Tag: paperclip

Miscellaneous Tatting and Update on Luther’s Rose Pattern

I’ve done it again, haven’t I? It’s been several weeks since I last posted. It’s not that I don’t have things to post about, it’s just getting time and pictures to do it.

I’ll start with the Luther’s Rose pattern I promised. Do you know how much harder it is to diagram and write out a pattern than it is to just tat it? I’ve been working on it and it seems to keep getting longer and longer. I even took my computer with me on a trip just so I could work on this pattern. And it still isn’t done! It didn’t help that I had a bad attack of allergies while we were gone, making it hard to concentrate. Now that we are home again I’ve made a lot of progress but still have a bit to go. And I have not reviewed it to find mistakes! I have the cross, the heart, and the white rose parts diagrammed and, I think, tat-able. If anyone would like to get started on it to have it done by Reformation, and don’t mind taking a chance on the pattern, email me. (wandasknottythoughts (at) gmail.com) Update 10/24/2024: pattern can be found on the My Patters page.

We’ve been traveling quite a bit lately. My last post was right after we got back from Branson, Missouri. A week after we got home from there we went to Colorado to visit our daughter and take her dog back. They moved at the start of September and it was easier for us to keep her dog until they got into their house. After a month we took the dog to their new home and stayed a week with them. This is where I had the allergy attack. I am allergic to their male cat. I don’t have much trouble unless I pet him and then don’t wash my hands right away. The good news is that I had time to tat in the car on the drive, which is about nine hours each way, as well as the trip to and from Branson.

Bookmarks on wandasknottythoughts
Bookmarks

My other daughter, who still lives close by, requested more bookmarks. These paperclip bookmarks are easy to do while riding in the car. I don’t have to try and keep track of where I am in a pattern, which is great. My daughter still wants more, but this was a great start.

I also started on snowflakes for Christmas while we were traveling. I’m not fond of tatting with white while not at home due to the chances of it getting dirty, but I did it anyway. I have plans for small snowflakes this year and need quite a few. I wasn’t following any patterns, just making easy ones.

On a more serious note, have you read Jane Eborall’s post of October 14, 2024, on her ‘Tatting and Not a Lot Else’ blog? She found several “tatting” books that are awful. I’ve been hearing about a lot of fakes out there that are possibly made with AI or people stealing other’s work. I highly recommend that you use caution when buying any new craft books of any kind.

Besides hoping to get the pattern finished, I hope to have pictures of some of the other tatting that I’ve been doing ready soon. And to post faster!

“The family is one of nature’s masterpieces.” George Santayana

Playing in Clover

It’s March, that time of year I see hints of spring and green things. It makes me think of Leprechauns and clovers. I’ve had shades of green on my shuttles for several weeks now, making clovers.

Clovers on wandasknottythoughts
Playing with clovers

I’ve been having fun making these clovers. I haven’t quite decided what I’m going to do with them, which is why they still have their tails. I might need them to sew them down to something.

Clovers on clips on wandasknottythoughts
Clovers on paperclips

I put some clovers on paperclips. I think I like them like this, but I’m not sure enough to cut off their tails.

A field of clovers on wandasknottythoughts
A field of clovers

I’ve made clovers in several shades of green. I think they look good in both, though I’m partial to the brighter shade.

Clover lapel pin on wandasknottythoughts
Clover lapel pin

I even made a clover lapel pin using a large, springless safety pin. I received some very nice compliments on it at church Sunday. I’m very happy with how it turned out.

Clover colors on wandasknottythoughts
Clover colors

The clovers are all in Lizbeth thread: the lapel pin in size 3 #684, Leaf Green Med; the paper clips in size 20 # 676, Leaf Green Dk; and the loose clovers in size 20 #713, Kelly Green.

I made a few clovers a couple of years ago from the same pattern, including a pair of earrings. Maybe I need another pair in a different shade of green. Here’s my pattern for them if you are interested. They don’t take long to make.

Simple clover pattern on wandasknottythoughts
Simple clover pattern

Having green on my shuttles for clovers and bookmarks was one of the reasons the doily I’ve been playing with was in green. I like how it looks without the button in the center.

Two green doilies on wandasknottythoughts
Two green doilies

The centers definitely change the look of the doily. I also changed the outside round stitch count to have it lay flatter. I’m liking this doily!

“To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few.” Emily Dickinson

Many-tailed Tatted Paperclip Bookmark

A favorite aunt of mine had a birthday recently.  I always try to make something for her as I know she really appreciates handmade items.  I also know she doesn’t need more things sitting around her house, so gift ideas are for things that can be worn or used.  For this year I made her a paperclip bookmark.
Many-tailed tatted Paperclip bookmark with a button on wandas knotty thoughts
Many-tailed Tatted Paperclip Bookmark
This bookmark is specifically made for my aunt to use at church.  Lutherans use a hymnal that has a liturgy in the front and hymns in the back and during a service you go back and forth between the liturgy and the different hymns.  I’ve been thinking of making a bookmark like this for a while, one where you can mark several pages at a time. This bookmark actually has more tails than are usually needed for a normal service but it looked cool with the different colors hanging from the clip.
Many-tailed tatted Paperclip bookmark on a pretty button on wandas knotty thoughts
Many-tailed Tatted Paperclip Bookmark with a button
Isn’t that button pretty?  I hope you can see it.  This is one I picked up just this week from a fabric shop that sadly is closing.  The good news about that is that everything is on sale.  I didn’t pick up a lot of buttons but I did pick up a lot of material. There’ll be more about that later.
My aunt really liked the tatted paperclip bookmark.  I think it worked out well.
‘If you love to read, you know there are three kinds of book-markers: the dog-ear-er, the any old flat object that will hold my spot-er and the beautiful “I even spent money on a bookmark”-er.  Of course, if you read an e-reader you totally miss the point, but that is neither here nor there.  I fall into the “I even spent money on a bookmark” category.  To me, a bookmark is a friendly “hello! we’re glad you’re back!” statements as I immerse myself back into the text to tackle paragraph after paragraph.’
Being Geek Chic, beinggeekchic.com

TTT on International Tatting Day

Happy International Tatting Day!
Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday and International Tatting Day, I had Celestial Seasonings “Country Peach Passion” herbal tea steeped in the tea-for-one teapot my daughter gave me.  And a couple of pieces of chocolate.
The shuttles shown are four that I decorated yesterday.  They are cream colored Boye shuttles, the two on the left decorated with scrapbook paper, the two on the right with material.  They came out pretty well.
These are paperclip bookmarks I have made for International Tatting Day.  I’m hoping to pass out a few of these to people today.  I’ll be going out a little later to hopefully do some TIPping (tatting in public). 
Some of the patterns I used are:
‘Dove‘ by JoAnn Stearns
‘Little Fishies‘ by Sharon Albers
‘Bunny Face’ by Wanda Salmans (me) on my Patterns page
‘Basket Paperclip Doodle’ by Wanda Salmans (me) on my Patterns page
‘Butterfly’ – unknown
A decorated button – a doodle
Flowers – a doodle
Basket Paperclip Doodle 
© Wanda Salmans 2014
I hadn’t found Ellen Lai’s cute Spring Basket so I made my own.  I don’t think it’s as cute as hers, but it worked up pretty quick.  I’ve added it to my Pattern page if you’re interested.
So, what are you doing for International Tatting Day?  Are you going to try a little tatting in public? Maybe eat a little chocolate?
Whether in public or just at home, I hope you take a little time to tat just for yourself and enjoy the day!
Happy Tatting!
“Happiness doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is governed by our mental attitude.”
Dale Carnegie
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Christmas gifts

Merry Christmas! (a little late) and Happy New Year! (a little early)
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  We did, and still are.  We had lots of family get-togethers over the last week and still have one more to go this weekend.  For all that I thought I was ready for all of them, there still seemed to be a few things I didn’t get to until the last minute.  How normal.
Every year I try to have one snowflake that is “the” snowflake of the year.  I posted about 2012’s snowflake here. I didn’t get as many of these done as I would have liked to, but that is how I feel every year.  I did get a few others done as well – mainly due to the fact that it’s hard for me to do the same thing over and over.
The red and two blue are motifs/’flakes that I came up with this year.  The green one is ‘Betsy Snowflake’ by Betsy Evans.  I saw it on A Happy Bluebird a week or so ago and just had to give it try.  I added silver seed beads to it and left out a couple of non-joining picots.  I really like how it came out.  All of them are made in Lizbeth size 20 thread.  These were also given away as gifts. 
I gave away a few tatted gifts that I had made previous to this year.  I found these while looking through a few things and they made excellent additions to what I was already giving without me having to hurry up and make anything else. 
My Sunday school class consists of three girls. One girl is very fond of purple (the butterfly), one girl loves shades of orange (the flower), and one girl loves horses, no matter the color.  The crosses went to the pastor and his wife.  All are made in Lizbeth size 20 threads, though I can’t name off the colors right now. The butterfly and flower are my patterns, the horse is a variation of Debbie Arnold’s Sea Horse and the two cross patterns can be found on my pattern page. 
I still have in mind a lot of things I wanted to make for Christmas that didn’t happen.  Maybe I’ll stay motivated and start them now so they’ll be ready for next Christmas.  It could happen. Maybe. 
“In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukkah’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank.  People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!'”
Dave Barry