Amarllyis and Cross Bookmarks

This Amaryllis is the last flower for my latest book Tatted Flowers From Bulbs. I have yet to wire and assemble it, but I think you can see the shape appearing. Amazingly, I designed it very quickly, with only one alteration, from my hospital bed. My brain must have been boosted with the blood transfusion I had following my surgery!LOL

These two bookmarks are the ones that I designed whilst I was in hospital. They are similar....variations on a theme. It was just something to do after I had finished the amrylis flower above. Really good therapy.....when I am concentrating on designing I do not concentrate on pain!

I'm back!

At last, I managed to do the stairs and so was allowed home from hospital this morning! It is so lovely to be able to sit in my own chair in my own living room.

I will post a picture of the new amarylis when I get around to photographing it. Then of course, I will have to write out the pattern! 'Moan'

doing well

It's been a while since my last post as I am still in hospital following spinal surgery. The sugery went well but my progress is muh slower than expected. I'm doing fine, just not quick enough for me LOL! Yesterday and today I have been designing an amarylis to put into the new boo k. I am very pleased with my efforts and will write the pattern out when I get home.  Unfortunately I cannot upload the pic I took on my phone, will that from home.

Iris re-taped

Here we go again, another slight alteration. Following advice from Barb from HBT I took the flower apart (not a difficult job) and re-assembled it so that it was closer together at the base. Barb was absolutely right....it does look much better.

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank all my followers who have given me encouragment and advice on all the patterns that I do. Your constructive criticism is extremely helpful!

Edited Iris

Following the helpful comments I got from the first Iris post, I have made each petal broader, giving, I think, a more natural shape to the flower.

What do you think?

Tatted Iris

Here is the iris that I have designed to add to my latest book Tatted Flowers From Bulbs.

Most flower patterns only take me two or three goes to get the effect that I am looking for, but this one!!!!....well I certainly got through a lot of cotton before I was satisfied with the end result!

I think the main problem was, there were so many variety variations of the flower, that coming up with something that actually looked like an iris, but was also easily achievable for the tatter, was quite a challenge!

What do you think? Would you recognise it as an iris?

Bulb Flowers So Far

Here is a picture of the flower patterns that I have done so far, for my new book

Tatted Flowers From Bulbs.

I think that the next pattern will be one for Iris and then one for Amarylis (maybe LOL!)
Also, I will have to do some leaves, although the pattern that I have done for the hyacynth leaf could simply be elongated for the daffodils and bluebells and just about the same length for the crocuses!

My own fascinator

I have designed and made my own fascinator, for my hair, that I shall wear to my son' wedding in September.

The turquoise is an exact colour match to my dress and my accessories are black.

Still here!

Just to let everyone know that I am still here in the background.

My back is too painful for me to sit and tat at the moment, and I am still concentrating on finishing the sugarcraft roses for my son's and futuer DIL's wedding cake, whenever I feel up to sitting long enough, that is!

Everything else has been put on hold at the moment. I am on the waiting list for my spinal surgery.....have been on the 6 months waiting list for 12 weeks....but I am classed as urgent and so could be slotted in at any time. I hope it will be soon so that I can recover in plenty of time for the wedding in September!

Making Sugarcrat Roses

Roses - completed

These are the three sizes of roses that I have decided on for my design of the cake. The only thing that I have to do to them is to dust them with shiny, ivory petal dust, but I won't do this until they are very dry and hard. Now then, back to the next 3 dozen roses! LOL.

I cannot do any more to the cake as it is far too soon. Although rich fruit cake keeps for years, the marzipan colour can leach into the icing if it is done too soon. I always use the natural marzipan instead of the yellow, which helps to minimise this leaching, but I won't take any chances!

Roses - next stage

In this picture I have put three different sizes of the roses, so that you can see how they develope. When I am happy with the size and shape......each rose seems to develope a character all of its own - rarely are two exactly the same.....I finish them off with a green calyx and seed pod. I will post a picture to show the finished flowers.

Wedding Cake Roses

I have not done any tatting for a while now for two main reasons.

One: I have had to travel long distances to see a professor about my back problem and:

Two: I am now in the throws of making my son's wedding cake flowers. The rich fruit cake is already made and maturing nicely. I made it with a half bottle of brandy in the mix, so it should be well matured by the time the wedding comes along in September!

Charlie's bouquet is going to be roses and so she wants roses on the cake.

I start with making a teardrop shaped bud on a wire (as you can see in the first picture). I made 6 dozen centre buds! I then add each petal individually. So far I have done 3 dozen with 4 petals each. Some will stay as tight buds, the others will grow into larger flowers the more petals I put on them, and also increasing the petal size.

I will post more pictures as they develope.

TattingChic's Blogaversary Giveaway

Just in case you haven't heard, Tattingchic is having a prize giveaway for her blog's second anniversay. Why don't you drop by and put in a comment, you could win a lovely prize?

Bridal Headband

Here, as promised, is a picture of the completed bridal headband that is for my future daughter-in-law's maid of honour.
I have made it with exactly the same flowers, motifs, ribbons and pearl tatting as the bride's headdress, but with less in it, to distinguish between the two. Can't have the bridesmaid upstaging the bride, now can we? LOL