Lovely gifts

Well, I have a bunch of pieces to show you today.
The first is a bookmark I made for my friend's birthday.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #657 and #603.

The pattern is an edging from A Tatter's Workbook by A. Tatter. I added two extra chains for the top and bottom, repeated the edging to make the second side, and joined the small chains in the center to hold it all together.
My friend liked it.

Next are some Valentine's day gifts that I tatted.

Done in size 10. My adorableness is unbearable!

This cute bear came from the book Tatted Animals by Inga Madsen. It was fun because it was my first real attempt at a diagram only pattern. I'm eager to tat some of the other critters from this book!

Done in size 10. Haven't you heard of a purple dolphin?

I've been meaning to tat Jane Eborall's Dolphin for for my sister ever since I first came across it. But the pattern ended up sitting in a folder for a couple of years.
But that ended up being a bit of a good thing, since this pattern had a technique in it that I wouldn't have really known how to do a couple of years ago.
Namely, split chains.
Now, I love split rings. Love them. But until very recently, split chains were terrifying.
I don't quite know why, but they were.
But I was determined to do the two split chains in this pattern.
And I did!
Another thing I learned from this pattern was down picots. What are down picots? A picot that faces down! They are really easy to do, and pretty cool. I like down picots.

Done in size 10. That's quite a hearty red, isn't it?

My tension was a bit off with this heart. The pattern is Heart Frame, from Tatting Hearts by Teri Dusenbury. I don't really have much to say about this piece, other then it was the only heart I tatted for Valentine's day.

Done in size 10. Don't we look cute?

If these look familiar, that's because they are. When I was tatting the bear from Tatted Animals, part of the belly piece looked a lot like a flower. So I decided to tat some as flowers. I like the overlapping picots.

Done in size 10. Still a little rough around the feathers...

This is a griffin. A tatted griffin. I looked all around the internet for a griffin tatting pattern, but couldn't fine one.
So, I decided to try and make one.
It took a few revisions, but I've gotten most of the kinks worked out. The hindquarter is almost entirely made of split rings, while the forequarter is a combination of rings, chains, split chains, split rings, and one thrown ring. With some josephine knots and down picots thrown in for fun.
It was a lot of fun coming up with my own pattern, though there are a few things that still need some tweaking.

As I was working on the griffin, I decided that I want to participate in the 25 Motif Challenge. This means that I'll be trying to tat twenty-five motifs within a year. Am I up to the challenge? I'm going to try!
So to start off the challenge, this griffin will be my first motif!

25 Motif Challenge status: 1/25.

Two birthdays

Just a little while back, two people in my family had their birthdays!
I thought  I would share what I made for them with you.

The first birthday was my grandfather's. For him, I tatted the Whip Cream Frill doily from Tatting Doilies & Edgings by Rita Weiss.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #134 Mountain Breeze.

He really liked it. This was a fun pattern to tat, though the center turned out a little more squished then I meant for it to.

The next birthday was for a cousin. I tatted her a Spiral Bookmark by Gina.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, #633 Purple - Dk and #640 Antique Violet Med.

This bookmark is really easy to make, and quite fun as well. I like these two purples together.
I think my cousin liked this bookmark.

I've noticed recently that I tend to make fairly small picots, even when it is supposed to be a large picot. This is something I think I'll try working on with my next projects.
Speaking of upcoming projects, I recently worked with a pattern that called for self closing mock rings (SCMR). I'd never really looked into that particular technique before, but found as I tatted the five SCMRs that the pattern called for that I actually quite like making them. So I'll be on the lookout for any other patterns that use this technique.
Oh, and in case you are wondering, I'll be posting the results of that pattern around March first.

So until next time, good luck with your own projects!

Float among the clouds

Well, I've finished another excess thread project.
This one is pretty cool, and used up most of my excess size ten thread.

See that basket? It was going to be a ring box.

The balloon was made with a single ring and a bunch of chains. I stuffed it with some stuffing so that it would maintain its shape.

The seam color of the balloon changes five times. It was also excess thread. 

I used some clear plastic cord to connect the basket to the balloon. That way from a distance the basket would appear to be floating under the balloon.

The balloon is really soft and fun to squeeze.

The order of the thread color is based on when I tied it to my excess thread ball. The thread at the bottom of the balloon is younger then that at the top, while the thread used on the basket is the youngest.

What's really neat is how the hot air balloon's shadow really does look like a hot air balloon.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this post. Good luck on your own projects!

The time has come for Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
I've got lots of tatting to share today!
Most of it was done in Lizbeth #121-Angel's Love, size 20.

Three friends, three snowflakes.

First was have the Two Colour Snowflake, by Anne Bruvold.  This was my first time doing this pattern, and it was quite fun,

I made each with a different secondary color, with the main color being green so that they were kind of like wreaths.

I really liked how these turned out. Though I'm not sure which is my favorite...

I'm glad that my friends liked them.

Three stars, three cousins.

For my three cousins, the Star Bright pattern by Be-stitched. This one was fun to tat, but not also had some moments of minor annoyance.

The next group of snowflakes came from the book Tatted Snowflakes, by Vida Sunderman.

Just give me a breeze, and I'll spin around!

The Whirlaway snowflake is one I've done before. It was still enjoyable tat though.

Where is my wheel? 

The Spoke snowflake was quite easy for me.

Pinwheel times two!

Two pinwheels for a couple of my aunts I don't see very often.

Just add glitter, and I will be perfect!

This Glittering snowflake was for my niece. She liked it.

I like trefoils a lot...

This Trefoil snowflake was for my friend who taught me how to tat. Because she is awesome.

I'm like a starfish!

I actually altered the Daisy snowflake slightly in order to make this. I left out a petal. But I thing this looks nice as a star. It's for my father.

My picots are nice and neat.

The Lacy snowflake was for my grandmother and grandpa. But I also had two pennies to give my grandmother, so...

I'm original!

 ... I tatted them into a little box! That way, I could throw in my two cents. It made her happy, which makes me happy as well.
I made up the box pattern myself, using a little hat motif I made up a year or so ago as the base.


The next group came from the book Christmas Angels and Other Tatting Patterns, by Monica Hahn.

I'm good timber!

This Simple Christmas Tree pattern was for my bother-in-law. He's nice.

I heard the bells...

This Cloverleaf Bell was for my eldest sister. She's pretty cool.

I'm amazing.

I really like the Wheel of Nine Rings pattern. I've only done it twice, but it is one of my favorite patterns from this book. This was for my aunt.

I'm pretty cool too!

This was my first time making the Knobby snowflake, but it was really fun. This was for another aunt of mine.

I ♥ tatting.

The heart ring was for my mother. This was my first time tatting this pattern, and at times I found the large rings the make the hearts to be annoying to close.

If you fold me just right, I can form wings!

This one was actually a pattern for a butterfly. But I didn't really like how it looked folded as a butterfly, so I decided just to leave it flat. This is for my older sister!

This next one is a pattern I made up after failing to find a candy-cane pattern I liked.

Don't I look tasty?

It is simple, yet nice. This is for my other grandmother.

And last, but not least, we have these two snowflakes.

We are small, but still good.

The left one is from the Tatted Snowflakes book, while the right is a little altered version of the center of the Layered Tatted Snowflake pattern by Be-stitched.


It was a crazy run, but I enjoyed tatting all of these. Though next year, I'm not going to try not to wait until the last possible moment to start working on Christmas tatting.

Merry Christmas, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Have a blue, blue birthday

Well, this is the last birthday in my family that I've tatted something for this year.
And it is a very important birthday!
Today is my mom's birthday!
She requested a handkerchief for her birthday, so that's what I made.

Done in Lizbeth size 20, color number 130.

Her favorite color is blue, so I used a blue handkerchief. The pattern is from A Tatter's Workbook by A. Tatter. It was a fun pattern to tat, and I found it interesting to use a handkerchief that already had holes that I could join the edging to.

My mom liked the handkerchief, for which I am glad.
I would consider using this brand of handkerchief again. Though this one was smaller then the white handkerchiefs I've used before, this handkerchief came with a flower design on one corner of it and the had the nifty holes along its edge that allowed for easy connecting and spacing.

I Am Dreamcatcher Four

Now this dreamcatcher is really cool.

Done in size 20 Lizbeth. Colors 656 (Wedgewood Dk) and 657 (Ocean Turquoise Dk).

Now you might be wondering why I think this one is cool. Well, that's because it is the first piece of tatting I've made that gets to call the state of New York home!
It was made for a friend of the family, as something for him to give his wife for Christmas.

Lots of chains were tatted in this pattern. And look, split chains! That are not extremely noticeable!

The pattern for the main body is a slightly edited version of the Basket of Clover pattern from Janet Carroll's book Elegant Tatting Patterns. The last two rows of the pattern were omitted, while the sixth row was repeated once. The reasoning for this was so that the doily pattern would fit within the seven inch dreamcatcher hoop; as the full pattern would have been too large.
The bit of tatting to hang the dreamcatcher by was based off of the cloverleaf in the second row (near the center of the main body, it is the three rings connected to each other).

Chicken feathers again. From three different hens.

The hanging motif was also based off of the cloverleaf used in the pattern.
I did four split chains in this motif! I'm excited about that because before this project I did not really know how to successfully tat a split chain. It was a weird technique I couldn't quite grasp. But not anymore! I have finally figured out the split chain!

Now that I've abused the exclamation point a bit, let get to the reason why I'm posting this now, instead of waiting until after Christmas. When the package containing this dreamcatcher arrived to the family friend, his wife was wearing a shirt with similar colors to the thread I had tatted this with. So he decided to give it to her as an early present.
Suffice it to say, they both liked the dreamcatcher.
Which was something that I was very happy to hear.

Could someone pass me a birthday?

Happy birthday to my cousin!
As you might have figured out, most of the projects I complete are birthday gifts. Today we have a lovely handkerchief edging out of The Tatter's Treasure Chest by Mary Carolyn Waldrep. The pattern is number 8132, which is a cool number name.

That isn't marble, but tissue paper. Done in size 20 Lizbeth #142.

I consider handkerchiefs to be a good present for guys. It allows me to give them something dainty without wounding their masculinity too much. I wouldn't want to give one of my guy cousins a doily and have him think: "Gee, thanks. What am I suppose to do with this frilly thing?"
So I try to keep the decorative picots small whenever I make something for a guy.

But whenever a pattern has three picots right next to each other, I can't resist making the middle one the tallest.

I really like a cloverleaf edging for guys. It allows for some cuteness without being overwhelmingly frilly or intricate. I like having both rings and chains. It makes the edging much more interesting.


For any tatters out there, what are your opinions when it comes to tatting something for a guy?