Tea and Tatting again

Well, it's Tatting Tea Tuesday again. I made up a cup of tea and sat back to tat.

Today I'm working on coasters for my daughter's birthday. She chose two colors and I'm trying to decide if I can use them together, or should just use one or the other. The tatting is going to be attached to denim from old jeans.

She chose this Lizbeth thread in green variegated and antique red in size 20. I like them both,

I just don't know if I like them both together. Make it all in the green, all in the red, or together?

I think the pattern will work. If I leave it like this it will be about 4 inches (about 10cm) across. I'm planning on making four to six of them - it will depend on how many I get done by her birthday!

Now, if I can just make up my mind how I want to do the colors....

A little bitty doily and a horse

A few weeks ago I needed an ecru doily for a gift. I had a colored doily but found out that the recipient really liked ecru as this was more in line with her home decor (I like to please). Soooo, as usual, instead of going with an existing pattern I tried to come up with something that didn't take too long. And this is the result.

I call it Arches Over Arches. This is made with DMC ecru (of course!) in size 30. I came up with this from a center I found in my old stuff that was made with size 10, which was much bigger. I think this was supposed to be an edging that went wrong. But it made a nice center for a doily.

The other two rounds I came up with this time around. I have several ideas for the next time I make it - and I do have plans to make it - and my husband has a couple of really neat suggestions, also.

There's nothing here to compare it to so you can't tell the size. It's pretty small, only about 4 inches across. So maybe it's too small to be considered a doily, but I would use it under a vase for a single rose or some such, so I call it a doily.

I've also had another idea in mind that I worked on last night. After seeing all the neat ideas of using a large paperclip as a bookmark, I thought a large paperclip with a horse head would be neat. Now, I make my own bookmarks and doilies and such, but coming up with something like this has not turned out well. I'm not showing my attempts, just say they met a quick end. But the Internet is our friend and makes finding the many wonderful people with great ideas easy to find if you go looking.

If you go to ds9designs you will find that Debbie Arnold has a very cute seahorse pattern. I saw it and thought "if you start here and leave that off, it would make a really nice horse head pattern." So last night I tried it with thread I already had on a shuttle. (The colors would have made a wonderful seahorse!)

.

This is made with Lizbeth Caribbean size 20. I think I need to make the base a little wider and the neck maybe not quite so long. Then I need to try putting it on a paperclip. Maybe in a horse-y color. And then again, maybe not. To be continued...

Most of this last week was spent finishing the butterfly for the Intatters butterfly exchange. I got it done in time (just barely!) and sent it off to Cindy in Minnesota. After I know she has it I will post a picture of it. I thought it came out well and I'm looking forward to sharing it.

Tatting Tea Tuesday

This morning I brewed a cup of herb tea - mint, mmmm!- and sat down to work on my exchange butterfly and what do I see but a BIG mistake! I missed a join and a chain, and it wasn't the last thing I did, either. Grumble, grumble, *sigh*

Instead of finishing the butterfly I retro tatted. And it's dark thread so it took me awhile (the eyesight is one of the first things to go, obviously!) to get back to where I started last night. I knew I was tired last night, but I didn't know I was that tired! If I had just not picked it up after work I would have been done with the wings by now!

And then I had trouble reading the pattern for the middle! I turned it this way, and that way, and turned it over.... I finally figured it out (I think) but again, didn't get as far as I thought I would.

So instead of showing at least a part of the butterfly - as a hint until the recipient gets it - I have nothing to show for my tatting time today. I spent all my time either retro tatting or tatting and had no time left for pictures.

But the tea was delicious!

An angel, a bookmark and some buffalo

My little angel didn't have to wait a week to get her wings, or her body either.

I finished her a couple of days ago. She has a little boo-boo on one of her

wings because I wasn't careful with my scissors, but I think she'll be okay.

This is the first pattern I ever came up with on my own, and after almost 20 years I made

the first real modification to it. I lengthened the skirt and made the wings a little wider.

This angel has been made a lot for Christmas decorations, sending warm thoughts to people

that needed a little lift, and just for the fun of making them.

The blue angel on the right is from the original pattern. The one one the left is with the change.

I know it looks a little pink but it's actually ecru! Both are in DMC size 30.

I guess I haven't gotten off the bookmark kick from trying to come up with one for the InTatters bookmark exchange. This is what I was aiming for to begin with in the exchange, but kept trying too hard. I like both this one and the one I sent. This is made with Manuela size 20

thread in blues #008 and #019. Now I have a gift ready for the next time I need a little something to send in a card!

No, I didn't tat any buffalo, I just took their picture. These are American Bison, raised by a man across the section from us. My husband and I happened to drive by last week and see them so I took a picture. I don't know if you can make them out or not, but the lighter colored ones are the babies. I know these look small, but they are very impressive up close. The bulls get to about six feet at the hump and are very massive.

I was planning on posting yesterday, but we actually had a day off from work(!!). And being Father's Day we actually went to see our fathers and then went to our daughter's for supper. Itwas a very full day, but a lot of fun!

And now I am off to finish (I hope!) my butterfly for the InTatters butterfly exchange.

Tatting Tea Tuesday

I happened across a blog by isdihara, who has a neat idea - Tatting Tea Tuesday! A great excuse to pick up your tatting at least for a little while if you need one. So I thought I might try it.

I didn't have a lot of time, and the tea tasted suspiciously like coffee (I do like tea but didn't take the time to make it!! Shame on me!!) but I did get started on an angel. I'm actually trying to empty the shuttles to use for another project, and something like this is much more fun than un-winding a shuttle without tatting to show for it.

So, here is the start of the angel. I'm hoping she doesn't have to wait until next Tuesday to get her wings - to say nothing of the rest of her!