Lacemaking helpers

This is a picture of Phoebe, one of four kittens I recently adopted. They arrived in a pretty poor state, needing antibiotics and general care, but now they are bouncing with health and providing much assistance in all activities. Tatting is just such an activity, and I now must untangle a ball of black cotton before I can finish that d****ed doiley!

Laura and lace

A couple of weeks ago I gaily suggested to

Laura that bobbin lace was an easy hobby...well, yes, it is easy, like tatting is easy, that is the basic principle behind it is just "lift right over left", the problems only occur when you try to do something with it! I learnt the basic technique in 2003, but have actually done very little because the carreau, or galette, (or whatever they're called in english) are not all that easy to carry around! For the last 15 months I have been concentrating on tatting, so I decided to dig out my bobbins and have a go at a simple bookmark. Compared to virtuosos like Mark it's not very impressive, but I was relieved to find that I hadn't completely forgotten the technique. The edging on the carreau is one I had been working on previously, as I practised adding replacement bobbins and doing tallies. The picture quality isn't very good, autumn has arrived here and the light is fading fast!

A little bit of work

I have had a rest from the black doiley, counting black stitches is a bit hard on my eyes! The bookmark is the same pattern as the green one I made. It's from an internet pattern that I've lost, and have re-done from sight.
The triangle is a motif in the frivolité book...there should be six to make a doiley, yes, I'm not sure I'll get around to that!

....on a roll

I have been visiting the beautiful lace-making town of

Le Puy in the Haute Loire. I bought a new tatting book there;

La Frivolité I always enjoy looking at new patterns, and I needed a book in french, for when friends want to learn.

I have a passion for blue squares, this is one motif from a mat which uses 16 surrounded by a border. The black "work-in-progress is also from the book. The strange shape is me with shuttle-ends, and no pattern trying an idea for a cornfield inspired bookmark...I think I could probably get a bit nearer to what I want a second time. The reason for the title, and also the reason I haven't posted sooner, is the printer-scanner broke, and David discovered a bit of forgotten tatting in the roller...oops, sorry. It has been replaced, but it takes me a while to learn how to use new equipment, also David wasn't too keen to let me back into the office. I promise from now on all bits will be counted in and out, like swabs in surgery!

At the moment everything I touch seems to go wrong!

These are examples of tatting that has gone wrong, and it is so demoralising. I have a lovely new DavidReedSmith shuttle, some beautiful new threads from my friend Frances, but I just keep producing flawed work.
By the way I'd love to join Sherry's tatting ring, but that won't work either!
Surely this phase will pass, and I will be able to enjoy myself again...I certainly hope so.





This pink motif was from Tatting Patterns and Design, and I have made exactly the same mistake as E-Koon but several rows earlier!
Oh, by the way none of the patterns are mine, (with the possible exception of the "poppy") but I can't remember where I got them today, or I would only get it wrong, if I did try to remember!

Looking for ideas

I have been talking to Laura about tatting

patterns, and I thought I would show some

wildflowers that seem to be quite lacy, that might

be converted... The orchid season is over for this

year, but there are still plenty of flowers about.
I apologise for the quality, I'm not that good with

the camera, but I hope you get the idea.

Shuttle end motifs

I made these little motifs from the thread left on the shuttles. I like this combination of colours, which reminds me of the pyramid orchids growing in the hedgerows. Perhaps I could have joined them to make a larger one...

Ça y est!

OK, that's my 25th motif done!

I'm not sure what I'll do with this blog now, but perhaps I'll keep it to record future work.... I shall certainly keep checking in to look at everyone else's.

I have really enjoyed this challenge, and want to thank Sharon for all her work and her helpful and encouraging comments. So "Merci beaucoup!"

This is a pattern I saw on Marty's page, "Cactus" from one of Iris Niebach's free patterns. I feel a bit uncertain if I ought to count it, as it feels as though I'm copying, none-the-less it is such a pretty pattern...

I enjoyed doing it, and feel like Sharon said, that square motifs have great possibilities.

I am in no hurry to finish the challenge, I have really enjoyed reading all the blogs, and sharing mine, but I realise all good things come to an end.

Help needed

I had this idea that I might decorate a pair of socks with a tatted edging...but, I am having difficulty in attaching the edging on the stretchy material. Has anyone experience in this?

motif 23

I have finally finished this bookmark. The pattern was from the internet, Leonora English. It was not too difficult, but I'm afraid the tatting is a bit sloppy and doesn't do the pattern justice. I did quite a lot of tatting while I was in Lourdes. There were only five nurses for 98 patients, so it was lucky I was able to go. Obviously we had to provide 24 hour coverage, which meant each of us doing a shift each day, and one doing nights. one night each. As I was the only one used to the variety of insulines and blood sugar monitors I was also allocated that duty, three times a day. It was lucky, too, that I didn't want to go to any of the services, but I did join the pilgrimage to the village where Bernadette grew up. The photo shows me outside the bergerie where she looked after her sheep. While on night duty, I taught my colleague Annie to tat, my first ever successful teaching! I have to say though, Annie is extremely determined, and has walked to St Jaques de Compostelle three times, and then to Rome! alone and at the age of 62. She slept rough, and asked for food along the way, and I think she's extremely brave.

Motif 22

I finally finished this "carnation" while visiting fellow tatter Majolika in Munich, and I was also admiring her beautiful blackwork. I have also uploaded my work in progress...but I think I can see where I've been going wrong.

The tatting pattern is from a back no. of the Ring of Tatters newsletter, by Hannah Crowle.

bookmark

This Mary Konior pattern was in a back number of the Ring of Tatters newsletter. I chose it to do on the return journey because it is basically a series of mirror patterns which meant the stitch count was easy to memorise.

The thread is Anchor 80, and a bit rougher than the DMC I usually use, nonetheless I am pleased with the result....motif 21 I think.

Travelling

One really good thing about tatting is it's portability, so that one can fill time with a few stitiches wherever you are. My trip to England involved two days driving in both directions, plus a bit in between. As David did the actual driving I was able to tat most of the time, although only when the light was good enough and I wasn't having to deal with navigation. I decided the best pattern for this was a simple edging which could be picked up and put down without losing my place, so I set off with this one;

I was lucky enough to go to a Ring of Tatters workshop, at Amblecote, where we made a broach. I t was a good learning experience, as I hadn't actually met other tatters before, and I was very impressed by the work and skill they showed. It put me in my place, because scanning work can be very forgiving on how it really looks! I have a long way to go yet...but in my favour I'm comparitively young at 47 and have time on my side.

The man next to me showed me some amazing blackwork and counted thread work, and so I felt quite challenged as you can see, my work is fairly coarse.

This has taken me ages!

I have been working on this doiley for what seems to be ages...at one point I cut my thumb while slicing carrots, and that held me up even more. I missed a repeat in the last row, but I am not going to do anything about it, I'm just so pleased to be done with it!

It's made from DMC dentelles 80, and the pattern is from Blomquist and Persson.

I'm going to England on Friday, and on the 17th my MIL has organised for us to go to a tatting day in the Birmingham area. I am really looking forward to that, it will be the first time I will meet other tatters!

I haven't posted here for a while...if you don't follow my live journal I'll explain that firstly we spent 10 days in Spain for the fetes, and then when I returned I was a bit worried about my daughter who has taken an overdose of her lithium tablets. She's ok, and out of hospital...

Here are a few motifs done in-between-times.

Christmas Cards

Christmas cards aren't really available here in France, they send cards at New Year, and they are fairly small and specific. This year I've been using up all those motifs that I've been making, so here are the results. (I'm using recycled paper, of course.)

Although you've already seen the tatting, I think it looks different when the background is changed.

Showing the threads

These little squares are a variation on the round motif from last time, and a good way to show off the pretty colours. The pink motif is from the Vida Sunderland Snowflakes book. I make that 18 all together... I wonder what to do next?

This isn't part of the challenge, because I made a mistake...(or design modification) in the pattern from the Blomquist and Persson book, but I have posted it because this blue is
lapis lazuli from the King Tut range. Isn't it a beautiful colour?

Next three motifs

On Thursday I received some new threads from
ds9 designs
They are beautiful, one is Valdani "precious pansies" the others are from the King Tut quilting thread range. The little yellow motif above is in shekels, and you will be seeing the other colours next time.
The two small motifs are from Blomquist and Person, and the green and pink one is from Rozella Linden's Easy Tatting. I really enjoyed making that.
I also bought some filament loops to try and make hiding the ends easier, but either I tat too tightly or I am not doing it right because I couldn't get the end to pull through.

I finished the edging and it has a mistake in it...so now I have to decide if I am going to try to insert the missing ring, or not. The new Ring of Tatter's newsletter turned up this morning, and I really fancy having a go at the square doily thing in there, but I need to be a bit more meticulous about finishing off my work. The winning hanky edging is on the cover, and now I wish I had sent mine off, only I never did the corner motif...This year's competition is a star in a bangle, which isn't my kind of thing. Ah well, maybe by the year after I'll be technically a bit more proficient.

These two motifs aren't very exciting, one was from 25 Years Of Tatting and I couldn't get the outer ring to work as in the pattern. It is true that trying to decode all the different ways of noting patterns is part of the fun, for me at any rate! None-the-less, sometimes I just admit defeat and tat my own version just to finish it. The other is a snowflake from Vida Sunderland's book.



Then I picked up this edging again, because I thought it would look pretty on my daughter Polly's dark pink debardeur. She wears a lot of black, and so it would tie in. The pattern is from A Tatter's Workbook. I am not counting it as a motif, but just sharing it anyway.

Motif 12

I enjoyed making this one, the thread is valdani, but I have lost the details. It's quite fine, and I find that so much easier than the thicker threads.

Slow progress

It has taken forever to finish this red motif, it's full of errors and I'm fed up with it!!
The books have at last arrived...3 weeks after I ordered them. Where were they? I reckon I could have cycled here in the time, although I dug my bike out yesterday to exercise Bessie and realised that I am a lot less fit than I would like to be...(note to self, must cycle at least three times a week...)
To celebrate the new books I made an easy snowflake last night, and following a suggestion of Wally's, I think I'll try to tat at least a dozen as cards for friends for les fetes. I won't count them in the 25 motif challenge, as I want to do all different for that, it keeps me motivated. (sorry for unconcious pun...mmm)
All the work done by other tatters, creating original designs, and showing how to do it has been fascinating, and although I am not feeling inspired by anything to make my own design as yet, I am analysing the designs that appeal to me as I look at the amazing abundance, and may yet take the plunge!

another motif

The books haven't arrived yet...and I wondered whether David had hidden them this morning, knowing that once I had opened them there would be nothing done for hours! He promised me it wasn't so, and so I finished the green medallion as I watched over Raphael, and his friend in the skate park at Puy l'Eveque this afternoon. It's from the Julia Saunders book, and I like the lacy middle row. I am running out of hand dyed thread, but I still have enough red, I think, for one more.
I'm not counting the little purple thing, it was just done to use up thread on the shuttle, but I quite like it just the same!

I finished it

In the end I used some green to finish the motif, and I think it looks ok, even if it doesn't quite match!
I've treated myself to a couple of tatting books via the Amazon marketplace because I've run out of inspiration for the moment...but they'll take a week to arrive so I'll have to keep experimenting for the next few days.