. Thanks again to the Big Book of Tatting.
Hooray! The first tatted friendship doily is completely finished! This is Elizabeth's. I hope she likes it as much as I do. I thought the white edge would tie into the white chains about in the middle and give the whole doily a good frame. Now, off to more recreational tatting. I am really enjoying my "Big Book of Tatting."
Presenting - Sunbonnet Sue from The Big Book of Tatting - the 25th motif of my second set! I am really enjoying tatting the patterns in this book. They tat up fast and this one was great for using up the thread left on the shuttle from the last butterfly. I'm going to do the next one with white for the rings. I haven't decided what color to make the chains as of yet. I don't know how many of you have this book, but hope you enjoy it as much as I am.
This pattern from The Big Book of Tatting was just screaming to be done in purple! The variegated is Altan Balsak. I'm not sure about the solid. I think it is DMC Cebelia. I wasn't sure how the two would mix when tatted together, but I like the way it looks. I'm off now to look at more of the patterns and make my next choice!
I had so much fun with this butterfly! It is from Big Book of Tatting by Darlene Polachic and tatted in #20 DMC Cebelia. We are doing some work in our kitchen and I can't get to the ironing board or iron, but couldn't wait to share this little fellow. More colors to come!
New is not always better! I got the old camera out and made a picture of the Easter Egg. So much better. I really must get a scanner for my tatting!
I have tried and tried to get a good, clear picture of this Easter Egg and I just can't. This is the second of Mark's that I have made and I just love tatting this pattern. I wish it would show up better. This is a lovely, creamy yellow with a purple center. I had to darken it to show the detail. 
This is Mark's Easter Egg. I had so much fun with it and can't wait to make more! I have all kinds of color combinations in my head. Hope they don't get lost in there! I like tatting the half rings in this pattern. I only need to make the long picots a bit longer to take up the negative space around the center. 
Finally - the sixth round finished on my tatted friendship doily. It took a long time to make it around this time. Only one more round to go and it's an easy one. This one goes to J.B. now. Her's will go to Elizabeth and Elizabeth's will come to me to finish. I have enjoyed doing this and would like to do another one in the future. I'm ready for a little break right now. As soon as I finished with this round, I started on Tatman's Easter egg. It is going to be pretty!
Thanks to Jon for getting me started on Mignonette Tatting. I really like it. She sent me a link to Georgia's on line class on Mignonette and I'm hooked. This is only a practice so I didn't measure as carefully as I should have. For anyone who hasn't tried it yet, it is very easy, fast and fun! Thank you Georgia for all that you do for the tatting community!
J.B. sent me pictures of Elizabeth's doily with the 5th round completed so that I could add it to the collage and share it on my blog. I think they are all so pretty and unique. There will never be another three like these! There is also a picture of the practice piece I did before I started the actual friendship doily. I was trying to put 9 pictures together so there wouldn't be a repeat. I hope you all enjoy seeing the different tatting and colors.
Another tatted animal for Isaac's room. This is Jane Eborall's giraffe tatted, with much love and a little hair pulling, in Gemini Double Strand Crochet Thread by Royale. The color # is 0460 Golden Yellow/Pumpkin similar to size 3. I couldn't find a variegated thread that I liked. I didn't realize until I started to tat the little darling that I had a double strand thread, but it wasn't bad tatting with it. I've got to work on an African scene for him to live in. More pictures when he has a home. Thanks Jane!
I thought this was a good way to see the friendship doilies so far. Of course, since I only had six pictures, it repeated some of them. More tatting and more pictures please!
This is the first time my friendship doily has come back around to me. Elizabeth said it looked like a flower garden and she is right! It reminds me of my grandmother's flowers when I was a little girl. I am to do the 6th round and send to J.B. for the 7th round. Isn't it lovely? I am so pleased with the colors they have chosen and the tatting they have done!
Another round finished! This is J.B.'s doily. She did the first two rounds being the pink and white flowers with the green rings and chains surrounding them. (Two rounds.) I did the yellow rings with blue chains. (Round three.) Elizabeth tatted the rose colored rings with variegated blue/pink chains. (Round four.) I have just tatted the ecru rings with purple chains. (Round five.) I will have to give my husband credit for picking the colors for this round and I think he did a wonderful job! Now, it goes back to J.B. for the sixth round and to Elizabeth for the seventh round. 
I have really had fun with Ruth's Celtic knot Shamrock, as you can see from this and previous posts. Left to right -Flora, DMC and DMC. All size 20. I know the center one is not really a shamrock color, but I like it the best! I think they make nice bookmarks. I'm going to keep the center one and use the others as gifts. Tatting is such a pleasure, largely due to the talented and generous designers who share with the rest of us.
This four leaf clover is by Lynette Hodges copyright 1998. This pattern, and others, can be found here: http://www.geocities.com/tattingone/clover.html
Well, I tatted another one. This time in #20 Cebelia. I think I like them better each time. It's amazing how much easier it is to weave the Celtic knot each time!
Despite the picture, I did manage to get Ruth's shamrock done without combining it with the clover. I have a new camera and, needless to say, I have not mastered it! I tatted it with #10 crochet cotton this time and it really looks nice pinned to my blouse. I gave the combination clover/shamrock to my friend Madeline this morning and she really liked it. Thanks Ruth!
Presenting Ruth's Shamrock/Four Leaf Clover! I kinda combined the two by mistake, but I think it works! This is another pattern from the Tatting Pattern Calendar. I am really enjoying the calendar. It is so exciting to check each day and see what is on the menu. I hope a lot of you are taking advantage of it for your tatting. This is, of course, DMC Cebelia size 20.
This is Elizabeth's doily with the 3rd round tatted by J.B. and the 4th round just finished by me. I am having so much fun with this friendship doily! I think Elizabeth's color choices for the first two rounds are very pretty and interesting. I had a challenge trying to find colors to compliment them. I think J.B. did a great job on her round. Her work is so smooth and even. They both gave me permission to post pictures as the doilies progress. I hope you will all enjoy seeing them as much as I'm enjoying tatting them!
Ruth challenged us to take this arrangement and tat around it for a larger heart. I got this far, tried to finish and got so frustrated I stopped. I will get back to it when I calm down! I have so many ideas of how I would like for it to look, but I worked for hours yesterday tatting and cutting out. I went about half way around replicating the clovers around the edge and didn't like the way it looked. Then, I started with pink and then white trying to fill in the open places and tat around it. Just couldn't get it right. The two sides are the problems. The top is okay without a filler as it is the inverted point. All suggestions welcomed. Signed: Forever Design Challenged!
These are my attempts at Ruth's Spiral Heart from February 9th on the tatting pattern a day calendar. Sorry Ruth! I just could not get them tight enough to get rid of the "eyes" in the center. But, I still like them. One is in #10 crochet cotton and the other in DMC Cebelia.
Carol's Twelve of Hearts from the Tatting Pattern Calendar is so much fun. I can't wait to start adding more motifs to it. We'll see what it becomes! It tatted up quickly in #20 DMC Cebelia and I've already started the next one. I thought about using some pinks and white, but think it will be more dramatic in solid red. The pattern can be found here at the tatting calendar link on this blog. Thank you Carol for sharing this pattern with us and many thanks to Ruth for all of her hard work on the calendar every day!
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! I'm still design challenged, but this came from my own little head! It's not like I had imagined it when I started, but I like it for now. It needs one more large ring. Also, the heart button should be moved over. However, at the start I had intended for it to be between rings and made an extra long picot over which to add it. Alas, being challenged, as I am, it turned the wrong way! That's what I get for making it up as I go along. I had to cover up the picot so here it is. I will be the first to admit that there is a huge difference between tatting and designing tatting!
