Category: giveaway

Doily Finished! And my giveaway

My Yes-U-Can doily is finished.
This has been a fun challenge, though I rushed through it. Looking over it now that it is complete I see several things I would need to do differently when/if I do this doily again. In the center ring I’d make the joining picots smaller, as well as the joining picots in the second round (open thread round). If those picots were smaller the third round of individual motifs would still need a little adjustment to keep them from being so stretched looking, but probably not as much as they need the way it is. I’m thinking another couple of stitches in the chains would help. The last round, even with the adjustments in the previous rounds, wouldn’t need to be tweaked much if any. Of course, it would be nice if I kept the picot count the same in each repeat on this round. I didn’t notice until I was blocking it that some of the chains have seven picots instead of the five they are supposed to have. I knew I had caught myself doing this but hadn’t realized I had missed fixing some – and so many! But I’m not changing it now. I have too many other things to do. I’ll just take some notes along with stitch counts and try to do better the next time.
Even though it has a lot of issues this doily was certainly a challenge, so I’m calling it #23 of my 25 motif challenge. #23? Oh, my, I didn’t realize I was so close to 25.
As I’ve been saying for the last several weeks, my blogaversary is next week. If you comment on this post you will be entered into the drawing. I do have several things picked out for the package but it’s not complete yet (I’m not telling, it’s a surprise!). I’ll announce the winner on my Tatting Tea Tuesday post October 25th, so comments need to be made before 8:00 AM CST (USA) the 25th to be included.
Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I’m having a cup of hot apple cider, mmmm. We’ve had very fall-like weather here in Kansas the last several days, and what’s more fall-like than apple cider? I had bought the jug for a dinner this last weekend then forgot to take it with me, so I’ll have to drink the whole thing by myself (my husband doesn’t like it). Such a hardship! *grin*
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s okay to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.”

While on vacation in Buena Vista, Colorado, I stopped into a shop called Bev’s Stitchery. It has a lot of quilting things in it, but also threads and patterns and such for crochet, knitting and tatting (even a couple of colors of Lizbeth thread). She didn’t have a lot of tatting books, but she had this one, which I didn’t have (but do now) by Karen Lindsay. What really caught my eye was the witch. I’m not going to have time to try it this year, but Halloween comes every year so I’ll have another chance later. I don’t have any of her other books and haven’t tried any of these patterns yet. She has them diagrammed and written out. There are several cute patterns in here beside the witch that I would like to try and their seasons are coming. This find, as well as the shop I found it in, was a nice surprise.
Over at InTatters they have a challenge going on with the “Yes-U
-Can” doily. The challenge is to tat the doily that is stamped on a can lid with nothing else to go by. A nice challenge, and I’m sure that there will be as many different patterns tatted as their are people who try it, each person with their own vision of it. I decided to try – though I really don’t have time. Mine is done in brown #692 and gold #611 Lizbeth thread, size 20. I’ve made several miscalculations that I didn’t go back and fix, and it’s not as neat as I would like *blushes in embarrassment*. But I’m doing this instead of several other things that have a time limit (the challenge doesn’t) so it will be what it is. I can go back and do it again the right way another time.
This is day 7 (I think) and the first picture I’ve taken

of it. Once I got started it was kind of hard to put it down. This was blocked a little after the fourth round of individual motifs and then stuck in my bag as I took it with me everywhere. I think the count is close but after the final blocking I’ll look it over and evaluate it for that type of thing for when I want to make it again.
(I’m taking a page out of Diane’s book, using my computer as a background. I didn’t have anything else handy that showed it off very well.)
I’m drinking a cup of Refresh mint tea for this morning’s Tatting Tea Tuesday. As soon as I get a few minutes I’ll be back at the doily – though my mind will be working on some of my other projects:)
I’ll be having a giveaway for my blogaversary this month. If your interested check back next week to find out more about it.
“Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction.” Will Rogers

Doily with an Antique Motif

I mentioned last week that I have been working on a doily based on an old pattern. I’m finally done! There was a lot of mind changing and retro tatting due to mistakes as well, but finally, finally it’s done! I’m calling this #12 in my 25 Motif Challenge – I did make 13 of the medallions for it!
This doily is 8 x 8 inches (about 20 cm) made with DMC Cebelia size 30 in ecru. The large medallion is a pattern from Priscilla Tatting Book No. 1, copyright 1909. The way patterns were written back then makes it a lot harder for me to decipher than the way many patterns are written today, so at first I just used the picture as a pattern, then I read through the written text. And, yes, this pattern uses two shuttles (“For convenience’ sake call one shuttle A and the other B” page 5, Pris. Tatting Book No. 1). I didn’t follow it quite like it was written as I climbed out of the center by a picot and went on to the next round without a cut and tie and used size 30 thread instead of the specified size 50. As this medallion has long picots and I was going to be making quite a few of them I made myself a set of picot gauges from a plastic lid, which helped a lot after I got used to using them.

Another way I didn’t follow the pattern was not using the size 150 thread to go around each of the medallions. According to the pattern you should make all your medallions and go around each of them with the small thread, not joining them to each other yet. You then place them all on a piece of material in the order you want them, THEN you stitch them together. You also use ‘simple rings’ (which are the same as the center of the medallions) between the medallions, which you stitch in at this time, too. Okay, I wanted an old fashioned looking doily, but I didn’t really want to go to all this trouble. So I did it my way, joining them together as I went, and the simple rings became small medallions made of the center two rounds of the big medallion, just with slightly shorter picots, to fit in the spaces between medallions. The outside rounds of the doily were not part of the 1909 pattern at all, they are something I came up with. Both rounds were started and restarted several times. I’m still not real sure about them, but for the moment I’ll leave it like this. The question is, did I succeed in making an old fashioned looking doily?

It’s funny, I thought I did a pretty good job of blocking this – twice – but looking at the picture now I see where I didn’t do as good a job as I thought. I made this with the Cebelia thread because I have several balls of it as I used to tat with it a lot. After tatting with Lizbeth and Manuela threads this seems to be soft and fuzzy. I know that when I was retro tatting I had more trouble doing it without messing up the thread that I’ve become used to lately.

I was inspired to make an old fashioned-looking doily by the Ice Palace Bed and Breakfast that we stayed at while in Leadville, Co. According to the owner, the B & B was built using some of the lumber from the original Ice Palace, which was built in Leadville in 1895. The B & B is furnished with a lot of period pieces and I enjoyed the Victorian look of the whole house. On the way home I got to thinking about a doily that would fit into that decor. So when I got home I started looking through my vintage pattern books as well as on-line, including the Knots pattern page, which has a lot of vintage patterns. I chose the one I did for several reasons: 1) I liked the look (obviously) and 2) the picture was good enough that if I couldn’t figure out the written text I was pretty sure I could figure it out with just the picture. As I mentioned, I did a little of both. I actually have an idea for another doily using the same medallion. Except that I have a couple of other pieces that I need to do first, I’d already be working on it!

For today’s Tatting Tea Tuesday I displayed part of a miniature tea set I had as a little girl on the doily. I think it adds a little bit to the old-fashioned flavor of the doily. The shuttle is a wooden one from The Shuttle Shop my husband bought me. And to really set the mood, I’m enjoying a little mint tea with my tatting today, another old-fashioned flavor.

Thinking on the age of things, I looked back at my old posts and realized that I will have been blogging for two years in a couple of weeks, which got me thinking of having a giveaway. If anyone is interested please leave a comment on this post to be entered in the drawing. I’ll announce the winner on October 26th in my Tatting Tea Tuesday post.

Now on to newer things: I did finally get my homework done for the Design-Tat class and I’m working on a bookmark for The Tatting Forums bookmark-a-month challenge. That’s coming out a little different than planned (again!) but it has a nice fall look to it. I’m almost done and ran out of thread (!) and now have to add some, but it should be done soon.

I did say I would post the pattern for the previous bookmark/bracelet, so here it is. I’ve gone through it for errors but a few might still be lurking. (I’m so hoping that when I’m done with the Design-Tat class that I can diagram patterns!)

Vacation Bookmark/Bracelet Sept. 2010
p = picot += join RW = reverse work DNRW = do not reverse work
prev = previous CL = clover leaf
1 Shuttle and ball. If wanting chain color for center
ring of cloverleaf, 2 shuttles.
All picots on clover leaves are for joining only,
make as small as possible.
CL R 6-3-3. R 3+6-3-3-6-3. R 3+3-6. RW
*Ch 9-9. RW
CL R 6+ (to 2nd p of prev R)3-3.R 3+6-3-3-6-3.R 3+3-6. RW*
Repeat between * for desired length, then
Ch 9-12 RW
R 6+(to 2nd p of prev R) 6. R 6-6. RW
Ch 20 join to base of last two rings DNRW
Ch 12-9 RW
R 6+ (to p of prev R)3+(to 4th p of facing R) 3.
+ (to 3rd p of facing R. R 3+(to 2nd p of facing R)3-6.RW
*Ch 9-9. RW
R 6+ (to 2nd p of prev. R) 3+(to 4th p of facing R) 3.
+ (to 3rd p of facing R). R 3+(to 2nd p of facing R)3-6.RW*
Repeat between * for length, then
Ch 9-12 RW
R 6+(to 2nd p of prev R) 6. R 6+ (to 1st p of starting R)6. RW
Ch 20 join to base of prev two rings DNRW
Ch 12-9 Cut and tie, finish off the ends.
For bracelet:
Put the thread through the chain at one end before wrapping
it around your hand for a ring.
*R 15 ++ to toggle clasp 15. Cut and tie, finish off ends.*
Repeat for the other end.

‘Sunflower’ doily

Earlier this year I designed a small doily that I call Arches over Arches. For my blogoversary giveaway I made the doily in Lizbeth Falling Leaves size 20. This thread has such a wonderful fall look. I was then inspired to put a brown center in it.

And this is how it turned out.

Doesn’t it remind you of a sunflower?

I hadn’t posted this earlier because I wanted to make sure the winner of my giveaway – Trayna – had received it before I shared it here. It was hard to wait! I really like how this turned out : )

And now fall is almost over and it’s time to think of Christmas and winter weather.
Today is supposed to be the last really nice day for awhile. Sunny, not too windy and pleasant temperatures. After today the temperatures will return to a more normal range – in the 40’s – so we are planning to put out our Christmas lights this morning. Not that we put out a lot of lights, but I would much rather do this when the weather is mild and then enjoy them when it’s cold and snowy!

And then it’s back to tatting snowflakes. Between the colder weather and the Christmas lights, it should really get me feeling festive!

And the winner is…..

Okay, you’ve waited a-l-l day with bated breath to see who won my giveaway.
You’ve waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
You may have thought I had forgotten.
You may have wondered if maybe the site had problems and didn’t update.
Well, wonder no more. 
The wait is over. 
You can breathe now, the winner has been chosen.
I gave the name of each person who entered a number.  I used a random number generator to choose one number.
And the winner is…..
******
*****
****
***
**
*
(Would you like to know what took so long?  It was a long day where things didn’t go quite as planned.  I meant to do this first thing, but then….)
Oh, all right already!   
I’ll tell you who won!
The winner is
Trayna!
Congratulations, Tayna!  You have won a wonderful box of goodies from me! 
Thank you everyone that entered.  I’ve had a lot of fun trying to figure out what the prize was going to be.  I’m hoping Trayna enjoys getting it as much as I enjoyed putting it together.
As this is so late I’m not sure I’m going to be posting tomorrow for Tatting Tea Tuesday.  It’s going to be another very busy day.  But I plan on having at least one cup of tea, tatting for at least a few minutes (it will probably be in the car!) and maybe have a little chocolate. I envite all of you to join me tomorrow for a little communi-tea and do a little tatting of your own and take a minute for yourself with a cup of tea (or coffee, or hot chocolate, or hot apple cider, or coke or pepsi – okay, the beverage of your choice!)
Happy Tatting everyone!

Look what I got!

See what came the other day?
A box of Lizbeth thread from Handy Hands! Whoopee!

This is all size 20, mostly solid colors. To coordinate with some of the variegated colors that I bought last time. Don’t they just look yummy?

I did get a couple of variegated threads, like Western Sunset. It sounded so pretty I just had to get some. Not sure what I’ll make with it, but I’m sure I’ll figure something out.

Lizbeth has just wonderful colors. I usually buy just one or two balls at a time, but if you have to pay for shipping, you might as well buy enough to get free shipping, don’t you think?

Now I’m going to have a hard time deciding which color to use first! I did have a thought, though – maybe I should make samples with each of the colors. I’d have a thread and a size sample and I’d get to use all of the colors soon! Okay, I’d have to wrap shuttles a lot, but I’m sure I could figure out just how much each sample takes and only wrap that much. Hmm, I’ll definitely have to think on that.

The candle on the table is “Pumpkin Spice” and it smells wonderful! It makes the house smell sooo good. It is an inspiration to use those fall colored threads that I just bought – like I need any more incentive!

Don’t forget to leave a comment if you want to enter my giveaway. One more week!

And check out LadyShuttleMakers giveaway, too. She’s also shared pictures of her “Girl Cave” – I want one!

My first giveaway!

Yes, it’s true, I’m having my first giveaway. Why, you ask?

Believe it or not, I’ve been blogging for a year come the 26th of October! And I thought I’d celebrate by giving away some goodies!

As this is my first ever I’m keeping it simple (I hope!)

All it takes is posting a comment on any of my posts, starting with this one, through midnight October 25, central time, and asking to be entered into the drawing. One entry per person.

The winner will be chosen randomly from all of the qualified entries. On October 26th I will announce the winner here.

I think that’s all. Good luck!

There are a lot of giveaways out there right now. Check out LadyShuttleMaker’s Mondo Monday giveaway at http://ladyshuttlemaker.blogspot.com/; Wickedtats Halloween giveaway at http://wickedtats.blogspot.com/; and Isdihara’s Fractured Quotes giveaway at http://ambitatterous.blogspot.com/. These are all pretty cool, don’t miss them!

Tatting Tea Tuesday with Sophie and giveaways

Who is Sophie, you ask? ‘Sophie’ is the pattern I chose to make for the InTatters October Tatting Challenge. This example of Sophie, here with my pink ribbon mug – for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month – is not my entry to the challenge. I made this with a thread that I like very much, thank you, but I was having trouble with my project, so made it first in this. It’s DMC Perle Cotton, color 115, size 8.

Below is my entry for the challenge. It is made with Knit-Cro-Sheen size 10 in Deep Coral. The Challenge is to use a thread you don’t like or don’t use and I don’t use this kind of thread any more. There are too many threads out there that are much nicer for tatting with (anyone heard of Lizbeth?). This thread is something I must have picked up some time ago. I don’t know why I have this thread – it’s not my color really – or why two balls of it. I must have had something in mind when I bought it but I have no idea what it was.

The problem I was having was actually with the pattern. It’s by Lyn Morton of Tatting & Design, which I found a link to in the pattern library on InTatters. The problem? It’s written in long form with lots of words. I found it a little hard to follow. Of course, if anyone has noticed, I make a lot of things with my own patterns, which means I just have to figure out what I meant and not what someone else might mean.

So I took a few minutes and wrote it out in shorter form then made it with a thread I like working with so I could concentrate more on the pattern than the thread. I thought it came out great! (I won’t mention that I forgot the last chain of 10 ds – good thing I cut my tails long – but I didn’t mention it, shhh!)

I have no idea what I’ll do with these, but they came out looking pretty good, even the one in Coral.

Did everyone see that LadyShuttleMaker is having a giveaway? If you haven’t seen it yet, or haven’t posted a comment yet this week check her blog out here.

And Wickedtats is also having a giveaway! Check out her blog here.

Good luck to everyone in the giveaways. I think they’re contagious, because I’ll be having one this month, too! Check back for more details.

LadyShuttleMakers Weekly Monday Mondo Giveaway

LadyShuttleMaker is having a giveaway and the more people who enter the more prizes she gives away. Wow, what a concept! I’ve finally got her banner on the right side of my blog, but it doesn’t take you there (my bad), but this will! She has some awesome stuff she’s giving away, including, sometimes, her HDT (hand dyed thread)! I’ve not bought any yet (I hear it’s very addictive!) but others say it’s wonderful, and I would love to try it. This may be my chance!