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

Shuttles From My Husband

Over the years I have mentioned that I have a wonderful husband. He recently surprised me again with a couple of new shuttles he made. Not for any special occasion, just because he knows how much I like shuttles!

Oak shuttle front

This is made of oak. We have several pieces of oak handrails which were removed from a local hospital when they made improvements. He randomly will make something from the wood when he’s feeling inspired. That day, he made a shuttle for me.

Oak shuttle post

I love the look and feel of this shuttle! It tats beautifully!

Cherry shuttle back

My husband found a pretty piece of wood in the scrap pile. He’s not sure what it is but believes it may be cherry.

Cherry shuttle front

We may not know the type of wood it is, but it makes a gorgeous shuttle! It also tats very nice. I love working with it.

As he was in the mood to work with shuttles, I brought him the shuttle he made me way back in 2009. I love that he made me this shuttle, but it was so thick I didn’t really care to use it much. I asked if he could thin it down a bit.

2009 Oak shuttle

He did a great job! Unfortunately, thinning it down removed the carving of the date from one side and my initials from the other. I’m thinking of ways the dates can be added back to this shuttle and the others as well.

Back of 2009 oak shuttle

He made the tips on this shuttle a bit different from the others, with one blade shorter than the other. I do like how this loads thread better, but not enough to complain about the others! All of them feel good in my hands. I’ve found my favorite shuttles!

While he was in the woodworking mood he made another piece out of oak. This was done on our CNC machine.

Oak sun

May the sun shine on you to aid in your tatting adventures!

Happy Valentine's Day