Round Robin Heart #3

This pattern is from Be-stitched Copyright 2007 by Nancy Tracy. It was originally found at Be-stitched. This is a very nice pattern that only took a couple of hours to tat. And, I did it watching television! I don't usually do so well on auto pilot. Since this is for the round robin and the hearts are supposed to be around 3", I added the white row around the outside of the original pattern. I hope Nancy won't mind. It makes it a little bigger and I think it looks like an old Valentine - the ones with the white doily behind them. The thread is size 20 Flora.

Thanks for the pattern Nancy. I enjoyed tatting it.

Tatted Heart #2 for the Round Robin

This pattern is by Sharon B. Taliaferro. I printed it from the Tatting Pattern Calendar February 20, 2007. I tatted it with DMC #8 Perle Cotton in off white with a tortoise shell finish button. The pattern called for #12 perle cotton and a 5/8" button. Since I was using #8 to make it bigger, I used a button that's a little over 1". She said she wanted neutrals so I hope this is a good choice.

This was a lot of fun to tat if anyone hasn't tried it and wants to. It tats up fast and is very simple and straight forward. Once you get started, it could be one of those "auto pilot" projects.

I hope the recipient will be pleased!

"English Country Garden Heart" round robin #1

I can't believe it, but I actually designed this one all by myself! It's not perfect, but I'll get there. I have to thank Martha Ess for inspiration. I tatted one of the hearts in her book "Tat's Amore" last year that this reminds me of, but I promise I wasn't copying or using her flowers, as you can tell! LOL I hope she will be flattered.

Georgia Seitz pointed me to a technique called the Bach versus Beethoven method of designing. You either tat the outline and fill in or tat the inside and then outline it. I did the former.

The outline is size 20 DMC Cebelia white dimpled split rings. Then, I just started making fantasy flowers and stems to fit inside. Viola! The flowers and stems are Flora, DMC and hand dyed thread. When I started working on the dimpled split rings and saw that they weren't all that uniform, I intended to just practice a while and then go back and start over. I guess I got carried away!

I am excited and encouraged that maybe I can learn to design tatting after all!