Tatting Exchange!

I'm very excited about being involved in the tatting exchange that is being arranged by the Here-be-Tatters group! I have received notification of my secret partner with his/her preferences and have already compled the tatting that I am going to be sending. I have had to make sure that I will complete the whole package early as I MAY end up with this shoulder surgery on 12 July. I say maybe, as it has already been cancelled twice and I may not have the results of my heart scan in time for the next date!

Anyway, I am really looking forward to sending my parcel and don't know if I will be able to resist taking a peek of my received parcel when the time comes!! LOL Only kidding! I'm pretty good at not opening presents before time! Hmmm, I wonder what I will get!

Large Gladdy!

AT LAST IT'S FINISHED!
Jeff Hamilton kindly test tatted the gladiolus for me and his input was extremely valuable. I decided to tat another one, in red this time and with more flowers and buds, and in doing so, discovered a couple more mistakes in the written pattern.

It has been quite a marathon, this design and I am glad to be able to move onto another one. I have a hollyhock partly done and only have to write out the instructions for the Queen Ann's Lace and then the new book should be complete.

I have made a start on the parcel for my exchange partner from the Here-be-Tatters group. I am really excited about this as it is the first exchange I have participated in and I've got lots of ideas that I hope will please my partner!

I travelled to Amblecote, near Stourbridge in the West Midlands, yesterday to attend the get together arranged by the West Midlands Tatters.
I was welcomed by Chris Woolley and a nice hot drink after my semi-long journey in the pooring rain on the first day of summer!
It was very well attended and it was lovely to meet old friends and to make new ones.
We were entertained by the guest speaker, Mr Geoge Hook, who is the last mother-of-pearl worker left in Birmingham. He brought many samples of shells that the mother-of-pearl comes from and it was great being able to see them in the "raw" and also to handle them.
There were plenty of workshops and supplies by Mary Helen.

And now the corsage!

The pansy and other flowers in the same HDT thread made into a corsage that I am going to wear tomorrow to a Christening. The same Christening that I did the cake for in an earlier post that has the little pink tatted bootees on. I will try to get someone to take my photo so that you can see me wearing my corsage.

Pretty Pansy

I thought you would all like to see how Sherry's yarn (AKA ladyshuttlemaker) makes up into one of my flowers. This is the very first HDT (hand dyed thread) that I have used and I think you will agree that it works beautifully on this little flower. The variagation for this flowers is perfect! The thread is Lights Lavender in size 80. The link to Sherry's blog is in my "Friends" side bar.

A Great Big Thank You!

I just wanted everyone to know what an absolute star Jeff Hamilton http://bridgecitytatting.blogspot.com/ has been in test tatting my Gladdiolus pattern. Perhaps he will share some of the pictures of the work he has done so far, especially if I ask him nicely ;-)

Check out my Slide Show!

Completed Gladdy

Well this is the finished result. Of course you could add more flowers but be warned they take a lot of thread!

The story so far!

This is the gladiolus development so far.
I have made one large set of petals and one set slightly smaller. I have designed the buds and the calyx.
I just need to make a couple more buds and calyxes and then I can assemble the whole flower.
This flower has been quite challenging but I have managed to create each petal and calyx with one "throw". The only C & T (cut and tie) is at the end of each petal/calyx.

June Wedding Cake

Although the wedding for this cake is not until June 21st I have finished it today. This is because it is a rich fruit cake and therefore the longer it stands the better it gets! But also because I am going to have an operation on my shoulder on May 16th and could not take the chance that I might be better in time to do the decorations after the op, if you see what I mean!

I had a few flowers and leaves left over and so I thought I would make a small arrangement for the knife as an extra gift from me. I would normally charge for this service, but as the couple are collegues of my son I thought I would change the habit of a lifetime! :>)

Another young lady came to see me on Friday about her wedding cake for August who hadn't got a clue what design she wanted! However, when she saw this one she wanted the same thing with a slight variation i.e all three layers stacked on top of one another - and she wanted the exact same colour roses - but with just beargrass and no leaves so that it matches her bouquet.
I did explain to her though that she couldn't have all tiers as fruit cake, stacked like that, otherwise she wouldn't be able to pick it up! The bottom tier alone weighs about 10 pounds - there is also aprrox. 10 pounds of marzipan and icing on the three tiers!!! So she has settled for a sponge centre tier - with that, we should just about be able to pick the whole thing up - BUT NOT ME!!!

Looks as if I am going to be very busy making 4 dozen claret roses before May 16th!

Imogen's Christening Cake

This is the cake, now complete, that I did the little bootees for. And this is the gorgeous little girl that the cake is for!

Gladiolus progression

I thought you would all like to see how I have developed the gladiolus that I have been designing. Even the experts don't always get it right first time! Sometimes a pattern works out well with just one go but I find that that is not very often. It is much more likely to take 3 or even more goes to get it exactly how I want it.

The first picture shows the very first trial. I didn't bother to complete the third petal as I new it was not right. The petals need to be pointed and this was no way near enough.

The second picture shows that by doing the lock stitch chain (LSC) it achieved the point that I was after but on the first two petals I did the centre vein with block tatting. On the third petal I decided to do the centre vein with LSC to see what a difference it made and I thought that it looked much better.

The third picture shows my finished design of the petals. I will make another set of three petals and place them, offset, on top of the first set to achieve the correct shape of the gladilous.

Now all I have to do is to write out the pattern, design the calyx and make a bud! Not much pressure then!!! But you all know I love it really!

Queen Anne's Lace

Here, as promised yesterday, are the pictures for the Queen Anne's Lace that is one of the flowers that will be in my new ebook Summer Collection of Tatted Flowers. The pattern incorporates the daisy picot ring technique.

And now here is a link to the PDF pattern.

New ebook update

I am getting along well with the new book of summer flowers. Thanks to many of the Ring members I have now more ideas to work with.
I have completed the Queen Anne's Lace and I am really pleased with it. I will post a pic of it when I photograph it in the daylight! The written instructions are not done yet but they will be very straightforward, for once!!!
I started to do a gladidolus and ended up with a very pretty flower. I was not right for a gladi but luckily it was ideal for a hollyhock! Back to the drawing board on the gladi. I have restarted it and I think the latest attempt will be much nearer the mark.

Split Ring Demonstration Video