Miscalculations

I have finished tatting the third china hutch edging! I’ve even finished blocking it, but I haven’t got it in the cabinet yet.

I noticed on the first two shelf edgings that they might be just a bit shorter than I planned. So I made the 3rd edging a bit longer. Maybe too long. I’ll find out soon.

China hutch edging edges on wandasknottythoughts
The edges of the first two edgings might not really be long enough

For a bit of a change and to answer a question I was asked about making one, I decided to make an Ice Drop, specifically Diane Cademartori’s Basic Ice Drop. (You can check out all of her adventures on her blog Lace-Lovin’ Librarian.) I’ve made it before, but this time I goofed.

Ice Drop mistake on wandasknottythoughts
The center isn’t quite right

This gem is the same size I’ve used before, but this time I didn’t do something quite right. Maybe the joining picots are too short. Or maybe the gem is just bigger than the one I used before, even though they came out of the same package. Whatever I did, or didn’t do, I’ll have to find a different center if I want to finish this ice drop.

I can’t say that either of these miscalculations are mistakes. With the china hutch doors closed, which they are most of the time, you can’t see either end of the edgings, so I’m not unhappy with them. The Ice Drop can be saved, I just have to find a different center. Let’s just call them learning experiences.

“Trust your own instinct. Your mistakes might as well be your own, instead of someone else’s.” Billy Wilder

Gifted Crosses

In between working on the china hutch edgings I’ve made several cross bookmarks as gifts

This one is April’s Cross that I gifted as a wedding gift. The bride sent me a picture of it as I did not remember to take one of the finished bookmark before I gave it away. It came out nicely.

April's Cross wedding gift on wandasknottytoughts
The finished wedding bookmark April’s Cross

I also made one to celebrate a baptism. Well, I made two, as I wasn’t happy with the first one. The pattern is my take on a traditional cross.

Traditional cross bookmarks as gifts on wandasknottythoughts
Two cross bookmarks in my version of a traditional pattern

Both of these are made in size 20 Lizbeth thread #605, Silver. I wasn’t thrilled about the length of the long arm of the top one, it didn’t look proportionally correct with the other arms. So I’ll keep the first one for me.

Both recipients were pleased with their gifts, which also makes me happy.

Now I need to stay on task and finish the third edging for the china hutch.

“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Second Edging Complete!

Yes, it’s true. I’ve completed the second china hutch edging AND put it on the shelf!

Second china hutch edging on wandasknottythoughts
China hutch 2 shelves done

The top one is the first one, the bottom one is the second. It looks like I should have made one more repeat for the length, but I’m not going back. It doesn’t have as many repeats as the first one due to picot length. The second one is a bit more consistent with the length of the joining picot in the first row. I might be able to adjust the way it lays on the shelf to fit the width a bit better.

Second china hutch edging w/doors on wandasknottythoughts
Two edgings are done on the china hutch

With the doors closed, the way they are most of the time, you can’t see that the edging does’t quite reach the sides. The first edging needs to be straightened just a bit, LOL! I’ll get to that later.

I am still working on the third shelf edging.

Third china hutch edging not quite done on wandasknottythoughts
Still working on the third edging

I’m on the second row of it, too. I just keep running into things that need to be done that are more time sensitive than the edging, both tatting related and otherwise.

In the otherwise category, I’ve taken care of a couple of the grandchildren several times that I hadn’t planned on. Whether at their house or our house there are other things to do than tat. My granddaughter likes watching videos that show how to make Barbie accessories, so we’ve made a few of those. Good thing I have a bunch of crafty things handy!

“You don’t have to get things done all the time to be productive.” David Harsanyi

Split rings and beads

One of my daughters had a birthday recently. We took her and her family as well as our other daughter and her family out to lunch to celebrate. The day before her birthday I thought about tatting her something (I always leave it to the last minute.) Earrings can be quick and easy – relatively speaking – so I decided to make her a pair.

Split ring and bead earrings on wandasknottythoughts
Split ring dragonfly earrings

The dragonfly wing beads I bought last year from JoAnn’s, the same time I bought the beads for these earrings. I used Lizbeth metallic thread #311 for the finished earrings, but, I didn’t start with that thread. I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to make them so I practiced with cotton thread first.

Three tries for dragonflies on wandasknottythoughts
Trial and error for the dragonfly earrings

My first try was with cotton thread and single shuttle split rings. I was not happy with them at all. They might be good after a bit more refresher practice, but there was a time limit for getting them made. I like the look of the split rings in the middle one, but they looked a bit too big. So I made the split rings a bit smaller, which resulted in a happy tatter and a pretty set of earrings.

I used a few other beads bought at the same time for my Christmas gift ornaments this last year. They were made almost the same way as the earrings but with different stitch counts.

Beaded split ring Christmas ornaments on wandasknottythoughts
Beaded split ring Christmas ornaments

The biggest issue I had with these ornaments was I couldn’t put them in my Christmas cards to send them! Which in a way was good, as I didn’t have enough beads to make as many ornaments as I usually do. But those that received them were thrilled with them.

I don’t tat with beads often, usually because I make messes with them. I tat a lot in the car, so beads end up on the floor, between the seats, or lost. Okay, I’m also impatient with how much slower I tat with beads than tatting without. But once in a while beads are fun to work with, and usually turn out pretty good.

“The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence.” Denis Waitley

Patriotic Earrings

Patriotic earrings on wandasknottythoughts
Red, white, and blue earrings made for Independence Day 2020

One of the things I enjoy about tatting is making something on the spur of the moment and it comes out just as I envisioned it. Or maybe even better! Once in a while it all just comes together and, bingo!, there it is.

These earrings are like that. For the 4th of July, we were going to our daughter’s to enjoy family, food, and fireworks in the evening. In the morning I finished a little piece in red, white, and blue, something I try to do every year when I noticed how much of those threads I still had on my shuttles. I wanted to free those shuttles up, but what to make? Earrings for the evening sounded like a great idea.

Patriotic earrings for the 4th on wandasknottythoughts
Patriotic earrings for the 4th

For all that they came out well, they still had their moments. Hiding the ends and finishing off all three colors on such small pieces was interesting. And why I decided to use a picot that had to be joined with a twist (the second side of the ring to a facing ring) I’m not sure. I mostly try to avoid those if possible. And adding the jewelry findings, for me, is problematic. Sometimes everything goes smoothly, sometimes not so much. These went relatively smoothly.

Every time I tat with red, white, and blue thread together I notice how hard it is to find a good background to take pictures. Most of my background choices wash out one color or the other. I tried eight or nine backgrounds to get a decent picture or two of these earrings. So even if the picture doesn’t come out as well as I hope, I am happy with the subject of it.

I happily wore my new patriotic earrings that evening. We had a wonderful time! And now I have a cute pair of earrings to wear, to be patriotic whenever I want to be.

“Alfred Hitchcock once told me, when I was analyzing a lot of things about his pictures, ‘Clint, you must remember, it’s only a movie.'” Clint Eastwood

Third edging started

Start of 3rd china hutch edging on wandasknottythoughts
Starting the third shelf edging

I’ve started on the edging for the third shelf of the china hutch! Yippee!

I finished tatting the second shelf edging yesterday and am now blocking it. Then I have to stitch it to the lace to hold it to the shelf. I’m hoping to have it done by the end of the week.

I did a bit of other tatting this weekend or I might have been a bit farther on this edging. That I’m this far after waiting all these years is pretty amazing. From where I sit typing this post I’m looking right at the china hutch with it’s one edging done. It is inspiring me to continue as nothing else could do.

“Indeed it is better to postpone, lest either we complete too little by hurrying, or wander too long in completing it.”

Tertullian

Changing Crosses

I’ve been very busy the last two weeks, sometimes even with tatting! Every time I try to sit down to post, other, more pressing things came up. But I’m back today 🙂

I am still working on my shelf edging. It is about 3/4 of the way complete and it’s a convenient project to take in the car. If I didn’t have other projects to do, as well.

2nd shelf china hutch edging on wandasknottythoughts
Still working on the edging for the 2nd shelf

A friend of mine got married last weekend. Of course, I had to tat something, which was a cross bookmark in her wedding colors. I thought it turned out well. I didn’t realize that I hadn’t taken a picture of the finished cross until the day after I gave it to her. If she puts it in her Bible I might be able to take a picture one Sunday when I see her at church. If I remember! I used Lizbeth #632 Purple Medium. For the tassel, I added several strands of #605 Silver, both in size 20.

April's Cross v2 on wandasknottythoughts
April’s Cross in one of the bride’s colors

When deciding which cross to tat I first looked through ones that I had completed. I found several that I had done and either made changes or mistakes. I suppose that is determined by how they come out, right? If the change looks good, yay! If it doesn’t, then oops, don’t do that.

Several tatted crosses with changes on wandasknottythoughts
Several tatted crosses I found with changes

The white cross on the left is a doodle, so I can’t say it’s had changes made, but does it work?? The purple one is Milan with a mistake/change at the top, not sure I like it. The blue cross is April’s Cross with a few changes at the end of the arms, which I did purposely and I like the change. The multi-colored cross is January Cross without split rings.

January Cross 2019 ver 2 on wandasknottythoughts
January Cross 2019 ver 2

One cross that I purposely made changes to was ‘January Cross 2019’. A tatter contacted me about the pattern, wondering if it could be done without split rings. I thought about it and came up with version 2, changing the split rings to rings and chains. It changes up the look only slightly. I posted about the original version last year. Both versions can be found on My Patterns page.

This coming weekend is Independence Day here in the USA. I usually come up with some kind of patriotic tatting. I haven’t done that this year – yet. Another project to delay the edging. Well, the edging has been on the back burner for years, what’s another couple of days?

“Change, like sunshine, can be a friend or a foe, a blessing or a curse, a dawn or a dusk.” William Arthur Ward

“William Arthur Ward Quotes.” BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2020. 30 June 2020. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/william_arthur_ward_190444

One Edging Done

I’ve started tatting on the second of three edgings I need for my china hutch. The first one has been attached to the ribbon and put up in the hutch.

Tatting and lace for my china hutch at wandasknottythoughts.com
Tatting and lace for my china hutch

I found this lace ribbon at a local second-hand shop some time ago, buying it not because I had a specific use for it at the time, but because I might find something to use it for later. This ribbon will be mostly hidden when it’s on the shelf. The pattern on the edge of it made it easy to stitch the tatting to.

My china hutch
My china hutch before adding the edging

This is my china hutch with my collections of china and random other items. My grandpa used this up until he died 30 some years ago. I’ve been using it ever since. I think the shelves are original and are a bit bowed. I’m cautious about putting too much weight on them. An antique for sure, though it was never a high-end piece of furniture.

Hutch edging 1st shelf on wandasknottythoughts
Tatted edging attached to the first shelf

This looks good. A little wavy, maybe, but I’m happy with it. Originally I had wanted a more scalloped edging, but I can live with this.

Hutch 1 edging full on wandasknottythoughts
China hutch with first edging attached.

This gives me incentive to finish the other two edgings!

Hutch 1 doors shut on wandasknottythoughts
The china hutch with the doors closed

The edging shows up nicely even with the doors closed. The edging pattern is my design. I don’t know if there is a similar pattern out there somewhere but I was not following someone else’s idea when I tatted it.

The weather is hot here in the center of the USA, higher than average. This is keeping me inside looking out the window instead of being outside. A good excuse to tat more, right?

“Remember that the most valuable antiques are dear old friends.”

H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“H. Jackson Brown, Jr. Quotes.” BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2020. 16 June 2020. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/h_jackson_brown_jr_124509

China Hutch Edging

Surprise! I’m back! I know, it’s been a long time since I posted last. I haven’t been tatting much and I got out of the habit of blogging about it when I do.

Something I’ve thought about doing for a long time is making edgings for the shelves in my china hutch, which belonged to my grandparents. I acquired it about 30 years ago after my grandfather died. After thinking about all these years I finally started.

China hutch edging on wandasknottythoughts
Edging for shelves in my china hutch

This is made in Lizbeth #603 Ecru in size 10. It would be wonderful to make it in a smaller thread, size 20 at least, but I would like to finish it in my lifetime. Doing edging for three shelves in a smaller thread would take much longer, with a higher likelihood of my putting it down and not finishing it.

The first edging is done. This is a simple pattern in two rows that goes quickly, the total length 32″ and 1 3/4″ deep. The plan is to attach it to a wide ribbon with the ribbon laying on the shelf with the tatting hanging over the edge. I finished blocking it but still have to trim the thread ends. Sewing it to the ribbon hasn’t happened yet, but I have started tatting for the second shelf. Maybe I can get that done this weekend.

“Decorate your home. It gives the illusion that your life is more interesting than it really is.“

Charles M. Schulz

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