Category: Intatters

Miscellaneous Stuff on Tatting Tea Tuesday

I actually got quite a bit of tatting done this week. I had to restart my doily again – it seems to have had the wrong number of repeats : ( – and then got the second round done as well. It’s not blocked as there is a lot of work yet to be done on it, but it’s looking pretty good. Some of this was done while waiting to pick my entries up from the fair.
I forgot to take a picture of my fair entries with their ribbons. My doily and the bookmark (same pattern as this one but in different colors.) each received blue ribbons and the earrings received a red (it was in the same class as the bookmark). I was pretty happy even though there was no other competition. If nothing else this should help keep the tatting classes for another year at least. I kept the fair book to keep in mind other places that I might be able to enter next year (maybe jewelry, note cards and stationary).

While I was at my mother’s house the other day she gave this piece of tatting. It was on a doll/baby dress that her mother gave her. Mom doesn’t know who tatted it, but she knew I would like it. I haven’t decided how I’m going to display or use this piece but I would like it to be seen instead of tucked away in a drawer somewhere. It is made with small thread, looks like size 70.
On InTatters there is a thread about Innocent Design Challenge which I thought sounded like fun. I started several times: had one that looked waaayy too big. It might have been okay, but I cut off some and tried again. I don’t have a bottle to try it on, just the dimensions Kersti gave. Obviously I need to have a sample to work with as this was the next result.

This is the top of a soft drink bottle, which I am very sure is much smaller than the top of the Innocent bottle, as the dimensions given are about 2 to 2.5 inches (5 – 7 cm) diameter at the bottom of the hat and about that tall. This is about 1 inch x 1 inch (2.5 x 2.5 cm). I guess I could make that third round a little longer so the shape doesn’t cup so much and put it on the top of an egg for Easter. Or maybe I can figure out a cute look for a Christmas decoration? ; )

I was planning on having a cup of Rooibos tea today to go with my tatting. As far as I know the cup of water is still sitting in the microwave…

Beautiful Sunday

We are having a beautiful day today! Hardly any wind – for the last week, until yesterday, we’ve had sustained winds around 25-30 and gusts between 45 and 60. Yesterday was very calm but quite cloudy. Today there is a slight breeze – very slight – and it’s mostly sunny with the temperature right at 75 degrees Fahrenheit. I’m sitting outside enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of spring. There are birds of all sorts making their individual songs to the day, insects of many kinds buzzing by, and the locus tree is in bloom giving off it’s lovely scent. It’s very nice just to sit and relax here on the patio.

Before I got too lazy I finally downloaded my camera of it’s visual treasures. I found the cable I had misplaced under some material and a tatting book so am now able to put all the pictures on my laptop. And there are a lot of pictures! When my daughter was staying with us a few weeks ago she and a friend took their children to the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita and took my camera. There are a lot of very cute pictures that she took that day. Now I have them and she doesn’t so I’ll have to send them to her 🙂 And then we visited with some cousins and Aunts and Uncles, so more pictures. And then we visited my daughter in Wichita and of course took pictures. Then there are the pictures I’ve taken of my recent tatting.


This is the pendant I received from my Intatters exchange partner Deb (dbrn) in the pendant exchange that was held recently. I like it, and it looks great when I wear it. The crystal in the center picked up the color of the vase it’s on so looks a little strange in the picture. It’s actually clear topaz (?) in person. The beads are gold. She didn’t tell me if this is her design or what thread she made it out of, but it looks like Lizbeth size 20 to me ; ). I wore it to church today and it looked good on my neck. It’s just the right size! Unfortunately I was very late in getting mine to her done and in the mail, but I finally got it in the mail this week. If she doesn’t have it now she should in just a few days. I hope she likes it! I’ll post pictures of my work when I know that she’s received it.

A few weeks ago I treated myself to a new tatting book. I was in the vicinity of a store in Wichita that actually carries a lot of tatting supplies, including a lot of books and thread, mostly DMC in many colors in sizes 10, 20 and 30. Before Lizbeth I used to buy a lot of my thread from her.


I haven’t tried any of these patterns yet but I have several I really want to do. I may have to toss a coin to decide which one will be first. I chose this book because I have grandsons instead of granddaughters. There are a lot of things you can tat for girls but some just don’t seem right for boys. I guess I think of them like the poem about “snails and puppy dog tails”. I think these tatted animal bookmarks could be put on wall hangings in their rooms, and maybe on the edge of a pillow case, that type of thing, possibly leaving of the bookmark tail. If we could keep a hat on their heads right now I think a few of these would look good on them, but the hats come off pretty quick yet. Maybe later.

I’ve been catching up on a few blogs – finally- and see that some of you out there are already thinking of what to do for the fair this year. The fairs around here aren’t for several months yet but I guess if I want to enter anything I should get started. I haven’t put anything in the fair for years, but maybe I’ll try this year. There are a lot of things I’d like to make that might work for that, but we’ll see how energetic I am.

Right now energetic I’m not. In fact, an afternoon nap is sounding pretty good. There are a lot of things I should be doing but it would be very easy to just put my head back and close my eyes. Let the birds sing me a lullaby. Zzzzz…

A quick note on Tatting Tea Tuesday

Hello, hello and welcome to another Tatting Tea Tuesday! Have you had your tatting and tea today?

I started out with a cup of hot tea while getting my tatting together. I took a few pictures to include here today – I actually tatted this week! – and then things started going not quite as planned. I couldn’t find the cable to my camera so I couldn’t download anything!

I looked for it until it was time to leave for work and still no luck. So no pictures today. Though if I can find that cable in the next day or so I might get some posted before next week. Wouldn’t that be a surprise?

One of the pictures I was going to post was of the pendant I received in an exchange that we had through Intatters. My exchanged partner, dbrn (Deb), sent me a wonderful pendant. The colors will work with several outfits that I have. It’s very nice and nicely done. A picture of what I sent her will have to wait until she receives it. I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise. Even though it was a little late – okay, a lot late – it turned out well. When I finally made one that I liked anyway. Hopefully she’ll like it, too.

I’ve made it out there to a few of the blogs I follow. Not many, but a few. I’ve still got a long way to go to catch up on everything going on. But I’ll have a lot of fun doing it!

My new shuttle


This is the shuttle my husband made for me for Christmas. So why haven’t I posted about it yet? Well, it wasn’t quite done. He hadn’t gotten the engraving or the finish on until last week. And then my picture wouldn’t post right. But here it is at last!The shuttle is made from oak, and the point is very sharp. It has a rather tall post in it, and overall it is a little thicker than most of the shuttles I’m used to tatting with. It has the year on one side (2009) and my initials on the other. When I added some thread to give it a try we found out the points were a little too tight and had to be sanded down just a touch. I’ll have to get used to the added height but it will hold a lot of thread.

Isn’t my hubby such a sweetie? I do believe I’ll keep him another 30 years.

If you remember from last week, I had trouble posting a picture. I finally just used another picture because I couldn’t get the other one to sit straight, it was rotated 90 degrees. The engraving isn’t quite as readable in this picture, but you can see it.

I’m wondering if part of the problem wasn’t my camera. The computer couldn’t even recognize the camera was connected last week and had a tendency to shut off. I thought it was just me not doing something right, but it was the camera. We took it in to see what was wrong and they sent it out for repair. It’s not supposed to be back until next week. I’m hoping for an early return but I’m not holding my breath.

I’m working on an exchange piece for Intatters. We’re doing pendants. I’ve not really done jewelry, so we’ll see how it comes out. I haven’t decided on a pattern yet. I’ll probably try to use beads, which I don’t use much of, but I think it will really help on a pendant. I’ll share what I come up with after it’s received by whomever I’m set up with. Let’s hope my camera is back by then!!

I didn’t get much tatting done this Tatting Tea Tuesday because I did something I very rarely do – I slept late! Very late. I had a bad night last night, nothing bad, just not able to sleep. When I finally got to sleep it was after 4:30 AM or so. This doesn’t happen often, which is good, but it makes for a very short day when it happens. I hoping tonight is better!

I hope all of you have a wonderful week.