Raison D'être

Seriously?

Who needs a reason for this!

I will be using Olympus thread throughout - that is the only kind that I have in several colours.

Yellow is code 541, Tan is 733 and Green is 228

p.s. no, I don't know French, so comments in English please, ha ha ha .....

UFO no longer

I chanced upon a UFO while scrambling through my craft space.  It decided to fly off somewhere and now found its way back.  It left for quite a while when I first started on it, as I wrote in this post in 2011.

The pattern is the Clover Doily by Eileen Stafford  tatted in a size 50 or 60 thread.  I am not really sure of the size but you can see the label of the thread in the picture in the first link I gave above.

Pic taken after I just completed it.  It needs blocking because the doily is not lying flat.

On the blocking board under the fan, waiting to dry.  I normally use a blocking template but could not find one for this.

All blocked and dry.  The finished size after blocking is 22cm wide, or 8 3/4 inches.

I tatted the final round slightly different from the original pattern.  Instead of picots in the long chains of the final round I tatted floating Josephine knots (JK).  I felt that it looks more 'finished' with the JKs instead of picots.

While waiting for the doily to be blocked, I crocheted this purse.  It is made by joining two pieces of granny square and making a flap over the opening, held down by a button.  This is a cheap RM5 thread in size 10 that I thought I can use to teach tatting but just don't like the feel of it when tatted.  It crochets very well, though.

Firus Transformed

Umi of Umi's Embroidered Gifts in Facebook tatted a bunch of the Firus motif from my book Elegant Tatting Gems and transformed them into a stunning doily.

She then cleverly adapted part of a pattern from Jan Stawasz's book Tatted Treasures into edgings to enclose the motifs, modifying the stitch count to fit around the centre piece.

I think Umi did great with this.

Umi is more well-known for her beautiful ribbon flowers which you can see in her flicker page.

Jan Stawasz's Motif

Took a break from the square and tatted this from Jan Stawasz's book Tatted Treasures.  It is the motif of the table runner on pages 65 of the book.

I tried my best to follow his instruction on making the picot within a double stitch, i.e placing the picot between the first half and the second half of the double stitch.  It was not easy getting used to it, sometime I got it, other times I slipped back into the usual method. Unpicked a number of times because of it.

I do find a bit f a problem following the chart for this motif because the numbering of the stitch count jumps all over the chart.  I find that I have to read a different part of the chart for the middle group of rings and for the chains because the were not numbered in the working sequence in the chart like I am used to. 

Still, I am quite happy with this one.  I will be adding more to it as a way of taking a break from the square mat that I showed previously.  Here is a photo of it with a second square added.

These two squares used up almost one ball of the DMC size 80.  I only have one more ball of the thread so this will be a four-squares mat with maybe just enough for a thin border around it.

Tatting With Size 80

One ball of size 80, DMC in particular, fills up just under four shuttles.

How do I know?

I have been working with size 80 thread this past week.  I have not worked with anything smaller than 40 but for this current project I will be needing more than one ball and the only ones that I have is the size 80.  I have forgotten how it felt tatting with fine thread and now I understand why some tatters keep picking up these fine sizes to work with.

I have finished one motif of the project and it used up almost half a ball of the size 80.  The way it is going I did the right thing to pick that thread because I am going to need at least two balls for it.

This is what I managed to finish with two full shuttles of size 80, one square and a little bit more of the second square motif.  The complete square is 4.5in wide (11.5cm).

I like to join similar motifs together to see if there are any underlying design the pops up, and I think this is one of those time that it may turn out quite well. If you have been to my facebook page Tat-a-Renda, you would have seen a representation of it.  Here it is again, for those who are not on Facebook.

Janet

This post is about a lovely friend, Janet.

I have known Janet for slightly more than seven years.  A bubbly person with always a pretty smile on her face.  A very good and generous crafter always sharing tips and technique on a variety of craft - patchwork, cross-stitch, tatting, fabric poscards, moos, whatever that you can think of.  She regularly attended our craft meets even when she had to travel far by bus or train.

Sadly, early this morning Janet left us due to cancer.

This tatting quilt block that I made was for her.

When Nik (the owner of the NNC craft group) realised that Janet's health was detriorating, she decided that the members should do something for her to cheer her up.  The idea was mooted late last year where it was decided that we should make a quilt.  So, a number of us agreed to prepare a block each for the quilt using our own craft ideas.

The assembly of the quilt was not without some anxious moments since the blocks are coming from all over the place, including from Switzerland and the US, with the one from the US held by customs for quite a number of days.   But, thankfully, the higher powers know what and why we are doing this, and the quilt was finally done last week.

Nik, Rose, Paul and Radha hand-delivered the quilt to Janet at the hospital on Saturday and today, four days later, we received the sad news of her passing.

I will always remember Janet for her beautiful smile, and will cherish the gifts that she made for me.
My condolences to her family.

Need a Name for a Doily

Remember this doily?

It is done.

I was considering adding a few more rows to it, maybe repeating the scallops, but I think it looks just nice as it is.  The finished doily is about 8 inches wide or 21cm, tatted with Milford 40.  Even though it says size 40, the thread feels like a size 30 to me.  Despite some twisting, it is a beautiful thread.

I have drawn the chart for it and will be writing the full instructions to include with the chart.

I am searching for a name to give to this doily and suggestions are welcome.  The only name that comes to mind is "Scallop Doily" but I will be happy to consider other suggestions.

Next, some of you were wondering what I plan to do with the Mary Konior motifs that I showed here.

Now that the project is done, I can share it.  It is for a multi-craft quilt project undertaken by a group of crafters.  This is my block,

It was prepared for a very special person and I will share a full picture of the quilt in a later post together with the story behind it.