Back to School

I'm involved in Sharon Brigg's Design-Tat course, and am thoroughly enjoying it. We have homework! First time in my life I ever really, really liked homework. The first two lessons were back to rings and chains -- building blocks. How to get different configurations of rings and chains by changing the stitch count or where and how connecting picots are used. It's not something I consciously think about when working someone else's pattern -- but how essential to making one's own!
The third lesson was to take a round 8 ring and 8 chain center and build a second round with some interesting negative space connected to only 4 chains. All of this cream-colored Opera size 10 thread was just crouched under my bed waiting to grab an unwary ankle. I wrestled some into submission and wound it onto a couple of shuttles (that size 10 stuff is big and tough!) and came up with this:
Hey, I like it (but you should have seen what I threw out!). Today I had to go get the oil changed in my car so I took a bit of thread and a couple of shuttles (well, of course!). These bits of orange and blue ombre size 80 went meekly into my bag and onto the shuttles. It looks different in two colors, doesn't it?

Interesting scale as well. These pieces were scanned side-by-side. Maybe I should have posted them the same way -- or how about this:

Iris TIAS Doily

I finally finished the whole doily. It's an amazingly gorgeous design. We're so lucky to have Iris share it with us! I have to make another one of these (one? maybe two or three or more; it's addictive).
I didn't complete it in the original pink and maroon that I started with. The center picots weren't joined and I didn't want to do some kind of retro-stitching at the end. That piece will be a decoration instead. Ha. The whole truth is that I got all this new Lizbeth thread and had to try it out. It's so much smoother and more crisp to work with than the Cebelia. Really. Now I have lots of size 20 thread! These two are Leaf Green (the variegate) and Christmas Green.
It seemed appropriate to post this bit 'o green for St. Patrick's Day.

Blog Queen?

Sherry Pence gave me this shimmering bit of recognition. According to her blog:

The "Blog Queen" award recognizes female bloggers who are:
SEASONED; She has blogged for at least one year.
PROLIFIC; She writes several posts each month.
FUNNY; She make us smile with her witty humor.
ADDICTIVE; She keeps us coming back for more.

You may accept this award or not.
There are no rules to follow.
You may pass it on as you please.
This is just to let you know that you make my day!

I'm not good at this sort of thing, so I will accept with gratitude, but decline to pass it on. I don't want to hurt anybody's feelings by leaving them out or annoy anybody who doesn't do awards by including them. How's that for totally wishy-washy. Okay, I'll admit it. sigh. I'm just greedy. Look at that crown! It's covered in jewels. I'm not sharing -- they're shiny and they're all mine. Oh, wait, Sherry already shared it with a number of more worthy people. I guess I'll have to make this one just mine, like so:

Right. That's so not funny.

Thank you, Sherry. You've just made putting all these words on this electronic page worth the effort. :)

Another Ornamental Cornelia

Yes, "Cornelia" by Iris Niebach from Tatted Doilies, again. This is such a beautiful pattern! This one is made with one strand of green ombre cotton quilting thread and one strand of dark green rayon embroidery thread on one shuttle, and corresponding threads of red of the other shuttle. There are red or green beads matching the threads at each picot. Because of the size of the threads, this one has only five pattern repeats, and I changed the number of small rings at the tip of each repeat from five to four. It curves around the ornament better that way. The bottom is just simple rings and chains, but that's what fit best. I'm working on a companion ornament with the colors reversed. They'd make a nice gift as a pair.

Split Chain

Split chains are a new technique for me. As a matter of fact, I've been scared to even try 'em. (Yes, all these years tatting, cutting, and hiding threads before moving on to a new round -- pitiful, eh?)
A couple of weeks ago I went to the monthly meeting of the Bonneville Tatters and learned along with a whole bunch of other people. That was fun. So, here's my split chain. Don't look too close, though, because I think I worked from the wrong side and my stitches are frontside and backside on the same chain!
I'll be practicing this again with the "fast and easy" way of Marie Smith, courtesy Jane Eborall's techniques pages.
The motif is something I tatted up the night before the meeting so I had a piece on which to practice. I used the size 10 thread my sister dyed for me so that it would be large enough to see what I was doing (then did it backward anyway). I rather liked the motif, and think I might try to develop it into something larger -- after all I've got that split chain just waiting there...

Iris TIAS 5

Isn't it pretty? Iris Niebach's designs are always so complex to look at. Having her break this one down in small pieces made it seem easy. Not that I didn't do some unpicking and redoing, mind!
This is complete to the end of the "tat it and see", but I do believe I will finish it up to the 8-point doily. I might even see how it will look with fewer points wrapped around one of my satin-covered styrofoam ornaments. Not only that, but those little hearts are very pretty. I've been wondering what they would look like all by themselves. Wow, another thing to try!

Ornamental Cornelia

Here it is: "Cornelia" from Iris Niebach's Tatted Doilies as a Christmas ornament in King Tut quilting thread. The original doily has eight repeats of the pattern. It curves pretty well around the ornament with only six repeats. The bottom motif is simply the inner portion of the doily with some chains to move from one repeat to the next without having to complete the whole doily twice. Two six-repeat doilies wouldn't fit on the ornament, you see. Beads would be good, don't you think? Still, even without beads, the pictures really don't do it justice. It's a pretty thing. (click on the picture for a larger view)

Design Challenge 3

Late in January Sharon Briggs posted a new design challenge -- to make something based on a rose center. I've never made any of these rose motifs before. They always looked like a lot of bother. It surprised me to find they're not all that difficult or fiddly!
It took me this long to think up something. I'm not certain this is recognizable as a shamrock, because when my dad saw it on my lap desk he said he liked the "little green thing." Okay, it is a green thing and it measures 2.25 inches (5.5 cm) across which isn't very big. It's made with DMC Cébélia size 30 thread.
This is the first time I ever tried pearl tatting, too. I'm not certain I have it right, but if not, it was ...um... intentional, yes, that's it.

Starry, Starry Night

Motif number 36 from Tatting by Myra Piper is a star instead of a snowflake. Stars just cry out for gold metallic thread, don't they? It would be nice if gold metallic thread scanned as pretty as it looks -- instead of scanning as a weird mustard yellow. Still, the pattern is a pretty one and very simple.
I'm posting this because I've reached dither-point. There are too many things I want to do! I was having such a difficult time deciding that what I actually did was another "Cornelia" by Iris Niebach in KingTut quilting thread. I left out two repeats so that it curves around a satin-covered styrofoam ornament. Now, I'm trying to make something for the bottom that will match.
Once that's done, I've got an idea for Sharon Briggs' latest challenge...

Stella Alpina and TIAS Day 2

"Stella Alpina" from Fantasia by Iris Niebach. Made from one strand of Sulky machine embroidery thread and one strand of white quilting cotton, it measures 5.25 inches (13 cm) at it's widest part.
Working Iris's patterns is rather like having comfort food for me. When I'm feeling fussled, unsettled, worried, or grumpy -- there's nothing like a nice doily from Tatted Doilies, Fantasia, or Fantasia 2 to make me feel much, much better.
That's why working on Iris' TIAS is such a wonderful thing -- a little dose of reason every couple of days. That's gotta be a good thing! This is what I have so far. It looks like a good match for what others have done, so I think I'm on the right track. I made my picot gauges just a tad smaller, because I have to use size 30 thread (I don't seem to own any size 20), and it looks just a little crowded. Maybe at the end a bit of blocking will not come amiss. As for a guess about what it is -- I have no idea, but isn't it going to be pretty?