I started this doily on the trip home from our Colorado vacation this year. The thread is size 10 Lizbeth #621 Dusty Rose Light. I hadn’t realized it was size 10 when I grabbed the ball before the vacation, but I was glad it was. It made it much easier to see and work with while traveling, as it was cloudy and rainy almost all the way home causing the light to be a bit uncertain. The larger size thread and the light color were great to work with in those conditions.
I came up with this center, not certain it was just a center. When I got this far I decided I’d try another round, see where it went.
Pink vacation doily round 4
My aim while tatting this was to keep it simple, something to keep my hands busy and still see some of the passing scenery without having to think too hard. I know that the scenery along I80 in western Nebraska isn’t all that interesting, but you never know what you might see when traveling. This fourth round fit the bill of not having to think too much.
Then it was a question of “is this done?” I decided the answer was “no” and tried another round.
Pink vacation doily 5th round
This round was easy also, the most complicated part – besides keeping the count right – was the Josephine rings and they aren’t hard. I think this last round gives it a nice finished look. The size 10 thread leaves it at about 5 1/2 inches across.
I want to do this in size 20 though that will make the overall size smaller. I suppose it can be a coaster instead of a doily.
“Travel becomes a strategy for accumulating photographs.” Susan Sontag www.brainyquote.com
The last week of September my husband and I joined some friends of ours for a week in a cabin in Colorado. We have vacationed with this couple multiple times, they are very long time friends. Like all the other times we’ve vacationed with them, we had a fantastic time.
During the eight hour drive from our place to Fort Collins, Colorado where we spent our first night, I did a little tatting.
Blue thread medallion with finding center
For all that I try to have a variety of tatting threads and miscellaneous items with me when we travel, I’m never sure what I’m going to work on after we leave the house. Once we were on the road and I delved into my travel stash I found this finding and a shuttle that had this size 20 blue Lizbeth thread. I had thought to bring the ball with me so was able to tat this piece. I finished it the first evening.
After we started through the mountains I didn’t tat much due to the marvelous view. I had been afraid all the aspens and willows would have already changed colors and possibly dropped all their leaves before we got there this year – we are two to three weeks later in the year than usual – but there was plenty of fall colors still showing. We were so busy that I barely touched my tatting for several days.
Dark purple medallion
The next time I picked up my shuttles I made this small medallion in purple size 20. This was not a good choice to tat with. It is such a dark color it was hard to see the stitches while in the cabin, especially when I made a mistake and had to untat. I did finally get it done.
Pink vacation doily in size 10
The next time I started a project I chose the lightest color thread I had with me, size 10 light pink. I hadn’t realized it was size 10 at first, but it was a good choice. I started this on the way home and didn’t finish it until after we got home. This picture is not of the finished doily, I’ll share that later.
The cabin we stayed at had several chipmunks that were extremely friendly. We could see right away that had been fed before. My friend immediately decided to buy a bag of critter food (seeds, peanuts, corn). These little critters kept us entertained the whole week with their antics.
Chipmunk advice
I had one chipmunk come to check out my tatting. When he saw it wasn’t anything to eat he abandoned me in search of more tasteful things.
Curious fox
We had another visitor. This fox would come by twice a day. He would pose for us and gave us time to admire him through the cabin windows.
Bull elk in Rocky Mountain National Park
Our cabin is on one end of Grand Lake, just down the road from the west entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park. We bought a seven-day pass, which we used every day. There is a campground about 10 miles inside the par where it is very common to see elk, usually in the evening. One evening this magnificent bull elk was there keeping an eye on his harem. At one point he and one of his ladies ran past our truck so close he almost scratched the paint with his horns.
The trail to Cascade Falls
My husband and I took a hike one day on the trail to Cascade Falls. Did I mention that there was still a lot of fall color to be seen?
Colorado River west of Grand Lake
This is the Colorado River just before it enters Shadow Mountain Lake. My husband stopped the truck in the middle of the road so we could get this picture. The only thing I did to this picture is crop it to get rid of the window frame. I can hardly believe these gorgeous colors are real.
The timing for our vacation was right on. We caught the color change when we thought we would miss it. The weather was pretty warm for the end of September, but not hot. One week after we got home Trail Ridge Road, the highway through RMNP over the continental divide, closed due to snow.
It was such a wonderful vacation. But like all good things, it had to come to an end. We are now back to work with only memories – and a lot of pictures – to remind us of our beautiful week in the mountains.
“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.” Emily Bronte
My mignonette bag was not forgotten, I just lost the tube of beads that I needed to finish it.
The good news is I found them and was able to finish the bag.
Mignonette bag finished
I only needed a small amount of thread so I used the smaller Clover shuttles to finish the bag. The top edge is hardly ruffled at all because I didn’t re-read the pattern for the number of beads suggested, I just used three on each chain. At the time I thought it was enough and later I wasn’t going to go back and do it again. I still do not have the pull string done, but that is a minor issue.
You can see that it ended up a bit on the narrow side. I’m thinking of using it to carry my lip balm, which fits quite nicely.
I am pleased with how this came out, and how easy it was. It is likely that I will use mignonette tatting again, maybe in one of my patterns.
“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, it in your imagination.” Napoleon Hill www.brainyquote.com
The other day I was surfing through Craftree (an on-line tatting/fiber arts forum) enjoying all the wonderful projects when I saw a Mignonette beaded shuttle bag. This enticed me to YouTube to see how it was done which I found very interesting. But interesting enough to try it?
Mignonette tatting – do I like it?
I had a couple of shuttles with thread left on them, so I used those to test out the pattern for Marie Smith’s Beaded Mignonette Bags, minus the beads. It was kind of fun. I did increase in two rounds instead of one, which made the piece pretty flat.
Trial Mignonette tatting
Another couple of rounds caused it to round up nicely. This is the first time I’ve tried mignonette tatting and enjoyed it. But to do an entire piece this way?
It takes a lot of beads to make one of those little bags. A LOT. At least for a person who rarely uses beads. So, do I still want to try it? Maybe I should dip a finger into all of that before threading a whole tube of beads – just in case.
Dipping my finger into the beaded mignonette bag
The little finger-tip bead experiment was a success, I liked it.
Now, what color thread and beads to make the entire project? I hunted through my stash for a tube of beads I bought who knows when that I have wanted to use with Lizbeth Caribbean thread some time, some place. Now looks to be that time.
Start of mignonette beaded bag
I succeeded in stringing about 200 hundred beads on each side, as explained in the pattern. It was supposed to be 250 beads on each side but I was short of patience. The Sew Mate shuttles I used are a bit small for this many beads strung on. The tips were a touch loose and the thread and beads made them a smidgen too fat to be comfortable, but I consoled them the beads wouldn’t stay on long.
The 5th round
It started taking shape nicely. With all the beads strung on at the beginning of the project, I didn’t lose any on the floor.
Thumb sized
This worked up a lot faster than I thought it would. I was able to work on it during my commute to work. Some of the moves to the next row are a bit, hmm, shall we say, not so pretty? But that started to get better as I continued.
Changing rows is not so invisible
I watched videos by both Gina Butler and Frivole to make this bag. Frivole tells you to switch shuttles after climbing down to the next level, which is how I made this one. I wonder what this variegated thread would look like if I had done it Gina Butler’s way?
Almost done
By this time I’m getting pretty excited. Look how far I had come?
Sometime about here I didn’t pay enough attention. Somewhere about here I made several mistakes.
The end of the thread
One shuttle ran almost completely out of the thread and the other ran out of beads. Neither issue is a tragedy, but they sure slowed me down. I unwound the thread on the one shuttle – almost at the end – and added the beads I would need to finish the round, and continued on to that end.
Adding thread isn’t impossible. I’ve watched Gina’s video several times, she makes it look easy. Before I do that I need to ask myself “how much further are you going to go?”
To be continued…
“Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Four years ago I made a small doily in a tiny thread. I was so pleased with the look of this piece I always planned to try it again.
Two doilies
This week was the week to try it again. Originally I used a very small thread, maybe size 70 or 80, though I couldn’t be sure because it was thread that was on an old shuttle that I had been given. This time I used size 20 in Lizbeth #662, Turquoise Light and Lizbeth #652 Royal Blue.
You can see just how much larger it is this time when made in size 20. It was also much easier to tat as well, between being a larger thread that I am comfortable using and being a new thread – I have no idea how old the pink variegated thread is. It was old enough that it gave me problems with breaking before I was done. This time employing two colors instead of variegated gives it a different look, too. The newest doily came out well. It is also easy to make, using only a shuttle and ball with only normal rings and chains.
I thought I would make the doily a bit bigger yet by adding a few rounds. So far I’ve added one more round then I ran out of steam. This round makes the outside a bit less rounded and smooth.
Not-so-tiny doily
I might yet add another round, there are several ideas floating around about it. But not today. I am in the middle of two other projects and have several I want to start. Now I just need the time to do them.
“It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped” – Tony Robbins
I finally have the pattern for the 3 Color Edging done! I had a bit of trouble with my drawing program, it kept shutting down in the middle of things. But I persevered! Check out My Patterns page for the pattern.
While writing out the 3 Color Edging pattern I was trying to decide if I liked the stitch count or not. Did I like the way the chains looked or would they be better a little different? Hmm.
To test out the written pattern and sample different chain lengths, I tatted another edging. It looks good enough on this container but to the well-trained eye, every few repeats is a little different.
3 color edging in pink, purple and white
After all this work, I’m leaving the stitch count in the pattern the way I tatted it originally. Anyone working it can change it up however they would like 🙂 Look for the pattern on My Patterns page soon!
I have been tatting more recently than I had for a while. Besides this edging, I made a cross for a gift that I am extremely happy with, but haven’t taken any pictures yet. I’ve even jotted down the pattern – on paper – which is surprising for me. One step closer to writing it up to share.
We have had a lot of things going on here, unexpected and expected, which has kept me busy. I keep telling myself I need to post more and keep finding reasons that I ‘m too busy to. I think some of it is habit – I’ve gotten out of it. Here’s to changing my habit!
“Creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change.” Barbara Januszkiewicz brainythoughts.com
I try to tat something special every year for our Independence Day on July 4. This year I didn’t even think about it until the very end of June. I debated about making an ice drop of some sort, but only for a short time. Then I thought about using beads. I rounded up blue beads and loaded my shuttles, one with red thread, the other with white.
That design lasted for two rings, then I decided it was a bad idea. I unloaded all the beads I had put on the shuttles and re-wound them with the red and white threads. I was ready to try something else.
Concepts kept percolating in my head but nothing solidified. Then I woke up July 4th with a notion that I was confident would work, though it would require another shuttle with a ball.
Start of the 3 color edging
The idea came together nicely. Elements I had to refine were the lengths of the chains and getting them to work together. Then keeping all the threads untangled!
The purpose of the edging was to go around a glass yogurt jar I had. These jars are much too nice to put in the recycle bin when emptied of their yummy-ness. I had decorated one a short time ago using a similar edging, but it was done with only two shuttles. This would be a bit different.
Yogurt jar waiting for tatting
I was using the same count in the clover as I had last time but adding another ring in-between clovers. As this made the edging longer, instead of being at the top of the jar it fits at the bottom of the jar.
3 color edging on a jar
My decision to decorate this jar was not done solely to put it on my blog. We were invited to spend the evening at our daughter’s house to enjoy the holiday with her family and I wanted to take a hostess gift. Something in-line with the celebration but nothing too big.
3 color edging on a candy jar
Adding soft peppermint candies to the jar finished off the gift. The edging is tight enough on the jar to stay on but loose enough to take off if the jar needs washing. I am very pleased with how it turned out.
I am working on the pattern for this. Look for it soon on my Patterns page.
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” Mark Twain brainyquote.com
Disclaimer: The jars are from Yoplait French Style Yogurt “oui”. I have not received any type of compensation for mentioning it.
I opened a book the other day, one that had been sitting on a shelf for ages. Inside was found a bookmark I had made quite some time ago. I don’t know how long it has been since I tatted this, but it was time enough that the rings are facing up and the chains are facing down. I have been tatting with all elements facing up for years, so this bookmark must be 20 years old.
Old bookmark found in a book
I was reading the book to my grandchildren when we discovered the bookmark. One of the children mentioned they would like a bookmark like this. That’s all it took to twist my arm enough for me to decide to tat them one.
Blue bookmark with ribbon
I happened to have a blue thread with me, which is a favored color, though I didn’t have any ribbon. A trip to Joann’s made short work of that problem. It wasn’t much later that this bookmark was done. I realize it isn’t exactly like the old one, but close enough.
I couldn’t make one child something without making something for the other. As time was running short I made the second one a bit different from the first because it took less time to tat.
Pink bookmark
This one went much faster. The thread is also size 10 instead of size 20, which helped make it as long as the other with less work.
Both bookmarks were received with enthusiasm. Which makes grandma happy 🙂
Three bookmarks, one old, two new
I find it interesting to see how much my tatting has changed over the years, not only in techniques but the thread used. The old bookmark was made with DMC pearl cotton, a very soft thread, which was what I could find if I wanted any variety of color at the time. The new bookmarks are made in Lizbeth thread from Handy Hands, which is not nearly as soft. How many colors does HH have now? Lots!
I have two other grandchildren that haven’t yet received bookmarks. Hmm, what colors, what patterns?
“Change can be frightening, and the temptation is often to resist it. But change almost always provides opportunities – to learn new things, to rethink tired processes, and to improve the way we work.” Klause Schwab
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