Chinese Dragon in Purple Punch

Thank you so much Anne Bruvold for sharing this wonderful pattern! Look here for the pattern. I thoroughly enjoyed tatting it start to finish. Wish the scan was better. I have a hard time with things that are not flat. Yes, that is a real pearl in it's mouth! The thread is "Purple Punch" in size 50 by Yarnplayer. Red and yellow might have been better colors for a Chinese dragon, but I really wanted a purple one! I know I don't usually tat in size 50, but I have my first ever Ott lamp and I can see the stitches! I love the smaller threads as they give a much more lacey look to the tatting. Now that I can see, I have to tat snowflakes in this thread. I thought I would have some thread left on my shuttles with which to start a snowflake. Not so! It took a total of 14.5 yards on shuttle one and 12 yards on shuttle two. I had started with 10 yards on each. (You might need more or less, but this gives you an idea.) Thanks again, Anne!

Magic Moment Snowflake

I tatted Jon's Magic Moments Snowflake in size 20 thread. The hand dyed thread is "Granny Smith" by Lady Shuttle Maker. In size 20, it measures 4 3/4". I used 8 yards of thread on shuttle 1 and 13 yards of thread on shuttle 2. This is a fun design to tat with all the changing of the shuttles and directions, but not at all hard. Before I finished, I was just looking at the previous repeats instead of the chart. I only used the written directions to get started. I think this one will be repeated. Watch for it in another size, maybe!

Favorite Spring Blossom Snowflake

This is my favorite Spring Blossom snowflake in Apple Blossom. I used variegated thread on both shuttles for the first round. Then for the second round, I used one with the darkest pink for the outside and variegated for the inside rings. I could have used the shoelace trick to make the chains going up to the trefoils in the pink, but I think it looks nice this way. Way to go on dyeing this thread Tatskool and thanks to Jon Faizon for her wonderful snowflake designs.

Spring Blossom Snowflakes

As I was tatting Jon's Spring Blossom Snowflake in Yarnplayer's Rhubarb Pie, I thought "wait a minute. This needs to be tatted in Tatskool's Apple Blossom hand dyed thread!" I had three solids from the colorway and used them for the centers, as you can see. I may tat one more in all Apple Blossom. We'll see. So much tatting, so little time!

I just noticed that I scanned 2 of them upside down! Oops.

 

 

 

 

Spring Blossom Snowflake in Rhubarb Pie

 

I think Jon's Spring Blossom Snowflake looks so pretty in Yarnplayer's Rhubarb Pie hand dyed thread. I like this pattern a lot. Be looking for more rainbow snowflakes soon!

The Letter Carrier brought surprises yesterday!

I received by thread order from Tatskool yesterday afternoon. I am so excited! As soon as I finish the dragon I am making, I think I will start a doily with this thread. I think it is just yummy. It is, of course, from her hand dyed Choco Raspberry collection and most of the colors will work in my bedroom with Yarnplayer's Rhubarb Crisp.

 

I had a super surprise in with my order. Along with some extra thread, I discovered I was the friend for whom Tatskool was making the heart! She is such a sweetie and wanted to cheer me up. It worked!

 

Here is a picture of the end table where I display my heart collection. I bet lots of you recognize your patterns, thread and hearts that you have sent to me. Thank you all so much for being a huge part of my family. You are all in my heart!

 

Proud Beauty

 

As many of you know, I have been working on this doily intermittently for several months. It was supposed to have eight motifs joined and a rose center. The more rows I put on the rose, the longer the chains, (of course), and my arthritis just won't let me finish it. So..... I have joined it together and I have another purpose for it. I think you will all like it very much. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I can show you the finished project as I have to wait for part of it to be done somewhere else and sent to me.

I spent maybe a total of 30 minutes yesterday finishing the end of one of the motifs and then joining two motifs together to make a circle. My head was pounding and I could hardly see by that time. My neurologist ordered a MRI on my brain which I had today. I hope we will be able to find something to help me soon. I ache to return to my tatting and reading.

Oh, the thread is Yarnplayer's Rhubarb Pie in size 20. The pattern is from "The Tatter's Treasure Chest."

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!

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!

Carousel Snowflake in Tropicana

 

I hope you are not getting tired of looking at Tropicana Snowflakes! I thought I might see how many I can get from one skein of Lady Shuttle Maker's lovely hand dyed thread. This is size 20 same as the others. I loaded 5 yards onto each shuttle. Shuttle 1 ended up getting so close to empty that I did a shoelace trick and switched the shuttles. I ended up with barely 1 yard left on shuttle 1 and 1 1/2 on shuttle 2.

I am still tatting snowflakes from Jon's book, "Snowflake Collection." They are all so pretty.

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.

Milky Way Snowflake in Lizbeth

 

I really like the new Lizbeth thread. This is size 20 in color #147. It is very smooth and easy to tat and retrotat. It will never replace the beautiful hand dyed threads from our group, but it is nice.

This is, of course, Jon's Milky Way snowflake.

Scallop Shell Heart from Tatting Chic

Last, but certainly not least, I received this lovely heart from Tatting Chic. It is Scallop Shell Heart from Martha Ess. The thread is Pizzazz from Yarnplayer. And, she used one of my thread winders while tatting it!

 

This is the card that came with the heart.

It is one of those cute pop-out cards. Even the little Get Well Soon card at the top opens to reveal a sweet message from Tatting Chic. You are a very sweet, special friend Tatting Chic. Thank you for the lovely gift and for all of your prayers.

Get well card from Pamela

I am finally better enough to sit at the computer for short periods of time. I hope all of you will forgive my tardiness in thanking you for your prayers and thoughts during my surgeries. There were NO CANCER CELLS this time and I am eternally grateful! Hopefully, I will be back to normal in the next 5 to 6 weeks. No - better than normal! In the meantime, I just have to rest and can't sit for very long.

Pamela a.k.a. Tatskool sent me this lovely card that she made. I wish you could see it in person. It is several layers thick so I had to make the picture with my camera instead of the scanner. The little bears are so precious and the tatting one is holding looks like tatted balloons!

 

She included this beautiful bookmark tatted in her Rainbow Bright. I love how the colors ended up the same on each edge. Wonder how she worked that out?

 

Thank you so much Pamela. I will be posting more as I can. It's good to be back!

Clover Drop Heart in "Hydrangea" HDT

 

I finally managed to get a little tatting done. Between arthritis and sinusitis, I've not been very productive. This design is by Nancy Tracy of Be-stitched copyright 2005. The thread is Lady Shuttle Maker's hand dyed thread named "Hydrangea." The thread is size 20 and the heart is about 2 1/4" wide. Happy February everyone!

Blossoms & Blessings Angel in Coral Reef

 

I see lots of these angels in my future. I love this design. If you need to tat a quick gift for a sick or burdened friend, this is perfect. Thanks again to Blossoms and Blessings Designs.

The thread is size 20 hand dyed thread named "Coral Reef" by Tatskool. I don't know if you can tell in the picture, but I actually used three different threads from the "Coral Reef" colorway in this angel. The rings in the bottom on the skirt are a lighter blue than the other blue and then the variegated of course.

Experiment and have fun! The link to the pattern is in the previous post.

Pansey Angel in Hand Dyed Thread

Thanks to Blossoms and Blessings Designs for sharing this pattern. This little angel was a joy to tat. I've had the pattern printed and waiting for a couple of months. Yesterday, I decided it was time to tat it. It is quick and the pattern is very easy to follow. You only have to end once - between the wings and the skirt.

I used Lady Shuttle Maker's hand dyed thread "Summer Bouquet", size 20 and the angel is about 4" tall. The pattern can be found here.

 

 

Lovely card and gifts from Clyde

 

Clyde sent me this beautiful Hawaiian Christmas card which arrived today. It is very intricately cut in white with a brown paper behind it. So pretty I think I will have to frame it. The thread is Marilee's hand dyed red from Tourmaline in size 80. The Celtic snowflake is tatted in size 50 Apple Blossom. The little copper darts are for marking pages. I have never seen them before, but they will be put to good use.

Thank you so much Clyde for your very thoughtful, and generous, gift to me. Happy New Year!

Coral Reef Doily Finished!

My grandmother always said it was bad luck to take old work, among other things, into the new year. In that spirit, I was determined to finish this doily and get it posted today. It needs a good blocking, but a light pressing will have to do for now.

This is Pamela's Coral Reef thread, of course. I had a set of the solids to mix with it. I was very fortunate that she had saved a skein of the batch I bought. I ran out of the variegated! Now I know what some of you felt like in this situation.

 

Wishing you and yours a safe and prosperous New Year!

Laura, Bill, Isaac and Oisin