Angels for Christmas

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what I should make for my Christmas ornaments this year. These are gifts I give to close family and friends, each year different from the others. Some years I get an idea and everything comes together easily, other years, not so much. This year it was a little bit of a search but it came together rather nicely once I started.

I started thinking about something I had done a few years ago. In 2013 I decorated small bags with bits of tatting. On a couple of the bags, I had a bird made of material and a tatted wing. I liked how this wing came out and thought I might build on it for something more.

Bird with tatted wing on a bag

I wondered if I could use this wing to make wings for angels. This is a simple pattern that didn’t take long, which is always a good thing especially when I have a limited amount of time to get things done. Of course, I’d need two wings and figure out how they will attach to each other.

Angel wings

I’m very happy with how these came out. You might notice that the center of these wings has seven rings instead of the six rings of the bird’s wing. This was an un-noticed modification that I didn’t plan on. It changes the shape of the tips slightly, but in a pleasing way, so this is what I continued to do.

Something I wanted to incorporate in the ornaments this year was sheet music. Several years ago our church bought the most recent version of hymnals. We still had the previous two versions of hymnals, but not enough places to put all of them. The bookstores locally don’t have much call for this many hymnals, but I hated to just throw them away. Guess what? I kept them. I’ve been looking for some way to utilize them ever since. So I thought I would incorporate them in my ornament this year.

The first angel

This is my first attempt, which I’m happy with. Then I had to make more.

Wings for angels

Then it was on to making a bunch of wings. I wanted to give angels to my family at Thanksgiving, so I had to get a move on. If I don’t make mistakes they don’t take very long and I can get a lot done while I’m the passenger on the way to work. I thought white would be a bit too stark to go with the hymnal music, so I made all of them so far with Ecru in size 10.

Choir of angels

Check out my choir of angels. I got all six of them that I needed to get done just in time! You can see I changed up the body just a bit, but either way, they came out well.

I still have a lot of Christmas tatting to do, more wings and a few other things, too. What are you tatting?

UPDATE – The pattern for these wings is done! It is on the My Patterns page.

“When we are touched by something it’s as if we’re being brushed by an angel’s wings.” Rita Dove https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/rita_dove_345421

Arches Over Arches - the Pattern

Can you believe it? After three weeks (?) I finally have the pattern finished. Yay!

I have never had this much trouble diagramming a pattern before. And then I realized, I’ve never diagrammed a doily before. I’ve done snowflakes, bookmarks, edgings, earrings, even an airplane, but never a doily. May I just say, it is a lot more complicated than all the others!

Arches Over Arches – diagramming is hard!

I started working on this, thinking it’s not that hard a pattern to tat, it shouldn’t take too long to diagram it. Was I wrong! I’ve made doilies before, just never written them out with a diagram. Not like this, anyway. Wow! I was ready to quit several times. I would think I had it, then things wouldn’t line up and I’d have to try again. It still isn’t that pretty, but I think it can be followed.

No-one except me has tried to follow this pattern, so there may be mistakes hiding in it. But I need to get on to Christmas tatting! I did say I would get this out, so here it is. If anyone would like to have it, please email me. And if you find mistakes, let me know so I can fix it! I’d love to hear from anyone who does make it.

Arches Over Arches Doily, love the Christmas colors!

“All things are difficult before they are easy.” Thomas Fuller

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/thomas_fuller_125402

Beautiful New Shuttle

I collect shuttles when I can. Sometimes my husband surprises me with one – or two – and has even made me several. The most recent shuttle I purchased is from Shuttle By Design.

Helping Hands shuttle by Shuttles by Design

Rita Richmond does such spectacular work, doesn’t she? This shuttle was designed as a fundraiser for Lisa Adams and her husband Chuck, who recently underwent bypass surgery. Lisa is the owner of Tatting Corner in Chesterfield, Indiana, and Rita has designed and made this shuttle and donated some of the proceeds to help them out.

This is a Moonlit shuttle, decorated with a beautiful design by Rita. I purchased one to both help Lisa and be able to tat with such a lovely shuttle. I just got it in the mail yesterday and am looking forward to tatting with it.

I have not finished writing out the pattern for the Arches Over Arches doily. I am having difficulty diagramming it. I am still working on it and think I am going in the right direction now, so hopefully it will go faster. Maybe, maybe.

“To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.” Milton Glaser

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/milton_glaser_170011?src=t_design

Arches Over Arches Doily

Back in 2009, I made a doily that I called ‘Arches Over Arches‘. I had originally thought to call it ‘Arches’, but Yarnplayer had recently made a doily of that name, so I had to come up with something else. I am not good at coming up with names for the items I design and make, so I just modified the name a bit. I made the same doily later that year but in different colors and called it a sunflower. Other people liked the doily and requested the pattern, but I never got to it. I was recently contacted by another person who requested the pattern, and I thought it was about time to put it together.

The problem is I didn’t write down dimensions or specifics for diagramming the pattern. So, I needed to make the doily again.

Arches Over Arches doily first round

This time I’m using Lizbeth #181 Cranberry Bush in size 20. It was in a thread collection of Christmas threads and I hadn’t tried it yet. As I’m thinking about Christmas gifts now, it easily suggested itself to this doily. I like how this came out.

Once I got started this doily goes pretty quickly. The hardest part, for me, is the long chains. If I’m not careful, I lose count and have to recount to make sure all of the chains are the same length. Then of course, there is the tension on chains. Careful, careful!

Arches Over Arches doily Christmas

I noticed after I uploaded the picture that the center doesn’t look quite round. I didn’t do a good job of blocking it, did I? The chains look pretty good. They have to be blocked or they are all over the place.

The center is right at two inches across, with a total diameter of just short of nine inches. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to add a center as I did with the sunflower version. I think I’m going to write out the pattern this way first, maybe add the center later. I am working on the pattern now, looking for it to be done in a day or so. If you are interested in it, let me know.

As soon as the pattern is done, it’s on to Christmas tatting in a big way. I didn’t leave much time for that, did I?

“All experience is an arch, to build upon.” Henry Adams