Iris Butterfly

"Apatura Iris" from Iris Neibach's book Iris. This butterfly is made in one pass. If the thread is wound continuous between the shuttles, there is only one pair of threads to hide at the end. I really don't know how she does it -- such beautiful and complex patterns and no cut threads! This was my first attempt at block tatting so those are a bit uneven. I kept getting confused about which direction I was supposed to be going! This one is made with DMC size 80 tatting cotton in a purple and green variegated thread. it measures 2.75 x 3 inches (7 x 7.6 cm), including the antennae. I like this butterfly a lot, and will be making another one as a gift for a friend. I just need a bit of practice first.
I also made the little Iris square from the same book, but was impoverished that day -- I couldn't pay attention. The counts on the center rings are wrong and my magic threads were so magic they just disappeared -- without taking the tail ends with 'em. Another practice piece with a dab of fabric glue on the back. I am anxious to get enough attention together to actually make one of the doilies or mats from the book.

Aphrodite

Such a delicate little thing, she is. Measuring just 1.75 by 1.25 inches (about 4.4 by 3.2 cm), this version of Aphrodite by Sherry Pence is made in Coats hand quilting thread. it took me two tries to get the thread spacing between the rings to work right. Oh, but those spaces make such lovely wings. This one was done late at night so nobody was there to chant insect body parts at me. Even the antennae turned out just right. Now that I've done the pattern once, I need to go back and do it in two colors like the original pattern!

Nearly Adonis

He's Bright.
He's a Fright.
Adonis isn't right.
Sigh.
This is what I get for making butterflies around a kindergartener who's been through "Edible Bug Day" (a Hostess Snowball ladybug and a Twinkie katydid).
Sherry Pence's Adonis has that nice long caterpillarish body butterflies should have. However, when someone is standing in front of you singing:
"Head, Thorax, Abdomen
Head, Thorax, Abdomen
Insects have three body parts!"
It's worth more than your tatting thread and shuttle to make more than three body parts. But...hey...I got those antennae knots pretty even!

Flower Patch

An early spring flower patch -- maybe early pansies or grapehyacinth? This Sherry Pence butterfly is actually made with size 80 DMC tatting thread. The body is green and lavender variegated and the wings are purple ombre. The colors are more somber colors than the three shades Sherry used in the book, but I like it anyway. It's a ...hmmm... night butterfly. I really like the uplifted look of these wings as well. Sherry's butterflies all look so happy to me! Oh, and if you look closely enough, you'll see I finally got those antennae knots even!

Prima Butterfly

This is such a neat pattern! Of the butterflies I've done from Sherry Pence's "The Exquisite Collection of Tatted Butterflies" this Prima is my sister's favorite. Of course, she wishes I'd done it in the lovely shades of green Sherry used in her book (which almost gives it the delicacy of a luna moth). I used Coats pastel variegated hand-quilting thread. I need to try this one again in a larger thread as I had some difficulty manipulating the center chains. Well, either that or I need to get new glasses. This is another of those poor dears that has the unevenly knotted antennae. I keep thinking the thread is going to fray down to the base and unravel the whole thing. Probably an unfounded worry; nevertheless, I do those knots.

What Butterfly?

Angelica by Sherry Pence? Well, not quite. The pattern says "Experienced Beginner". I think that's maybe because they aren't arrogant enough to think they don't have to count or pay attention. Oops, that chain has one too many picots, have to make the other side match. I have this habit of always working with two shuttles. Without thinking, I switched shuttles instead of making those nice pointed wings. I tried it again.
Yeah, not the best color combination in the world, is it? I had some purple left from "Seven" and some orange left from the first try. I managed to not switch shuttles at the wing points, but STILL had one too many picots in that chain. Then I fiddled a bit with the end -- because (drat) where were those picots in the first ring? Okay, try again!
The color combination is better, and TA-DA I managed to get the right amount of picots in that chain. But I fiddled with the bottom on purpose this time. It wasn't the best idea I ever had.
Then I got a real wild hair and decided if I wasn't managing experienced beginner I better wander off to my personal drawing board and figure out what would work for me, because I really like these wings, you know! They're happy wings; they shout "I can fly!"
There. I started with these moth-like antennae that are so fun to make then did four split rings and worked these lovely wings off a picot, and finished up with the final tail ring. Okay, I added some extra picots and a few extra stitches here and there so the poor thing would flatten out. But, alas, the wings aren't nearly so happy.
Angelica's gotta go on the back burner until I learn to count and pay attention!

Another Butterfly

Isn't this a happy little guy? He just looks like, "Ta-DA! I'm a butterfly!" He is, of course, "Seven" by Sherry Pence from her book "The Exquisite Collection of Tatted Butterflies".
Sherry's original version has the rings one color and the chains a contrasting color, which is very striking. However, being a lazy soul, I worked this pattern all in one color (DMC size 80 in purple variegated). Oh, and it wasn't her idea to tie mismatched knots in the antennae -- that was just me. I was only going to tie a knot in the ends, but they didn't match. So, I thought, "Well, I could tie one higher on this side and one lower on that side." No I couldn't. And I tried it twice! I thought about tying another at the bottom of the left antennae and cutting off the top -- but figured the poor guy would soon end up with no antennae at all!

Hippopotami

Aren't they sweet? Tat it and See -- a hippopotamus! Jane Eborall's newest creature has been fun to make. It's been really interesting to note how many people all over the world were working on this pattern. I missed a picot on the third day, but didn't discover it until the seventh day. Drat. I started over with the DMC size 80 orange variegated thread. I left it at home one day, but happened to have a pair of shuttles wound with one strand of Gütermann white quilting thread and one strand of Signature pink ombre machine embroidery thread. So, of course I started again to catch up. My nieces recommended the blue eye for the pink hippo, but I picked black for the orange guy.

Butterfly One - Version One Pattern

First version of the first butterfly. For those of you that can work from a diagram, I hope this one is sufficient. If there's something really confusing, leave me a comment and I'll see if I can clarify. I think this .jpg ends up being fairly large, too. Again, using Firefox, you can print preview it then tell it to print landscape and fit to the page. I still don't know what any other browser might do, but believe they should have something similar. If you are a member of Here-Be-Tatters or eTatters, I've posted a .pdf file of this image in both places. If you can't get something usable, leave a comment and we'll figure something out -- unless the reason it's not usable is there are no text instructions. I don't want to do those. :)
Oh -- I just realized none of these patterns say to use two shuttles. I do it as a matter of habit.

Tat It and See

Tat it and See by Jane Eborall
How much fun is a do it day-by-day pattern without knowing what you're making? Ask just about anybody in the tatting world! I was copying the pattern every day, and was finally able to catch up through day 7. I'm thinking I should have twisted my very long picot a bit more -- or else my whatisit is standing in a very strong windstorm. I chose DMC size 80 in an orange ombre. My reasoning behind this was diabolical. Actually, it was because that's what happened to be on top of the bag. I'm looking forward to the next installment. I'm thinking ...hmmmm... decoration for a baby boy's tie-dyed onsie. :)