Got me thinking!

At the moment I'm doing some tatting for a lady who is in a hurry to get the results. 10 small motifs in a strip using Venus 80 black thread. As many strips as I can make before March 2nd!! This got me thinking.

I asked her where she got the pattern from and she said from The Craft of Tatting by Bessie M Attenborough. Now I've had this book forever so that got brain cell # 4 out of the cupboard. He was CONVINCED that the little motif I'm tatting for Nicole was the same one I used about 35 years ago when I was slim and less aged than I am now!!!! So, off I went to investigate.

WRONG!!! Not the same motif but I DO wish I could remember where I got this one from. The jacket I made using it is below. I used sewing thread which my ex husband brought home from work - along with two England Aeros he'd found in a cupboard.

For a short time he worked at the Needle Factory in Redditch where the Aero shuttles were made. The only time he was ever useful!!!

One of the very few times I ever wore this jacket was to a 'posh' dinner party at one of his work colleague's houses. I'd never met any of the other guests before so I put on my best clobber (that's another word for clothes) for the evening. Mind, must admit, I did wear a pair of rather outrageous earrings. They were real bath plugs on chains!! One guy there thought I was amazing having the courage to wear these!!! So funny. My sense of humour always used to get me into a lot of trouble. Still does, I guess.

New web page and UPDATE

I stuck my nose into a discussion on etatters on Wednesday and realised that what I was trying to explain was a bit complicated without pictures!! The discussion was about pearl tatting. Pearl tatting is, as you know, a very old technique and one which I dabbled with 'in my youth'!! A LONG time ago!!!

I'm a lazy old moo as you all know and if there's a simple way round doing something I'll work my butt off to find it!! Thus few years ago I realised that there must be a simpler way to do pearl tatting without all the hassle of picking up and putting down of shuttles!!!

I'm darn sure others have realised this long before me but I've searched the internet and not found any shuttle tatting instructions for the lazy way!!! So yesterday I sat down and made this page. I just hope it makes sense but if it doesn't then do let me know!!

UPDATE to this posting. My dear friend Riet pointed out a much better way to do pearl tatting. I think this was the way I was originally trying to remember BUT I must thank Riet VERY much for pointing this out. I've now amended the page!!!

Playing with buttons!

Before I forget - which I'm very good at!! I had a phone call from Lyn Morton yesterday afternoon. She rang to tell me that they (that's Tatting and Design) have now got supplies of the new GR8 book by Gary and Randy Houtz. Woweeeee.

I've managed to sort one size out with the buttons. The patterns will all be very simple BUT they're not easy to get right as you need something behind the button to 'anchor' it to the tatting. However, here's another on - the white with pink beads. I'm going to post the first two as well so that you can see the bit of progress I've made!!!

Look what I found!!

Over the weekend I went on the search for some more of the special tiger eye's beads that I told you about yesterday.

Of course, me being me, I got sidetracked.

While we were in the 'laptop hospital' shop on Friday I went to pay a visit to the haberdashery section. There I saw some really pretty shell buttons. Well the sight of those awakened brain cell # 3 and during the bead search I thought I'd see if I'd got any shell buttons or mother of pearl ones!!

I've got a tin full of buttons that I inherited from my gran so those were the first stop!!! Look how many I found!!! I'm going to have to make something special with a few of those. I love necklaces, bracelets, brooches and earrings so will be thinking along those lines. I didn't realise how many there might be in the tin!!

New necklace

Sometime last year Bev sent me a packet of fabric to make her a roly poly tat bag set. Not only did she send fabric for hers - being the generous lass she is, she sent lots more pieces.

In it she'd 'hidden' some Tiger eye beads. These are the darker ones shown below. I knew that somewhere in the house I'd got some similar beads but not as dark. I'm not sure whether they are unpolished tiger eyes but they go well together. The tatting has been done with some C-lon thread which I bought at the Lace Fair just before Christmas. I've used it double and it's quite a slippery thread. Gives a good crisp finish though - just as I like it!!!

Whilst looking for the lighter beads I found .....................

Well, that's another story and can wait until tomorrow!!!

A little more Spring Cleaning!

I've changed the colours on the home page of my web site. I want it to look a little 'warmer'.

Also there is now a link to the whole of the button family which formed the basis of my last TIAS. I've put it there for all those who didn't manage to take part when it was running and for new people. It's amazing what I keep finding during the Spring cleaning!!

My old laptop died yesterday which reminded me why I bought the new one!!! We've had to strip it completely down to it's 'bare bones' and Nick's now re-installing Windows XP. Meanwhile I'm using his old laptop in the evenings!!

I will have more to show tomorrow in the way of tatting. I've been working on .........................