Happy International tatting day...April Fools

 

So for international tatting day this year I decided to try tatting something I don’t normally do. I have been admiring and enjoying reading Lace-lovin Librarian Dianes blog for quite some time now and seeing all her lovely ice drops so I decided to try making one.  I used her pattern that she so graciously provided here but I did change the count on the outer chains. I also watched this youtube video. Warning..this video is really long and not very well done but it gave me enough of an idea to figure out how to do this.

 I had actually tried making one a couple years ago and since I usually use cheap artiste thread that is bigger than size 20, I couldn’t find a stone big enough to fill the center of the first one I made using Dianes pattern. I am not very good with adjusting stitch count, so I didn’t try to make another one until today. I remembered that I had some shuttles still wound with the size 20 thread I had bought to make St patricks doodads and didn’t end up using so I thought this would be a good way to use up the thread.

So this time I had a very difficult time trying to squeeze in the flat marbles I have. I learned that I tend to tat very tightly and I make little tiny joining picots. I have tons of flat stones and even using the smalles one I could find I still had to pull and tug to try to get the last ring to fit. In fact, I am totally testing the tensile strength of this thread and at this point I am sure hoping the thread holds and doesn’t snap loose cause someone could sure loose an eye!

The good news is these are pretty fun to make so I think I will be trying to make more of them. More good news is I have already sent out my Easter doodads in plenty of time for everyone to receive them on time…APRIL FOOLS!!! I still haven’t even made the cards for them yet . I am feeling really stupid about that be cause the doodads have been done for over 2 years now and they still aren’t in the mail yet. At this point there is no way that they will make them on time so I am not sure I will even bother sending them out again!

Sorry I didnt get this posted on the actual tatting day but we had a surprise guest show up yesteray. One of my husbands best friends was in town and he needed to borrow some guitars for a show he is getting to do in eastern Washington. It is always so awesome to get to hang out with him as he always has new music to share! So all in all it was a pretty good day and since those are very few and far between it makes them all the sweeter!  I hope you all enjoyed the  day as much as I did and heres to hoping more good days are to come!

 

#6 and #7 motifs

Happy Friday! I am not really sure how it got to be Friday again, here lately it seems that I keep losing days out of my week.  Fridays always seem to sneak up and I am left wondering how I keep losing days of the week.  It is becoming quite scary so I hope I can figure it out soon.
I have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks working on my next family holiday motifs.  I have already gotten most of my Saint Patricks day motifs done so I am hoping I will actually get them in the mail way before March 17th.  Don't congratulate me just yet as I seem to always wait way too long to get them in the mail but I am going to try! As always I will post a picture of the project after I get them in the mail.

I have also been working on the Easter motifs and they are actually coming along quite nicely.  In my endeavor to come up with a pattern I first was thinking I would do little baskets.  I couldn't seem to find any patterns until I had an epiphany that I could just take a round pattern and shape it around a bowl and then starch it.  I then remembered that I hadn't finish my last doily and I remembered it had a fun round motif in the middle of that pattern so I actually found the doily and finally finished that project off. It is not completely finished as I still need to clip threads so I will photograph it later and post it soon. After all, that project has taken so stinkin long to complete that waiting for a few more days to post it only seems fitting!

I did try making a basket out of the center motif of the doily which is the Wiosna 2015 Renulek doily. I found that by using the same length picots instead of joining picots in the very center of the motif it actually formed a bowl all on its own but this pattern is just not suitable to adding a handle too. I then decided that going the basket route would not be the best idea because they would be a real pain to try to ship in the mail. Not sure what I will do with this little bowl but its kind of cute.

 After finishing the motif off I still had quite a bit of thread left on my shuttles. I used a thread that I found in goodwill so I am not sure what brand the thread is but it is not so fun to work with.  I hate to waste anything so I wanted to come up with a little motif that would use the remaining thread on the shuttles. As always I turned to the 25 motif challenge to draw inspiration. Well I decided to jump on the Ice Drop train! 

This pattern is pretty easy to follow so I am not sure how I ended up getting off on the counts but apparently it is pretty easy to do because I did it! When it came time to close up the motif and insert the drop I found that the small drop was too small and the big drop was way too big. It took me a bit to figure out what I did wrong because I was using a bigger thread than what is called for so I knew I would be off but I ended up only making 5 rings instead of the called for 6 rings.  I spent a little time looking around the yard to try to find a stone that would fit but I didn't have any luck.  I am fairly certain I should be able to come up with a stone to fit so a trip to the beach may be in order, a place where I know flat round stones to be plentiful.  This is a time where my hoarding tendencies will come in handy...I have enough shuttles hoarded that I can just leave those attached until I can find a stone to fit.  I will be trying the Ice Drop again and I highly recommended that if you haven't tried one yet, well jump on board! Thank you Diane for sharing your talents, her tutorial can be found here.

We have a pretty busy weekend coming up.  We will be working shows at the casino both tonight and tomorrow night and we will probably spend some of Sunday recovering from both shows. It is supposed to rain all weekend so I guess its a good time to work.  I always try to remember to take my tatting with me to the shows because if the bands hurry and get set up early I get time to do a bit of tatting. Here's to hoping that the weekend goes well for everybody!