Motif 11

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.