Tag: tea cup

Round Robin

I am participating in a round robin doily on Craftree. Each of us are designing the center of a doily then sending it on to another tatter to design each consecutive round until each person in the round robin has done a round on every doily then it is sent back to the original tatter.  In the end there will be five unique doilies.
I’ve started three times on my center for this.  The first two weren’t bad just not what I have in mind for this project. I’m finally happy enough with the third try to send it to someone else to see what they will do for the next rounds.
Okay, I’m happy with the pattern but I have to actually finish tatting it to send it on 🙂
Start of the Craftree Round Robin 2015 on wandasknottythoughts.com
Round Robin start 2015
I looked for a thread color that will set off this doll-sized tea set that I found in an antique store on the way to Colorado earlier this month.  It has six tea cups, tea pot, creamer and sugar bowl, all like new.
With that in mind I’ve decided to make this doily in Lizbeth size 20 in a shade of pink.  The label in the center of the ball says it’s #617 Magenta Med, but it looks a lot closer to #608 Coral Pink Med on the computer monitor.  I wonder if sometime when using this thread I got the labels mixed up???  I’m going to have to have a ball of thread to go with the center of the doily when I send it so I was going to order thread anyway, but now I’m going to have to order both colors so I get the right shade.
Someone twist my arm.
Like I’ll only order one ball of thread at a time anyway.
Except for this doily there hasn’t been much tatting done lately.  I’ve been distracted.  I found a book series that I just couldn’t put down.  There are five books in the series and I read all of them in less than a week and a half.  If you like fantasy stories I recommend The Legend of Eli Monpress series by Rachel Aaron.  It is a lot of fun to read.
(I was not compensated in any way for reading or mentioning these books.  I just enjoyed them a immensely!) (She also wrote Nice Dragons Finish Last, which is also a fun read.  I’m waiting on the next book of that series which is due out soon! I wasn’t compensated in any way for reading or mentioning this book, either!!)Now that I’ve read the entire series I can focus more on tatting again. I’m sure the other members of the round robin would appreciate it 🙂

“The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.”
Audre Lorde
www.brainyquote.com

Tatting Tea Tuesday flea market find

Wanda's Knotty Thoughts tatted teacup doily
 Tatted Tea Cup Doily © Wanda Salmans 2014
Another find from our flea market stop last week was this pretty demitasse tea cup and saucer.  I’m a fan of roses on tea cups though this is quite different from the ones I purchased for the auction.  I didn’t really need it but it was such a pretty set. 
The doily is the one I made when I was inspired by another tea cup with roses. I just noticed it is also the same horn shuttle that I used in the other picture.  I’ve made a start at the pattern for this doily, but there is still a long way to go before it is ready to share. 
I’m having to slow down on my tatting a bit. I got carried away and didn’t take breaks like I should have which made my arm sore.  Nothing serious, just have to do some arm and hand stretches a little more frequently and take it slower so it will get better.  I’m using some of that time to work on writing out patterns. Typing uses the hand and arm a bit differently than tatting so I’m taking a tatting break and still working on tatting 🙂
I also am anxious to work on a few of those stick pins I found at the flea market.  I have several ideas percolating in my head, I just need to decide on the colors.
  
“Tea is quiet and our thirst for tea is never far from our craving for beauty.”
James Norwood Pratt
www.quotegarden.com

Teacups on the side

Happy Tatting Tea Tuesday! What kind of tea are you drinking today?  Maybe in a pretty cup?

Today I sipped coffee instead of tea and checked out a few blogs instead of actually tatting (but the day isn’t quite over) but I did some planning on my projects – that counts, doesn’t it?

A couple of weeks ago my mother asked if I would decorate two bags for her, like the ones I did at Christmas (here and here).  One was to be for an aunt of mine and one for herself (I did give Mom one for Christmas but she liked it enough she wants another one ☺),  I had several projects going already but how could I say no?
The bag body is about six inches square (without the handles).  The request was to do something with tea cups.
This is the first one I decorated.  I looked on-line for a teacup shape that I liked then made it a size I thought would work for the bag. Then what to do with it?
I thought something to show it was a tea cup instead of a coffee cup and maybe some flowers.
The second one I did mostly the same, just different colors and arranged things a little differently.
I tried something different for the material of the cup shape than I did before.  For the ones I did at Christmas I coated the back of the material with fabric glue and let it dry so I was able to work with it without it fraying while I cut it out.  This time I went looking in the sewing aisle, thinking I was going to get some kind of fusible webbing.  Then I saw this Peel n Stick fabric fuse.  As I don’t expect the bags to be put into the washing machine I thought this would work well.  And it did.  I still have several sheets left so I can make more 🙂
I had already been looking at these books for some ideas on other projects, which came in handy for coming up with flower ideas for the bags.


Now the requested mice are done and the bags are finished I can get back to my other projects – something about Easter eggs….

Did anyone stay up to see the Blood Moon last night? It was a pretty awesome sight! I went out just after 1:00 AM (local time) when it had just started and a few times from then until 3:00 AM, about the middle of the eclipse. I didn’t get any pictures of it 🙁 but it was great to be able to see it.

The moon, the stars, and a cup of tea
Let’s sit and sip and watch the night go by
Side by side, just you and me.

Not over the rainbow

Rainbow Splash thread that is.  I keep making things with it!
A couple of weeks ago, one of my grandsons asked for a ‘rainbow mouse’.  I didn’t think I had any thread  that quite fit the term ‘rainbow’ so I sent my daughter the email address of Handy Hands and asked them to choose a thread.  They thought #184, Rainbow Splash was just perfect. 
A small order to Handy Hands and I had a ball of the requested color.
“Morgan Mouse” © Wanda Salmans
#184 Lisbeth Rainbow Splash size 20
I’m somewhat picky about variegated threads. I think a lot look really great on the ball but then am unhappy with how they work up.  I also am not usually happy with threads that have a lot of different colors on them, preferring shades of similar colors instead – like all blues, or pinks, or whatever.  But I am very happy with Rainbow Splash!
I needed four mice, two going to each of my daughter’s houses, so I had to make a couple a little different.  One of the mice (second from the right) has blue eyes, and the one on the right has Flora #207 size 20 for the rings. It wasn’t an exact match but I don’t think my granddaughter will object.  You’ll also note that I used washers in the center instead of jewelry findings.
After finishing the mice I had still had thread on the shuttles.  Being spring with Easter on the way, what better way to use such bright, spring-y thread than Easter eggs?

 Simple ring and chain button Easter eggs in #184 Lizbeth Rainbow Splash size 20
I have a package of bright-colored buttons in colors that were right in line with the Rainbow Splash thread.  These button Easter eggs are so quick and easy I just couldn’t stop making them. They are very nice little doodles to make while in the car. I added a pin back to several of them and gave one of them to my mother.  She really liked it. I actually have an idea to use these, we’ll just see if I have time to put it together. Before Easter 🙂

Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I had just a drop of tea
☺
The teacup is part of a doll-size tea set I found on Ebay. Isn’t it cute? So dainty with such pretty flowers.
The shuttle is a decorated Boye shuttle.
Rainbows, Easter eggs and flowers – it must be spring!
“I’ve always taken ‘The Wizard of Oz’ very seriously, you know.  I believe in the idea of the rainbow.  And I’ve spent my entire life trying to get over it.”
Judy Garland
www.brainyquote.com

Tatting Tea Tuesday on a Small Scale

This week I’ve been tatting in small thread.  
This is Gütermann silk quilting thread. in color 386.  I bought it last August when I bought the Perfect Quilter thread.  I have been carrying it around with me for a while but had not even put it on a shuttle until about a week ago.  Other than being so small as to be hard to see it is easy to tat with.  I only broke the thread once while working on this piece (so far!) and it actually broke about four inches from the ring I was closing.  I have to work on this when I have lots of light, as much for the size as the color. It’s been fun working in such fine thread though challenging, especially as I’m working on my vest between times, which is in size 10 thread.  I’m finally remembering to number this for my 25 Motif Challenge – I think it’s number 11.
Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I had a cup of Celestial Seasonings Cinnamon Apple Spice tea with a touch of honey out of a big mug, not this little cup.  This is a demitasse cup and saucer that my mother gave me.  The cup is 2 ¼” tall, which is how I know it’s a demitasse (meaning ‘half-size’), or child size, cup.  I didn’t realize that the size of a cup determined what it is!  Did you?  I’ve always thought it was a tea cup if you drank tea out of it 🙂  Today while trying to correctly spell ‘demitasse’ I found a blog that describes the history of the cup and saucer and how their sizes define their use.  If you’d like to learn more check it out here on the blog “Demitasse Cups & Saucers”

The white shuttle is another gift from my mother, found at a yard sale. All of the variegated  pink and white thread was wound on it, extending way past the edges of the shuttle.  I don’t know how long it had been wound but, surprisingly, the tips are still tightly together.  In fact I’ll probably have to work on it a bit if I want to tat with it. Unwinding the size 70 or 80 thread wasn’t bad but going the other way took a lot of effort.  There are no markings on the shuttle to say who made it.  I’ve seen similar ones before but I don’t remember where or what brand they were. It has a very smooth surface, is about 3 inches long, and in very good condition.  Both blades are slightly marred in one place along the edge, but other than that it looks brand new.  As it’s already wound and has a ball thread I guess I’ll have to see what I can make with it.  How about a demitasse doily?

“You can often measure a person by the size of his dream.”
Robert H. Schuller
http://thinkexist.com


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