Life Is Full Of Bumps And Bruises

Well I am working on Robert's heirloom doily/runner. It is the Pattern called the Grid from Tatting Patterns and Designs by Gun Blomqvist and Elwy Persson. It is tatted in YarnPlayers Fern HDT size 80. As you can tell I have not made a lot of progress since my last post but with good reason. Since Gregg and I have been decorating our bedroom a lot of odd jobs where put on hold and I have been trying to get them caught up. In the middle of this I had two falls and I managed to cause a hairline fracture in my foot. I am now hobbling around in an air-cast and although this gives me time for tatting, with the pain I am in I just do not feel like concentrating on it. Hopefully this week will be better and I will be in a tatting mood as I would hate to see all the time go to waste.

The Start of Roberts' Heirloom Piece

Well we have finally finished the work of redecorating our master bedroom. I must say it looks very rich now that it is decorated in Royal purple, cream, gold. When we get all the artwork in place I will have to post some pictures to give you all an idea of how you can paint your walls a very dark colour and still have a room that looks very elegant. The best part was the bedspread we got for the bed was on sale for $212.00 when it regularly costs $720.00.

This is the start of the Heirloom tatted piece I am making for my son Robert. It is the Pattern called the Grid from Tatting Patterns and Designs by Gun Blomqvist and Elwy Persson. It is tatted in YarnPlayers Fern HDT size 80. If you have not had the opportunity to tat with some of YarnPlayers HDT yet I would highly recommend that you treat yourself to some as I can guarantee you will not be disappointed. It adds a whole new flavour to your tatting. I am making one small change in the pattern and that is I am rotating the center of the motif one picot as I like the way it lines up better. Let me know what you think if you are familiar with the pattern. I would be interested in your feedback.

Matching Dolies and Heirlooms

This cute little Party-Time doily is a match to the larger one I made and posted about a little while a go. It is the second in a set of doilies I am making for our front sitting room furniture. It is made following the pattern, Party-Time Doilies from the book Traditional Tatting Patterns edited by Rita Weiss. The thread is YarnPlayer's Tourmaline HDT size 80 which is my all time favorite thread.

Now I am going to take a break from the doilies and set to work on a heirloom project. I made the following heirloom doily for my daughter a while a go.

At that time I promised my son I would make a heirloom piece for him. Well he has picked his pattern and when I showed him today that I had started it he got excited and now he can't wait to see what the finished project is going to look like because I am taking a small pattern and adapting it into a large piece of tatting. It is going to be tatted in YarnPlayers' HDT Fern in size 80. It is really nice to have children that appreciate the tatting that I do. I know that they value it as much as I do. Well time to tat. 

Better In 3's

I find great joy in tatting and even greater joy in gifting tatting to those who truly appreciate the time and effort that goes into a piece of tatting and the beauty of the finished piece. That brings me to this posting. What could possibly be nicer than Jon Yusoff's "Quantiesque" Snowflake?

Give up?

I think three of them is nicer.

This pattern is getting addictive and I really like the way it looks using Marilee's (YarnPlayers) HDT Fern size 50. The really fun part is that these three snowflakes are on there way to a regular viewer of this blog who loves tatting but who has none and has never been gifted any. Now you all just have to sit by your mailboxes and wait if this description fits you. Good luck.

"Quantiesque" Snowflake

Well I am spending the Christmas holidays fighting pneumonia and a sinus infection so I am not getting a lot accomplished but I did manage to tat this delightful snowflake. My latest adventure with HDT is Jon Yusoff's "Quantiesque" Snowflake tatted in Marilee's (YarnPlayer's) Fern HDT size 50. I love this snowflake for a couple of reasons, the Celtic knot twisting between rows 1 and 2 and I love how the picots line up to present themselves as accents to the rings and the way the chains in the middle of the snowflake look like a flower. If you have not tried tatting this snowflake yet I would highly recommend it. Although it may look complicated Jon has provided excellent directions and they are very easy to follow so do not be afraid to try it.

Hand Dyed Thread Heaven

Anyone who follows my blog knows that I am addicted to Hand Dyed Thread. I firmly believe that it is impossible to have to much HDT and I get excited every-time I come up with a reason to order more. It is so much fun to open the mail when it arrives and marvel at how the thread shines and how the colour jumps from the thread, there is nothing like it.

Now imagine how happy I was when I decided that I was going to make a set of doilies for 3 antique lamps that we have and that I was going to make them out of Marilee's (YarnPlayer) HDT, Tourmaline. I placed an order for 12 skeins and this is how they arrived.

Now these are not your regular skeins. These ones each contain 200 yards of wonderful Tourmaline HDT. Well I think I now have enough HDT to keep me busy for a while although I am sure a new reason to purchase more HDT is just around the corner. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HDT heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A Great Tatting Day

The Fringe Element Tatting Days where a big success. I attended the Saturday events and had a wonderful time. It was so nice to get together with a bunch of tatters and be able to talk about what you are doing and everyone understands. I attended a workshop led by Ruth Perry and she taught us a Celtic maple leaf. I will show a picture when I make one with the HDT I am expecting from Marilee. (YarnPlayer) Ruth was a great teacher with lots of patience and an easy going manner that made everyone comfortable and confident in there tatting. Lots of other classes where offered and when we first arrived we received a wonderful goodie bag. The facilitators also where prepared and had chocolate available at every table. ( a must for tatting ) There where lots of vendors and raffles and an auction. All in all it was a wonderful day.