Category: hearts

February Tatting

I haven’t tatted a lot in the last month or so due to one of my hands hurting. Not sure what I’ve done to cause it, but it lets me know when I hold a shuttle or try to grip things with my right hand. I’ve been doing the recommended stretches to help it get better, which it has, but I’m still going slow with any tatting.

What tatting I’ve been doing are small things, like working on the Arlo bookmark. I think I’m finally happy with the ends, so now I just need to finish the pattern. While doing this, I tried the stitch count on just the ends. By the time I finished this sample, I was thinking it would make a cute earring.

Short Arlo bookmark on wandasknottythoughts
Short Arlo bookmark

I’ve also been doing Jane Eborall’s TIAS (Tat It And See). A great way to tat without doing too much at a time, right? We’re only a couple of clues from finishing, and I’m still not sure what it is! This is up to day 12.

2023 TIAS day 12 on wandasknottythoughts
2023 TIAS day 12

Something has to attach at the top, but how exactly, I don’t know. It’s a person, right? Maybe? You never know with Jane! There are a lot of fun guesses over on the Tat It And See blog. Jane’s next clue for the TIAS is in a couple of days. I understood her to say there are two clues left. I’m looking forward to seeing how we finish this up. Are any of you doing it?

I’ve also been doing a few small bookmarks using my January Heart pattern on large paper clips similar to what I did for my niece last year. A couple are thank-you gifts, the other one for a friend. I have two more I’d like to make before next Wednesday. They are small enough I think it’s doable.

Trio of heart bookmarks on wandasknottythoughts
A trio of heart bookmarks

One of these is for an aunt, who recently sent me a couple of souvenir coins. She got these coins at the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition in San Fransisco, California when she was eight years old.

Animal League coin on wandasknottythoughts
Animal League coin with a dog on one side

This coin is very lightweight. I’m thinking it is aluminum.

Animal League coin with a cat on wandasknottythoughts
Animal League coin with a cat

I never thought much about how long animal care organizations existed.

The coin she thought I’d want is this Coleman coin.

1939 Coleman lantern coin on wandasknottythoughts
1939 Coleman lantern coin

This coin is much heavier than the other, feeling more like an actual coin. You can tell it’s been carried around a lot, enough to rough up the lantern on it.

1939 Good luck Coleman coin on wandasknottythoughts
1939 Good luck Coleman coin

I started work for the Coleman Company in Wichita, Kansas in 1979. I never worked in the lantern factory, but it was a very important part of the company. This coin is so cool! I’m going to have to come up with a way to display it.

Now back to a few stretches, an ice pack, and my collection of things I would like to be tatting.

“Every experience, good or bad, is a priceless collector’s item.” Isaac Marion

Graduation Book Mark

It’s that time of year again, graduation for kids of all ages. One of my daughters recently graduated from college and a niece from high school. Different circumstances, different types of gifts to be given, don’t you think?

We gave our daughter one of our winnings from the auction we went to a few weeks ago. I didn’t think to take a picture of it before giving it to her but imagine a bottle of wine and wine-related items. She was happy with it.

For my niece, I gave something a little more in line with my usual graduation gift, a bookmark, to go along with a book and a bit of cash.

Double heart bookmark with book on wandasknottythoughts
Double heart bookmark with a book of devotions

My picture has the bookmark covering a bit more of the title than I had planned, but the picture on the front helps show why I chose to tat something with hearts.

Double heart bookmark on wandasknottythoughts
Double heart bookmark on a paperclip

This is my January Heart pattern with split-ring tails joined to a large paperclip. I think this will be easier to keep in a book than a loose bookmark would be. This is not only holding a place in the book but is also holding a bit of cash. What college student can’t use that? I gave this to her at her graduation party, but she mostly got cards (probably with money) and didn’t open them at the party.

I’ve been doing some other tatting this week, but not much is coming out as planned. The last few days I’ve been tatting while watching it rain. They say it’s supposed to end tomorrow – and then the heat and humidity arrive. I guess it is the end of May, so I should expect it.

In July I’m going to Tatting Corner’s Tat Days. My husband and I will be driving out. While I’m tatting he’ll be checking out what’s to be found in the area, then joining me for the evening meals. I’ve not been to one of their Tat Days before but am looking forward to it. Who else is going?

wheat in the rain on wandasknottythoughts
Green wheat in the rain

“Potential is like a summer crop. If it don’t rain, it don’t grow.” Charles Oakley

Beautiful New Shuttle

I collect shuttles when I can. Sometimes my husband surprises me with one – or two – and has even made me several. The most recent shuttle I purchased is from Shuttle By Design.

Helping Hands shuttle by Shuttles by Design on wandasknottythoughts
Helping Hands shuttle by Shuttles by Design

Rita Richmond does such spectacular work, doesn’t she? This shuttle was designed as a fundraiser for Lisa Adams and her husband Chuck, who recently underwent bypass surgery. Lisa is the owner of Tatting Corner in Chesterfield, Indiana, and Rita has designed and made this shuttle and donated some of the proceeds to help them out.

This is a Moonlit shuttle, decorated with a beautiful design by Rita. I purchased one to both help Lisa and be able to tat with such a lovely shuttle. I just got it in the mail yesterday and am looking forward to tatting with it.

I have not finished writing out the pattern for the Arches Over Arches doily. I am having difficulty diagramming it. I am still working on it and think I am going in the right direction now, so hopefully it will go faster. Maybe, maybe.

“To design is to communicate clearly by whatever means you can control or master.” Milton Glaser

https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/milton_glaser_170011?src=t_design

A Heart, a Goat and a Fob

Happy Valentine’s Day!  
I’ve known it’s been coming, I’ve seen all the hearts that others have been tatting and I only made one.
This is the bottom of the bookmark that eventually evolved into Heart’s Honor.  It’s not exactly like I’d like it yet, but this is all that I got done before today. It’s made with Lizbeth size 20 threads in red and white.  
I haven’t done much tatting the last week or so, though I did finish Jane’s TIAS.  Isn’t it a wonderful goat? This is perfect for tatting for little boys!  I have several ideas on what to do with him.  

Here is some tatting I did before Christmas.  While on our vacation to Colorado this last summer I stopped in a shop called Bev’s Stitchery and found this cute scissors.  I saw this and thought of Tabatha and our Christmas exchange.  Once I got it home I thought “what’s a girl doing all dressed up without a purse?”   After a couple of tries I got the fob right (I cut a couple of picots and joined in the wrong places…). It holds a year 2000 US dime – a girl has to have her mad money, doesn’t she? I think it came out very well. 

I’ve just heard the sad news that Gina, The Tatting Goddess, has died.  She will be remembered with great fondness by those of us she touched through her blogs even though we never met in person.
“Reach out for the joy and the sorrow.  Put them away in your mind. The memories are times that you borrow, to spend when you get to tomorrow.”


Trying to find a heart

A few weeks ago in February, I posted a picture of a heart I was working on. Even on my ‘Trial and Error’ bookmark I have a nice start of one. Then our homework for the Design-Tat class was to make one. I worked on it but then realized I had done the homework incorrectly. My work was not a complete loss as I got a lot of practice with diagramming what I was playing with, but now I have to start over on that. The hearts I came up with aren’t all that heart-shaped so maybe it’s good that I have to start over. But I thought I would share what I did as it’s almost all of the tatting I got done all week.

(I missed the picture the first time, lets try again)

Start with this…

Try #1

Try #2

Try #3

Anyone who’s taken Sharon’s course will know what I’ve been trying to do. Okay, doing wrong. I know what I need to do, now, and will get back on course.

I say I’ll get back to it but it might be a few days. I have three other tatting projects I need to get done as they are for other people. Ryan is done but not mounted yet. I’ve started my sister’s doily/runner but have a long way to go. And I have a piece I want to do for my daughter’s baby shower. I don’t usually have this many active projects going on at a time. I need to quit playing around and get on with them! (pep talk to myself). Maybe I’ll have more to show next week.

“Many fine things can be done in a day if you don’t always make that day tomorrow”

Adding to my 25 Motif Challenge

I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentine’s Day Monday. I had every intention of posting this weekend but time got away from me again. I was working on this heart, writing and diagramming the pattern and I didn’t get it done! So I decided to post it today. February has Valentine’s Day and is considered American Heart Month, but I think hearts are appreciated any time. This one is made from Lizbeth size 20 in #147. This is #17 of my second 25 Motif Challenge.

This last week Tabatha, from Crafting with Tabatha, asked for some help with ‘Angels in the Snow’ by Miranda Rensberger. Tabatha is very new to tatting, having started just this year. This is a pretty ambitious pattern for one so new, made with two shuttles and SCMR, but she is doing an amazing job tatting already so I think she should be able to make this. I’d seen this snowflake on Miranda’s blog and other places where others had made it, but I hadn’t yet purchased it. Tabatha’s questions gave me a good excuse to buy the pattern and help Miranda raise money for the Brain Injury Association of New Mexico at the same time.

Angels in the Snow © Miranda Rensberger

I made this in Lizbeth size 20 in #662 Turquoise Lt. and #657 Ocean Turquoise Dk. While I didn’t find this difficult I have been tatting quite a bit longer than Tabatha and I still remember when this would have been a problem. I started this again, taking pictures as I went to help her understand what she was supposed to be doing. I checked her blog this morning and she’s made a good start. I’m naming this #18 of my second 25 Motif Challenge.

This is ‘Triana’ by Megzaela, one of my classmates in the Design Tat class. I test tatted this in Lizbeth size 20 color (?). This was an interesting challenge. None of the elements were that hard but you have to pay attention to which way’s up and where you join. I found I had made a join incorrectly after I was completely done so it has not been fixed. Apologies, Megzaela! This will be #19 of the 25 Motif Challenge.


‘Triana’ © Megzaela 2010

While I was blog surfing this week I happened upon Peachtree Cottage Creations and noticed that one of the bookmarks she had made kind of looked like the one that I had designed last fall. And it was! If you haven’t been over there you might go check it out. In this particular post she was trying to decide how best to stage a couple of bookmarks for a photo. She has a lot of really nice things she’s done on her blog, well worth a visit.

On this Tatting Tea Tuesday I’ll leave you with a couple of quotes in keeping with a month dedicated to hearts and love.

Poetry is the song of the heart, molded by the mind.

– Roger W. Hancock –

The thing about falling in love,
is that if you do it right,
you never have to hit the ground.

– Kendall Lepitzki –

Tatting Tea Tuesday, Pancake Day


Welcome to Tatting Tea Tuesday. Remember to take a little time for yourself, make yourself a cup of tea and pick up a shuttle even for a few minutes. A little chocolate might be good, too.

February is the month we celebrate Valentine’s Day, usually with hearts and pretty cards. This year it also has Shrove Tuesday, the last day before the beginning of Lent.

In Liberal, Kansas they also call this day Pancake Day, and have a four day celebration that includes a pancake race with the women of Olney, England. Woman in both towns compete wearing a head scarf and apron and carry a skillet with a pancake in it. They race over a curving 415 yard (about 380 meter) course and must flip a pancake once before they start and once after they cross the finish line to show they still have the pancake. The woman of Olney have been running this race since 1455. The woman of Liberal having been doing this since 1950 when the local Jaycee president saw something about the Olney race in a publication. He contacted the town of Olney and asked if they would like to race again the woman of Liberal and they have been doing it ever since.

The story goes that it started when a woman was busy making pancakes to use up cooking fats, which are forbidden during Lent, when she heard the church bells calling everyone to service. Grabbing her headscarf, which was required in church, and still with with apron on and pan and cake in hand, ran for the church. In the following years other woman took to doing this as well, making it a race to see who could get to the church the fastest.

This year’s race was won by a woman in Liberal with a time of 63 seconds, beating the winner of the Olney race by 4 seconds.

Liberal, Kansas is a little more than 300 miles (485 kilometers) west and south of Wichita, Kansas and about the same distance south and east of Colorado Springs, Colorado (it’s pretty much in the middle of no-where). Olney is almost 60 miles (93 kilometers) north of London.

If you’d like to see a little more about this race you can see an older website from last year here and a current one here.

I didn’t have time for pancakes today, but it does sound good!

Happy Valentine’s Day

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Can you believe it’s February 14th already? It seems like it was New Year’s Day just last week.

To celebrate this day of hearts I’m sharing the heart pin I wear when I do demonstrations or have a booth at craft shows. It has an edging in red and green DMC size 10 that I started and didn’t like how it turned out. It got thrown in a box until I thought to use it for this. The shuttle is actually half a Susan Bates shuttle that came apart. Then I glued a heart charm to the center to add a little accent. It makes a very nice accessory when I’m out sharing tatting with the world – or at least the local community.

I don’t think I picked up a shuttle at all this week. Between a lot of overtime at work and not feeling so good, I wasn’t motivated at all to do much of anything, not even tat. We did get a chance to watch our grandson this Tuesday, which it one reason I didn’t post for Tatting Tea Tuesday. Some things are more important than others : )

I’ve decided that I may have to come up with one or two small projects to do to get me back in the groove. Something that gives a little instant gratification. It’s not that I don’t like the projects I have in line, but all of them are not that easy to take with me, and I do a lot of tatting away from home. If I can get started on something maybe in a few days I’ll have something new to share. We can hope, right?

I’ve also not had much time to get online, so I am way behind on seeing what everyone is doing. I’ve also had some trouble responding to some of the comments from last week. Every time I had a few comments typed, I’d get kicked out with nothing saved. I do appreciate all the comments, and I will respond, soon, I promise!

I hope all of you have a wonderful Valentine’s day with the one who is closest to you. Maybe share a little chocolate…

Tatting Tea Tuesday with Hearts

Welcome to Tatting Tea Tuesday. And a bunch of hearts.
 As it’s February, the month of hearts so to speak, I thought I’d share one of the hearts I made quite a few years ago. This is “Gypsy Heart” by Teri Dusenbury from her Tatting Hearts book. I put it on a T-shirt with two accent pieces on the sides that are the same as part of the heart, the lines with what I see as butterflies straightened out. I didn’t sew this on, I glued it on with material glue. I can’t remember what brand, but it’s still on the shirt. Not that I wear it that much, but still.


The other hearts are on this cute mug I found at a second hand store and a strawberry chocolate covered heart from Russell Stover, mmm!

If you haven’t tried any of Teri’s patterns, they can be challenging. They aren’t the type you can watch TV and do. You need to pay attention. But they are definitely worth doing. She has been putting up a lot of patterns on her blog Tatbits Tatting. She does lots with beads and crystals. Wonderful stuff, you should check it out.

I made this heart in January of 1993. It’s hard to believe I have been tatting this well, if I do say it myself, that long. Okay, I think it came out very well. This is me showing off the shirt way back when.

I haven’t gotten much of anything else done this week. I’m hoping that this next week will settle down a little bit. I’ll let you know next week!

Teapot, Heart and Edging

Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I put out my little teapot that my grandmother gave me when I was a child (many years ago, we won’t say how many). It is similar to hers, though mine is much smaller. I have many happy memories of playing “tea” with this. It’s almost amazing that it is still in such good shape today. And, no, I didn’t put tea in it this morning. I had my cup of Refresh mint tea in a big mug, as usual (which holds way too much for this little pot).

What do you think of this heart? Does some of it look familiar? If you look closely at the center you can see “Heart’s Desire” from Susan Fuller. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I did this. I had taken thread to make “Heart’s Desire” with me when I knew I’d be sitting waiting for awhile. I still had it with me that evening when I had to wait on my husband after work. As I had time on my hands and the heart in front of me and nothing better to do, I started making it a little bigger. I was thinking if it was just a little bigger it would be a small doily and a nice gift. Let’s just say it was challenging to make another round in the spirit of the original heart. This is not exactly how I wanted it to come out, but at a certain point I just wanted to finish it.


I’m not sure what I think about this heart. Did I ruin it? I really like the shape of the original, and this doesn’t keep quite to that. I’m thinking that the sides towards the bottom need a little work. I’m not going to take it apart to change it, but maybe I’ll try again sometime and make a few adjustments. One way or another, it was a challenge, so I’m making this number five of my 2nd 25 Motif Challenge.

Talking of challenges, I’ve been making Jane Eboral’s TIAS. No pictures to show and I’m a little behind. I definitely have to be awake a little longer than I have been before I work on it. It’s not that hard, but I’m making it hard! I still have absolutely no clue what it will be. Check out how everyone is doing here. Maybe one of you can figure out where she’s heading with this : )

I’ve gotten several comments on the picture in my last post, the one with the edging. A few people have indicated they would like the pattern. Okay, you asked, I give in. It was made in DMC white size 10 several years ago. This is a very simple pattern that, I think, is mine. If anyone has seen it before somewhere else I’ll be glad to give credit where it belongs. I make up a lot of edgings and rarely use a pattern from someone else (usually because I’m starting it without a pattern book around and/or because I can’t find one that fits what I have in mind) so I probably designed this one, too. Note that the picots are generous, which was intentional. You are welcome to make them any size you want.

For My Sweetheart Edging

2 Shuttles

Sht1 R 3-5-5-3. RW

Ch 5-3-3-5. RW

R 3-5-5-3. RW

Ch 5+3-3-3-3-3 to 1st p of prev ch. DNRW SS (Switch shuttles)

Sht2 R 3-5-5-3. DNRW SS

Sht1 Ch 3-3-3-3-3-5. RW

R 3-5+5-3 to 2nd p of prev Sht1 R. RW

Ch 5+3-3-5 to 1st p of prev Ch

Repeat from start for desired length.

Good luck! As always, beware of mistakes lurking! I would love to hear from anyone that makes this. And do let me know if you find any of those lurking mistakes. Nasty critters, those. I’ll take a broom to ’em and chase ’em off!

P.S. Thanks TattingChic for correcting me on the designer of “Heart’s Desire”. My pattern has Georgia Seitz web address at the bottom – my oops and my apologies to Susan Fuller.