I’m still working on my daughter’s runner but I don’t have anything to show today. I’ve got the idea, and the material, and gotten started on the additional tatting, but not enough to share. I’m pretty excited about how I think it will turn out. Maybe next week I’ll have a better update on it.
While I was picking up things in the living room this week I started collecting several of my tatted pieces to either move or put away when I noticed something. Two of the pieces looked pretty cool together.
Arches and points
I had left the 12-point medallion out from when I took pictures of it but decided to put it away. When I moved it I had laid it on top of the Arches Over Arches doily that was on the buffett. Then I noticed it would sort of fit in the center of the doily and played with the arrangement a bit. And look what happened!
I might have to try putting these two patterns together intentionally. What do you think?
“The more I draw and write, the more I realise that accidents are a necessary part of any creative act, much more so than logic or wisdom. Sometimes a mistake is the only way of arriving at an original concept, and the history of successful inventions is full of mishaps, serendipity and unintended results.“
I mentioned in my last blog post about making a table runner for my daughter’s birthday. I didn’t get it done in time for the 4th of July or her birthday, but I thought I would have it done by now. But, no, I don’t. It is taking longer than expected, but not because I didn’t have the edgings done. It got a lot more complicated.
Colors and material for edging
I found this cute patriotic material at JoAnn’s in June. My daughter usually decorates for the different holidays and I thought she’d like it. Then I had to see if I had thread that would work with it. Christmas-y red wouldn’t work, and I didn’t think that white would work well, either. I had these colors on hand, and think they will work as an edging. They won’t be laying on top of the material, just hanging off the edge.
Birthday runner edging start
I started with the red, Lizbeth 673 Terra Cotta in size 10. The first two rows came out more open than I expected, so I added the blue, Lizbeth 656 Wedgewood Dark in size 20. That was interesting, adding it to the middle of the two completed rows. It came out okay. Then a row of Lizbeth 602 Natural in size 10. I thought I was done.
Then I looked at the length of the material I planned on using, a full two yards, 72 inches. With a half inch hem on each end it would have a finished length of 71 inches. Maybe the edging was a little short? So I added a row, which didn’t add a lot of length but gave a more finished look (?) to it.
Birthday runner edging finished
Yay! Ready to sew up the material and add the edging.
Then I confirmed the length of her table. 70 inches. Hmm. I’m not liking how the finished runner would end up laying on the table.
My daughter and I are discussing what we want to do now. Options would be: 1) cut the material short and make a shorter runner with all of it on the table, or 2) make an insert to lengthen it so the ends hang off the edges of the table. We’ve come up with an idea, now to play with it and see where we end.
Now that more tatting is in the forecast, I needed to order more threads. I’m almost out of the Terra Cotta and I don’t have the Wedgewood in size 10, which I’m thinking I’ll need. I had a bit of a panic when I went to order these at Handy Hands and found out the Terra Cotta in size 10 was out of stock. Luckily, Tatting Corner still had some. Yay!
At the rate I’m going, my daughter will be getting it for Christmas!
“Energy spent now preparing for tomorrow is sure to bear tasty fruit.” Fortune cookie
I hope that all Americans out there had a safe and fun Independence Day yesterday. I did. We had two family get-togethers, one for lunch and one for supper and fireworks. It was great to celebrate such a wonderful holiday with family.
The day started out with us attending church as usual but dressed in holiday colors. Shortly before leaving, I realized I didn’t have any appropriately colored earrings. With only a little time to work, I corrected that problem and tatted myself a pair of earrings.
Independence Day earrings 2021
They are only blue and white because my blouse was red. By putting the white on the outside the earrings were more easily visible. I was afraid if I did it the other way, or all blue like I thought about, they would be harder to see. They came out very well and worked great with my attire.
I have been working on the edging for a table runner for my daughter’s birthday. I only found the material which inspired me a couple of weeks ago on a quick visit to JoAnn’s. Unfortunately, it wasn’t time enough to get the runner done by this weekend when I’d see her. I’m still going to finish it and give it to her in a couple of weeks, whenever I get it done. It is in patriotic colors, but there are other days to celebrate our country than just July 4th. Hopefully, I’ll have it ready to share here by next week.
“To survive in peace and harmony, united and strong, we must have one people, one nation, one flag.”Pauline Hanson
