One of the projects from this April's Camp Wanna Tat was Irene's Ripple Mignonette Bag, taught by Sharon Jolley. I accomplished much on this at camp, and more on the way home. I put the finishing touches on it after we got home, as well as threading the drawstring. This is not the first mignonette bag I've made, but this has adds and subtractions to give it a chevron pattern.
This bag was fun to make once I found the repeating pattern of rings to bring out
the chevron look. I brought three colors of thread to try on this, starting with the
dusky rose. I am glad I put it on the Moonlit shuttle with the hook. It eliminated
the need of a crochet hook while doing the bottom of the bag. This shuttle also carries more thread than the smaller Clover shuttle I used on the other colors. I used size 10 thread so I could see what I was doing. And made the bag bigger.
I think the bag turned out so cute! Thank you, Sharon, for teaching such an fun project!
One of the other projects is "Wave" earrings, by CM-Handmade. I finished one in class, but have not done the second one. I've had a lot of other things to work on since we returned from our vacation. It shouldn't take long, if I ever start it!
I'm hoping this post works here on blogspot. I was convinced to change hosts several years ago, but it was never a good fit. Wordpress costs way too much for someone not making money on their blog. I guess I'll find out!
"Change the changeable, accept the unchangeable, and remove yourself from the unacceptable."
I have a cloth purse that I use once in a while, a rather plain purse. I’ve thought about putting tatting on it off and on but never really made an effort to do it. This last week I made a square medallion that I decided would look good on it.
Square medallion on my purse
One of the reasons I’ve not added tatting to something like this is I’m always thinking how dirty it will get, and if not attached right, will come off at corners and edges. My solution – at least until it proves me wrong – was to use fabric glue to stiffen it before sewing it on the purse. I did not stitch down every picot, though I suppose that would be the correct thing to do. (I thought I had the medallion centered and square, but I guess not.)
The other side looked a bit bare after that. When I remembered where I had put the balls of thread I made another square in the same colors.
A medallion and edging on a purse
This medallion looked better turned a few degrees than having it sit square like the other side. Then I thought it needed something on the top flap but not a medallion. So I made an edging along the same lines as the medallion. I’ve made one more edging to go up that one bare side, but I still need to stiffen it before sewing it on.
I’ve been doing some reading the last couple of weeks. Not listening to audio books but reading a paperback. This story is about a house in my hometown, Newton, Kansas. It was built back when the town was new and is still standing today and still has people living in it, though I understand it was empty for a time.
We the House
Besides it being about a local subject, the way the story is told is unique. It is told from the perspective of the house, mostly by way of conversation with a painted portrait of a woman that is hung in the house. The story starts in the 1880’s and goes until about 2010. It is a quick read but enjoyable.
I looked up the address of the house and drove by it the other day. It is about a block away from Sand Creek, which is an important feature in the book. The house is now surrounded closely by other houses, and the creek is much different than it once was. To protect Newton from flooding the creek was made much deeper in the 1960’s and had a dam installed at the south end. I find it hard to imagine the creek different than it is today.
This is obviously a book of fiction, but some of the events in the book are from the history of the town. It came out at the right time, as Newton is celebrating it’s sesquicentenial anniversary (150 years) this year. I talked about the party the city threw on the actual anniversary date that I went to here. Newton is having another celebration tomorrow, June 4, 2022, with bands and rides and other fun things. I’m planning on going if it doesn’t rain.
We celebrated Memorial Day this year with trips to local cemetaries with family, then had the family come over for lunch and games after that. For all that the day is set aside to remember those who died in service to our country my family always visited the graves of our other relatives, too. My mother always grew small containers of flowers for each of the graves we would visit, then we’d drive to the different cemetaries to leave the flowers and tell stories about their lives. My husband and I were not good about continuing that tradition, but this year was a bit like those times I remember from childhood. Except this time I was the one telling the stories.
Memorial Day flowers
“Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt
My mignonette bag was not forgotten, I just lost the tube of beads that I needed to finish it.
The good news is I found them and was able to finish the bag.
Mignonette bag finished
I only needed a small amount of thread so I used the smaller Clover shuttles to finish the bag. The top edge is hardly ruffled at all because I didn’t re-read the pattern for the number of beads suggested, I just used three on each chain. At the time I thought it was enough and later I wasn’t going to go back and do it again. I still do not have the pull string done, but that is a minor issue.
You can see that it ended up a bit on the narrow side. I’m thinking of using it to carry my lip balm, which fits quite nicely.
I am pleased with how this came out, and how easy it was. It is likely that I will use mignonette tatting again, maybe in one of my patterns.
“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, it in your imagination.” Napoleon Hill www.brainyquote.com
The other day I was surfing through Craftree (an on-line tatting/fiber arts forum) enjoying all the wonderful projects when I saw a Mignonette beaded shuttle bag. This enticed me to YouTube to see how it was done which I found very interesting. But interesting enough to try it?
Mignonette tatting – do I like it?
I had a couple of shuttles with thread left on them, so I used those to test out the pattern for Marie Smith’s Beaded Mignonette Bags, minus the beads. It was kind of fun. I did increase in two rounds instead of one, which made the piece pretty flat.
Trial Mignonette tatting
Another couple of rounds caused it to round up nicely. This is the first time I’ve tried mignonette tatting and enjoyed it. But to do an entire piece this way?
It takes a lot of beads to make one of those little bags. A LOT. At least for a person who rarely uses beads. So, do I still want to try it? Maybe I should dip a finger into all of that before threading a whole tube of beads – just in case.
Dipping my finger into the beaded mignonette bag
The little finger-tip bead experiment was a success, I liked it.
Now, what color thread and beads to make the entire project? I hunted through my stash for a tube of beads I bought who knows when that I have wanted to use with Lizbeth Caribbean thread some time, some place. Now looks to be that time.
Start of mignonette beaded bag
I succeeded in stringing about 200 hundred beads on each side, as explained in the pattern. It was supposed to be 250 beads on each side but I was short of patience. The Sew Mate shuttles I used are a bit small for this many beads strung on. The tips were a touch loose and the thread and beads made them a smidgen too fat to be comfortable, but I consoled them the beads wouldn’t stay on long.
The 5th round
It started taking shape nicely. With all the beads strung on at the beginning of the project, I didn’t lose any on the floor.
Thumb sized
This worked up a lot faster than I thought it would. I was able to work on it during my commute to work. Some of the moves to the next row are a bit, hmm, shall we say, not so pretty? But that started to get better as I continued.
Changing rows is not so invisible
I watched videos by both Gina Butler and Frivole to make this bag. Frivole tells you to switch shuttles after climbing down to the next level, which is how I made this one. I wonder what this variegated thread would look like if I had done it Gina Butler’s way?
Almost done
By this time I’m getting pretty excited. Look how far I had come?
Sometime about here I didn’t pay enough attention. Somewhere about here I made several mistakes.
The end of the thread
One shuttle ran almost completely out of the thread and the other ran out of beads. Neither issue is a tragedy, but they sure slowed me down. I unwound the thread on the one shuttle – almost at the end – and added the beads I would need to finish the round, and continued on to that end.
Adding thread isn’t impossible. I’ve watched Gina’s video several times, she makes it look easy. Before I do that I need to ask myself “how much further are you going to go?”
To be continued…
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Have you been following Fox's adventures in Armenian Lace? She entertained us with her undertakings with this different type of knotting for several weeks. For all that it enticed her into trying it she decided it just wasn't something she wanted to continue, so she called it done, over, not for her. She even put her newly acquired books up for sale.
And I bought them.
When I saw her trying Armenian lace I looked it up on YouTube and thought it looked interesting. And when she put her books up for sale I thought it must be a sign. Fox put the books in the mail right away and surprise, surprise, they came in the mail the same week!
Tatting by Fox
And look what else she included in the package - a lovely tatted motif and a piece of Armenian lace she made. And a needle to start it with. Thank you, Fox, for gifts!
Tatting and Armenian lace by Fox
I'm glad the books got here so quickly but I have no idea when I'm going to have a chance to try it. I have a lot of things I'm working on right now and once in a while I still have to do things like wash dishes and clothes and cook and go to work - you know, the not-so-fun but essential things in life.
I'll get to it eventually.
A couple of weeks ago when I posted about my tatted bag Bernice from Knot Vortex asked how big it was. Well, Bernice, it had this ball of Omega thread inside to fill it out so I could get a good picture of it. I should have put a ball of Lizbeth thread beside it to give some perspective (as I know a lot of people use Lizbeth but I'm not sure how many use Omega) but the Clover shuttle should give you an idea of size.
Tatted bag by Wanda Salmans
Tatted bag by Wanda Salmans
I'm still trying to decide how to make the lining/insides of the bag though I haven't spent a lot of time on it. Besides, letting ideas percolate for awhile helps me come up with solutions that usually work pretty well. Putting it on a back burner for a little bit doesn't mean I've forgotten about it.
I'm busy making things for a craft show right now. I just bought some beautiful material at Jo-Ann's that I want to make into runners for the show, which will need edgings, and I need to work on gifts for Christmas. Of course I don't have the right colors or enough of the right colors for what I want to do so I had to place an order for thread which meant more mail!
Don't you just love getting packages in the mail?
"What a wonderful thing is the mail, capable of conveying across continents a warm human hand-clasp." Author Unknown
In July I started a Round Robin Doily through Craftree. I tatted several of the centers for my doily trying to come up with one I was happy with. The last sample that I made before I did one 'for real' is almost the same as the final except it has several places where I changed stitch counts which I didn't go back and change. It was a trial. But it still looked pretty good.
So I thought I'd use it for another sample. I thought this center would look good as the bottom of a tatted bag. At least as the bottom of a trial tatted bag.
Round Robin Doily center as the bottom of the bag.
The first few rounds went very close to my vision except for a few changes in stitch count. As this is a trial and the stitch count change very minimal I didn't go back and change them, just left it as tatted.
Tatted bag sides
For whatever reason I made the split ring round a bit too big. I had even started with smaller rings and changed my mind - I'm not sure what I was thinking. I like the idea, but definitely need to change the counts there.
The bare thread sections at the top are a little too long, Well, they might not be when I finally get a material lining made. That is material around a larger ball of thread inside the bag, filling it out so I can see what works and what doesn't. If it was the actual lining I suppose the tatting would be stitched to it and it would work/look better.
I had a lot of fun making this. I'm not sure when I'll get back to it to finish all the details and make a lining for it as there are a lot of other things waiting to be done. But when I do I will already know a few places I need to change. It should go faster and easier then.
"Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, only this time more wisely."
I so enjoyed decorating the small bag the other day that I have decided to do a few more.
Originally my idea was to have a shape in material as a background then decorate it with small bits of tatting and maybe a few buttons. The idea with these was that they would be quick and easy to do.
Sure.
I have the general idea for them, I just can't make up my mind for the particulars!
I thought this was a cute idea, but some of the 'snowflakes' look more like flowers.
I'm not sure they look 'finished' yet. I think I still have a little work to do.
Autumn has finally arrived here.
Looking out my backdoor. I love the different shades of color in the trees.
This was just over a week ago when the trees were still almost completely dark green then. You can see how dark even through the snow.
Maybe I should decorate a bag with a snowbird...
"It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds." Aesop brainyquotes.com
Yes, there was yet another wedding I needed a gift for. If you think I've said that once or twice before recently you are correct - this makes four weddings this year. This one was a small affair with the date set just a few weeks before the event. There wasn't much time to come up with a tatted gift, or at least one that incorporated a little tatting, but of course I had to try.
What to do when there is only a little time? Look through things you've already made!
Remember about three years ago when Isdihara had a decorate-a-box-of-chocolates contest? Well, I still have the box I decorated - not the snowflakes but the box itself and the edging around it. I started by changing out the paper cover (yes, it's still brown but there is a sparkly decoration on it this time!) then had to put together what went inside.
Money is always good for newlyweds, isn't it?
But instead of a gift card or check I gave them cash, taped end-to-end, folded and the ends taped to the top and bottom of the box. When it was opened the money accordioned out, kind of like a slinky. The bride and groom got a kick out of playing with it :-)
And then there was a little girl with a birthday. Other than knowing she likes pinks and purples I had no idea what to do for her. But at least being a girl I could do 'pretty'.
This is a 6" by 6" canvas bag - not counting the handles - I got from Walmart. It's one of those that come in a package of three, plain and unadorned, to be decorated as your heart desires. Mine desired a pretty material heart surrounded by tatting. I also tatted around a purple button for a little accent. I was going to add a bit more bling but ran out of time (surprise, surprise). I put a cute set of stationary and a pen in it, which turned out to be a great idea according to those who know. She was at school when it was delivered so I haven't heard if she likes it or not.
The next gift I made (actually the first of these three) was not for a birthday or wedding or anniversary or any other special day, but a just-because gift. I saw a pretty scarf while on vacation I thought my mother would like. I also thought that a pretty shawl pin would be nice to hold it in place. I had just the thread picked out to put on one but had to figure out how to put it together.
As you can see I didn't figure out how to add the tatting. I played with wire and beads but just couldn't see how to make it better with tatting. I still want to try making a shawl pin with tatting on it, but this time I was happy even without it.
"The heart of marriage is memories; and if the two of you happen to have the same ones and can savor your reruns, then your marriage is a gift from the gods."
I've been wanting to add tatting to one of these bags for myself for quite some time but never took the time to do it. As you can see, I finally did it!
The bag is a planetE by Eco-Stream from Wal-mart, brown with ecru lines, 17 inches wide by 14 inches tall (not counting the handles). The tatting is a size 10 thread in turquoise but unfortunately the label disappeared a long time ago and I don't remember the brand. The beads are from a container of mixed pink beads. I used Fabric Fusion from Aleene's to glue the edging to the bag. I don't know how well it will hold but as this is for me I'll use the bag and find out just how good it is.
The edging is a simple one I came up with, one that wasn't complicated and wouldn't take long to make. I thought I had measured it to fit the top of the bag but miscalculated a bit. I had to bow it down a bit to fit. I see I didn't do a good job keeping it even when I glued it down. I guess I'll just have to live with it that way. Unless it comes off, then I guess I'll try to do better next time.
After having little snow and mostly warm weather all winter - with temperatures around 50 and 60º F - we were hit with two major winter storms in less than a week. At our house we got about a foot of snow last Thursday. A lot of businesses as well as schools and church functions were cancelled, including the plant where I work. Then Monday we had blizzard conditions with very wet, heavy snow and a forecast of another seven to twelve inches. I wasn't looking forward to driving in it and ended up not having to - they cancelled work again. Because it was right about 32º F the snow actually was melting almost as fast as it came down, so we didn't get as much measurable snow as predicted but we still got several inches that drifted.
This picture is looking out my backdoor to the neighbor's yard Monday afternoon. Pretty if you don't have to go out in it. You have to understand, in this area we're lucky to get three or four inches of snow at a time, maybe all winter. To get one storm with a foot of snow is pretty unusual - to get two within a few days of each other is very rare indeed. We certainly can use the moisture, but oh, my, this much snow at once is ridiculous!
FACT: Between the two storms Wichita, KS broke its record for the most snow in any month since records have been kept - since 1888 - with 21 inches, 14.2" in the first storm and 6.8" in the second storm.
I did get some tatting done yesterday afternoon while I was home but no pictures yet. I didn't get as much done as I was hoping to, but more than if I had gone to work. And I actually finished something!
"When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels."
