Playing With Butterflies

Have you seen the Endrucks 1920 Project on FaceBook? Muskaan M and Ninetta Caruso have started this play on patterns and have games with different patterns. The game of the month for April 2024 is Picot Me Endrucks with Life is Bliss Butterfly by Antonia Lai. I needed a break from my other tatting projects, so I joined the game.

“Life is Bliss Butterfly”

I started with the one on the left, which is the original pattern they shared. I was tired, distracted, and not at home when I started. Not a good start. When I tried it again the next day it went much better!

The one on the right is my first try at changing it up a bit. I used HH20-126 Purple Splendor on both. The picots on the top of the wings are crossed double picots. This is the first time I’ve tried them like this. The picots on the bottom of the wings are twisted picots. I know, not a lot of differences, but it was fun. I have a few ideas for the next one, or two. I will be making more of these.

If you haven’t checked the Endrucks 1920 Project yet, I encourage you to do so. Even if you don’t try any of the patterns, they are very interesting!

#Endrucks1920Project #PicotMeEndrucks

My days have become much busier recently. I have two grandchildren in track, same school system but different ages. This means I may be going to track meets two to three days a week. Track meets are not good places to tat, or they haven’t been lately. Yes, there is a lot of wait time between some events, but wind, dust, and cold (or heat) are not conducive to productive tatting time. If I’m not the one driving, I may get a bit of tatting time. And there is a lot of driving time.

Track meet

Today is the eclipse! We will have about 87% totality here and we are not traveling to get any closer. They say we may have high, thin clouds, but I’m sure we’ll be able to tell when it happens!

Are you watching the eclipse today? Are you listening to “Total Eclipse of the Heart” by Bonnie Tyler?

International Tatting Day, 2024

International Tatting Day

I have chocolate, thread, and shuttle ready for International Tatting Day. I had hoped to be able to tat in public today, but I have so many things to do at home my only public will be the internet. Tatting IS a large part of what I need to do today, and chocolate will be eaten!

Wishing you all Happy Tatting today!

Two Doves

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about making a wedding gift with a pattern from Filvolite Con Sabor. I finally finished the second dove and framed them together.

                                       ‘Dove of Peace’ by Frivolite Con Sabor

I made the second dove to face the first. Instead of an olive branch, I have the doves holding a heart (my January Heart, pattern found on My Patterns page), which I thought was appropriate for a wedding. They are mounted on a wooden plaque. The frame is an odd size, which I happened to have in a box of old frames. I think it turned out well.

I’ve turned in to Lisa at Tatting Corner one of the patterns I hope to teach at Tat Days this coming July. It has been test-tatted and the pattern corrected as necessary. I’m thrilled with how it has come out. The second item I submitted for Tat Days I’m revamping a bit. It was okay, but I kept fiddling with it. Now I have to update the written pattern and get it test-tatted. I’m much happier with it now.

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday, and this coming Sunday is Easter. I’m looking forward to this entire week (Holy Week) but it will be busy. If I have time I am considering tatting around another egg before the weekend, or maybe Saturday. I have the ones I’ve previously done out as decorations, enticing me to make another. We’ll see if that happens.

For the ‘Dove of Peace’ pattern and others by Frivolite Con Sabor, check out her Etsy shop.

John 12:13  They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! ” “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”“Blessed is the king of Israel!”

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

February Tatting

You know how life keeps happening? You go about your normal business and other things sidetrack you. Recently a young relative went through a sad event and I’m planning a sympathy package to send them as we are too far away to visit. We’ve also been invited to a wedding of some friends, which means a gift is needed. Emotional opposite ends of the happiness spectrum, right? It’s amazing how tatting can fit into both gifts.

I usually make cross bookmarks for sympathy gifts. My “Graduation Cross Bookmark” is simple and quick but still looks good. I started with that, then had an idea.

                                          Green Graduation cross with edging

Lime Green (Lizbeth #679) isn’t usually a color I think of for a sympathy gift, but it was on my shuttles from a different project. Though the green was size 20 I didn’t have any size 20 handy that looked even close to good with it, so I used a size 10 in Ocean Teal Dark (Lizbeth #65). I played around with stitch counts and developed this edging around the cross. I liked it, so I made one in the colors I had wanted to make it in.

                                             Blue Graduation cross with edging

The center of this cross is Country Turquoise Lt (Lizbeth #660) (I think! – I lost the label) in size 20, and the outside is River Blue Dark (Lizbeth #709) in size 10. I finished the edging, cut and hid the ends, and THEN noticed I goofed on the last chain. I’m pretty confident I can fix it without much trouble, but, we’ll see. I think it looks good otherwise.

I had to think a bit to come up with a wedding gift. Then I remembered that a while ago the bride and I were looking at tatting online when she saw one of the doves from Frivolite con sabor and loved it, so I purchased the “Dove of Peace” pattern. I have completed one dove and plan to make another, then frame them to give as a wedding gift.

                                           ‘Dove of Peace’ by Frivolite con sabor

This is a lovely pattern, and not hard to do, I just had to pay attention! This will be a lovely gift! The pattern is on Frivolite con sabor’s Etsy shop.

At the beginning of February, it occurred to me that Valentine’s Day was coming up. I didn’t know what I wanted to do for Valentine’s Day, but I wanted to do something, so I started making several of my “January Heart”. I added them to a can for a touch of room decor, but what else to do? I thought it would be fun to have a pin to wear.

                                                       “January Heart” pin

These hearts were tatted and then joined together with a bit of thread. You can see how fancy this pin ended up with that bare safety pin. LOL! It goes on and off of my shirt or jacket easily! I might make it a bit fancier for next year, but it worked for now.

Besides all this tatting, I’m staying on task writing out several patterns. I’m working on how to diagram a particular tatting technique. It’s quite challenging but also rewarding. I’m almost done with one, yay! 😊

“To love and be loved is to feel the sun from both sides.” David Viscott