Butterfly Two

This is one of the "ewwww, that's icky" patterns reworked until I like it pretty well. The first one in Cébélia size 30 has no form to its body, but I rather liked the way the wings were working. Again with the size 30 I tried a new body and a bit of modification to the wings. Yes, that was better. Next I thought I'd try it in purple Coats quilting thread. Oops. I forgot a couple of picots -- can't hook a wing to its head! The first little one is, therefore, not a butterfly. It has no butter. It's just a fly. Try again. Rats, I did the bottom ring in the wrong sequence --again-- which made the chain joins down there weird. Still, it looks pretty good and I decided where the "magic threads" had to go. The final one is in Coats pastel variegated quilting thread. I didn't use the magic threads because this one is going on my jeans bag as well. I might try another one and reduce the size of the first set of chains on the bottom wing because it's just a bit squarish looking -- but mostly I like it.

Butterfly One

Progression of the middle butterfly... The first incarnation in yellow Cébélia size 30 had too much going on in the center -- lots of chains to get the thread back to where I wanted to go without cutting (not to mention the halves didn't match). The second incarnation moves the thread in a better way to get all around this butterfly in one pass. That seemed to work, so I tried in in Coats rainbow quilting thread. Then I had this brainstorm in thinking that I could do the whole thing using a chain to connect the bits and just join the chain at the end. That also works, but gives a totally different look to the center. I left the long threads on the last one so I can sew it on my Treasures from Trash bag. The others will probably go into a little pile of "dunno, I'll decide what to do with that some other time." I'm working on a new one now and have two others in the "ewww that's icky" stage. Still, its possible the patterns can be altered enough to be not icky.

Wasting thread

That's what I've been doing. When I couldn't tat, I was making all these complicated butterfly patterns -- without stitch counts. Wow, they look great on paper. Ewww. Not so good after I tried actually making them. The first one is a total no-go! I thought the second one had hope if I changed some things. I started to do that, and goofed on the second ring, so I just made the plain little butterfly -- which would have been better without the Josephine rings on the wings. Of course, the fact that they are yellow doesn't help. Maybe I just better get Ruth's and Sherry's books! The really good thing is I'm getting my fingers back.

Finishing Up One More

A long-sleeved "onsie" for a winter daughter. My sister did the tie-dye and I put a neck decoration on it in shades of pink. The buttons are smaller than the ones I used for the adult t-shirts, otherwise, this is the same pattern. Someone asked for the pattern, but this diagram is as far as I ever got with it. I hope it works for that someone, and anyone else interested! {oh -- click on the diagram and it will open into a larger picture} The thread I used was (again!) one strand of Gütermann cotton thread and one strand of Signature machine embroidery thread. Together they make something close to size 80 tatting cotton.

Tag I'm It? What?

I've been tagged by Sapna -- it didn't hurt though.

Here are the rules which you must abide by if you are tagged.
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself: some random, some weird.
3. Tag 3 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

So -- seven facts:

1. I learned to read before I started school.
2. I tried, but could not learn, macramé (just knot my thing).
3. Reading is as necessary as eating and breathing.
4. Paper and office supply stores are almost as fun as the bookstore.
5. My toes are really short and I can spread them out like fingers. A bunch of us had a write-with-your-toes contest in college and I won.
6. I like opera -- if there are supertitles that's even better because they're really pretty funny, even it they aren't intended to be.
7. I have a master's degree in history (for a reason!) and I do calculations for oil and gas title opinions, and the accounts receivable at work.

I'm tagging Bob, Martha and Arlene.

Learning to Tat?

This is how I learned to tat. I bought this brand-new book for 50 cents (in 1974), a metal Boye shuttle with a bobbin, and used some of my old crochet thread. It took a while for me to get things to work, because I wasn't using very good quality thread. I've kept the book all these years because it's still got patterns in it that I think are really pretty. I do wish they were diagrammed, though. After working with diagrams I find it hard to going back to reading all this long-hand! Hmmm...I suppose I could diagram them myself, right?
Oh -- one funny thing: The doll-lady sitting on the little sofa is knitting. Why isn't she tatting?

Never Again

Except for the color -- which I like -- what an absolute waste of two nights and a morning pretending to block this awful thing. I say pretending, because there aren't enough pins in this whole house to pin everything that needed pinning on the darn thing -- and we've got LOTS of pins. I made this years ago with cheap ecru crochet thread from DMC's Tatting for Today (1980), Motif 5. The motif looks really pretty as a starched snowflake; fastening them together was a mistake. I dug it out of a bag when my sister was in a mood to tie-dye. "Fix it up!" says I. She should have said (but didn't), "Are you out of your mind? That thing's hopeless!" She dyed it a nice solid plum. Nope, it still looked like a major undertaking to block. It sat crumpled in my bag for another two months. Finally, I decided since I was only good for blocking that's what I'd do. Ewww. Too many picots, the thread was too soft to hold them and they just curled and twisted. The outsides couldn't be stretched enough to let the inner rings lie flat. All in all, what a waste of time and effort. I don't know that it's even worth wrapping in acid-free paper for storage. My sister thought perhaps it could be a gift for the next wedding invitation I receive. I don't think I dislike anyone that much! I wonder if it would make a good mop rag?

Blocking at Least

Lucky Clover by Blomqvist and Persson in Tatting Patterns and Designs is one of the last things I finished before hand surgery. It's taken a while to get my fingers willing to pick up pins, let alone push them into the blocking board. This one is made with "Jewel of the Nile" King Tut quilting thread. It measures about 6.25 inches (16 cm) in diameter. I don't have any plans for it, so it might end up as a gift.

Jeans Purse

The jeans purse is something less than one-quarter finished. I sewed a bunch of things on it, without taking pictures or scanning them first. With a little computer help, I made individual pictures of some of the pieces. This first one is a Jane Eborall flamingo (the Pamela Myers version). I used pink ombre polyester embroidery threads (because I didn't have any plain pink) and blue for the bill (because I couldn't find any black) and a silver bead for the eye. The swan (made with white polyester machine embroidery thread) turned into a duck, because it was so much smaller than the flamingo and I goofed somewhere in the pattern (also one of Jane's). The free-form doodle I posted on June 24th worked okay as a stylized pond, so I put some goldfish in it. I found the pattern for them somewhere on the web years ago. (if it's yours, please let me know).
The profile butterfly is a Sherry Pence pattern. I don't think I did it justice, though, because I added a little piece to avoid cutting and reattaching the thread. Then I modified it a tiny bit more and made a double-wing butterfly out of it. This side of the purse needs more butterflies and lots more flowers. I've got some made, but not enough. As soon as I get through physical therapy so my thumb works and my fingers have feeling (long about December, I understand) I've got to get this side finished! I haven't even given much thought to the rest of the purse for a while -- gotta start hunting up those star patterns.

Signature Thread

Someone left a comment somewhere on here that I can't find. Google told me there was an error when I approved it for publishing, so maybe it just ate the thing.
Anyway, if it was you asking about the size of the Signature thread -- this is my answer. It's a very fine thread, because it is a machine embroidery thread. It's about the same thickness as regular sewing thread. It's trilobal polyester. I have no idea what that means, but it seems to be less inclined to fuzz than polyester covered cotton sewing thread. It does tend to stretch when trying to close rings (well, it does if you tat as tightly as I do). I buy it at a local shop. I don't know if it is available somewhere on line; I've never looked. Here's a picture of the thread labels: