2014 25 Motif Challenge Motif #1

This is Mary Konior's Ring A Ring O' Roses from Tatting with Visual Patterns in size 40 Lizbeth Sea Island Citrus.  Our niece just moved in with us and wants a set of tatting in photo coasters as I have done in the past.  I let her pick the motifs she wanted and the colors, but this one is too big for the coaster(and I don't think I would like to try it again-it IS a challenge!!).  I love it in these colors, but I don't thing I am good at tatting it.  :)  It HAD to be blocked just to lay flat.  I think it's pretty good.  

So...now, we are trying another motif to see if it will fit in a coaster.  :)

A little tatting, and a LOT of snow!! :)

When I was tatting the small garlands, my friend brought me some ivory colored garlands that she bought several years ago and wanted me to tat them too.  Well....these are 18 ft. long and I knew the Lizbeth Christmas Delight wasn't going to look very well with them, so I looked and Lizbeth Cranberry Bush in size 10 looked like it would work well.  

 So... Here is the first of (if I remember correctly) 4. 

 I think the colors look like old Victorian Christmas colors.

 And yes, my Christmas tree is still up, due to a lot of bad things happening to start this year, so I used it to model the garland.

 Here is the garland on my couch.

 It's long!!!  Took 1 1/2 balls of size 10.

 See below, still decorated for Christmas.  :)  Ummm.. to start the explanation: On the Friday after Christmas I had to take my dad to the hospital for a scheduled surgery, when I got home that night I was very sick and my mom got it 2 days later, then my husband 2 days later.  We never got to go see my dad recovering due to the sickness.

 Well, my dad was supposed to come home on Jan. 1, but the hospital called and said they might have to put dad on life support.  By midnight, he was on full life support and totally unresponsive, and he died the next morning.  And I was sick for 2 whole weeks.  Well, I am making this next doily hoping to brighten my mom's day when she receives it.  She loves pink and I really hope she likes this.  I have one more round to go.  I will post the finished piece when it's done.  Thanks again to all those who helped with the confusion of instructions!! : )

 Now, for the LOTS of snow.  This is this morning(and it still looks that way cuz' it's the back door and I am not going out right now!!!)

 This was our front steps this morning.

 This is a double drift outside our livingroom window and is almost as high as the bottom part of the window.

 This is God's handiwork, a crater drift between the neighbor's house on the left, and our shed on the right.

 And this is my hubby.  Can yo see how high that snow is(thigh high on this 6 foot guy).  He hates shoveling, but he can't stand staying home so he shoveled all of that in front of our van just so he could get away for a bit.  So...as I said...a little tatting, and a LOT of snow!!!  :)

Well, now you have the explanation for my slack in blogging.  Thanks for all the wonderful comments since and I hope you are all doing well and having a much better start to your new year!!!  :)
Oh, and all this snow must have been our 28th Wedding Anniversary gift from God.  :)  Cuz' it's today.  :)

Needing some help in understanding directions. :)

Hi everyone.  I am busy working on a pattern which is new to me and for some reason I just don't understand what the directions are telling me for this next round.  I figured just tat it like the pattern says and it should look like the picture, but there are words which I can't seem to grasp right now.

The pattern is from the book Tatting Patterns and Designs by Gun Blomquist and Elwy Persson and it's on pg. 66 a doily named Coppelia.  

Round 3 is what I am concerned about.  They have the pattern stitch numbers and then add a side note which is concerning me(maybe needlessly).

Any help will be greatly appreciated!!!  :)

More tatting to show... :)

These 2 designs are from the book Tina Frauberger Schiffchenspitze 1921 pg. 47 top design 

in Lizbeth size 40 Orange Crush, and the second from page 56 bottom design in Lizbeth size 40 Raspberry Frappe.  I had to kinda guess the pattern since it's in a different language, but I think they turned out beautifully!!  :)

 These next two were just to play with the new Lizbeth size 40 Rainbow Splash thread!!  :)  They are from Tatting Patterns and Designs by Gun Blomqvist & Elwy Persson.  The first is from page 39 Star no. 2, and the second from pg. 35 Star no. 2.  Such fun colors!!  :)

 This one is supposed to be a heart from the book Ultimate Book of Tatted Doilies pg. 8 titled Heart #8.  I am not sure why it's so round and doesn't really resemble a heart, but I like the colors!  This thread was dyed by a sweet young 6 yr. old boy who named it after his grandpa-Ampie size 20.  I am going to get this to him.  :)

 Next, is a Lizbeth size 40 Orange Crush suncatcher.  A friend of my mother-in law wants me to make her suncatchers now too.  So this is the first.  This pattern is Silver Charm Suncatcher Ornament from the Big Book of Tatting by Darlene Polachic and it's attached inside a bangle bracelet in the same manner as in this tutorial: http://hiskid66.blogspot.com/2013/08/michelles-requested-tutorial-attaching.html .

 This last piece is my own design(from the last post)  Flutterby Square.  It's tatted in Lizbeth size 40 Raspberry Pink Med.

I failed at my 25 Motif Challenge for last year.  Not that I didn't tat 25 things, but I was hoping to do 25 "new to me" projects so that it would be a challenge.  I am hoping to start fresh and succeed this year.  I am already working on my first project and hope to show it soon.  :)

Finally able to post TATTING!!! :)

Here are some Christmas presents I tatted.  The first is a "Sunflower" doily.  It's actually  from the Exquisite Luncheon Set on pg. 30 of the book Tatting Doilies & Edgings edited by Rita Weiss.  From the moment I first saw this pattern it looked like a sunflower to me(now, sunflowers are not my favorite, but it looks like one so I had to tat is as one).  It's tatted in Lizbeth size 10 Mocha Brown Dk. and Golden Yellow Med.

I thought I ought to let everyone know that I did alter the pattern just a bit(now that I think about it).  When adding the "petals" I joined the 2 lowest picots on each to give it a little stability.  It didn't say you are supposed to, I just felt it needed it.  :)  Oh, and for those interested.  The brown center tats up rather quickly, but the petals take some time.  :)

 Originally it was planned for something else, but while in progress my husband claimed it, so when finished it was a nice gift!!  :)

 This is for size reference.

 This too.

 Now, these next pictures are something I came up with.  My friend wanted some neat hand dyed threads for some things she does(she does not tat), so I found some online at ArtFabrik: http://artfabrik.com/artfabrik-store/threads/ and they are size 3(which she needs the larger threads).  Well, there wasn't enough for the projects she does so she gave them to me.  I thought it would be nice for her to still have her gift so I decided to tat something with the threads.  I made candle coasters.

 This first pattern is one I made up.  I call it Flutterby Square cuz' the inside reminds me of a butterfly when sitting square(my daughter said the same thing all on her own).  It's tatted in Really Red color.

 This next one is a pattern from Tatting Patterns by Lyn Morton called Shamrock.  Tatted in Green Grass color.

 This next one is an altered pattern from Tatting Patterns by Lyn Morton.  It's an star type earring pattern, which I just continued to extend to make a coaster.  Tatted in Lemons color.

 This next one is my own design.  I call it Radiating Butterfly.  It's tatted in Asters color.

 And this last one is my own pattern too.  I call it Flowers in Stars.  The center is a circle surrounded by a flower, then that is surround by a star, and then another flower, and the outside a final star.  I really love this!!  :)  It's tatted in Parakeet color.     

 Here is the whole collection.  She hasn't received them yet due to circumstances, but I hope she likes them.  I really enjoyed tatting with these threads for something different!!  :)  I love the colors too!!  :)