A Vicki Clarke motif

I have two kits that I've been given which contain all the bits and pieces to make a motif but this isn't the one that I was going to do first!!! I've mislaid that one somewhere in the tatting cupboard or in Tat Corner!!! It'll emerge like a butterfly from it's pupae one day!!

I love Vicki's little designs. They always make me smile for some reason. Vicki's blog is here and is well worth a visit.

This is an easy tat and the instructions are VERY clear. I'm not sure where or when I was given the kit but I really enjoyed making it. THANK YOU, Vicki and I'll be making up the hexagon one - when it next emerges!!!

Another Dora finished.

Do you remember that waaaaaay back in the summer I decided I needed an 'on the go' project? No?  Well here's a link to the start of that journey which started back last July. It's travelled a few miles since then and has been backwards and forwards to craft groups back here in the UK a few times too!!! 

After all these motifs I'm STILL not tired of this wonderful little design by Dora Young.  The book can be found easily from most tatting suppliers and it’s called The All New Knotless Tatting Designs.  In fact here’s a link to get it directly from the lass who put the new version together.

I've added two pictures today but neither really show up what it really looks like in 'real life'. The 'rounds' are done in cream and white alternately. I've also added an edging to the final round just to hold it a bit better. It's worked in size 40 thread which is another detail I normally forget to tell you!!!

Moaning Monday!

Well nothing much to moan about really but I am going to moan about being 'forced' into a purchase. 

I've bought myself a new vacuum. The old one was beginning to fail but the main problem was the fact that I was actively 'not allowed' to plug it into the usual socket in the hallway that I've been using for the past twenty plus years!!! 

The socket now has a new 'purpose' and I wasn't 'allowed' to unplug it, use it (the socket) and then put the other plug back in. So I took matters into my own hands and bought myself a new vacuum!!!! That's independence for you!!! Old Gits can still make radical decisions!!!

The old one was a Dyson but this new one is a Shark!!! AND it's cordless so no more discussions on the most convenient place to plug it in!!! 

Ah, craft related part!! It's easy to click apart and the handheld 'bit' has tools with the option to add a tight (as in the sort of thing ladies wear on their legs) or similar over one tool to 'pick up and save' any errant beads that might accidentally fall onto the floor!!! A real bonus in my little world!!! 

Want to see a picture? OK!!! 

YES I got it in the sale too and it wasn't even Black Friday - more of a grey Saturday, actually!!!

Jan's pattern - 4 motifs done

Now those of you who have made this pattern will notice that I've made different joins for the motifs. I have never understood fully the way Jan writes his patterns so I'm afraid I work it out another way. I use the 'normal for me' method of doing front/back tatting.  That's just me, though!!!

The motif with the red thread hanging on it (middle left) is the centre motif and I marked it that way so BC3 wouldn't lose the plot!!!!

Each motif is worked from beginning to end without cutting and tying.  To get the threads from the centre to the next round does require a split chain and then a single shuttle split ring with the one shuttle thread hidden inside the ring.  Just needed some thought - and a friendly BC3!!!

Another day's blobbing!!!

The colours are the same as yesterday's - promise!!! Blobbing doesn't make for good photos, I guess!!

Can you see that on this one I've put the orange diamonds next to the centre - just to make it more interesting!!! Even blobbing has to hold some interest in the old fuzzy brain whilst stemming the flow from the stupid little nose that is mine and mine alone!!!!

So, admittedly not a lot of tatting has been done lately but I will have some more progress on the Jan motif to show soon. Maybe even tomorrow!!!

More progress on the patchwork

These are the colours I’ve chosen for round 2 of the patchwork. This is round 1 and the centre finished.

I think this round will be a big contrast to round one but I’m hoping that round three will pull it all together. Well if not then there’ll have to be a round four!!! Not sure BC3 will be able to manage that!!!

I’ve spent a LOT of time ‘blobbing’ over Christmas as I’ve not been well. I’ve had a STINKING cold so have not had the energy to do much more than sit and sew while watching catchup TV. My friend down the road calls it ‘blobbing’ and that’s exactly what it is. Sitting like a blob of something and doing nothing in particular.

Cutting out the fabric

Now if you go back to this link here you'll see again where I'd got to with the 'whatever it is'.

The next decision needed to be made on colours for round two so I got the fabric out and started cutting. 

Well the colours I thought would work for the next round left me with lots left over so there was a quick change of mind and I carried on cutting those to make enough for the following (3rd) round. 

Again I needed to re-think round two and that's what I've got in these two little bags. Enough for round two and round three - unless I change my aged mind yet again!!!

I think I'll have enough to keep me busy over the next few days so I'll wish you all a happy Silly Season (Christmas) and leave you with a break of a few days from the OG. 

Well I'm guessing nobody has time or inclination to read the ramblings of a slightly bonkers old git in the UK during the festivities.

Jan's Waistcoat pattern

Now my friend Sue (Pigmini) showed me the waistcoat she’s currently working on. This was about six months ago and I fell for the motif lock, stock and barrel. 

Trouble was that I didn’t have the book it’s in and I wasn’t going to ask her for a copy and put her in the very embarrassing position of saying no. Why ‘no’? Well Sue’s like me - a great respecter of copyright so I just admired what she was doing and thought about how I could get a copy of the book. 

I could probably buy it here in the UK but it would be expensive for just the one pattern I want to make. So I decided to wait until I got to Palmetto Tat Days.

What enormous luck - there was a copy in the silent auction. I stalked that copy for the whole time I was there as I found that somebody else was bidding on it too. Just before the end of the auction I saw her write on the bidding paper again so I waited for her to wander off and steamed in with another bid and I WON IT. 

I wanted to make it in two colours and without cutting and tying the threads. I managed it with a split chain and a SSSR hiding one inside.

Round one finished

If you look closely at round one you'll see that every alternate hexagon is different to it's neighbour.

Why - you may ask? Well it was because I feared boredom would set in if I didn't do something a little 'off piste' at times.  

I like that expression - ‘off piste’ although I’ve never been up close and personal with skis.  The closest I’ve been to piste is pissed but we won’t go into that in public!!

In this picture you can see I've joined the new six hexagons to the central one and now need to start thinking about which fabrics to use for the next round. Decisions, decisions!!!!

Round and round!

Now although this isn't tatting it does have 'rounds' like tatting!!! Well, that's what I think!!!!

These are the fabrics I've chosen for round 1 of the 'whatever it is'. 

Took ages to decide on what to use and how to use it. Can you see that I ran out of the patterned purple fabric so have popped in a plain one instead.

Now I'm going to have to be VERY careful when I join these six motifs to the central one so that I'm sure that the plain purples are all in the same place. That'll keep us (BC3 and me!) on our toes!!!!

Centre done

The first thing I did was find the fabric that I'd got very little of!!! This then formed the centre.

I've now got to decide what to do for round 1 and I will be sorting fabric to see what I've got of which colours which will go with this central motif.

I finished this last week so have already sorted out the fabric for the next round. Not easy as BC3 kept changing his mind!!!  I could become a world champion at dithering, you know!

A discovery!!!!

Nowadays I tend to go browsing the internet when I start something new. Well - not if it's a tatting project as I THINK I know enough to get myself by on that craft!! 

Something like patchwork does need some research although it's a craft I've done many times over the years. I've found out that it's now called 'English paper piecing' (EPP) which was a surprise to me!!! I guess times change even though there's never enough of it (back to Monday's moan!!!).

I found a really good video on the subject here. The main thing I got from this video was the fabric glue pens!! I'd never heard of them before (I lead a sheltered life!) so, off to the internet and I bought myself a pen!!

Some progress on the project.

Forgot!!

I meant to show you some of the fabric I intend to use in my next project which you've probably guessed by now (and from the paper shapes in my last post) is going to be a patchwork. All hand sewn from the comfort of my tatting chair!!!

I'm so lucky to have such a great choice of colours here and hope that this will be a truly colourful 'whatever it is'.

I've been asked what I'm making when I'm at my craft groups and I can truly and honestly say - I've not got a clue!!!!

A lack of tatting

That's true. I've been trying to finish off the Dora Young white doily which you can see back here but I've now been hijacked or sidetracked by another project!!!

I was given some fabric while I was in America this year and along with other pieces I decided to do some more sewing. 

Now sewing is done in the conservatory which I am too mean to heat. Also it's not pleasant sitting in there in the winter looking out on the rather sad looking garden so I tend not to spend too much time in that room in the winter. 

I decided to do some - well, I'll let you guess from the picture below!!!

Moaning Monday again!!!

Bet you thought '0h NO, not that crotchety old woman AGAIN.  Well  yes but honestly - it's only a small moan today and about something I can do nothing about. Least I don't think I can.

Time!!! That's the subject of my moan today. 

I keep running out of it and can't find new supplies on Amazon or Fleabay (oooops - I mean Ebay).

My routine is to do most of my blog posts on a Sunday morning and put them scheduled in drafts but last Sunday I got waylaid by a neighbour who needed help setting up his new Windows laptop. It was a steep learning curve for me as I think my last major dealings with Windows were back in Vista but I do get to do some when I'm volunteering in the library two sessions a week. 

I can report that a week later we're almost 'done'. The actual setting up wasn't too bad but it was making it easy for the neighbour to use the laptop that took the time. He wanted it to be just like his old Windows 7.

I now have 'time' back in my control for the moment so I really don't need to moan anymore!!!

Tatting with a sting in it's tail.

I try to take a bit of silliness to Palmetto Tat Days when I go. Not easy as there's already a lot of silliness and fun there anyway.

This year I thought of resurrecting the fleas again and infecting people with those but it didn't 'quite' sit right with BC3. Then I thought of other infections and came up with a bug. Yes, boring I know but I do like tatty bugs!!!

This one's got a sting instead of a tail. That sting infects people with the tatting bug!!! 

If you make it (and it's very simple with absolutely no ends to hide or sew in) then be very, very careful how you handle it and who you give it to. 

Thinking about that last sentence - you don't need to be careful as the tatter will already have been stung so it's only really the recipients who need to take care!!!

Another thought about that last sentence - we actually need more people to catch the tatting bug so that the world becomes a place full of contented people making knots in thread!!!!

Having made no sense at all in this post I think I'd better stop right here and give you the link!!

A pair of Santas!

Well here they are together - Santa and his wife!!!

I’ve really enjoyed getting back to making Tatbeads. I’ve put one pair onto a backing and will wear it as a brooch - if I remember. The other pair will become earrings!!!

If you want the pattern for both then you can find it here!

It had to happen, didn't it?

Yes, along came Mrs Santa to join her husband!!!

Well he'd have been lonely without her!!

Look out tomorrow as I'll be posting the patterns.

Santa Tatbead

Some of my longstanding readers may remember the Tatbead family. If not you can find them here.

I designed this series of little people with beaded arms and legs waaaaay back in 2007 and they came with a story for each person and this was published on my blog. It was terrific fun and kept me amused for some months.

The Tatbead family went off to America on a big tour of the country and arrived back with me at a Palmetto Tat Day and all due to the care that Karey gave them. They came back to me with a sweet little book of messages from the people they met on their travels. 

I was thinking about them a week or two back and decided that they needed a Santa to visit them.

Santa sorted!!!!

Well his head at least!!!

This started out as a probably cat’s head and then changed rapidly into this but sadly (or gladly) deteriorated (or evolved) into a Santa head.

This seemed to BC3 to be a simple design to do but I’m a bit of a fusspot over my work. Getting the eyes in ‘just the right’ place caused many re-tats as you saw the other day!! 

Anyway, he’s finally done and floating around on my web site.

Oh, nearly forgot.  Do you want the link?  Here it is!!!