On the Edge!

It will be, eventually - the edge of a handkerchief, that is!  More about that, later...much later.

What edging should I do?  I dithered for months  - I'd wake up one day and decide on one, tat a sample, then decide it just wasn't what I wanted.  I'd put the edging on hold and work on other projects, then I'd come back to it...still undecided.

David had put away several of my tatting books - in a safe place - and it was extremely safe, as I had no idea where he'd put them.  Neither did he!  He began a search for them, and after several days, he found them and put them on the bed where he knew I'd notice them when I got home from work!  The missing books included all four of my Mary Konior books!

I'm now deeply into the edging - from this book, one of my favorites, by one of my favorite designers - the one, the only - Mary Konior!  If you look at the edging closely, you can see that she lifted one of the elements and used it in her "Queen of Hearts" motif (in Tatting With Visual Patterns).

I LOVE "Queen of Hearts" - I have it memorized and can tat it without the pattern in front of me (and frequently do!).  I decided to do this edging - but almost immediately noticed a roadblock: it didn't have a corner!

Hankies have corners; sure, you can tat a couple extra elements and work them around the corner, but with an edging like this, you really need to find a way to tat a real corner.  I used the mirror technique: I held a pocket mirror at a 45 degree angle and slid it over the picture of the edging until I saw exactly what I wanted to see - a corner!

Someone, somewhere might want to tat this edging - with a corner - so here is how I did mine:
following the pattern, start the Ring B at the spot where you want to turn the corner.  Tat the chains and Rings C and D, then repeat the last chain and Ring D again.  Continue with the pattern.  You'll have two free picots in the corner element, as opposed to four free picots in each of the side elements.

Time Off - At Last!

I've had a lovely week - I've been on vacation!  It's really been a stay-cation - we've just lounged around the house.  I've been busy, though - I worked on my application to teach at Tat Days and finalized the last few patterns!

I'll offer seven patterns to the Tat Days Committee - there is a new angel this year, and a couple of projects which use doodads.  I've enjoyed working up the models, and will email the completed application and patterns in the next few hours - please wish me luck!

I've also had some time to play - I've started Jon Yusoff's Merriment Doily.  I think it's going to need major blocking when it's done.  It's all curly!  I'm contemplating starting a second project; something small enough to complete fairly quickly (they give you such a sense of accomplishment).  I'm thinking maybe a bookmark - what say you?

I made an attempt at tidying up my tatting supplies - I got several new totes at bargain prices and used some of them to corral the various boxes and bags I have for tatting.  One of my favorites, the good old plastic pencil box, I found at Big Lots for 88c some time before Tat Days last year - and bought several.  The tote holds six with ease, and room for other things as well.  It stayed tidy for several hours - at least until my granddaughter visited!  Oh, well - no big deal in the scheme of things.  Everything's back in place now!

Cut it Out!

Or up.  Whichever.  I just want to reclaim the beads and findings from these "trial runs!"  This is part of my design process: tatting pretty much the same idea over and over, finding what works, finding what doesn't work, and each time, keeping the good stuff in and finding something to replace the bad stuff.  I did get a "keeper" that I've written up, and will submit as one of my patterns when I apply to teach at Palmetto Tat Days 2013.

I always take some tatting to work - don't always have time to tat at lunch, because sometimes lunch is "abbreviated," but I do have it with me just in case.  Lately I've switched from my post shuttles to some of my bobbin shuttles, and have I ever been giving them a workout!  I got a neat pouch to carry my extra bobbins in, too, from Jane Eborall (but I got mine at our last Tat Days).  I think it will hold most sizes of bobbins (I mostly use Viking and Aero); with six pockets, I can fit in 12 - more than I'll probably need, but hey!  You never know, do you?  Best to be prepared!

If anyone is thinking about applying to teach at Palmetto Tat Days this September, please note that the completed application - with patterns and pictures - is due April 1, 2013.

Well, back to work - on more patterns!  The ideas just keep on coming!

Flurries of - - Snow!

The thermometer dipped w-a-a-y down - really cold for us here in the Deep South who aren't used to it - and first the rain came down, then rain and snow mixed, then snow!  Then everything stopped for at least an hour - this was yesterday, and we traveled from Greenwood to Columbia for the February meeting of Palmetto Tatters.  We had patchy rain showers on the way; then, we went into the library and down to the meeting closet room and I enjoyed the company of our fellow tatters!  DH roamed the library and looked over the "Friends of the Library" books for sale.  The snow started up again, before we left, and quickly changed to rain - then stopped.  We had a few flakes hit the windshield on the way home, but it wasn't at all bad!

We were in one of the tiny conference rooms - again.  We had to leave the door to the main room open, or risk suffocation - it got very warm in there with so many!  Our lesson, taught by Marie Smith, was a heart by Karen Bovard, a tricky little tat with mostly split rings and a whole lot of fun!  Eleven rings make it up - and once you "get it," you can tat one up in no time at all.  Marie made up thread kits for us of size 10 red thread - here's mine.  The last ring was written as a regular ring; but I did a split ring and finished with a lock stitch chain to make a bookmark. 

We also did a heart exchange - I did extra in case we had visitors who wanted to play too, and we did - so here are the three I put in for the drawing.  Motifs are great (I have nothing at all against them), but I try to turn mine into a bookmark or something so it can be used.  I did one of  Georgia Seitz' Basic Split Ring Heart (from Tatting on the Edge...and Beyond, book 4 of the Ribbonwinners Series) and two of Mary Konior's Queen of Hearts (from Tatting with Visual Patterns).  In each, I "fudged" the pattern just a little so it would end with the bottom ring, which I did as a split ring so I could keep tatting a lock chain. 

Oh, and before I forget - I need to note a very useful link for several friends who asked -- Georgia Seitz - home of the Online Tatting Class, which she runs - it's always fun and informative, so do check it out!

I've also finished my TIAS for 2013 - I would have finished it days ago, but life keeps getting in the way!  I cut the ends long enough to sew them in - but I think instead I'll use them to sew it down to a cute little tote bag I received as a gift - it's begging to be decorated with tatting!

Sunshine and Tatting!

We had both in abundance yesterday, but at the Palmetto Tatters meeting, we only saw the latter and not the former.  Because our regular meeting place, the Lexington County Museum was closed for the long, three-day weekend that some folks here in the US get to enjoy, we met at the Lexington County Library on US1.  They didn’t give us the spacious, airy Large Meeting Room, though – they sent us downstairs to a conference room where we were packed in like sardines!  These conference rooms are made to hold about a dozen people.   Period.  We had at least 20 people in there, plus tatting bags, our tatting library, etc., and ran out of table space (that’s still not as bad as one time, though when we had at least 30 people in there – it was challenging).  A different group had the large room – I really hope the size of their group justified the decision to let them have in the large room for their meeting.

Our lesson was Nina Libin’s Holiday Ornament III – the third one on a prepared leaflet which we were given.  I didn’t make one yesterday – I worked with a brand-new tatter instead.  She wasn’t consistently flipping the stitches when she left, but she understood the concept and knows she’ll get better with practice.  I found that I have the beads I need to make one of the ornaments (yay!), so I'll do one at some point.

I’m still working on patterns for submission for Tat Days – and work takes up a lot of my time.  I put in 50+ hours this past week, I will put in at least 2 hours on our Monday holiday, and we’ve already been told that more weekend work is coming.  Yikes!!!  It's hard to have a life when you're working overtime every day.

 

A big thank-you for all the good wishes sent my way - I am completely over the ear infection now and so glad!  I think I mentioned that it was the first one I ever had in my entire life, and I really hope it's the last.  I didn't know what to think with the roaring in my ears!

 

Is everyone taking part in TIAS (Tat It And See)?  If you don't know about this fun game, hosted yearly by Jane Eborall, please visit this site - it's never too late to start, it's never too late to finish, and it is so much fun!  Please let us see your work as it progresses - it's fun to see which colors everyone's chosen - and do try to take a guess at what we're making (the more outlandish the better).  Day 4 will be published tomorrow; I was going to share a picture of mine, complete through Day 3. but Blogger is not cooperating with picture upload (again).  Oh, well, Jane has put my pictures and comments on this blog, so do have a look and see what everyone's doing.

Sick!

Not a real post this week - I'll owe you one. :-)  I've got an ear infection in both ears - first ear infection I've ever had in my life, and (naturally) it's got to be both of them.  Not fun - sounds like a B-52 is in a holding pattern in my head, and when I talk, I hear an echo in there too.

Yuck!  Catch you next week, and hopefully I'll have something neat to show you!

Lazy Sunday at Home!

Things are s-l-o-w-l-y returning to a more familiar pattern at work, and I got to leave almost "on time" at least once!  We worked a few hours on New Year's Day, but didn't go in at the crack of dawn, so that was OK.  This week is supposed to be even more "back to normal," and that will be really nice! 

I don't have any show-and-tell this week; I haven't been able to tat at lunchtime this week, and what tatting I've been doing in the evenings has been towards coming up with some new class proposals for Palmetto Tat Days in September.  It's not completely down on paper yet, but there will be a new angel this year (her head and body are done and documented), and a new snowflake. 

In the meantime - I wish everyone a Happy New Year - may your threads never tangle, may your needles be straight and true; and may your shuttles always have enough thread, is my New Year's wish for you!