11 month old Isaac's first dental exam!

I had to put the tatting away for a trip to the dentist. It was supposed to be for me to have my teeth cleaned, but as you can see, my grandbaby stole the show. I took him with me so he can get used to being at the dentist and maybe he won't be afraid when it is time for him to go. This is his second trip. Not only was he not afraid, he embraced the whole experience! The whole office was in an uproar, including the dentist. They could not believe he would open his mouth for them to check his teeth, which by the way, are nonexistent at the moment. I wanted her to check his mouth to be sure nothing was wrong. She assured us he is fine and they will be in soon. He sat in my lap and watched the entire cleaning like he was studying to be a dentist. Then, it was his turn. If I didn't have these pictures to prove it, nobody would believe a word of it! Thank God for my Treo phone with a camera.

Grandbabies are better than tatting!

My grandbaby is 11 months old! I thought I loved him as much as possible the day I saw him born, but it has grown to unmeasureable heights. The older he gets, the more I love him. In the last couple of days he has started giving real hugs and kisses. When he wraps his little arms around my neck, squeezes and makes that hugging sound, I just melt to my very core. Today he combined it with a kiss. For those of you who have given birth and have grandchildren of your own, this might seem every day. However, he is the child of my oldest stepdaughter and our first. I have loved and helped to raise many children in my life, but this is sooo very different. I know I will never really know what it is to be a biological parent, but it takes a lot more than giving birth or fathering a child to make a good parent. I am so blessed. By the way, he really is as sweet as he looks!

Tatted Motif #10 of 25

This is Diana Stevens' snake copyright 2004 from her website Domestic Arts. It can be found here: http://www.domesticarts.com/Patterns/snake.htm

I really enjoyed tatting this little fellow! I used size 10 crochet cotton because it was the only thread I had that would do for a snake. I know the colors will not be found on any snake ever known to man, but I think he is cute. I made him for my little grandson's nursery. I think I will put him in a frame with an "S" for snake. I'll probably be tatting little creatures for a long time to come. I think they will be so cute on the walls in his room.

I looked for some variagated green thread on Friday, but didn't find any in the store. I guess I'll have to order some if I want my tatted snakes to look more realistic, but I really think reality is overrated!

Tatting while doing anything else!

Help! I would like to know how all of you watch t.v. and tat. Or, talk to people and tat. I have the hardest time with this. I try to remind myself to check the ring before I close it, but I always seem to mess up. I was with my nephew at the hospital yesterday. I always try to tat in public when appropriate so I can introduce it to people who might be interested. I had only done one ring on my snowflake when I realized I did not do the back half of the split ring. Argh! I tried for quite a while to untat it and finally gave up and cut it out. Now, I have to tie the thread back in. I just put it away and picked up another project I had taken with me. I love my tatting and want to do it whenever possible, but it seems I must concentrate while tatting. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Next round of tatted friendship doily

Here is the next round on my friendship doily that my two tatting buddies from Mobile are helping me with. Isn't it beautiful? I am so pleased with the colors she picked and her tatting. She was kind enough to send me this picture before she passed it on to the next tatting friend. I hope I can do as well tatting all the rounds on theirs. Tragically, the post office seems to have lost one of the doilys. We are still waiting to see if they can track it down or if she is going to have to start over. I might have to start driving to Mobile from Birmingham every time we need to exchange tatting! I just can't bear for beautiful work to be lost. Tatting may not be a lost art form, but at least one piece of tatting seems to be lost!

Different View of Motif #9

I wanted to try one more time to show how lacey and pretty this cross of Jane's is. I've got to get some construction paper for background in the future, but I like this back light showing through this one.

Mystery Lace

My friend Madeline brought this lace to me this morning in hopes that we can identify it. She knows it is at least 55 years old as her mother gave it to her when she got married. It was on a napkin. It looks machine made to me, but I hope not. Can anyone help?

Tatted Motif #9 of 25 (2nd set)

I did another of Jane's Celtic Crosses in Sulky #12 this time. It's about 4" long and 3" wide. I wish the picture did it justice. I really do need to acquire a scanner! Thanks again Jane!

Tatted Motif #8 of 25

This is Ruth's snowflake from the tatted calendar. The calendar and pattern can be found here: http://tat-calendar.blogspot.com/2007/01/january-13-one-round-split-ring.html I made it with my usual #20 DMC Cebelia. I can see room for improvement in several places and also want to add beads to the next one. The pattern was easy to follow and the tatting very enjoyable. Thanks Ruth!

Tatted Motif #7 of 25

This is Jane's Celtic cross tatted in DMC #20 Cebelia with my mother-in-law's pearls in the center and on the tips. I think both sides are so pretty that I had to post two pictures. The pattern is on her pattern page that can be found here: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~nickeb/
Thank you Jane for creating and sharing this pattern and so many others!

Tatted Motif #6 of 25

Well, our friend Jane almost got me with this one! Tatting it was extremely challenging, but very rewarding. It is one of the patterns she shared with us a couple of days ago on her blog. The pattern can be found here: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~nickeb/doodles2.htm

I used some old J.P. Coats Knit-Cro-Sheen in aqua so it would be large enough to support the pearls. These are some of my mother-in-law's old pearls that she gave me to use on Mark's angels from his book that I got for Christmas. I wanted to make her some earrings to match the poncho and hat I knitted her for Christmas. I'll try to get the other one done tomorrow if I have time. I know it is a little big, but she likes big earrings and I think it will please her that they are her pearls.

I just love the way the rings look like little hearts. You did a great job Jane! Thanks bunches!

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.