On the way!

Now I HOPE to be on my way to America when you read this. 

This is a post to let you see what I'm taking to Tat Days. It's a LOT of smilies. I've enough (I hope) to give to everybody who gives ME a smile at Tat Days - that's the sort you put on your face that I'd like!!!

Please, if you're there then ask me for one - I've got to give them all away as I'll need the room in my suitcase for threads etc after I've visited the vending room!!!

This pattern will, I believe, be on the Tat Days CD.  Well, that's if I remembered to send it to them, of course!!!!

I've 'smallerised' the pictures to stop the copytatters from taking it.  Dreadful that an OG has to resort to these measures in her old age!!!!

Another!!!!

Now I know where this one came from - here. 

I'm now hoping that the Icelandic volcano behaves itself until after Monday - when I fly!!!! If it erupts then all flights will be cancelled so please all keep your fingers crossed that the little stinker behaves itself til after then. 

Oh, if it misbehaves and delays my trip home then who cares!!!!!!

Now this is my penultimate post before the trip as there will be another on Monday.  This will go out automatically and is IMPORTANT for those attending Tat Days.  Please read and do as asked!!!!!

Another motif

Thought I'd show you another of the small motifs I've been working on today.

This time I used the middle of one of my motifs (can't remember which, though) as a 'starter' for this design and then did another chain round that after finishing  the centre with a split chain and a shoe lace trick. 

To do the whole thing in one 'hit' without cutting and tying I used the good old SSSR (hiding the darker thread in it) - like this.    

It's not honestly worth writing down (that's my excuse for being lazy!!) as it's something anybody could 'design'. What I'd call 'generic' especially if you replaced the outer lock chains with regular chains!!!!

Wish I could remember which of my patterns I stole it from!!!!!

What I'm taking to Tat Days

Just thought I'd blog about what I'm taking to Tat Days for the vending room. 

Before I give you the list I'm going to HAVE to reassure you that I have now found room in the suitcase for clothes!!! At one point I was going to have to be the first ever naked teacher to appear there but I've now found room for a few garments to clothe the ancient torso!!!  What a relief for all!!!  

Here's my list!!!

11 Roly Poly Tat Bags

20 Squared Away Tat Bags (my favourites - shown below)!!!

6 Pendants

3 Bracelets

9 Wrap It, Flip It and Mark It Bookmarks

12 Pop A Bobbin Shuttles

All items will be at reduced prices (no Etsy or Paypal charges) and, of course, no postage to pay!!!!  The Pop A Bobbins will be their regular price.

I hope to sell as much as possible to help towards the cost of the flights - been an expensive time this year with more expensive insurance (over 70 now) and a new passport to be paid for.

Whooopppeeeee!

Well it seems my jokey tongue in cheek idea of an Exclusive Tatting Club has really taken off!!!! I never ever imagined it would but it certainly seems to have done so!!!

Today I present a mouse from Bev who is 'down under' in Oz!!!!

She says:-

"Hallo Jane

Here is my membership application. Do you need a character check as well??

Regards

Bev"
No, Bev, you don't!!!!!  You're a tatter so you've got a great character!!!

Another addition to the Exclusive Club

I honestly thought when I started this club that it was just a bit of fun for myself but I'm DELIGHTED to see that people (like Martha) are taking it seriously.

Just LOOK at this fish she's made. This isn't in the book but it's SOOOOO 'Martha', isn't it? I can see it in her other work which you can find here. For anybody who loves whimsical tatting Martha is the expert. Links to her free patterns and her books can be found on the pages tabs at the top of her page. 

Meanwhile I leave you with a fishy story!!!

A little heart

Just feeling in the mood for small projects as I'm at that 'can't settle' stage before the trip over the pond!!!!

I thought I'd try the Flurry Heartache out to see if I could improve on it or even follow it myself!!!! This time I didn't use beads as it's for another project - perhaps and maybe that wouldn't work with beads. I MISS my beads. 

Purple green bauble

Time for another bauble. Oh, yes, I'm still making them!!! I've not put the Houtz book away since I got it. It sits by the side of my chair in Tat Corner!!!!

Not sure I really like the orange beads with the purple and green but they really make a statement - even if it's a bad statement!!!! 

I know what went 'wrong' here - I was too lazy to get off my backside to go and find more beads!!!!  Oh well, I suppose the answer is to make another bauble!!!!!  Any excuse!!!

Nathan bracelet

Having made this bracelet for Abbi I had to make a boy's one for Nathan too!!!

Of course being a boy it had to be fairly plain but strong too. This is the solution I came up with - a simple interwoven split ring one rather like the centre of this bracelet.

He was delighted with it, thank goodness, and he's a real 'boy's boy' and heavily into 'men things' already.  

Another new offering for the Exclusive club.

Jacee is back once more with another offering for the Exclusive club. I've a feeling that she's even more addicted to the Houtz book than I am.

Can you see the bauble/bobble head on her angel? Isn't it great? This is what she said:-

"Made this last night when I found something suitable for the halo above the angel's head - a gift wrapper wire in gold tone, twisted into a circle and secured on top of her head. The ends were too fiddly to finish off so I fizzed and tied them into plaits. As Faceless angel scares me to death, beads are added to make her eyes glint and her face warm with smile! Hmm...What do you think, does she look ok?"

River tatting!

As some of you will know, I walk round the riverside most days. I usually post pictures of things I see which I find interesting on Facebook.  Not that I go to Facebook a lot as I'm not that comfortable there.  I post from my phone.

On Saturday I saw this boat which had rows of beads for sale hanging along the side. Well, Sue (the boat owner) was sitting there and we started talking about beads. Unfortunately there was nothing there that I needed (well, there's a thing, eh?) but we continued talking - as you do!!!!

After a few minutes she notice the tatted earrings I was wearing and we got talking about tatting. We landed up sitting on her boat with me trying to show her the basics of the knot. She was a very fast learner.

A little girl's bracelet

Now this is not to my taste at all but I have an 'I love pink' granddaughter!!!! 

This is simply a chain of interwoven split rings with loom band cats attached. 

I found the cat accessories and decided they were 'just the thing'. When I got them home I realised they'd got jump rings which obviously are no use with tatting as the thread would slip through. Thus followed an hour and a half of sheer bloody mindedness with two pairs of pliers putting on split ring findings. What I hadn't taken into consideration was the thickness of the plastic the cat faces were made of. Finally I managed it and a little girl was very pleased with the result.

A black beaded bauble

Another bauble that I did the other day.  This one has beads on the chain thread which made it quite different.  Perhaps I shouldn't have chosen black as they don't show up too well!!!!

I've found it's easier to start with a finding to hold onto when 'baubling' if you're doing an earring.  So that's what I did here.   HOWEVER once I'd finished the pair I decided to cover the rather small split ring findings with tatting!!!! 

See the beads at the bottom? Another new idea that occurred to BC3. I've added the beads to the ribs and each rib is taken through eight beads and back through seven - thus being easier to hide the ends in the bauble. One of the joys of this technique is it's easy to 'lose the ends' (after tying) in the work!!!

However, when I did the last lot of beads on the fourth rib I took the thread through the eighth bead on the other ribs and THEN back down through seven beads on the final one. This brought each rib close to the others which I quite like. Did that make sense or should I do a page about it?!?!?!?

WOW - MORE mice!!!

I've found another soul mate - another person who is addicted to making these little critters!!!!

This message is from Sue Hunt who says:-

"I am very excited to be considered for membership in your EXCLUSIVE Tatting Club. I love doing these mice...the largest one is done in size 10 thread (King Rat) and he was my first try in Randy's workshop in Salt Lake City. The brown one was next, then the olive green one, who went to Shuttlebirds Conference in Spokane to be in the Three Dimensional tatting category; and finally I am working on a "proper mouse" grey, with pink ears and feet...only about half done. Thanks for letting us have a place to share this fun project!"

Thanks for joining the fun, Sue - I've added these little guys to the to the Exclusive Club which can be found at the top of this page.

Number 97!!!

Look what arrived yesterday from Claire. Another sailing boat.

I had to smile when I read her comment - I'm wondering what I'd find if I delved to the bottom of the pile of 'things' on my desk too!!!!

I've added it to the TIAS blog but here's her comment here too - just hoping it'll jiggle a few more of you who haven't sent theirs in yet. Nearly at 100 now!!!

"I just recently found my completed sailboat "buried" on this desk. A friend in Kennewick, WA also completed it, but never scanned it to send it to you. I live in Richland, WA. It is always fun to do your TIAS each year. Thank you for taking the time to entertain us each year."

Double and FULL member

That's what I'm calling Martha - a double and FULL member of the Exclusive Tatting Club!!!

Not only a bee but now a mouse!!!  I'll add this to the page at the top - just to make it 'official'.

I'd like to also add here a comment from Martha who points out that:-

"The book is 60 pages, and if you order it directly from Gary and Randy, shipping to the US is included, making it a very reasonable price."

I'm glad that Martha has pointed this out as some people have remarked on the price being high.  I'd like to point out again that it took them ten years to get the book written and it's full of inspiring things - not just bobbles and baubles either.  Here's the link again - just so you can check it out!!

Back to baubling - AGAIN!!

Here I am back on the same theme once more!!! Back to the Houtz book and having fun, fun, fun!!!

I made this pair directly on to the split ring finding - that's the one closest to the top of the bauble. 

Once finished I realised it needed a bit more depth so I covered that finding with tatting and then added another split ring halfway round. Really pleased with it too.

The other thing I did differently was the string of beads at the bottom. I put beads onto the ribs and then - well, perhaps I ought to make a page about this as it's certainly 'new to me'!!!!!

Another member has joined the club!

I'm so surprised and very, very pleased that my 'tongue in cheek' silliness has paid off and that new people are joining the Exclusive Tatting Club which can be found here.

The newest associate member is Melanie who sent in her bumble bee from the Houtz brother's book which you can find here.  Thanks, Melanie - he (or is it she?) is great.  I must have a go at this critter sometime - once I can find the right wire.

Somebody I was talking to a few days ago commented on the price of the book which they thought was a lot. 

I did explain that the techniques in the book are very unusual (unique, actually) and that it had taken the guys ten years to get the idea to print. The price doesn't actually reflect the amount of work that's gone into it or the cost of the yards and yards of thread they must've used refining the patterns too.

A new mouse!!!

Well the new exclusive club is beginning to grow well!!! This is a mouse from Jaycee who said:-

"Hello Jane,

Here's my submission - bauble mouse for the application of Exclusive Tatting Club membership. This is my second attempt making it, the first one didn't turn out like a mouse should be - No, I don't know what it looked like.. Lol

Hugs,

Jacee"

Thanks SOOO much, Jaycee - I'll add your mouse to the  Exclusive Club page and you have now become a real mouse member!!!!! There's a challenge for you Martha and the rest of you in Tat Land!!!!

First new member!!!

Look what arrived yesterday - a bauble bee!!! This was done by Martha Ess from the book by Randy and Gary. Isn't it cute?  Now I'm going to have to do one of those too.  This is what Martha said.

"Here is my bee to qualify for an associate membership in your exclusive club. The poor thing has been languishing lacking one pair of legs for ever so long, but this gave me the incentive to finish. I want to do the mouse, but who knows when I will get to it."

Thanks, Martha. I'm just going to add your bee to the page right now.