Some Little Nothings

Sometimes I'm too busy to tat, to blog, or both...recently it's been kind of both, but (besides my birthday cupcake) I have been pegging away at a few projects:

This is an antique motif (Snowflake) from the most recent Handy Hands newsletter, tatted in size 20 and kind of fun to execute:

And here are my attempts to learn interlocking SCMR rings (a BIG thanks to all of you with online tutorials for these techniques!!!! SCMR: Jane E and the Shuttle Brothers; Interlocking Rings: Umi & Tsuru, Muskaan, Kathy and God's Kid) in anticipation of joining the challenge to make Jane McLellan's magnificent "Under an African Sky" doily...

Size 20 (ecru), then size 30 Cebelia

Here is my best so far (for the first time all the rings interlock correctly, but of course I ran out of thread on the VERY LAST RING!!!):

Oh well...more practice :)

I have also been plugging away at a flowery Jan Stawasz pattern, one which made the rounds of Facebook a few months ago (and unfortunately seems to be readily available online in illegal .jpgs...boo to that.) Buy the book, people, it's totally worth it!

I'm actually having a bit of trouble with this pattern--tension trouble. Le sigh. I thought I was past this!

So, what's a girl to do but wet the offending doily down and pin it into submission!?

Bad doily! Stop cupping!!!

So, we'll see...

I did double-check, and I'm pretty sure I executed the pattern correctly, so it's probably more of an "I tat too tightly" issue rather than a pattern problem...??

Two rows to go, and hopefully no more tension troubles. *Hopefully.*

Finally...here's a really cool tatting-esque shirt I saw the other day--I didn't buy it (but I kind of wish I had...it's really cool!) Maybe I can figure out the pattern and make myself something similar instead...maybe!

Eh, we'll see! :)

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! :)

I Won! I Can't Believe I Won! :)

Amazing.

I won OneMadTatter's 200 Facebook Likes Giveaway this weekend!!

Crazy! (Of course, I was one of just four entrants, so...)

I often enter these online giveaways, but I never win...except I did win this time!!

Fiona had a fun twist to enter her giveaway...instead of just a general comment, she wanted something specific; a favorite antique pattern AND a favorite pattern from the etsy store of lacemakermom.

For my answer, I picked the pattern for The Big Blue and White Doily I made last year as my favorite antique pattern, and the Tatted Accent Doily from lacemakermom.

And, thanks to the random number generator, I won a copy of the Tatted Accent Doily! :) Hooray!

So, I know what I'm doing this weekend! :-D

Thanks, Fiona and Lori B. at Lacemakermom! I really, really appreciate it! :)

A "Ring" Around a Bead and Motifs 12 and 13...

 Well, I figured it out...kind of:

This is irrefutable proof that I was able to put a "ring" around a bead, something that had not made sense to me before viewing Marilee Rockley's excellent tutorial over this past weekend (and thanks to Jane's TIAS I already understood the concept of an SCMR, or this would have been MUCH harder!).

Now if I could just figure out how to do two in a row without leaving a bunch of space (gaposis, I hear it's called) in between, that would be great...I found another tutorial from Sharren that addresses that issue, so hopefully I can get it all figured out sooner rather than later...

Meanwhile, I decided to use yesterday afternoon as a "shuttle cleaning" day and made two small motifs:

Motif 12: Antique Pattern "Plain Square Medallion" from Tatting by Adeline Cordet -- Book 5

Motif 13: A shuttle-sized version of "Bookmark" adapted by Kendra Goodnow (I would have made it longer, but this was all the thread I had left on my shuttle!)

 I now have six (6!!) empty shuttles! Amazing. I haven't had that much free real estate for quite some time...I guess I'd better get back to work filling them again! :)

I'll leave you with a look at last night's beautiful sunset from our new view of the bridge.