Wanda's Knotty Thoughts: A pretty teacup

This was supposed to be posted yesterday for Tatting Tea Tuesday but I have lost my photo editor on my computer. I tried re-installing it but I can't find the disk. So instead of several pictures I have one.

I was in a local antique store/flea market a couple of weeks ago and saw this pretty teacup. It has no markings on the bottom to indicate maker or anything else but I thought it was pretty and so elegant looking. So I brought it home. I think I should dress up and wear a hat to drink tea out of this, don't you?

I was inspired to make a doily to go along with the teacup. I think I chose the colors at night with bad lighting as they don't match the cup like I thought they did. Oops.

The first seven rounds of this doily went pretty smoothly but the last two took forever! I just couldn't get it to do what I wanted it to. I kept changing my mind on those last two rounds, which probably took as long to tat as all the others put together. And I think I should have reduced the stitch count on the last round. The doily ended up being just over seven inches across when finally finished. It had to be blocked a lot before it would stay flat, due, I'm sure, to those last two rounds of (mostly) chains. I'm thinking of doing it again in different colors and changing the stitch count in a couple of places. And maybe the dark thread at the center.

The shuttle is made of horn. I haven't tatted much with it as it's pretty slick, I keep dropping it. It is marred on both sides though I'm not sure how that happened. It is still a pretty shuttle.

There hasn't been much tatting in the last week and I'm not sure there will be much in the next week. There are a lot of family things going on and it's hard to tat with a lap full of children. I'm not complaining. I'll just smile and sip my tea.