Phew!

Jeepers! It's been a while since I posted any tatting! Work is starting back up as the bulbs come up in the garden, but I have been tatting on my lunch breaks and in the evenings. Here's a quick look at what I've been up to: 

Here is another Pinterest find!! It's an adaptation of Mary Konior's Black Magic bookmark. HERE is the link to the bookmark pattern from Georgia Seitz's website. The pattern was drawn up by Vickie Reynolds and it's a new favorite! The pattern is well written and easy to follow. I used Lizbeth black and Turquoise twist threads and this combo reminds me of looking out a window at a blue summer sky!













 I finished the purple antique doily and have started another one in a pastel, mint green. Perfect color for and Easter project! and YES! This photo is evidence that we finally got some SUN in Illinois!!







Here's a close up on the thread :) Perfect project for my lunch breaks at work!

And last but not least, I started a doily called Mom's Pink Doily from Be-Stitched.com.  I've made two of these doilies already and love the pattern. I have one in size 10, one in size 30 and this one is tatted in size 40 thread, which I am finding to be quite a challenge. The round I'm currently working in is all individual motifs. I picked the same light, mint green as the antique doily for this one and I'm really liking how it's turning out.

At last the bulbs are coming up! It's like seeing old friends again! I cannot wait for them to start blooming! Hope everyone is well and you have a lovely day wherever your travels take you!

 

Latest Projects...

 Mom and sister are away to Florida this week so I've been holding down the farm with my dad. We have had some rainy days lately, so that's made for plenty of tatting! Here are some of my projects and what I'm working on:

Tat-a-Long: I'm on the last round and then to add little clovers! I'm not 100% pleased with my color choices. I think a mix of a variegated thread and a coordinating solid color would've been better; like tat-ology or Margaret's. I've really enjoyed this pattern so I'll definitely be making another one, oh the thread choices are endless!! I actually had an idea today...I just might cut out the center, brown part, and re-tat the center in a more compatible color! How's that for getting one-self out of a tatting conundrum! :o)

I also had some great feedback on my Facebook page about this doily! My cousin suggested that these three colors look better in pairs then they do as a three-some. Some lighter, but still rich shades of blue, yellow, and pink were suggested. What do you think? What color would you put in the middle of this doily?

Classic Doily: I've been plodding along on Linda's doily. It will look better once I've finished the rounds of chains and has been blocked. I'm still in LOVE with this color! It's Lizbeth Wedgewood light

The rounds of chains in this doily pattern remind me of one of my favorite plants: Hens and Chicks! See how they both have the look of an optical illusion!

 Hope everyone is well in your circle of family and friends!  

Happy tattings!

 

Frilly Rose Pattern!

 I love these little frillies so much and had such great feedback from all of you lovely tatting ladies that I'd like to share the pattern with you! Here goes it!

The rosette is made of six chains repeated around a tatted ring. You can add as many rounds as you like, just increase the number of picots accordingly. Start with a shuttle wound to the ball thread and leave it attached.

Center Ring: 2-2-2-2-2-2. close, reverse work.

CH1: 2-1-1-2+ (join to the first picot on the previous ring.) Repeat 5 times, joining to the next picot in the ring. Be sure to leave a little bit of space between the chains for joining the next round. On the last chain for this round, join to the base of the first chain. Now you are ready to start the second round of chains.

CH2: 3-1-1-3+ (join to space in between previous chains.) Repeat around rosette.

CH3: 3-1-1-1-3+ (join to space in between previous chains.) Repeat around rosette.

CH4: 2-2-2-2-2-2+ (join to space in between previous chains.) Repeat around rosette.

CH5: 3-2-2-2-2-3+ (join to space in between previous chains.) Repeat around rosette.

     

 This is my first time writing up a pattern so feel free to add to this pattern and create something all your own! If you have any questions or if there is a direction that is unclear please leave a comment and I'll be checking in! Enjoy!

 

Frilly Roses

I so enjoyed making the Frilled Rosettes from my Previous post, that I made a couple more! The pattern is very simple: use any tatted rose pattern and add picots!

 

Here is the back of one of the roses and a plain rose with no picots - they are the same pattern, with and without picots.

The frilly rose is the centerpiece of my Doodad Dare. I copied the outer edges from the pattern in Lene Bjorn's '24 Tatted Snowflakes.' I don't consider myself very good at making up patterns but I may just have to try adding some different designs for the second tatted round.

The possibilities are endless and that's what I love about 'em! I'm thinking of making some of the frilled rosettes for lapel pins to sell at the artists market! Hope you are having a great week! Enjoy!

 

Doodad Dare projects

 HOORAY!! I've completed the Doodad Dare by LaceLovin'Librarian!!! Diane sent me four tiny little doodads that I had a blast creating tatted pieces to go around each one. I posted the shuttle picture so you can see just how small these little treasures were. For the first pair I made earrings. I looked around Etsy and Google for inspiration and came up with a simple flower pattern and attached the little doodads to the lace. They turned out pretty cute!

 Here is was I did with the other two! I made matching snowflakes for Diane and I! Her snowflake is in the mail and on its way. Thank you Diane for sending me the doodads and including me on this fun adventure! These snowflakes have a fun story I'd like to share : )

Photo Courtesy - Flicker Album

It all started on Pintrest... I saw this picture, at left, and HAD to make one! The website has some really gorgeous tatted lace pieces-  be sure to check out the photo courtesy link. I really like the look of tatted rosettes and what intrigued me is that this one had picots on the chains to make it look frilly! So I made up my own rendition and wrote up a pattern. I don't consider myself very creative when it comes to making patters but I was pretty excited to be able to recreate the picture that I saw. I'll be doing a blog post all about these frilly roses soon so stay tuned! :)

So while spending a rainy day looking round and linking to a couple different blogs I found another tatting blog called: Mary's Handmade and she did a post about this very snowflake! Long story short, her blog is in Romanian, so I copied what her blog post said and plugged it into GoogleTranslate and TA-DA! I could read her blog and what she said about the snowflake! You can read her post HERE. She got the pattern from the book '24 Snowflakes' by Lene Bjorn! I might have to add that to my wish list; looks like a great book!

So that is the tale of my tatted Doodads. Quite a fun adventure!  Hope you are having a great weekend! Love from Illinois,

 

'Golden Celebration' colors!

In light of the previous blog post, here are some of the motifs that I've tatted in the yellow and green that match one of my favorite roses in the garden:

These are two pieces of Mary Konior's 'Patchwork.' I think I'll add on one more square to the right so there are two rows of three squares for a finished rectangular piece. I think this pattern really captured the feel and color of the rose from my previous post. I've always liked adding on to tatted mats, especially with thread that is leftover on my shuttles from big projects. 

The weather here has FINALLY during beautiful! High temps in the mid 70s to low 80s! Perfect weather! Makes me want to wear hoodies, wool socks, and go to the apple orchard! Hope you are all having a great week!

 

Rose Tatting

The inspiration for my next doily! This is my favorite rose in the garden and despite the drought, has been blooming all summer. Her name is Rosa 'Golden Celebration' and has a wonderful sweet, and fruity fragrance. Both the yellow and green are Lizbeth colors called 'Pineapple Parfait' and 'Leaf Green Medium' respectively. I included the center of Yarnplayer's Arches doily so you can see how the variegated yellow tats up. I am LOVING this yellow thread! Can't decide whether to add more rounds to the motif in the picture or start another doily all together....Hmmm, I'll have to think on that one.

What you do think? 

Hoping that you all had a blessed Sunday!

 

The Classic White Doily...

It doesn't get any more classic then a white doily : ) and this project is only half done! It's going to be a HUGE center piece for our dining room table. The flowers are from our gardens around the farm. Daisies and a yellow Loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria for all my Horticulture savvy buddies).

Work has sure kept me busy! not to mention I'm taking a 30-day 'Media Reduction Challenge' with the girls from my Bible Study. We're being challenged to spend less time on the Internet and watching TV and movies and spending more time in the Word and with family. I've also been outside gardening and thought I'd share some pics with you all.

The farm table: complete with all my planters

Dad's Hosta corner

Front of our house with Stella de Oro Lilies

Pump house garden - Hostas and more Loosestrife

The shed garden

I got my dad a Mock Orange Viburnum for Fathers day, next to the 'Man Cave'

My mom and I share a rock garden, we each have one side :)

May all your tatting journeys be splendid!
Allison

P.S. THANK YOU all sooo much for the awesome comments on my last post! I just had to share that tip with you all and I'm glad that you found it useful! Too fun!

St. Louis and Back....

Hello dear friends! My oh My have I been Busy, with a capital 'B'!!! On February 16th-18th my fellow Horticulture Students and I went to St. Louis for our spring Field Study. We had a wonderful time and I even got to tat on the bus! I'm working on an antique pattern in Lizbeth red that I think will be a contestant for the Boone County Fair this year. In St. Louis we went to the Botanical Gardens and saw their Orchid Show and got behind-the-scenes tour of their production Greenhouses.
We made 7 stops and each one corresponded with one of the degree majors that Kishwaukee College offers. Our first stop was at Stark Brothers Nursery where we got to see them grafting tree stock for the upcoming season. Fruit and ornamental trees are their specialty. Next was that St. Louis Children's Hospital where we toured their roof-top garden that offered a glorious view of Forest Park in downtown St. Louis. The Botanical gardens were incredible and our tour guide was such a hoot! He's an older guy who has been there for 20-some years and loves tropicals. It was great to get to chat with him and learn more about tropicals and his job. On the 17th we saw Dierbergs floral headquarters and the cooler that they keep their flowers in is half the square footage as our house! It smelled amazing in there! Bellerive Country Club was the stop for the Golf Course/Turf majors. We had an great opportunity to see all the inner-workings of a VERY expensive golf course. I was afraid to touch anything! They have millions invested in equipment and their mowers are HUGE! The last day we were in Missouri, we visited the Nestle/Purina grounds in downtown St. Louis. They have extensive gardens, and trees, paths, and ponds at their headquarters. You can even bring your dog to work and bring Fido outside on your lunch break for a romp in the dog park.
The very last stop of the trip was to Buckley Growers. They have almost 4 acres of greenhouses were the concrete floors are heated and the roof gables will open up on an automated system to cool the houses! It was my favorite because, naturally being a Greenhouse Major, I'd love to work in that kind of environment.
It was amazing!


So even though this post doesn't have a whole lot to do with tatting I thought I would share with ya'll what I've been up too. I'll have pictures of the red antique doily up soon. OH! and I've finished the remake in the soft lime green, size 30 thread! Pictures are on their way! Be on the lookout!
Have a Blessed Sunday everyone!
Allison