My Creative Vista

2012 TIAS

2012-01-11T20:24:00.001+11:00

A new TIAS - hoorah!

Day 1, and I have no idea what it is meant to be.

Jane's TIAS can be located on her blog

Something blue

2011-07-17T16:37:00.002+10:00

Aren't there some beautiful patterns around!!

This particular pretty pattern is called Maids of Honour and is from Mary Konior's book Tatting with Visual Patterns. It has been tatted in variegated blue DMC size 80.

I made it for a friend as a wedding handerchief - she now has 'something blue' :)

3-D rose

2011-07-04T20:08:00.001+10:00

Last month I had the pleasure of spending a day with the Queensland Tatters. They were a warm and welcoming group and I really enjoyed myself :) Thanks ladies!!

Judith Connors helped us to tat this 3-D rose that was designed by Jeanne Lugert.

I had tatted it before but it didn't 'sit' right. Judith showed us how to curl the flower so that the centre sits exactly where it is meant to sit. It's so much easier when someone shows you how to do things!

The pattern is meant to have a tatted leaf with it. However, my rose is currently sitting as a decoration on a gift box for a friend. Some of us just need to be different..........

Garden of Eden

2011-03-07T19:11:00.011+11:00

The sun peeped through the clouds sufficiently for me to take a photo of my new wall hanging 'The Garden of Eden'.

The wall hanging is in a black frame, but alas, I'm unable to capture a photo of it that aligns the border in a straight line. Therefore, unfortunately this photo has been cropped to remove the border :(

It measures 40cm by 50cm inside of the border and the tree is about 35 cm tall.

The background is fabric - cloud material for the sky and green blotchy material for the grass.

My previous posts have shown close-ups of many of the individual items within it. Items not shown in the previous posts are:
- Bluebirds (designed by Anitra Stone)
- Robin (Designed by Jane Eborall)
- Wheelbarrow (Designed by Jane Eborall)
- Flowers (Designed by me)
- Shrubbery (Designed by me)

Dragonfly

2011-03-06T20:03:00.003+11:00

This dragonfly, designed by Umi and Tsuru, is currently perched in the pear tree and is under close observation of the goose.

Fowl design

2011-02-28T19:28:00.010+11:00

The wall hanging (mentioned in my previous post) consists of a menagerie of people's designs.

The hen and the rooster were from Christel Weidmann's book Tatting Farm Animals.

The baby chicks and the goose were designed by Jane Eborall

Haven't yet taken a photo of the finished product, and it is too big to scan.

Pear tree

2011-02-26T15:38:00.005+11:00

This tree started out as a lemon tree, but my family assure me that it looks more like a pear tree. So.....a pear tree it is!!

The tree is now mounted as the centre piece of a wall hanging that I have made. Shall post other pictures later.

The leaves were designed by Ruth Scharf and the pears were adapted from Karey Solomon's grapes in her book Tree of Life . The trunk and branches were designed by me...my first design :)

TIAS 2011 - Day 10

2011-02-09T19:38:00.003+11:00

On day 10 of the TIAS, an aeroplane appeared. So much for the lizard that I was expecting.............................

TIAS 2011 - Day 1

2011-01-14T12:43:00.005+11:00

Here's day one's attempt at the 2011 TIAS, with absolutely no indication of what it is meant to be..........

Looking forward to day two :)

To join in, visit Jane Eborall's blog.

Santa

2010-12-16T13:03:00.002+11:00

Santa was designed by Jane Eborell. He was used in the card for the Christmas card swap and is now standing by the Christmas tree from my previous blog entry.

I haven't figured out whether we were meant to glue the tatting onto the card or whether we were meant to just place it inside the card...............

'tis the season to be jolly

2010-12-09T19:23:00.007+11:00

What a sweet Christmas tree design by Nancy Tracy . It was tatted in Altin Basak and will form part of the design in the Christmas card swap that I involved in this year.

Robin

2010-11-23T17:59:00.003+11:00

Isn't this robin pattern cute? As soon as I saw it on Jane Eborall's webpage I knew that I wanted to tat it.

Unfortunately it did not cure my crave, because I now want to tat it again :)

Bracelet

2010-11-13T14:35:00.005+11:00

This bracelet was tatted in Altin Basak size 10 at the request of a friend who has a passion for black jewellery. Hopefully her passion will steer towards finer thread next time, as I prefer size 20 or 30.

The ends of the bracelet attach to each other through a small magnetic clip.

Network

2010-11-07T09:23:00.005+11:00

This square was based upon a design by Mary Konior in Tatting with Visual Basics. The repetition in the pattern made it a great one to tat whilst watching television.

My square was tatted in Coats Mercer 20 and is slightly larger thatn Mary's design. This is because the television show that I was watching was interesting and distracted me when I was meant to be 'decreasing' the number of stitches. Ahh, don't we just love 'pattern re-designs' :)

Flowery bookmark

2010-09-05T16:42:00.007+10:00

This is my favourite bookmark :)

It was designed by Jane Eborall and tatted in Altin Basak 50.

I like it so much that I have started a second one.

Celtic flutterby

2010-08-16T19:59:00.004+10:00

Can there be enough flutterbies in the world?

Rozella Linden is doing her best to bring beauty into the world by creating gorgeous designs like Fred Flutterby.

He has flown out of the Celtic Tatting:Knots and Patterns book and is tatted in Altin Basak 50.

Prince the Parrot

2010-08-07T08:01:00.005+10:00

What a joy this cheeky fellow was to tat. And such a perfect use of those left-over threads that we all find on our shuttles.

This little fellow took several months to tat, because he was my 'stand-in chap' for when I didn't have a larger project to work on. I guess he got worked on each time I needed to free a new shuttle up from left-over threads.

Prince Parrot was designed by Mary Parrott and was tatted in many shades of Altin Basak size 50.

Needlelace - take 2

2010-07-29T14:13:00.004+10:00

Ughh! That is the most descriptive word that can explain how I feel about my second attempt at needlelace.

The uplifting feeling that I experienced when looking at the beautiful pictures of other people's needlelace was followed by disappointment when I realised that I did not possess their skill :(

I enjoyed doing the Single Corded Brussels stitch, but found that I had ten thumbs when trying to do the other stitches.

It's back to tatting for me :)

Handkerchief edging

2010-07-16T19:40:00.003+10:00

Another item on my 'to-do' list was to edge a handkerchief. Mission now accomplished.

This edging was from the book Tatted Fashion by Teiko Fujito and used DMC size 80.

A woman who is experienced in edging handkerchiefs advised me to do a row of double crochet around the edge of the material prior to attaching the edging. How happy I am for her advice, because it worked out well :)

Needlelace - Take 1

2010-06-20T17:29:00.013+10:00

One of my tatting WIPs requires a more 'dense' area, and tatting just doesn't do justice to it. So I thought that it might be possible to incorporate needlelace into the design.

Well, that's the long term goal. The short term goal is to actually learn how to do needlelace :)

So this is my first attempt at needlelace. At the suggestion from Liz (a needlelacer from Victoria, Australia), I purchased some beginner's books from the Guild of Needlelaces in the UK and gave it my best attempt. The books made the process reasonable easy (thank you whoever wrote the instructions).

This first picture shows the needlelace leaf design still on the backing fabric. The directions stated to 'stitch the outer cord down to the fabric with very small stitches'. Well, that was a distasteful thought to me, so I got the old faithful sewing machine out and stitched the cord to the backing fabric with a very large zig-zag stitch. Seemed to work OK....

This second picture shows the completed article - TA-DA! Next time around I will 'snip' the blasted zig-zag stitches better instead of merely yanking the poor needle lace off the backing fabric in a rough and disrespectful way. The poor little leaf lost a little bit of shape in the process.

Long awaited doily

2010-06-12T15:06:00.006+10:00

It was definitely time to tackle a larger tatting task than I had previously undertaken, so a doily pattern was chosen.

Debbie Arnold made this opportunity possible by kindly sharing her Purple and teal square doily pattern on the Web.

This pattern was interesting and enjoyable to tat. It gave me the opportunity to polish up on my 'unpicking' skills. It even gave me the opportunity to learn how to 'cut out' mistakes that were too large to unpick (twice!).

Debbie warns that rows 8 to 10 are 'count carefully rows'. And I'd like to confirm that she wasn't joking:)

I hope to come across other patterns that she has designed because her doily pattern keeps its shape nicely when completed.

Jacobean Flower Spray

2010-05-13T17:47:00.004+10:00

This Jacobean Flower Spray was designed by Mark Myers.

The pattern mentioned using Oliver Twist Thread. In the absense of that thread, I decided to do the design twice for comparative purposes. The first one was tatted in size 80 DMC and the second one was in size 50 Altin Basak.

The size 50 thread was more enjoyable and seems to look nicer. Plus...it hides the threads better :)

The design specified that the flowers were to have the threads cut and tied at the end of each row. However, my lazy side kicked in a bit and I changed the flowers slightly so that I could complete each flower without stopping at each round.

I really like the way that Mark has designed the leaf part of it. It keeps its shape really well. And best of all - the large frond can be tatted in one go without having to cut and tie the ends! Very important to me :)

Winner of the knot maker giveaway

2010-05-09T22:13:00.001+10:00

And the winner is...Dale Marie!

Dale Marie, would you please e-mail me to advise of the address you would like this knot maker to be sent to?

Thanks everyone for entering.

No more UFOs

2010-05-04T21:23:00.009+10:00

At last my UFO list has reached zero! NB - I've been told that works in progress are not counted as UFOs :)

Last year I completed this rose that was designed by Toni Storer. And that is how it stayed for many months until I got around to putting all of the pieces together.

It then stayed at 'stage 2' for several more months until I worked up the motivation to stiffen the petals.

It was a really nice and relaxing pattern to tat. Note to self - don't choose patterns that need to be pieced together or sewn together :)

Giveaway

2010-04-26T18:54:00.006+10:00

To celebrate the completion of my first 25 Motif Challenge, I'm offering my first 'Give Away'.

Please make a comment to this blog if you are interested in going in the draw to win the Asian Knot maker from the following picture. Entries will close on Mother's Day, which is Sunday the 9th of May from my recollection.

Ah, and one small technicality, I don't know how people who do these giveaways actually know the winner's address to post it to. So I would be most obliged if anyone could tell me the 'usual' way that addresses are exchanged.

Motif 25

2010-04-26T18:49:00.003+10:00

My 25th Motif consists of two smaller motifs combined to make a necklace.

The larger flower is from Teiko Fujito's book Tatted Fashion, whilst the smaller flowers are from Rebecca Jone's book The Complete Book of Tatting.

The chain was made from repeating a half stitch in the same way that a Josephone knot is made (without the knot aspect of course).

Motif 24

2010-04-13T22:11:00.005+10:00

This flower was derived from a pattern by Ruth Scharf.

It was a pleasure to tat, particularly as the flower uses continuous thread. No cutting and sewing/tying in ends at the end of each row, hooray!

A great pattern to tat whilst watching television.

Magnificant mail

2010-04-08T21:57:00.003+10:00

More happy dancing today!

The postman left two seperate parcels today, both for me :)

The first parcel contained Mark Myers' Jacobean Flower Spray pattern and the second contained new thread :):):):)

What a treat to have the thread and the pattern arrive at the same time so that I can start the project straight away.

I plan on doing the pattern in DMC 80 and then repeating it in Altin Basak 50 to see which I prefer.

Hmmm....this, combined with my other UFOs, should keep me occupied for quite some time....

Motif 23

2010-04-04T22:55:00.002+10:00

Almost forgot to put this little cutie up online. It is an Easter bunny inside of an Easter egg and it was my contribution to a group entry in the Canberra Show.

I wish I could give credit to the designer, but the pattern didn't have a name attached to it :(

Motif 22

2010-03-09T13:33:00.001+11:00

These daffodils were my entry for the Canberra Show. They are made from the same pattern as was Motif 10 (from Toni Storer's book Tatting down the garden path), but used size 30 Altin Basak instead of size 10.

They look much nicer in the finer thread and are a much more realistic size.

Motif 21

2010-02-07T11:32:00.000+11:00

Maple leaf - Take 2

I enjoyed doing Tammy Rodgers' maple leaf so much (mainly because there were no joins....) that I chose this same pattern to be my practice piece for finer thread. Yes, that's right, I've reached the stage of using size 80 thread!

The finer thread does not photograph as nicely as the thicker thread, but it looks so much nicer in the flesh. Must admit though, unpicking it and opening the ring was not an enjoyable task.

Happy dance

2010-02-01T20:09:00.000+11:00

Woo-hoo, today the postman delivered the books that were sent by Georgia Sietz!

Some of people celebrate Christmas in July, but I'm experiencing Christmas in February :)

I am now the proud owner of:

Advanced tatting patterns by Judi Banashek
Tattaed fashion by Teiko Fujito (translated)
Tea is for tatting, by Martha Ess, and
Tree of life by Karey Solomon

Now to finish some UFOs to free up a few shuttles......

Workbasket magazine

2010-01-31T08:45:00.000+11:00

Crazy Mum Tats is very generously giving away Workbasket magazines.

See the following blog for details.

http://psychotatter.blogspot.com/

Max, the mauve breasted rooster

2010-01-30T12:31:00.000+11:00

Now here is something to crow about. Meet Max, the mauve breasted rooster.

He hatched yesterday and already has a proud comb.

This TIAS was really enjoyable, thanks Jane! It was the first TIAS that I have been involved in and I'm a bit sad that the title was 'TIAS 2010', because this infers that there is only one per year :(

I really appreciated all of the experienced tatters putting their TIAS online each day because I checked them out before proceeding with my own each time.

TIAS day 10

2010-01-27T19:45:00.001+11:00

I too have a rooster by day 10 of the TIAS.

However, my rooster is mauve breasted, whereas other peoples' roosters are uniform in colour. Hmmm.....perhaps I may have unwittingly swapped shuttles at some point in the project. Ah, the non-conformist in me is coming out.

Motif 20

2010-01-24T19:43:00.000+11:00

This motif was designed by Jon Yusoff and has been tatted in Lizbeth 20. Her design shows the colours in the thread beautifully.

Lizbeth thread comes in some gorgeous colours, but I think that I prefer the feel of Altin Basak. Shall have to compare the two a bit more.

Motif 19

2010-01-21T21:54:00.000+11:00

Hoorah! I remembered to scan the tatting at last. Doing the actual tatting is always the fun part. It's the follow up work that throws me, such as scanning the motif so that the picture can be posted to the blog.

The following two motifs, 'the square and diamond motifs', were from Jane Eborall's site - . Quite appropriately named really.

The pattern suggests making several of these motifs and then joining them together to create a larger product. I didn't do this because I'm still at the stage of tatting smaller objects so that I can see what different patterns look like when they are finished.

These two patterns look really sweet. I also did the triangular pattern from the series, but did not scan it. My completed triangle could definitely not be considered 'sweet'. Poor Jane might reconsider sharing her patterns if she saw how badly I botched it :(

TIAS day 4

2010-01-14T20:33:00.001+11:00

This part of the TIAS looks a bit like a hat that has a tail. A bit like the one that Daniel Boone used to wear in the show that was on TV during my childhood.

Motif 18

2010-01-11T17:40:00.000+11:00

These little treasures were a delight to tat! Aren't they cheery and happy. They are just the right size to stick on to a card.

I saw something similar on someone else's blog, but can't remember whose it was to give them the credit :(

I doubt that my stitch count would be the same as the original though, because their petals were a bit longer.

So...if you are the lovely tatter who put the original flowers online, thanks!

TIAS

2010-01-08T17:23:00.000+11:00

Confession time...... I had stopped doing the TIAS (before I had even begun) because I wasn't sure how to proceed. But then I saw all of the other tatters' photos and realised what was expected of me.

Ta-da, now I have completed day 1 of TIAS too!

Motif 17

2010-01-06T22:13:00.001+11:00

This little number was from Ruth Scharf's book Occhi and was tatted in.......Altin Basak of course!

The book contains some really nice designs. It is not written in English though, so hopefully I haven't strayed too far from the original design.

I really like the texture of the motif. Next time that I do this pattern it will be in green, because it looks like a leaf.

Motif 16

2010-01-03T19:14:00.000+11:00

Another addition to my flower collection! This pretty pink flower is based upon one from Ondori's Tatting lace book. It has been tatted in my new favourite thread...Altin Basak size 30.

The flower was made from a long (longish) strip of tatted lace that was then coiled around into a rozette. The book indicates that a bead is to be placed in the centre, but I prefer the mauve tatted alternative (not to mention the fact that I don't possess any suitable beads....)

The pattern was fun and easy to do, but it remained as a UFO until I could be bothered to coil it. It would still be a UFO if it was waiting for a centre bead!

Motif 15

2009-12-31T17:11:00.000+11:00

What a blessing are these tatters who design flowers for the rest of us to use!

This latest piece, a pansy, is another one from Toni Storer's book Tatting down the garden path and has been tatted in Altin Basak size 30.

The pansy consists of several small pieces of tatting which have been joined together. It was a great way to use all of those small leftover bits of thread on the shuttle! Unfortunately though, it was left as a UFO for a while because I don't like having to 'join the pieces'.

Motif 14

2009-12-29T18:27:00.000+11:00

At last, some more motifs to put online! I scanned my last few motifs in the hope of uploading them to the site. But alas, they scanned in PDF instead of as a jpeg and I had already given them away before realising that PDF files can't be uploaded to this site :(

This Maple leaf (designed by Tammy Rogers) has been tatted on Altin Basak size 10. It was another one of those designs that was a pleasure to tat.

Motif 13

2009-12-16T16:11:00.000+11:00

This butterfly was another creation from Rebecca Jone's book The complete book of tatting.

I prefer the way that this butterfly looks rather than the previous one that I made (Motif 6) despite that fact that Motif 6 looks better in the photograph. Perhaps it is because it holds its shape well without requiring support.

Oh to be photographic!

Motif 12

2009-11-22T18:59:00.001+11:00

This clover leaf is a celtic not that I think may have originated from Ruth Perry. It was a fun design made from Coates Mercer cotton size 20.

It's surprising how a simple chain can be made into a picture just by twisting and twirling it a bit.

Motif 11

2009-10-24T18:10:00.001+11:00

At last I've managed to get back to the blog!

There has been plenty of tatting happening in my life, but not much that I can put online :(

I've tatted a piece for our group entry into the local show. Now its time to start tatting for my own individual entry. Apparently we beginners have the privelege of being in a category of our own when we submit our entries because there is a seperate category for people with less than 2 years experience.

Anyway, here is a piece of tatting that I can put on the blog. This choker was adapted from one of Rebecca Jones' patterns and was made from black Lizbeth size 20. The beads were added when joining the picots.

Motif 10

2009-09-19T21:59:00.000+10:00

It's spring time, so what better to tat than spring flowers!

This daffodil was adapted from Toni Storer's book Tatting Down the Garden Path. It was tatted in Altin Basak size 10.

It was a fast and enjoyable pattern to follow and I even manage to do split chains in it.

Motif 9

2009-09-13T14:28:00.000+10:00

Well, I just had to try Jane Eborall's reversible motif because it looked so nice on other people's blog.

What can I say? Jane is a creative genious with very good spatial skills. I wonder if she can read road maps the 'right way up' regardless of which way she is travelling....

This pattern was fun to follow and I'll probably do it again in pink. I learned how to do this great new trick to hide the thread ends instead of stithing them in afterwards. It's called 'invisible ends' ( or some such thing). Wonderful invention!

The first photo is 'one side' and the second side is 'the other side'.

Motif 8

2009-09-05T13:58:00.000+10:00

This interlaced medallion is from Judith Connor's book Creative tatting with beads, shuttle and needle. It used Altin Basak size 30. I'd really LOVE to buy this book, but it is no longer being printed :( Amazon is selling it for about $111 US dollars. Bit too expensive for me........

I used a split ring technique between row 2 and row 3. Not a very pretty attempt, but hopefully I will get better with practice.

Motif 7

2009-08-31T16:03:00.001+10:00

These rose leaves, which have been made using Altin Basak size 30, were designed by Toni Storer.

Tatting them was quite a pleasant experience and they didn't seem to take too long to make.

I'm still making the petals for the rose flower that will accompany these leaves.

Motif 6

2009-08-24T15:20:00.000+10:00

This flutterby is from Rebecca Jones' book The Complete book of tatting.

For those of you who have this book, you will notice that this flutterby doesn't look like the one in her book. My flutterby seems to be a tad fatter than hers. This partly due to the fact that it has eaten more than the flutterby in the book and partly because it has been 'blocked' differently.

Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink!

2009-08-21T10:57:00.000+10:00

So far I have purchased about twelve shuttles, but don't currently have any spare ones to use for my Design-tat homework........ Me-thinks that I have too many unfinished projects at present. Although, to be fair to myself, a couple of the shuttles just have a small length of thread on them. I will make a small flutterby from this thread rather than just discard it.

So, just how many shuttles does the average tatter need?

My favourite ones are the Clover tortoiseshell ones that have the curved/pointed end. I also like the one with the small crochet hook on the end (I reserve this one for use as the second shuttle in patterns that require two shuttles). The large LACTIS Sew Mate shuttle is also good, especially for projects that need to use a lot of thread.

With my next thread purchase I've ordered some size 10 thread as well as the size 30 Altin Basak. One less day to wait until it arrives. Hooray!

Now, time to make a flutterby so that I can 'free a shuttle' to do Lesson 4 from the Design-tat course.

A big cheer for mail order!

2009-08-19T18:27:00.000+10:00

Hooray! I've just ordered more thread and can't wait till it arrives. However, I may get selection stress trying to decide which colour to use first.............

Didn't get any variegated colours this time. Shall try to find some patterns that rely on more than one coloured thread.

Motif 5

2009-08-19T16:41:00.001+10:00

This pincushion portrays yet another use for the size 20 variegated yellow/white Coates Mercer crochet cotton.

The tatting pattern was derived and amended from a very old DMC Corporation Tatting for today publication.

The pincushion itself was made from rolled up strips of material and then covered in black velvet.

Motif 4

2009-08-11T20:08:00.000+10:00

This motif, which was designed by Judith Connors, is now securely fastened to my son's 21st birthday card.

It has been made from the same thread as Motif 1 - size 20 variegated yellow/white Coates Mercer crochet cotton.

Motif 3

2009-08-04T20:02:00.000+10:00

It appears that a blog site can reveal trends in a tatter's pattern choice. That's right - I've chosen another heart :)

This one was even made from the same thread as the previous motif (Anchor Mercer Crochet cotton, size 20). It really is time to buy some more thread so as there is a bit more variety on the blog site!

This pattern was designed by Emma Crew.

Motif 2

2009-08-01T15:15:00.000+10:00

This heart pattern was from Georgia Seitz's web page and was made in a variegated Anchor Mercer Crochet cotton, size 20. It was a delight to tat and didn't take too long to complete.

Motif 1

2009-07-27T18:45:00.000+10:00

The lovely lady who taught me to tat gave me the pattern for this bookmark. I'm not sure where the pattern originated, but the rings are 6-1-6 and the chains are 3-3-3-3. I used a variegated yellow/white Coates Mercer crochet cotton in size 20.

Setting the scene

2009-07-25T16:40:00.000+10:00

Location, location, location!!! This is my favourite place to tat because it has all of the essential ingredients to facilitate relaxation.

Tatting space in front of the television. The ultimate relaxation. And look, no-one is sitting in 'my' chair. Amazing!

Space to stash the tools of trade. 'My' chair is the one that is in next to the cabinet (of course), so there is easy access to the tatting equipment and some bench space to put my work (and my mug....)

First entry

2009-07-24T19:58:00.000+10:00

Time to blog! This page will mysteriously bloom and grow when you and I least expect it!