Really Elegant Tatting Gems

These are the snowflakes I've been making from Jon Yusoff's book Elegant Tatting Gems.  I'm making them all in red and green DMC size 80 tatting thread.  I'm also doing them in order.  I've got seven and a half done.  This is just the first seven, not the half.

Oh, one of them is NOT in DMC size 80 red and green threads.  One of them is a Lizbeth size 20 pink and blue variegate.  I suppose which one is rather obvious.

These are really great little snowflakes.  They're all pretty and they are all done with basic techniques -- but when they're done they look so complex.  Amazing, right?

Challenge 17

Yeah, yeah, I know -- it was supposed to be DONE in one year not two or even ...ahem... three.  Finally made it to Seventeen though.

Last May (yes, May), I made these green snowflakes from the Ariel pattern in The Tatter's Treasure Chest.  They've been waiting until this week for the center bit and for getting stuck onto the Styrofoam ornament.  My dad's been visiting us so it was a golden opportunity to tat and chat -- I tatted and chatted; dad just chatted.  I made up the middle, and it didn't work quite like I envisioned, but I like it well enough not to take it off and start over!

Marking Time

I belong to the Bar.  Yeah, I know, scandalous.  It's not an interesting bar, though -- it's the Paralegal Division of the Utah State Bar.  To keep belonging to the bar I get to do 10 hours of Continuing Legal Education every year.  Usually I go to the free "brown bag" seminars.  That way the boss can't complain that I cost anything -- they're free and during lunch hour.  I take my lunch and am gifted with a cookie, a drink and some esoteric knowledge.

Once a year they really splash out and give me $100 to go to the Fall Forum.  I can get 80% of the hours I need in an evening and one day.  This year I went to the evening performance of "A Midsummer Night's Mediation Tragedy."  It was, too -- tragic that is.  There's a reason lawyers become lawyers instead of actors.  Don't get me wrong, they did a very nice job.  However, every one of those litigators does a MUCH better acting job when they're standing in a courtroom, NOT in a dining room! 

I take my tatting with me to these events.  Everything I need to know is on the handouts which I can download from the bar website.  I listen very closely, and I have a pen and paper in case I want to write something down, which I do now and then.  Now, there are occasionally people who don't think I should be tatting when someone else is speaking.  Not meaning to sound sexist or anything, but it's usually men.  I don't believe they can multitask after all.  I thought it was a rumor.  I've told them before, "I listen with my ears, not my hands!"  Every year I have to tell a new person.  I'm wondering now if some of them do listen with their hands!  Besides, tatting keeps me from getting up and wandering around the room, or talking on my cell phone, or playing sudoku on my smart phone, or doing my office work on my iPad -- which would be much more rude, and which I saw quite a lot of those same people doing.  This year I made four bookmarks.  I've only got three, though, because I gave one to another of the attendees who was interested (more interested in my tatting than in A Midsummer Night's Mediation Tragedy -- really.  Hard to imagine, eh?).  

I like Jane Eborall's butterfly bookmark because it's so adaptable.  I know the basic shape and stitch counts and it can be done without beads.  Now dropping a container of beads, THAT would be distracting!  These are made in Lizbeth size 20 Golden Yellow, Medium.  Yeah, I know.  It surprised me too.  Funniest yellow I ever did see -- that's what the label said though.  So, I don't really know what color-name is assigned to this red, white, blue and purple, but it makes good bookmarks!

Elegant Tatting Gems . . .

is a wonderful book full of ... well ... elegant tatting gems.  Lovely snowflakes made using basic techniques.  I've been working my way through the book, but have NOT been weaving in ends.  Those will have to wait until later.  For now, these are the ones I test-tatted for Jon.  At least three of them are.  I'm just certain the other one is one of Jon's as well, because I had it stored with the other three, but I can't find it in any book.  Anybody that recognizes it, please speak up!  All of these test-tats were made with size 80 DMC tatting thread.  My sister dyed all that white thread really pretty colors, didn't she?

There!  Jon got me all straightened out -- thanks so much.  It was one of the test tat patterns she sent, so it does belong with the others, after all.  She modified the design after the test-tat and it became Ratnawilis in her new book.  The change is really pretty -- but I haven't gotten that far in the book yet.

What? August!

It's hart to believe it's the end of November already -- I've been AWOL for 3 months!  I don't even have a really stellar reason.  It would be nice to say I won the lottery and have been on a world cruise and just too busy playing to blog.  Nope.  I didn't win anything; I've been right here at home; and I've been too busy working to blog.  Borrrrrrring!  On the good side of that my assignment at work has changed so that I just get to do the part I like -- all the rest of the stuff I used to do someone else is now doing.  Lovely.  Now I have to step into the Wayback Machine and show you what I've been doing for three months -- because I have done some tatting.  :)

How about the Fair, for starters?  I got some blue ribbons (1st), some red ribbons (2nd) and some pink ribbons (4th).  In ascending order then, I got a 4th place ribbon on my ankle bracelet and my hat (which for some reason shows as a pillowcase on my "premium statement" from the fair).  The ankle bracelet is the same one I entered in the county fair.  The hat is all new.  I made the initial just for the hat, but the top is decorated with one of Jon Yusoff's snowflakes.  Both are made in size 80 thread hand-dyed "Oh, Baby" by my sister.  The judges comments -- that I was hoping would be helpful -- just said "nice" and "precise tatting" for these.  *sigh*

The Heart's Desire bookmark is also the same one entered in the County Fair.  It got a second place ribbon at the State Fair.  I also entered my little crocheted Cthulhu toy which got a red ribbon.  The funny little guy has wings, arms and legs, but he's buried here in someone's quilt, so it looks like he's only a head.  He's being shipped off to the far reaches of the world, as soon as I find a spare minute to stand in line at the post office.







I got nice first place blue ribbons on the button doily, and the Easter and Christmas ornaments I also entered in the state fair.  The coaster I entered got a blue ribbon as well.  It's the square I designed in Sharon Briggs' Design Tat Class.  She teaches well!  I made it again in purple size 30 DMC Cebelia.  I've made four now so I have a small set of coasters, but I only entered one.

 

I was very pleased to have gotten a first place ribbon on the large centerpiece I adapted from a Jan Stawasz pattern.  I left out all the picots except the joining ones.  What made me so happy is that entry morning when I took it's picture, I noticed that I had missed a couple of joins -- there were the picots just hanging out there.  It's such a large piece that either the judges didn't see them or figured they'd cut me a little slack!  It's the same doily on which I reported not much progress last June. 

The first two pictures are those I took the morning we were taking things to the fair.  It did turn out really pretty, I think.  I was just upset that I had missed the joins.  I still haven't decided whether or not to try to fix it, or just figure, nobody's perfect and a man on a galloping horse won't notice anyway.  The second pictures are the ones I took at the fair,  after  I convinced the fair people to move it .  It was originally displayed draped over a white knitted something, and it completely disappeared -- not to mention I spent hours getting it blocked just right and they rumpled it all up.  I have no idea how the owner of the afghan they finally placed it on felt about having her work covered up.  *sigh*  I wish they had a bigger building!

The last thing I entered in the fair was over in the Creative Arts area.  It's a bit of Calligraphy in the Celtic style.  It got a blue ribbon, too. 

All together, it cost me $11.00 to enter this stuff in the fair, but I came home with $22.00.  Not too bad -- it bought me a nice lunch one day!

State Fair

Sharon mentioned that the entry categories for their local fair are pretty limited for tatting, and that the entrance fee is rather stiff.  Our state fair has seventeen categories for tatting.  It only costs $1 to enter something and the prizes range from $6 to ribbons.  Of course, to get into the $6 area you've got to tat a tablecloth or a framed picture.  Interesting that there's no size on the picture.  Hmmmm...that may be achievable one of these days! 
Last year I thought it would be a good thing to make something to enter in every category.  Keep all those tatting categories open so we don't disappear from the public eye.  After looking over the list, I decided it's not going to happen this year, probably not for years to come either.

I don't have an idea for a picture to make and frame.  I'm going to think about that one, though.

I did buy a table to make a table cloth for, but didn't get it finished.  It doesn't say how big the table has to be -- I got one for a dollhouse.  That probably would be unacceptable. *sigh*

Everything else is achievable, but certainly not all at once, and not this year.  I've given away a lot of the stuff I made this year. 
I am managing to enter in categories:
58 (well, if I get the last round done and get it starched by the 31st!),
59 (the blue diamond button doily),
60 (maybe, I have to measure the piece I have in mind),
61 (the Hearts Honor by Wanda),
(I wonder what happened to category 62 and what it was?),
64 (the same ornament I entered in the County Fair), and
65 (again, the same ornament I entered in the County Fair). 

If I get the large centerpiece done early, I might have time to make something for category 68 -- I've got a hat to put it on! 
Let's see.  If I concentrate on the list and start in September, maybe I can enter something in every category NEXT year -- well, no, not the tablecloth.  Not doin' that!

Challenge No. 16

Wondering what happened to the little butterflies from a few posts before?  They got made into this Easter Egg Ornament.  I used those three and a bunch of smaller butterflies (some of which are adapted from Jane Eborall's great butterfly pattern).  I pinned them to the satin egg with little gold applique pins stuck through powder blue seed beads.  I'm counting this one as number 16 for the 25 Motif Challenge.  It's destined for a long trip half-way around the world as a gift for a good friend.

It's making a stop at the County Fair before being shipped away, though.  It's got a first place blue ribbon, a high blue (considered for Sweepstakes) and a Judge's Choice ribbon.  A big ribbon...greedy me, I like big ribbons.

Challenge No. 15

Number 15 for my 25 Motif Challenge (which I've missed by, oh...a good 9 or 10 months, and which I miscounted, but I still don't think I'm going to get 25 before the end of this year either *sigh*).

This one is a top and bottom copied from one of my old ornaments, so I have no idea of its origin.  I made the top and bottom to try lacing them together after a discussion with to MSquared.  This was not what I had in mind so I just dropped in my finished tatting drawer and moved on.  When it came time to enter the fair I scrabbled around in the drawer looking for something I've made within the last year (fair years run from August to August) and re-discovered this one.  I decided that the fastening thread made an interesting zig-zag after all then dropped it in with the stuff to go to the Fair.  Apparently, the judges liked the zig-zag lacing it together, as well, because it's got a blue first place ribbon, too.

I do wish I'd taken a picture of it before hauling it out to the fair -- because what ever that is on the shelf below the ornament looks ...um... somewhat inappropriate for a G rated blog.

Blue Diamond

Look closely -- squint if you need to.  Yup, this is the same pattern as the Pink Diamond Bookmark -- it just has a couple of small modifications so it will lay flat when fastened together.   It's also entered in the doily category.  It's made with two colors of blue Lizbeth size 20 thread and a bunch of little blue and white shirt buttons.  I made this one -- again -- thinking it would fit in the Fair theme.  But they didn't care because -- again -- it's NOT a quilt block.  It still got a first place blue ribbon, though, so I don't suppose they cared that it wasn't a quilt.  This was as big as I had time to make it before the fair entry day.  I'm thinking about adding to it for entering in the State Fair -- but that depends on how lazy I am.  I did manage to get a scan of this one before I entered it, but didn't take down its vital statistics.  The best I can say is it's about the size of my hand.  Of course, if you've not seen my hands, that's not going to help much, is it?

I just measured it.  It's 6 inches across (about 15.5 cm) at it's widest point.  I'm going to leave it as it is for entering in the State Fair.  Then the one I'm working on and this one won't have to be in the same category!

Something Blue

Jessica Spaulding taught classes at Shuttlebirds this year one of which included this bracelet.  She was kind enough to let me test tat from her pattern and this is what I came up with.  The bracelet is made from Lizbeth Caribbean colorway -- but I've forgotten if the size is 40 or 20, how's that for strange?  We stretched the categories at the county fair so this one made an appearance as a "wedding accessory" -- it's the something blue.  The ribbon it got was something blue as well.