Seahorse Dragon

Anne Bruvold created this Seahorse Dragon based on Debbie Arnold's Seahorse. What a great pattern! It's rings and chains, no complications or advanced techniques. It's a relaxing piece to tat and at the end you get this really cute little guy.

My sister dyed this "Mermaid" thread on a DMC size 80. It seemed like the perfect thread for a marine animal. It's just 3 inches tall and a total of 2 inches wide from tip of nose to tip of wing.

I'm going to make more of these. I'm thinking a red one, a green one and some snowflakes on a styrofoam ornament. Yeah, cute!

Ribbons from the Fair - part 11

Yes, that is Anne Bruvold's dragon -- twice. This is my dad's hat. The dragon, and harvest orange and black, were his High School's mascot and colors. I made the dragons last Fall in Lizbeth size 40, had them pinned to the hat last Winter and partially sewn on this Spring. Can you believe anything so lazy? I finally finished sewing the night before we took our entries to the Fair. They don't have any beads (not even eyes) -- because I made them for Dad! Actually, I should have made them smooth-skinned and left off lots of the picots to make them look more masculine. That's okay -- at 80 Dad says he can wear what he wants (including pink and purple tie-dye!).
I thought the hat turned out really well and Dad likes it. Turns out the Fair judges liked it too -- see that pretty blue ribbon?

Fairly Tatted

I've shown these ornaments on the blog before. The first one -- with the second place ribbon -- is being donated to the "Festival of Trees" tree being decorated by the Bonneville Tatters. The pattern is my own and I quite like it (but never did like the color). The comment card said it needed more sparkle. I think they liked all the beads on the other set -- because those got a first place ribbon. These are the ornaments I made from an adaptation of Iris Niebach's "Cornelia" from Tatted Doilies.

The dragon, from a pattern by Anne Bruvold, has also appeared on the blog before -- I made it as a gift for my sister and she made me a loan of it for entering in the fair. The butterfly is new, but is the same pattern I made up for the InTatters butterfly exchange (oops -- with the addition of a couple of extra rings on the top of the wings). The comment cards for both of these mentioned the wonderful use of color -- I have to say thanks to my sister, because they were both made of threads she dyed for me (the dragon a size 10 and the butterfly a size 30). One of the comment cards for the butterfly also expressed delight with the beads. I think some judge out there was as much a crow as I am -- gimmie the shiny stuff!

Dragons!

Before making "Gift Ornament Ten" I tested out the Flying Minor Norwegian Dragons by Anne Bruvold. To get the feel of the pattern, I used size 10 Opera thread. Yes, that's what that large colorful dragon is made of -- cream-colored Opera. At least it was cream-colored before I let my sister play with it. She was tie-dying and trying out all her "new" colors. They turned out well on the thread -- looks like "dark rainbows" to me, especially the purple. I made the dragon without her knowing (which meant tatting after midnight) and gave it to her for Christmas.
When making the small dragon, I found out using one strand of Signature machine embroidery thread was not the best choice. The polyester thread stretches a bit when closing rings. When I went to make the "Yorkie dimple" for its nose -- I pulled the wrong thread! then I couldn't get the ring to close right. Poor little nose -- the little dragon looks like it ran into a mountainside!
This is a great pattern and my sister was very pleased with her dark rainbow dragon and it's minature friend (with threads attached for sewing onto her denim jacket collar).

Gift Ornament Ten

Flying Minor Norwegian Dragons by Anne Bruvold: one in red and one in green size 80 DMC tatting cotton. The red one has green seed beads included and the green one uses red seed beads. They are wrapped around the center of the white satin ornament. The three snowflakes that fill in the rest of the space are all from Jon Yusoff's Snowflake Collection. This one went to the 'dopted-bruvver who introduced me to the Save the Dragons Campaign. :)