25 Motif Challenge - Number 6

TA-DA! I did it twice. Now I've got a matching set. This is the same "Lock Chain Ornament" pattern as the green one -- it's just made with red instead. See? Much easier to get these smaller things done, because I only use four repeats of the pattern instead of six. It's finished off with that same single ring with all the picots, too. Oh, this is also Lizbeth size 40 thread.
I don't think the pattern actually shows very well in the picture, because you can see the other side through the glass ornament. It looks really pretty hanging on my metal tree thingy, though.
I've decided to make a bunch of these for a present, so I've ordered a metal tree (actually, it looks like a naked branch) for them. This way, I'll get my challenge done, and have something useful to do with the results. Of course, once I give 'em away, they aren't my storage problem any more, right? That means I can add to my stash. Oh, yeah!

I Like Mike!

This is Number 5 for my 25 Motif Challenge. Yes, okay, that's what I said: 5. I know it's July and I should be more than half-way through. I'll get there, eventually.

I might actually make it in time thanks to MSquared. I joined into a discussion on InTatters and we got around to how Mike attaches his tatting to ornaments on which you can't use pins. I tried fussing with stuff like taping the darn things to the ornament then lacing and trying to do a little weaving in the center of the bottom where all the threads cross. Uh-huh. There were a zillion little threads in the trash after that fiasco. I tried making a matching bottom and lacing them together. That works, but it's a pain in the patoot to get both sides to stay the right shape and in the right place.
This little ornament was the result of my first attempt at using one method Mike mentioned. It's all done with the magic of making one little ring with enough picots to correspond to picots on the cover. I know when I say it you all think, "Well of course! That's such a simple thing." Yeah, well so was the picot join -- once somebody else thought of it! Anyway, it should be no wonder to anybody that I like Mike! With this one little bit of inspiration, I might actually get 25 ornaments covered in a year.
I do have to admit, these are not the extremely inexpensive (oh, okay -- read "cheap") ornaments I was going to cover. Even tatting couldn't make them look pretty (amazing, eh?). This is one of a set of 1.75 inch glass ornaments I bought. I also have to admit that the small size makes the prospect of doing 25 easier to envision, as well. In fact, that size was so inspirational I went out and purchased a box of 0.75 inch ornaments this weekend!
THANKS, MIKE!!

Ornaments on a Ring

Ruth Perry's Snowflake 2008 is a beautiful Celtic pattern. It's made in one continuous round when done in one color. Of course, I cheated and made it in two colors instead of one, so there were extra threads to hide. Both are made with Lizbeth size 40 thread in Christmas red, Christmas green and white, just combined differently,

At first, I thought I could just do the inside round and fit them inside the ring. That was the right size, but not the right choice. The outer round stabilizes the Celtic twists in the inner round. Without the outer round, the inner lost some of its definition. That's why the outer round sticks out beyond the ring. I like the way they look hanging up -- really they look better than flat (especially against that bright yellow [what ever possessed me to do that?]).

I know, you all thought I was working on my challenge ornaments, right? HA-HA, fooled you! These are not part of my challenge because they are not covers for round ornaments, but they're still going to look good on somebody's tree.

Actually, I have been working on my challenge ornaments, but round doesn't fit in the scanner, you know. I have to haul out the camera (like it's a chore when it's just a point and click digital), and find a good place for the pictures, then get the lighting just right and figure out the macro settings and all that other stuff. I don't have any excuses for not taking the pictures just this reason: lazy, just plain lazy. Maybe tonight. . . [for the pictures! not for anything more exciting!]

Mini Beatrice

"Beatrice" is from Iris Niebach's Tatted Doilies. (See? My favorite book!) This tiny little bit is made from YLI machine quilting thread in a very subtle variegated blue/green/purple called "Alaskan Twilight". It measures just 3.75 inches (9.5 cm) across.

It might make a tablecloth for a dollhouse. Originally, I intended to leave out a couple of repeats and put it on a Christmas Ornament (as I am soooooo way behind in my challenge pieces!). It went traveling with me, though -- and the ornament did not. When I got home I discovered that I'd already done too many repeats for the little glass ornament I had intended to use.

*Sigh*

I've started another ornament cover, but it can't travel as I'm using beads on the picots. I don't like hauling beads around with me because I tend to drop them all over everywhere. That wouldn't be so bad, but then I feel compelled to pick them up. That just looks strange -- some old bat crawling around on the floor in airports, restaurants, county recorder's offices, . . .

Jellybean Cornelia

"Cornelia" from Iris Niebach's Tatted Doilies is one of my favorite patterns. I feel about this one they way the Lace-lovin' Librarian, Diane, feels about the Spinning Wheel glass mat from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. It's like comfort food. :)

This one, however, is rather uncomfortable to me. I made it in Westminster, Colorado while I was at a seminar ...errr... last month. (Blocking has NOT been inspiring me lately.) I picked up the thread at a huge Jo-Ann's store there -- which I happened on quite by accident (some accidents are lucky). All the Lizbeth size 20 was on sale. This Jellybean looked pretty good on the ball, and there was this nice matching green. *sigh*
As it turns out, the green matched too well. The varied colored parts should be the rings, with all the chains solid. That's really how it is but NOT how it looks! The Jellybean thread green so exactly matches the solid spring green that it loses definition by also having some green rings.
Still, it's bright and cheerful and it is a wonderful pattern -- it looks complicated when completed, but is really very easy to do.

Wheeeee -- Monday MONDO Giveaway Part XIII

LadyShuttleMaker is at it again! It's more Workbaskets -- wonderful, eh?

Get over there, enter her drawing and give her a little commiserative pat while you're at it.

Just click on Monday Mondo Giveaway.

(I wanted to make the button clickable -- but Google Chrome doesn't want me to!)

Delia

More than two weeks since the last bit of visual mumbling posted here. You might think it's because I've not been tatting -- that would be incorrect. I've been tatting, mostly just bits and pieces, messes, broken things, things I threw away, and little butterflies.

When I reach a point in my tatting where nothing seems to be working or I can't figure out what I want to make my shuttles always "run home to mama". Mama in my case is Iris Niebach's Tatted Doilies. Her designs are always such a pleasure to tat, and they stretch my concentration without stress. It's delightful to fill the shuttles, and work from the outside to the inside and back again until the doily is completed -- one round! If I had used size 80, there would also have been no necessity to add in a new thread.

This one is "Delia" made in Lizbeth size 20 in Light Raspberry Pink. It just about fills my scanner. It's eight inches (about 21 cm) in diameter. It needs some blocking -- some of the chains are rumpled -- but I still think it's a pretty thing.

Another Pendant

I've worn my fingers out -- two of them have a couple of severe thread dents, the kind from which a couple of layers of skin peel back. Working with size 20 thread always does this to my fingers. I think it's because I want the stuff to be as small as size 80 so I pull it tighter. My tension is very tense. *sigh*

I made this a couple of weeks ago. It was going to replace my exchange partner's pendant, because I was convinced the purple and silver one had gone missing. Nope, it got there safe and sound. This one I thought looked like a leaf. Some nice leafy earrings would look good with it -- but I've been babying my fingers, so those are still in the planning stage.

The thread is Oren Bayan multi-colored metallic. It matches any and all of the beads I have.

That's a pretty funny picture (lots of empty space), but I thought y'all might like to see the necklace, too. It's a very thin metal cable covered in see-through green plastic of some kind. The fastener screws together, so it's easy to put on. I think these things are perfect for pendants -- then you never have to worry about making the necklace part and whether or not it is going to be scratchy.

June 10:

I gave this one to my sister for her birthday. She claimed to have been coveting it since it was finished. Good! Green is her favorite color. Now she's waiting for those matching earrings!

Charming things

The green phone charm that Wendy won in my giveaway has gone astray. It's my own fault. I didn't send it with any kind of delivery confirmation. Actually, I did worse than that, I sent it first class with stamps on it (after weighing it at work). Well, duh. There was no customs form attached. It's probably being probed by some government official who suspects it of being something nefarious. Perhaps it's been taken out and blown up in some preemptive strike. Who can know? That was pretty shabby of me.

Wendy told me her favorite colors were red and pink. Hey! I have red. I made up two more charms, both with red Oren Bayan metallic threads -- one with silver beads and one with red beads. Both are pretty (f I do say so m'self), but the silver bead one was more striking. I sent it off properly custom-formed and all. Well, fat lot of good that did. Who knows when it will get there? Some volcano seems to have gotten in the way. As I frequently say, "If it ain't one darn thing, it's another!"


PS: Wendy received both the green and the red charms. Nice! I think the green one was slow because I am slow (couldn't seem to remember to get a padded envelope at the store!). The volcano didn't slow the red one down much, either. Good. I'm glad to know they didn't go wandering off into the ozone and that she has two to enjoy or share, as she chooses. :)

Rings 'n' things

I've been tatting -- really I have. I just didn't seem to have anything I could show. My InTatters exchange partner has informed me that she received the pendant I sent, though. I thought sure the poor thing had disappeared behind some monster machine in the Post office or something. Nope, it made it safely. It's made with Oren Bayan silver thread and purple mini-seed beads (a whole pot-load of 'em). The necklace part is a twisted metal cable inside a purple protective casing. Really, it matches better than this picture makes it appear.
The other things I've been doing I'll trot out when they're finished. I'm still emptying bobbins, too. I've been making more butterflies -- the little four ring ones. But, I've also made a couple of Jane Eborall's Butterfly Bookmarks without the bookmark tails, and one tiny one with a tail for really tiny books! I've got a few more bobbins with enough thread to make Butterfly Bookmarks, if I mix the colors. That should be interesting. I might very well end up with a Christmas Butterfly, because I've got a bobbin each of red and green that are about evenly matched in amounts.

As for the ornament challenge...it has foundered. *sigh* It will get back on track pretty soon though. I ordered covered styrofoam ornaments and they've been received! I think the plastic ones are going to end up with my nieces. They can decorate them by gluing or sticking things on 'em. My patience with them (the ornaments, not the nieces -- hmmmmm, wait, some days it's them too!) has been exhausted.