Happy International Tatting Day 2025

April 1, the day many tatters around the world tat (maybe even in public!), eat chocolate, and enjoy a beverage of choice. Though we may not be close physically, we are close in spirit, sharing our joy in tatting by doing it intentionally today, together, on International Tatting Day.

                                        Tatting at the Y with my sister Elaine

Today, my sister, Elaine, and I tatted in the front area of the local YMCA after finishing our water exercise class. We enjoyed a few M&Ms and a beverage – she had water, and I had coffee – and tatted Muskaan’s E28 Heart, a derivative of Pattern #28 from Eleonore Endrucks’ “Die Schiffen-Spitszen’ (1920). I had seen Muskaan’s suggestion on Facebook that we should all try to tat a pattern from the Endrucks Project, #28. My sister and I had already agreed to tat there but it was to work on our current projects.

                      Checking the pattern

I chose two threads in size 10 and wound them on shuttles before leaving to exercise and surprised her with the idea. I brought the pattern and the shuttles, she brought the chocolate.

                                                 Happy tatting on ITD 2025

I think the spontaneity of working on this quick and fun pattern made the time spent together tatting so enjoyable. She’s only been tatting about a year, but she’s come a long way. Both of us finished our hearts within an hour.

E28 Heart by Muskaan, derived from #28 Eleonore Endrucks’ “Die Schiffen-Spitszen” 1920

I don’t always plan for ITD very far in advance. This year, I made paperclip bookmarks to give away if anyone showed interest. No one stopped by while we were tatting, so none were given away. I only had five left, anyway. I’ve been giving them away when people have talked to me about tatting for the last two weeks. At one point, I had 15. I didn’t even get a picture of all of them!

                                        Decorated paperclips for ITD 2025

Have you tatted today?

Tatting – the art of making knots look pretty.

Hollow Heart

I have finished the pattern for ‘Hollow Heart’, the heart I shared last week. I know it’s a little late for Valentine’s Day, but it’s still February, so maybe not way too late?

                                                      Hollow Heart finished

I am happy with this heart. The pattern came together easily needing only a few tweaks to get it right. Now is the pattern written right? I hope so.

This is a small, easy pattern compared to the Iris bookmark. I’ve found if I save frequently while working on the pattern and stop if I start to have weird reactions – like not able to change something – to quit while I’m ahead. By saving frequently I don’t lose much and can start again later. The issue is probably with my computer, which I will have looked at as soon as possible. But I basically have to start the pattern over completely. This does not make me happy, but at least I think I can write it out without learning a new program. At least at the moment.

If you are interested in tatting this heart it is on My Patterns page as Hollow Heart.

Today it is crazy cold here with snow and wind. It’s hard to tell how much snow we actually got because it is blowing so bad, but we must have between five and seven inches. I am so blessed that we didn’t have to go anywhere today! The snow is over but the extreme cold will be here tomorrow yet. Today’s high was 2° with a wind chill of -14°, tomorrow morning is going to be much colder. My insulated coveralls are by the door, ready when I need them!

Are you suffering from the cold where you are? Or dealing with flooding? This is quite the winter we are having. Praying you all keep safe!

“The Eskimos had fifty-two names for snow because it was important to them: there ought to be as many for love.” Margaret Atwood

Luther's Rose 2024

In October of 2017 I shared my version of Martin Luther’s Rose. Martin Luther designed the seal on or about 1530 to represent his theology. It is commonly used to represent the Lutheran church.

Luther Rose 2017

I was on a short timeline when I made this. I speak about my motivation in my post “Luther’s Rose” from October 2017. I mentioned I would like to make it again but with a few changes. I started thinking about it again a few weeks ago. I started writing out the pattern as I had made it then, but decided now would be a great time to make a few of the changes I had thought about back then.

The cross is the same as I made it seven years ago – but I am thinking about modifying it slightly. Maybe. It is done in Lizbeth black HH20604. This is an easy cross to make and writing out and diagramming the pattern didn’t take long.

The heart is almost the same as it was originally, just with a different stitch count to make it slightly bigger. I haven’t finished diagramming it yet, but it shouldn’t take long. There are several heart patterns out there that are similar, but I don’t think they are quite the same. I made it in the same color as last time, in Lizbeth Christmas Red HH20671.

The white rose part is where I started to make changes. I thought before that the petals were not defined enough. They are this time! I used Lizbeth Snow White HH20601.

After changing so much of the rose I needed to make changes to the leaves. I used Lizbeth Kelly Green HH20713. This is a brighter green than what I used last time. And they look a lot more like leaves.

Making such changes to the center, the blue rounds definitely needed to be updated. It took some time to figure out how to fill in the open spaces around the petals and the leaves and leave it smooth enough to have the gold rounds look round. By the time I reached the blue rounds I was so excited with how it was working out that I spent too much of my time on it instead of things around the house that needed doing. I should have posted Monday, but I was too intent on this! The blue is Lizbeth HH20707 Sky Blue Dark, and I think it’s the same as I used before.

When I reached the outside gold rounds I was on a roll! These rounds are easy, as they are chains only, but being the outside, they seemed to take forever! I almost stopped at two rounds of gold, but the third round gave it a much more finished look. I used Lizbeth Harvest Gold HH20699. (The picture of it on the Handy Hands site looks greenish – it is not! Maybe it’s my computer?)

Luther’s Rose 2024

Now I need to diagram it and get it ready to publish. I had hoped to have it done by the beginning of September, but obviously that didn’t happen. If I do it right, it should have a lot of copy and paste. Easy, right? That remains to be seen.

What do you think? Is this an upgrade or not?

“Symbols are powerful because they are the visible signs of invisible realities.” Saint Augustine

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I’m a bit late to the party, but I made it! The day isn’t over yet. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

                                                             Clover earrings

I wanted a pair of green earrings for several events this week. I waited until the last minute to make any, so they couldn’t be too fancy, but I wanted something a bit more than thread. I’ve had these little keys for years, never knowing what to do with them. They looked good for these earrings. They did end up being a bit longer than what I usually wear, but I like them.

I am a member of the lady’s bible group at my church. I decided this year that I would gift each of the members a bit of tatting for their birthdays, in their birthday month. There were none in February, four in March. I was planning on making crosses for them but ran out of time. They were not disappointed with these heart paperclips, even if they weren’t crosses.

                                                         March birthday gifts

Of course, I forgot to take a picture before giving any away. I did remember before I gave them all away. Too bad it’s a bit out of focus.

The weather here is mostly warm, trees and flowers are starting to bloom. Now we are expecting a hard frost… My poor apple tree.

“I don’t want to brag or make anybody jealous, but…I can still fit into the earrings I wore in high school.” author unknown

Happy Valentine's Day

Aliens Have Arried

Jane Eborall has published the last part of her 2023 TIAS, and it’s a good one. I was kept guessing until almost the end. You can never tell where she’ll take you on her yearly journey. You think you know what it is you’re tatting, and she surprises you. I encourage all of you to go check out her Tat It and See blog to see all the aliens that have been sent in. She numbers them so we know how many there are. Here’s mine.

TIAS alien

Jane put a lot of techniques into the TIAS this year. There are Victorian sets, Catherine Wheel joins, long twisted picots, as well as split rings. As in any of her patterns, if you have trouble with a technique, she has helpful hints and directions on her blog, so no one needs to feel that is too much for them. The clues are given days apart, giving you plenty of time to learn and work on the TIAS. The journey is always fun, as are the comments of everyone else traveling on it with you.

Even with the TIAS going on I was able to finish the paperclip heart bookmarks I wanted to and in plenty of time. They were warmly received. The pictures I posted of them on Facebook were also well received, with a lot of people wanting the pattern. I realized that I had the heart pattern but not the bookmark part of it posted. I suppose I should update the pattern with the bookmark option. Until then, here is what I did to make the bookmark part.

Replace RJ in the pattern with a split ring: SR 3-1–1—1–1-3/3-1–1—1–1-3. Repeat for the length desired. The last ring is R 3-1–1—1–1-3 join to paperclip, join to paperclip 3-1–1—1–1-3.

January Heart paperclip bookmark

Now that Valentine’s is over, I need to move on to other things. I am prepping to teach a class in April at a library. Not sure how many will signup, if anyone, but I’m getting my notes and such together. I was contacted by the librarian last fall about doing a class in the spring. I don’t know when they will advertise/promote it. I may not know much until closer to time.

March is fast approaching, with St. Patrick’s day and spring weather. I have a few ideas I want to try that reflect those ideas. I just need to get my thread together and get started.

My sister and I are starting to get more into our planning for the cruise we are taking in November. We are going on the “Knotical Adventures” Tat Sea cruise with Tatting Corner. It’s going to be so much fun! Are any of you going?

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” Carl Sagan

Valentine's Day 2023

February Tatting

I haven’t tatted a lot in the last month or so due to one of my hands hurting. Not sure what I’ve done to cause it, but it lets me know when I hold a shuttle or try to grip things with my right hand. I’ve been doing the recommended stretches to help it get better, which it has, but I’m still going slow with any tatting.

What tatting I’ve been doing are small things, like working on the Arlo bookmark. I think I’m finally happy with the ends, so now I just need to finish the pattern. While doing this, I tried the stitch count on just the ends. By the time I finished this sample, I was thinking it would make a cute earring.

Short Arlo bookmark

I’ve also been doing Jane Eborall’s TIAS (Tat It And See). A great way to tat without doing too much at a time, right? We’re only a couple of clues from finishing, and I’m still not sure what it is! This is up to day 12.

2023 TIAS day 12

Something has to attach at the top, but how exactly, I don’t know. It’s a person, right? Maybe? You never know with Jane! There are a lot of fun guesses over on the Tat It And See blog. Jane’s next clue for the TIAS is in a couple of days. I understood her to say there are two clues left. I’m looking forward to seeing how we finish this up. Are any of you doing it?

I’ve also been doing a few small bookmarks using my January Heart pattern on large paper clips similar to what I did for my niece last year. A couple are thank-you gifts, the other one for a friend. I have two more I’d like to make before next Wednesday. They are small enough I think it’s doable.

A trio of heart bookmarks

One of these is for an aunt, who recently sent me a couple of souvenir coins. She got these coins at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Fransisco, California when she was eight years old.

Animal League coin with a dog on one side

This coin is very lightweight. I’m thinking it is aluminum.

Animal League coin with a cat

I never thought much about how long animal care organizations existed.

The coin she thought I’d want is this Coleman coin.

1939 Coleman lantern coin

This coin is much heavier than the other, feeling more like an actual coin. You can tell it’s been carried around a lot, enough to rough up the lantern on it.

1939 Good luck Coleman coin

I started work for the Coleman Company in Wichita, Kansas in 1979. I never worked in the lantern factory, but it was a very important part of the company. This coin is so cool! I’m going to have to come up with a way to display it.

Now back to a few stretches, an ice pack, and my collection of things I would like to be tatting.

“Every experience, good or bad, is a priceless collector’s item.” Isaac Marion

Happy Valentine's Day

I’ve been having fun this last week making heart earrings. I’ve even added beads to the January Hearts.

January Heart earrings

I have given several of these pairs away, to my daughters and a sister. I even kept a pair for myself! The little critter with the earrings is the Valentine my granddaughter made for me. She made these to give as Valentines to her classmates and I received one, too. Isn’t it cute?

While looking up hearts and heart patterns this week I reviewed how I posted about them since I started my blog. It’s amazing how many blog posts there have been in the last 10 years. If you are interested in the pattern, check out my Patterns page.

Thanks to all of you that have left comments about this pattern. I appreciate all of you! May you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

“And now these three remain faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13

Valentine's Day is Coming

Valentine’s Day will be here in a week and like most years I think I have to re-invent the wheel, or in this case, the heart. Sometimes I do okay, sometimes I don’t. I think I did okay this time.

January Hearts

I like the proportion of these hearts, which I don’t always get. These are made with only one shuttle and ball thread, simple and quick to make. Amazingly, I didn’t get overly complicated, LOL! I made these in Lizbeth # 671 Christmas Red in size 20, which makes a nice earring, but they wouldn’t have to be earrings.

Something else amazing, I have the pattern done for these already! Imagine that! I’ve added it to My Patterns page.

Speaking of patterns, I am making a few changes to the pattern page. The Keep and Share site where I have the downloads have a limit on how many downloads they allow in a day. If I want to allow more, it costs more. As I don’t charge for my patterns I don’t want to do that. I am changing which patterns can be downloaded to more recent or popular patterns. All the patterns are still available but may have to be requested by email.

I’ve been seeing a lot of tatted hearts on Facebook, Instagram, and blog posts the last week or so. Are you planning to tat hearts this year for Valentine’s Day?

“I enjoy celebrating Valentine’s Day. It’s a nice way to say you’re thinking about your family, someone special, or dear friends.” Camila Alves

Tatting was done!

I’m still doing Jane Eborall’s TIAS, and it’s up to day 8. There have been a lot of guesses that it might be a seahorse, but after day eight’s installment, I don’t think so. Maybe a gecko? It’s fun guessing even if I don’t get it right.

TIAS day 8

I have actually gotten some other tatting done, too. I was in a bit of a funk with tatting, knowing I have several things I should be doing but not having the inspiration to do them. Doing small, simple things has gotten me back in the frame of mind to be creative.

I had some beads I picked up at Michael’s a week or so ago. I have been wanting to practice tatting with beads and these owl beads were an inspiration to do so.

Owl earrings

I used Lizbeth #122 Caribbean size 20 because I love the color. This is a simple use of beads, but you have to start somewhere, right? The owl beads were what I really wanted to do something with. There are several things I could do better and will do a bit differently with the next pair of these I make. I gave this pair to one of my daughters and want to give a pair to my other daughter as well.

I had plenty of the Caribbean on the shuttles to play with after the owl earrings. I want to review what I would fix/change before making another pair so thought I’d do something else. February and Valentine’s Day is coming up so hearts sprang to mind.

Doodle heart

This one was okay, but I could see it a bit differently shaped so I tried another heart with a bit of a change. I liked the change enough I made a pair of earrings.

heart earrings on music runner

Don’t they look good on this runner? My sister made this for me for my birthday. She told me about it while she was embroidering it because she thinks it will look good with tatted edgings. I think so, too. This is one of the things on my need-to-tat list.

While looking for shuttles I found a small piece of tatting I did some time ago. I can’t find a picture of it so I’m not sure how long ago I made it. I’m pretty sure I was just doodling again when I made it. Unless someone recognizes it?

Snowflake doodle

It looks kind of wonky, doesn’t it? I didn’t block it except for pulling it this way and that to make it lay nice. I decided I’d add another round, so found the thread I made it with and jumped right in.

Isla snowflake

This is made with Lizbeth #660 Country Turquoise Light in size 20. I like how it came out. I was fiddling with the chain length and the small rings as I was making it, so some are one size and some are another. But that is easy to fix. This is what happens when you don’t know what you’re doing when you start, LOL. I’ll have to try it again.

Today I’m working on another pair of heart earrings, this time in red as befits Valentine’s day. It was such a nice day the dog and I spent most of it outside. I did some tatting outside, too. I tried to get a picture of me with the dog, but she wouldn’t cooperate.

Tatting outside in January

Kansas has a wide range of winter weather, from mild to nasty. Today was mild and beautiful- sunny, light breeze, and 66 degrees F. How could I spend it indoors? But our nice weather is coming to an end tomorrow with nasty weather here by Wednesday.

Weather in Kansas January 31, 2022

Yep, it’s supposed to start snowing Tuesday night, keep snowing through Thursday morning, with wind chills in the -10 to -20 range. I could do without that. We are very blessed to usually not have as much bad, or cold, weather as other parts of the country, but it is winter. Six months from now I’ll be complaining of the heat, LOL!

“I put my heart and my soul into my work, and have lost my mind in the process.” Vincent Van Gogh

Happy Valentine's Day 2019

A tatted heart for Valentine’s Day

Luther's Rose

October 31 most people think of as Halloween – trick-or-treating, jack-o-lanterns, and scary movies. But it is also the anniversary of the Reformation, a change in religious, political, intellectual and cultural life in 16th-century Europe. It is usually thought of as starting in 1517 when Martin Luther’s 95 Theses was first published.  This year is the 500 anniversary of that event. In Bible study, we’ve been learning about Luther’s life and influence. One of the things I learned about is Luther’s seal, known as Luther’s Rose and how it represents his theology.

Tatted Luther’s Rose

A few weeks ago while I was talking about something else I had tatted, our pastor had jokingly said something about me tatting Luther’s Rose. That got me thinking about how I could do it. So I made one.

Tatted heart for Luther’s Rose

The red heart was the first thing I tried. I reviewed other tatted heart patterns and pictures I found on the internet and in my books at home. I put this one together, which is very similar to a couple I saw. It has a few small mistakes but no-one will know except me.

Tatted cross for Luther’s Rose

I tried several versions of a small black cross before I ended up with this one. The version I thought I was happy with ended up being a bit too small, so I had to enlarge it a bit. This is a very simple pattern that came out well as the center of the Rose.

Tatted rose and outer rings of Luther’s Rose

The white rose was the hardest to come up with – at least to get started. Once I started it just came together. Okay, I just kept increasing each round by two picots :-). There are a few things I would do differently if I made this again, but overall I’m happy it.

The blue round was only having to decide on how many stitches in each chain fit around the rose. Luther’s rose description does not describe having green leaves but I think it helps define the separation of the rose petals.

The first of the gold outer rings was easy, too, again just getting the stitch count to work. The second round was a little trickier. I wanted to use Catherine Wheel joins but I’ve never used them in a project before. YouTube is a wonderful invention! I was able to watch Marilee Rockley do Catherine Wheel joins over and over until I got them right!

After finishing the tatting I needed to mount it. I had a large frame at home that would have worked, then I saw one at the store that would work sooo much better. Or a least looked like it fit the project better anyway. I chose two shades of grey cardstock to display it on, with two layers around the tatting so it didn’t get squashed up against the glass. I don’t have a round stencil that fit around the tatting so I used a cottage cheese container – worked great!

Luther’s Rose mounted and framed

As part of the display, I included the meanings of the theology of the Rose. It came out very well!

At church, we celebrated Reformation today, October 29. I took my finished and framed Luther’s Rose and presented it there. I think it will look great there. My pastor liked it well enough he took my picture.

Finished Luther’s Rose at church

I get no compensation for any of the links in this article.

“Known commonly as Luther’s Rose, this symbol was devised as a personal seal by Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation and founder of the Lutheran Church, to symbolize his personal theological beliefs. It is now generally used to symbolize the Lutheran Church.

Luther describes his emblem:

The first thing expressed in my seal is a cross, black, within the heart, to put me in mind that faith in Christ crucified saves us. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.”

Now, although the cross is black, mortified, and intended to cause pain, yet it does not change the color of the heart, does not destroy nature — i.e., does not kill, but keeps alive. “For the just shall live by faith,” — by faith in the Savior.

But this heart is fixed upon the center of a white rose, to show that faith causes joy, consolation and peace. The rose is white, not red, because white is the ideal color of all angels and blessed spirits.

This rose, moreover, is fixed in a sky-colored ground, to denote that such joy of faith in the spirit is but an earnest and beginning of heavenly joy to come, as anticipated and held by hope, though not yet revealed.

And around this ground base is a golden ring, to signify that such bliss in heaven is endless, and more precious than all joys and treasures, since gold is the best and most precious metal. Christ, dear Lord, He will give grace unto eternal life.”

From http://symboldictionary.net/?p=2283

Joy's Heart Cross Bookmark

Joy's Heart Cross Bookmark © Wanda Salmans 2016

The center of this cross is Joy's Heart (pattern found on My Patterns tab) with arms added. It's done in one pass with shuttle and ball only, no fancy or difficult techniques. Made with Lizbeth #670 Victorian Red thread in size 20. 

This was made in memory of my sister-in-law who loved anything hearts who lost her battle with cancer this last week.  We were the same age and though we didn't see each other often we always enjoyed each other's company.  She will be greatly missed.

I had almost a week to make a bookmark for my brother-in-law but I had a hard time getting started - maybe denial?  I finished the last arm and hid the ends a few minutes after the funeral.  The picture was taken in the foyer on a table there.  I should have found a better background but there were other things to do.

Funerals are hard to attend but can help so much with dealing with loss.  Besides all of the memories shared you also reconnect with extended family that unfortunately doesn't get together often enough.  I also find myself reviewing my own life and wonder if I'm doing things I might regret or what things I might regret if I don't do them.

As family and friends mingled, shared memories and tears, many of us kept saying "we have to stop meeting just at funerals."  Someone decided to do something about that - plans have been started to have a family reunion later this year.  I've added it to our calendar and we've made plans to go.  We not waiting until the next funeral.

 There is a wonderful poem by Linda Ellis called "The Dash". It really makes you think.

TIAS and ATC

TIAS - Tat It And See - Jane Eborall's annual fun-fest of teasing those of us in tat-land that choose to join with small snippets of a pattern every few days.  There have been some pretty fun guesses made by participants but is anyone right?  Only Jane knows!

TIAS Day 9

My TIAS through Day 11

What is it?

It started snowing here last night about midnight.  They are predicting that we could get upwards of 9 inches of snow today with blowing snow and frigid weather tonight and tomorrow. I didn't even open the door to take this picture.

 The view from my front door about 12:00 PM

Just got news that work has been cancelled for today - yeah!!

 ATC stands for Artist Trading Cards.  These are supposed to be no larger than 3½ inches by 2 ½ inches (the size of most any trading card, like baseball, hockey, etc, as well as most playing cards) and can be made of and with almost anything you want.  It's a small piece of art to be traded or given away, not sold, to other artists. Originally this was done at face-to-face events but a lot of people now organize swaps on the Internet and through the mail.  They are also sometimes used by artists to try a technique or idea on a small scale, kept instead of traded.

I have been admiring Singtatter's ATCs for sometime, but never tried any.  She and her friends do all sorts of different media and I haven't seen myself being that ambitious.  But I got to thinking the other day that I've enjoyed decorating the photo album covers and I had a lot of fun decorating the little bags.   And I have quite a lot of flowers, butterflies and birdies and such from emptying shuttles.  Hmm, it could be fun to decorate something small like ATCs.

So I attempted a few.

Tatting and colored pencils

Paper, thread and heart button - oops, no tatting!

Tatting, paper and ribbon
Dove pattern by JoAnn Stearns, 'Joy's Heart' pattern by Wanda Salmans

Originally I wasn't going to put that butterfly on this last one, I was going to write a few words.  And I messed up the few words.  So I had to cover them up.  Oh, well, this is just for me anyway, and I had fun doing it, so all is good.

These are very simple ATCs compared to many I've seen on the Internet, but now I have a lot more ideas to try.  What's funny is for some of these ideas I will have to do some tatting made special for them *hehehe*.  I suppose as fun is the main reason to do these that's not a bad thing.

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."
Pablo Picasso
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More bags

I have so enjoyed decorating bags that I have embellished a few more.

I think this one is finished.  Stepping back to look at it I find it pleasing just as it is.

This bird is out of different material than the first one I did.  I'm trying to add some white to the tree branches to make it look like touches of snow, but it hasn't quite worked out yet. We'll see.

I thought this one was done, but looking at the picture I think it needs just a little more work. 

This one needs a little more something.  I haven't quite decided what yet.

All of these bags are about 6 inches square not counting the handles (which I will iron to have them look nice). I'm planning on taking these to a local craft show later this month where my sister and I have a booth. It would be great if they sell but I can think of several people I could gift these to this Christmas.  And they have just been a lot of fun working on!

Seeing the trees in their fall colors this year has been enjoyable, too. The tree colors have been pretty spectacular around here.  The trees had water when they needed it and cool temperatures without severe weather which makes for pretty leaves. 

Some of the trees on First Street in Newton, Kansas October 30, 2013.

This is looking toward the library from the courthouse in Newton, Kansas, October 30.  Quite the range of colors isn't it?.  I had my camera with me that day and couldn't resist taking a few pictures.  The drive to work this week has given me time to enjoy the gorgeous colors of the trees. 

"Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns." 

George Eliot

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