No activity for a while

As I shall be in hospital having surgery to my spine (9th one), I shall be away from my computer for a while. I expect it many be as much a 3 weeks, but you can be sure that I will post as soon as I can!

Tiara motifs

In a previous post I told you about our future daughter-in-law being diagnosed with breast cancer. Well, it was supposed to be good news, as there was no lymph involvement, and she would only have to have radiotherapy after the lump was removed. But it now turns out that she is HER2+, and for those who do not not understand what this means (which I didn't until recently) it is not good news! HER2+ means that she has the most agressive form of cancer and therefore will have to have the most aggressive form of treatment! Chemo, radiotherapy and Herceptin....the whole kit and kaboodle!

She had been growing her hair for the wedding, Sept 4 2010, but of course, will now loose all her hair. She had it cut short last week so that loosing it would not be so traumatic! It looks fantastic and she is so pleased, because by the time the wedding comes round her hair will have grown to this length at least. We have all assured her that we think it suits her better than when it was longer! And....hand on heart.....we all really mean this! It suits the shape of her face so well - it gives her that urchin look!

Now that I've got all that off my chest, the reason for the tiara motifs is this. I was always going to make DIL's tiara anyway, so I thought, to cheer her (and myself) up a bit I would make a start on the design. The pictures show my doodles so far. They are a long way from the finished article - I may not use anything I have done so far! LOL - but any feedback/comments/suggestions from my valued tatting friends and followers would be most welcome. My tentative idea is to make a larger motif for the centre, with smaller motifs on either side, and maybe even smaller again, petering out. I must mention that DIL is only small with a cute little face, so the whole thing has to be on the smaller side. When I get the final design right, I shall be using real crystals, so that it sparkles - it will also match in with the sparkles on her wedding dress. I have several shapes of crystal including faceted droppers. My personal favourite motif, so far, is the centre white one in the top row, but I also love to use clunies. Oh what a wonderful dilemma, I'm loving every moment of it, especially because of the reason that I am doing it! It was always going to be a pleasure, but now its magnitude is a thousand fold!

New tatting demo for absolute beginners

I have put a link in my video section, on the right side bar of my blog, to a demo which is a shortened version of my latest video. It is specifically for people wanting to learn how to do the double stitch with the shuttle, plus a little extra! The longer version can be obtained on computer disc, email me if you are interested.

Revised square motif

I wasn't exactly thrilled with the way the square motifs were joining together when I used the size 20 Lisbeth thread and so have adjusted the pattern slightly to make it lie properly. The picture on the left is the original and the one on the right is the new variation. Can you spot the difference? I'm sure you'll all agree with me that it looks a lot better!

Square Motif

I wanted to tat two square doilies for my bedside cabinets and so, instead of trawling through my pattern books, I thought I would design one.

This is what I have come up with, but knowing tatting, there is probably something out in tatland that is almost, if not exactly, the same.

I have used a split ring to climb out of the centre ring and also self closing mock rings as part of the design.

I would be greatful if any of my followers could tell me if they recognise this pattern as another designer's. If it isn't the same as anyone elses then I will write the pattern out for it and publish it as a freebie.

Thank you, in advance, for your help with my quest!

The Great Monday Giveaway from Sherry!

This is a wonderful oportunity that LadyShuttleMaker is giving the tatting community. Just visit her blog and leave a comment and you will be entered into her weekly prize draw! What could be simpler?

30th Birthday Card

My future daughter-in-law is 30th tomorrow (Sept 7th) and this is the card that I have done for her. She is very special to us and is going through a trying time at the moment. 3 days after her birthday she will be having surgery for breast cancer! We are very hopeful for a full recovery as there does not appear to be any lymph involvement, which was very encouraging news!

Rose leaves

I have now done a pattern for the rose leaves that I used for the bridal bouquet and there is a link to the PDF on the right of my blog in my Free Patterns section.

Here also is the link to the pattern.

Finished Bridal Bouquet

For all of you who have been waiting to see the final result of the Bridal Bouquet then here it is in all it's glory!

New Links to Free Patterns!

You will find that if you click on the links to my free patterns it will take you to Google Docs - the PDF files are much clearer there and you can either just print them off or download them to your computer!

HAPPY TATTING!

Test tatting

I have just finished writing out the pattern - with diagrams - of the new daffodil pattern that I designed for the bridal bouquet. Jeff Hamilton has kindly agreed to test tat it for me - he's a real sweetie. I asked Jeff because I knew that he had worked my 3D flower patterns in the past.

Bridal bouquet

Bekah's bridal bouquet is coming along. I thought you would all like to see what I have done so far.

I have still got lots of leaves to make but I think you can see the shape getting there!

Wedding card

This is the end result of the heart pattern I designed specially for this card. The wedding was last Sunday and so I can now show it to you all!

I am now in the process of doing another one which will have a slight variation as I don't like to give two of exactly the same thing. I like my gifts to be unique!

The quote from Friedrich Halm is an absolute favourite of mine and so appropriate for this type of card!

DVD coming soon!

I am in the process of producing a DVD on tatting for beginners. I posted two small demos on YouTube about beading and split rings and had so many requests for making a DVD for beginners - literally starting from scratch, like winding the shuttle - that I thought that I had better get on with it!

I had thought that there were quite a few instructional videos available that I didn't need to add to the list, but the amount of subscribers to my videos on YouTube and their assurance that they liked my way of instructing, led me to think, OK, lets do it!

If all goes to plan I should finish the DVD today and then I will try to make a little promotional video to post on my blog and on YouTube.

It will not be a professional video - I am doing it entirely on my own with my own video camera and computer software - but I think it will be classed as a good amateur one!

Another Version of the Star Attraction Doily

Sonja from Holland sent me this picture today of my Star Attraction doily that she has done in green and white. I think the colours are perfect together, don't you?