More Projects (Motifs 23-26!)

Well, once again you have Grace to thank for reminding me to update my blog.

Sigh. Sorry!

If I actually posted every time I thought about it, there would be multiple posts a day. I am just not good with time management, I guess...or maybe I just put more time into tatting (and working, and cooking, and...) and less into blogging?

Anyway, thanks for the prompt, Grace, and here is my update! :)

There have been some continuing trends in the past few weeks, and some wide divergences:

For example, in the quest to make an actually wear-able sized baby bootie (and no, in case any of you are wondering, I'm not trying to drop subtle hints, I am not expecting! but I do have an awfully cute niece who is still very small). I used Cathy Bryant's book "Tatting" to make this:

Motif 23

This is still quite small, but larger than the first option.

So, I kept looking via Google images and found a (Lenore English?) pattern on somebody's Pintrest (which I am now feeling guilty about, thanks to Jane's exceptionally accurate post today...thanks for continuing your crusade Jane, you are so right! If anyone recognizes the pattern as Lenore's (or anybody else's for that matter) and knows how to contact the author I'd be happy to send remuneration if they didn't make the pattern generally available...it doesn't look like it's been copied from a book, but it could be, I suppose...)

Motif 24

Again, I'm not a mother and I don't spend a lot of time around small children (I teach middle school and my nieces and nephews are all on another continent), but I think these are a slightly better size for baby feet?

For comparison (remember the one on the top right is about the length of a Clover shuttle):

Eh.

I've kind of met my tolerance for pink and baby stuff I'll never actually use...let's move on to something usable and blue! :)

Motif 25!!!! Peacock from "Animal Bookmarks: A Tatted Zoo"

Aren't these two cute?! Normally I do not like to make multiples of things, but this was a challenging pattern and I was trying to do a good job, so one is the "practice" and one is the "perfect."

Oh wait, hahaha. :)

Also, I need to point out:

It's not even June yet, and I made it to 25 Motifs!!

This is unprecedented. And a bit amazing. :) I'm so proud :)

Finally, I decided to branch out a bit and dip into the Beanile pool. Nina Libin has so many great things out there in tat-land, and was nice enough to send me a list of Russian tatting terms when I reached out to her shortly after moving to Russia and acquiring a bunch of Russian tatting books, so I thought the least I could do was try out her signature technique:

Motif 26: Beaded Necklace by Nina Libin, pattern found on the Online Tatting Class website

 I'm not sure if this makes any difference in the end, I realized about halfway through that I was using the Needle Tatting pattern to make this necklace, rather than the Shuttle Tatting pattern. After comparing and contrasting, the big difference is the use of one needle vs. two shuttles. I think I'll work this pattern again with 2 shuttles and see what difference (if any) there is...

Because, why not?!

So, there you go Grace, another post done. Thanks again... :)

I will try to be better about posting pictures soon(er) after I finish something, but no promises... I'm off on a 6-week circumnavigation of the world next week (Vlad-Iowa, Iowa-London, London-Vlad) so I will be quite busy, but how is that anything new?! :)

Prolific...Beads, Bells, Booties...and a doily, too! (Motifs 15-22)

So, in case you were wondering (and thanks to all of you who weighed in) I decided to go with the beads on the Sunburst/Spiderweb doily:

Motif 15

 I'm quite pleased with it! For those who are interested, it's size 80 DMC thread and measures 13" in diameter.

We are enjoying the second of three long weekends in May, and last weekend's was 4 full days, so I did A LOT of tatting. It was awesome!!

First of all, I FINALLY got to tat the Tatted Accent Doily I won in  OneMadTatter's 200 Facebook Likes Giveaway a few weeks ago!

Motif 16: Pattern from the etsy store of lacemakermom, tatted in size 30 Cebélia thread.

 I'm pretty proud of this doily, mostly because I finally figured out how to tat over the starting threads (instead of having to hid them when you're done)!

After finishing those doilies I thought it would be fun to try something a little different... 3D bells!

Here is the first one I made, but I honestly can't remember where I found the pattern...it's in one of my many tatting books, I'll find it eventually I'm sure! :)

Motif 17: This one ended up a little smaller than I thought it would

 Here is the second, from the Annie's Attic book Heirloom Treasures in Tatting. I'm not

Motif 18: This one is a little taller than I think it should be--it doesn't flare out as much as I think a bell should.

Pip think it looks more like a hat than a bell.

I was on a bell-making kick, I guess, because I kept going and made this one, my favorite of the three, Reneluk's Bell.

Motif 19

 Again, I need to remind you that I've had two long weekends in a row, this is the only reason I've been so prolific...

Yesterday, day 1 of our most recent three-day weekend, I decided to tat his little gem:

 It's a vintage pattern by C.B. Platt, which you can find by clicking here.

Motif 20

 Now, I'm no expert, not being a mother or anything, but this doesn't seem like it would fit any but the very smallest of preemies...

 I used the softest thread I have to make this, Perle size 8...the instructions said to use size 20, and Perle 8 tats slightly larger than size 20, but still...crazy-small.

 Finally, in preparation for the upcoming State Fair, I thought I would take a stab at an edging. The regs say that a doily edging has to be at least 2" wide, but patterns for that wide of edgings are remarkably hard to find! These two are Mary Konior patterns, tatted in Perle 8, and only the one of the left comes anywhere close to 2"...if I wanted to make it with my normal size 40 or 80, I'd barely make it over an inch.

Motifs 21 and 22!

Any suggestions for a wider pattern (or two patterns that can be easily converged into 2"?)

Whew. Finally, something to show you. :)

...I really need to do a better job of spreading these posts out! :)