December birthday card

I have designed and made my friend a birthday card for December. I made a box section and covered it with a cut-out picture frame. The tatting in the centre is covered with acetate and so does not show up very well because of reflection, but in real life it is quite effective.

I saw this type of card being made on a TV craft program and thought that I could replicate the idea without going to the expense of buying the kit. Luckily I had all the equipment necessary and it wasn't all that difficult to make....just time consuming....and I think it turned out well!

 

Lynne's cake

Today is my DIL's mother's 60th birthday and we are going to celebrate by going out for a meal. This cake is a complete surprise for her....I hope she likes it! It is all my own work, including the sugar flowers.

 

Knitting & crochet

Here, as promised, is the Aran cardigan that I made for myself. I like it so much that I am going to make myself another one in beige, but this time I shall add pockets. I had some wool left over and so I knitted my little great-nephew an Aran jumper with it. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to his mum!

I had a lot of ends of cones of wool and decided, while I was waiting to buy the wool for my beige cardigan, I would crochet some squares and make a little bed/lap cover for my dear old mum! I  made 5 squares of 7 different colour combinations and tried to put the squares together in a continuous pattern. I also made 3 different variations of square pattern, just to make it a little more interesting. I only had enough of 3 colours to do the edging, but I think it worked out quite nicely!

 

Working hard!

I have been working very hard on different projects, but was unable to post any pictures until I purchased some batteries for my camera! Finally bought them yesterday and so here is what I have been up to.

Firstly, I made a crocheted baby coverlet in 3D roses and decorated it with tatted motifs and borders. I have line the coverlet with fleece to make it really cosy. Although it looks ornate, it washes well, and so is really practical.

Secondly, I made a cabled cardy for my latest great-nephew (8 months old)

Thirdly, I liked this little cardy so much I made another one, but made my own pattern up.

Finally, I enjoyed my spell of knitting so much that I decided to make myself an aran cardigan. I have done the back and two fronts, and have now started on the first sleeve. I will post a pic when it is finished.

 

 

Classic Doily Pattern

Marty kindly test-tatted my Classic Doily for me (didn't she do a brilliant job?) and only found one little glitch. Stephanie also read through it and found a couple of typos. All have now been corrected and the pattern is available in PDF format here or, alternatively, you will find it in the Free Pattern section of this blog.

Little Oval

I didn't have anything to do after I finished the Classic Doily and so I doodled with this little oval. It is done in size 40 Coates thread and measure about 6 inches across.

Bobbin tightening!

You know the trouble we all have with bobbin type shuttles.....the bobbins soon become slack with wear, so much so, that you can't use any pull on the shuttle without the bobbin unwinding? Well, I have found the perfect answer.
I had recently tried using bits of rubber bands, which was better than nothing, but not yet perfect.
I thought maybe a solution would be to fill the hole in the centre of the bobbin with a substance that would dry but also be flexible and decided to try the sort of silicone that is used for decoupage.
I bought some from my local craft store and gave it a try. IT WAS MAGICAL!!! The shuttle worked perfectly! I could put plenty of pressure on the bobbin without it unwinding but a little more pressure let me pull out as much thread as I needed.
I am chuffed to bits! LOL!!!

Classic pattern

I am re-working my Classic Doily so that I can photograph each section to match the written pattern. I am now on the last round and so will hope to get the pattern test-tatted soon. Anyone up for test-tatting?

Classic Doily - Brown & Cream

Here is the brown and cream version of the Classic Doily. I am still not 100% happy with the stitch count, the first row after the first set of scallops is too big and I ended up with a lot more scallops around the outer edge! I have already started a new one, in size 40 Lizbeth white, instead of size 20 and I am writing the pattern out as I go. I feel confident that I will get it right this time and when it is test-tatted, I will publish the pattern.

Split Chain Doily - correction

Just to let everyone know that Brenda has been tatting my Split Chain Doily and found a mistake in the instructions. I have corrected the mistake if you would like to download the new PDF http://freepdfhosting.com/4f94885271.pdf
Otherwise, just alter the one you already have. The end of round 6 should read DNRW and not RW.
Please note, this is because I do my split chains WITHOUT reversing my work to complete them....sort of do them from the front, as can be seen from my video demo. If you do your split chains by turning your work round, then you have to do the opposite to the pattern....in other words, RW. I hope this all makes sense!

Classic Doily

I told my friend, Eileene, in America, that I was bored because I didn't have a project to tat, and I don't like just tatting for no reason, so she requested a large round doily for her dining room table.

This is the result. I liked doing it very much and I am going to make one for myself. The second rounds of rings are a little busy, so I will adjust it and probably write the pattern out as I am doing it.

Blue Ice Doily

I went to the West Midlands Tat Day recently and purchased a ball of DMC 80 in colourway 67 and also a white one. I made this little doily with the new threads and I have deliberately not swapped shuttles so that you can see the split chains and split rings I have used to climb out of each row. By doing split chains and rings, this doily was achieved in one go, so only one lot of hiding ends at the finish! Oh, and it measures about 7.5 inches in diameter.

Competition diamond

Now that the judging is finished for this year's Ring of Tatters competition, I can show my contribution. I showed my first attempts of a diamond motif in a previous post, but this is the one I settled on for the competition. I also gave the RoT the pattern for this little diamond motif and they will eventually be including it in the pattern section.

All in clover - doily

I had some pearle 12 left on my shuttles from making my corsage and so used up the thread with this doily. It didn't flow as well as some of my designs, therefore I had a lot of wasted thread, however, I think the end result was worth it!

Red & Cream Corsage

I've made this arrangement to wear on Saturday to the West Midlands Tatting Day at Amblecote, Stourbridge (UK). I shall be wearing cream trousers with a red and cream top and red blouse. The last time I wore a corsage to this event, a couple of years ago, I ended up giving it away to another tatter who was starting up her own group. I wonder where this one will end up!

Another Coronet Doily

Brenda, from the UK, sent me this picture of the Coronet Doily she has completed. Well done, Brenda! Brenda used my YouTube video of doing the edging of this doily, which she said was very helpful. Here is the link to the video.

Hexagon - plain and simple

 This little motif is a very simple hexagon but can be put together to obtain lots of different shapes. I have simply kept it in an overall hexagon shape in this doily, but you can make triangles, diamonds, rectangles, squares, etc..
I shall not write the pattern out for this, as it is so simple, I am sure that someone must have designed it before.

Split Chain Doily - edited

I re-tatted my Split Chain Doily so that I could check the pattern and here is the colour that I did. I found a mistake on round 8 and the same mistake on round 12 and have corrected it in the pattern. I have updated the link to the new PDF of the pattern.

Variagated pink split chain doily

Stephanie tatted another Split Chain Doily in this lovely variagated pink, but just to round 8 this time. As Stephanie says, it would make a great set by tatting one large one and two smaller ones.

I tatted another one myself and found a slight mistake in the instructions, therefore if you would like an updated version, here is the link!

Bathroom arrangement

Leaves

I decided to make a flowerarrangement for my son and daughter-in-laws' bathroom. 

The pictures show the flowers and leaves I made and the steps that I arranged them.

I had glued a small block of oasis onto a little Aynesley china dish the day before, to make sure that it was well secure.

Flowers

Step 1, placing the leaves

Step 2, binding the main flowers together
before placing them into the arrangement.

Placing the smaller flowers into the arrangement.

Close-up

Clivia Spectacular

My clivia plant has been in full bloom for a couple of weeks now....the petals are just starting to fall, therefore I thought I would take a picture of it before it went completely over.

Such a shame that the flowers last for such a short time! I have to wait a whole year for them, but boy they are worth it!

Split Chain Doily Test-Tatted

My dear friend, Stephanie, from USA, has once again very kindly test-tatted another pattern for me.

She has used Sulky 12-weight machine embroidery/machine quilting thread, which tats up like a size 80 tatting thread. I love the colour combination and can't wait to do another for myself in a variagated thread.

Split Chain Doily Pattern

Here, as promised, is the pattern for my split chain doily. I have not checked it....so if someone would like to test-tat it for me, I would be delighted.
Here is the link to the PDF, but you can also find it in my Free Pattern section.

Split chain doily completed

And here is the split chain doily completed. My designing hat must have been really tall as this pattern just rolled off my shuttle.....no retro-tatting needed at all!

Being able to do split chains makes such a difference to the amount of cutting and tying needed between rows. With this design, using split chains and split rings to climb out of rows, I only had to cut and tie after row 8 and the last row, doing away with masses of ends to sew in!

Split chain doily

When I did the little motif to demonstrate my method of doing a split chain it seemed a shame to waste it.....and so I just carried on. I used a thick thread for the demo and I don't normally use such a thick thread for doilies, but I thought, "what the heck" and this is the result so far. I have no idea what I shall do with it when it is finished, probably give it away, as usual, LOL!!!

Split Chain - step by step instructions

Tat the first part of the chain in the normal way, to the point where you want the two shuttle threads to meet. Join the core thread to the base of the first ring with a lock join and leave enough thread to work the 5 stitches needed to complete the chain, back towards the last chain stitch worked. Always leave a little less thread, as this will stretch as you work the backward stitches.

 Using the core thread shuttle, pull a loop of thread, from the back, to the front, taking great care not to twist the loop. Thread the shuttle through the loop from the back to the front.

 Gently pull the shuttle thread until the loop is much smaller and then push the loop under the chain towards the back.

 Pull the loop at the back, gently reducing the thread and you will see the first half of the stitch taking shape.

 Draw all the way until the first half of the stitch is tightly into position, taking great care not to twist the new loop that is forming.

 Thread the shuttle, from the front to the back, through this new loop. This forms the second half of the stitch, therefore draw up the excess thread until the second half sits snuggly against the first half.

 First double stitch completed.

A Little Splash of Spring!

I have made this little spring flower arrangement for my next-door neighbour. She is a true friend who is worth making a treat for. I found out quite a long time ago that her favourite colours were blue and yellow, so what a good excuse to make daffodils and primulas!

This is a doodle I did last week and I've called it Little Teardrop. It is a very simple design and done all from one side, no reverse working at all!

Diamond Motifs

The following pictures are my journey into designing a diamond shaped motif to enter into the Ring-of-Tatters competition this year. I will not post a picture of the final design that I am entering, I will save that until after the competition.