9 September 2008
Well, somebody had to do it!
8 September 2008
Fiddling around and talking to myself!!!
6 September 2008
Not a lot to say!!!
5 September 2008
New bags!!!
Here are some previews of the new bags!!! I'm not 100% sure of these yet but one thing I can say is that they're easy to use. I've made the top wider than the bottom so you don't need a telescope to see to the base and what is in there!!! The one on the left and ini the middle is the larger one and the other on the right is a smaller version. I've lined them so they could be reversible!!!
4 September 2008
New book on the shelf
Yesterday I got a new book. This is so new that the ink's still wet!!! Well, not really but you get the gist!!! It's about tatting with the double bobbin shuttle and is by Sheron Goldin. It's a really comprehensive technique book with a few patterns in to show how these shuttles can be used on loads more patterns.
I know it's going to be available at the Palmetto tat days this weekend and then afterwards from Sheron herself. I can give you contact details if you write to me.
3 September 2008
More roly poly bags and ........
Yesterday I made two more roly poly bags and also tried out another idea for bags. I made these other bags (1 large and 1 small) out of some fabric that I don't like!!! When I'd finished them I couldn't make up my mind whether I liked the idea or not!!! Now, is it the colour of the fabric or the actual design? I used a regular design but have modified it slightly to give a wider top when opened out. This should (well, it does, actually) give easier access to the contents. I'll try and take a photo today and show them tomorrow.
Tatting. Well I'm back working on the 3D flower again. I've repeated the one I did in that grotty green colour with the yellow beads. This time I've played with bead numbers, added more to joining picots and actually used WHITE thread!!!! I went to the cupboard to get the stuff to tat late yesterday afternoon and couldn't decide what coloured thread to use and as I think this design will be more about the beads I picked out white. Anyway I also played with the next round but there are SO many options for this I think I'll do another trial before the 'real thing'.
2 September 2008
Spanish dancers
The working of the drawings and text are going well. The text is finished. I now have several 'heads and torsos' hanging around in tat corner but managed to finish both dancers yesterday evening to my satisfaction!!! Next I have to check the drawings and finish off the web page. This is where I lose interest again and am raring to go on the next idea!!!
In the afternoon I managed to finish off two more sets of roly poly bags. I have another two sets to finish today and have thought out (and made in newspaper) the beginnings of an idea for another useful little bag. This just needs me to work out a few more glitches before I make a 'proper' one. I think I'll make this design in two sizes.
Ah, here are the 'happy couple'!!!!
1 September 2008
Yesterday I did ............
Well first of all I worked on the Spanish lady drawings. It's amazing how much you can achieve when you get to this stage and how the text helps the drawings and vice versa!!!! I've uploaded the web page that I also started so now I can tat what I've done from that. Always a good sign if you can understand yourself, I find!!! Mind, I don't make a lot of sense sometimes!!!
One thing that will be new in this pattern is how I've made the head for the lady. This is a ring on a split ring but the ring is a different colour. I've put the drawings below as a 'taster' but they may not make 'sense' without the text to go with them!!!! You'll have to wait for tat!!!!!
In the evening I sat and did a re-tat. DUH, don't like the skirt anymore so will have to re-re-re-tat tonight!!!! I doubt anybody will notice the difference but I'm not happy with the centre of it.
I also managed to cut out and start to sew some more bags in the afternoon. SO good to get the sewing machine out again. Loved having the boys but also good to get back to normal.
31 August 2008
Normal service will be resumed!!!
After a hectic week I'm now back in 'tat mode'!!!! Tat corner had to be cleared but it's now getting back to it's usual cluttered state!! That's after just one evening!!!
I'm currently working through the text for the Spanish dancers and will start to do some drawings later today (with a bit of luck!). I might get delayed by roly poly tat bags as I need to replenish stocks in the Etsy shop! We'll see.
Today I've added the page I'd got ready before the invasion. It's just how to make a ring on a split ring. A friend asked for help with this so I was prompted to draw a page up.
28 August 2008
Latest project
I haven't had a lot of time to tat the last few days but did do this the other evening. It's 3D and is going to be a flower (with a bit of luck!). The centre ring is actually a small metal split ring (like those used for key rings) covered with ds. The colours I've used are A1 grotty but were readily available in tat corner!!!
I'm now wondering if the green motif I showed on Monday might form another 'layer' to this fantasy flower - with added beads, of course!!!! I can see this working with pretty threads and beads and with that 'improved' way of adding beads to long picots it's just so easy to play with colours as you go along.
27 August 2008
Tatting with a head in the way!!!
25 August 2008
Next project
A few weeks ago there was an exhibition in our Civic Hall. This time it was by local wood turners. The Civic Hall (not the Town Hall, by the way!) happens to be on my route into town so it was very tempting to wander in to have a look. I bought three small wooden vases. Now these are for presents eventually but need something to 'brighten them up'. I'm hoping to do a flower for each. Not a 'stand up' sort of flower but a 'droopy' fantasy sort!!! Well, I know what I mean!!! Hopefully it will work!!!!
I did this last night for a 'tester'. It's nowhere near what I hope to eventually finish up with (this is some nasty coloured thread that I'm trying to 'use up') BUT it has lead me to think of something 'new' for an earring out of it. Well, out of the first row or two. I've squashed it on the scanner but it actually is sort of 3D. The first 'ring' is worked as in covering a cabone ring but this time I worked over one of those tiny split rings (like a jump ring but without the gap). Fewer picots on this (2 fewer) will make it more 3D and nearer what I'm looking for.
There may be a 'gap' in my blog this week as an invasion of grandboys is happening!!!
24 August 2008
Am I thick?
Dare I admit how long it's taken me to make a slideshow on this blog?
Now, the lover!!!! Here he is finally in all his 'glory'!!!! What a dashing pair!!!
23 August 2008
Sorry, no progress!!
On a separate issue. A tatter in the UK sent me a url where a lot of my images from my patterns had been uploaded. Now this is an odd situation to be landed in. Let me explain.
22 August 2008
The lover and his problems!!
Now working out a new design always has it's problems but in my case most of them suffer at one time or another from a lack of concentration or tiredness. Oh, could that be old age too?!?!?
Do take a peek at the Spanish dancer's lover. I finished this one (apart from his hat) on Wednesday evening. Poor chap. I think he'll need a walking stick as his one leg is longer than the other. Could he be the original 'Long haired lover from Liverpool' or perhaps just 'Daddy Longlegs'?!?!?! All suggestions are very welcome!!!! Please keep them clean, though!!
When you look at him carefully and count the rings there are the same number on each leg. Something has 'gone wrong' in the crotch area. I hope to explore this later today. I worked up another 'lover' and got to the stage when I was down the first side of one leg. That, I felt, was a good time to stop and wait for brain cell # 3 to arrive for his weekend break!!!
21 August 2008
The old bag lady strikes again!
20 August 2008
How do we close a self closing mock ring?
Now stand up all those who think this is a daft question!!!
How many years have we all been making these SCMR's popping the working shuttle through the loop and then closing it? I know the answer - toooooo many years!!! Imagine my surprise when Anitra wrote the other day with what she thought was a 'good idea' and another way to close this element in tatting. I tried it and it works. In fact there are two new ways to close the SCMR.Now, one might ask, why do we 'need' or 'want' another way to close this element. Well, like me and probably many others Anitra was a bit dissapointed with the look of the regularly closed ones. She found that the bottom mock ring didn't always seem to 'sit' well on the previous element. Heck, I can't sit here trying to explain what she did. Best thing is for you to go and look here.
Oh, you can sit down now!!!!!
19 August 2008
For Georgia!!
I'm sure she won't mind me sharing as I've no idea why dear Georgia challenged me to this but she did!!! A few months ago when I was deeeeeply into sequins and Christmas trees Georgia had seen a couple of rainbow patterns and decided they reminded her of a Spanish dancing lady's skirt.
She asked me if it was possible!!! Here's the lady so far.
Georgia really wanted the rose to be held between her teeth but it looked a bit daft to me but that can easily be changed with a couple of stitches using invisible thread. Next project? Hmmmm, the lover to dance with her, I guess.
Strange when I start these new projects I always think it won't be hard cause I can steal from my other patterns. Rarely, if ever, does this work out!! I did take the basic arms and head from the button family but even those had to be changed to get the arms in the 'right' position!!!!
I managed to finish her yesterday evening after 'one of those days' chasing my tail. It started on the run in the morning and continued like that all day but I did manage a walk without getting wet!!! Still it's what keeps me young and beautiful (cough, cough, splutter, splutter), I suppose!!!
17 August 2008
What I really, really need!
Another day another ?
I cleared up after my sewing stint of the previous day and then went down the town to get bread etc.
By the time I got back the second blue one had sold!! This was my fastest sale so far!! So, after lunch I went down town again and mailed that one. I have almost finished another red paisley set which will become part of my stock. I've got two pretty floral sets cut out and ready to sew. Bag making will stop in the winter as it will be too cold to work in the conservatory!!!
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Tatting and NOT a Lot Else by Jane Eborall is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://janeeborall.blogspot.co.uk/.