Finger Laces Tatting Group Seminar 2012 Part 1

     On April 13-15, I was once again blessed by the opportunity to attend the Tatting Seminar put on by the Finger Lakes Tatting Group.  The theme this year was HEARTS.  We had such a blast, not only on the trip going and coming, but on arrival in New York.  Everyone was so welcoming.  We got there early (Friday night), and were able to participate in a lovely pot-luck supper.  This was a wonderful chance to meet new friends and catch up with old ones.  Saturday morning at registration, I received a fantastic goodie bag!  This year's bag was pink printed with paler pink hearts with a blue border.  Inside was one of the necessities of tatting:  chocolate and THREE types of thread (two samples of Lizbeth and some hand-dyed size 10).  Also inside was a small tulle bag decorated with a tatted heart, and a tatting bag, just the right size to hold a project (this bag was made from one of those popular cuff patterns.  There were a few "little additions" that just made things perfect--two hematite donut shapes (we got the pattern to cover these in one of the classes), some heart-shaped foam stickers, and heart-shaped gem stickers, a wooden heart shape, a heart-shape glass bauble and just in case you are tired of hearing the words "heart shaped"....some wood aster seeds and a very tiny basket!  The size 10 hand-dyed thread and the basket are part of next year's challenge.  This goodie bag was a great way to start off the weekend!

Summer Evening Doily

News alert!  Many of you have prayed for my son, Calen, who has been serving in Afghanistan.  He has returned from his deployment safe and sound.  Thank you for your prayers.

One month after Ryan Emmons  got married, his younger sister Rachel did too.  It doesn't seem possible that Rachel is that old, or her groom, Jon Driver--I remember him, about 7 years-old in my Bible class at Camp Good News.  Watching them grow up has been a pleasure and a privilege--and now they  start a new segment of their lives...well enough rambling... This is the doily that I made for Rachel and Jon.  It is from Traditional Tatting Patterns edited by Rita Weiss and is called Summer Evening.  It is made from Lizbeth thread, size 20, colors 601 (Snow White) and 604 (Black.)  This was my first completely Frontside/Backside project and it measured 10 inches when it was finished. 

I'm one of those people who can't visualize something until it is completed (this means that all my readers should pity my husband when I want to rearrange the furniture).  If I were to do this doily again, I would do all the repeating motifs one color and the other rounds a second color.  I think also, that fewer picots in the second color's rounds might look better.

Leap Day Earrings

On Leap Day 2012 (February 29), Georgia Seitz' Online Tatting Class had a special tatting event.  The pattern was by Nina Libin, the creator of Beanile Lace (see her work and some free patterns at http://www.beanile.com/ ).  Nina was the guest teacher that day.  She talked us through her pattern, Hearts #3.  Although most of her patterns are traditionally done with metallic thread, I did mine in Lizbeth, size 20, color 671 (Christmas Red).  The beads are Bead Treasures brand from Hobby Lobby--size 11, color Opaque White Luster.  These earrings go great with my red and white striped dress!

Corona Doily

      It's been a pleasure to watch Ryan Emmons grow and mature through years at Christian Youth in Action.  He started as a student, moved to jr. staff and then became an instructor.  We have also served on staff at Camp Good News together for several years.  He found the young lady (Denise Waits) of his dreams and prayers at college, and on February 4th he married her.  Congratulations to Denise and Ryan Emmons!  I prayed for your marriage as I tatted this doily for you.  It is from the book Contemporary Tatting New Designs from an Old Art by Judith Connors.  The pattern is called "Corona A Sunburst."  It is made of Lizbeth, size 20 colors 612--Golden Yellow Light and 683--Leaf Green Light.  I've used this color combination before (see post--Flowerpiece Doily, March 1, 2011). and I really like these two colors together.  This was my first experience to do all down joins and front-side, back-side tatting instead of traditional tatting, and I'm afraid I wasn't perfectly consistent.  The doily measured 9 1/2 inches across when it was finished. 

Amusement Doily

What a way to start a New Year (alright, I know it's March--but New Year's Day 2012 was when I finished this little doily!)  It is a fun pattern to tat.  The title of it is Amusement Doily and it is by "Creations by Celtess" (I wish I had a real name to put here.)  It is done in Lizbeth, size 20, color 115--Springtime.  It can be found at http://www.allcrafts.net/fjs.htm?url=web.archive.org/web/20000824105730/http://www.celtess.net/Tatting/Amusement.html

Christmas 2011 Dragons

     One of my youngest son's Christmas presents in 2011 was a black hooded jacket with a green dragon on the left side.  He came back a week later and asked for another dragon for the right side.  The red dragon, (sorry, no close-up picture) I sewed on "backwards" to give it a slightly different texture than the green.  The green dragon was done in DMC 5 color 4050.  The red dragon was done in DMC 5  color 498.  The fire for both was made out of Lizbeth size 20 color 100, Falling Leaves.  The thread was looped through the "mouth" and then I picked apart the strands of the thread and cut it into the shape I wanted.  Then I applied Fray Check, after it dried, I glued it to the jacket with fabric glue.  The patten for the dragons is by Anne Bruvold and can be found here  
http://nuperelle.net/drager/monstre/MinidragerEng.pdf

Christmas 2011 Part 2

My son requested this one, he has a black tree, decorated with Star Trek and Star Wars paraphenalia.

I don't want to bore you with all the Christmas ornaments I made last year (I made a total of 24 of them) but I did want to show you a few more They were all made with Lizbeth thread, and all the beads came from Hobby Lobby.  They were all adapted from a pattern by Nancy Tracy.  The pattern is available at www.be-stitched:com/pattern0907ornament.asp