Because it fits!

Renulek's doily keeps growing, apparently her latest row is not the last.  However, it is for one of mine, because it fits snugly on to this round table made by 'im in the garage. It does lie much better than the picture but I kept moving it and so it got out of line!

The other doily is at this stage

I never told you that there is a third one which is also progressing well

Tatting and woodwork

Here is the latest round of Renulek's doily, I have not pressed it too well as I finally finished it last night and hurried to press the piece early this morning.  Hopefully with the next round it will become firmer.  

There has been very little shuttle making over the last month or two in the garage, mainly because other projects have been more pressing.  A birthday present for one of our sons (which I will show soon) and the start of some entries into an exhibition.  

This is a toy for children or grown ups to play with, the idea is that you put the marbles in the top of the tower and then turn the handle and they drop one at a time and roll into the channel where they are at the moment.  

Paper Clips and progress on doily

I found the idea of glueing plain buttons to the back of paper clips on the internet and promptly went in search of the glue gun which happened to be hidden somewhere in the garage.   For these flower paper clips I found some buttons with shanks on the back which fitted neatly through the middle of the tatting and paper clip.  They are extremely firm and have a nice weight to them.  

I have so many centres of the flowers left over from another project and so simply tatted an outer ring with plenty of beads to give them a bit of a sparkle. By having two layers of tatting there is plenty of area to use for glueing.  To finish off I did add a round of felt at the back to give them a clean look.

Renulek's doily is coming on well but is now too big to scan.  Also to let you into a secret I am working on two at the same time, so you may see a different looking doily next time, just depends.  The ones you saw in the previous post I am not adding to, in fact I have given the blue one away. 

Plain or Fancy?

My fascination for this pattern by Renulek has not faded and so instead of making individual ones I decided to join them together, but alas the plan did not work.  Well it might with a lot of filling in, something I just can't get my head around! The grey mat was going to be in the centre and then lots of pastel shades around the outside.   What would really be good though is another round just to make it slightly bigger.

I love the elegance when it is tatted in one colour but also like the prettiness of using variegated thread.

Plain or Fancy?

Doily Progress

I am absolutely hooked on this pattern from Renulek and was intrigued to know what 'Wiosna' meant, the name she has given for the pattern.  So enlisted the help of Google translate and it appears to mean 'Spring' but please correct me if I am wrong, those of you who can understand Polish.

Today Renulek has posted the final round on her blog, but there is no way I will be able to finish either of these pieces until possibly after the weekend.

The size of the doily or mat (not sure what the difference is) is not enormous as first feared, but just right in order to make a statement before getting bored and fed up with tatting it!   

I used some old Coats thread for the grey one and Manuela thread for the pink one which has come out slightly smaller. 

Lets get back to basics

It is true that since the world of tatting has been invaded by so many coloured threads to choose from and the delight of adding beads and whatever you like to tatting, I have had an absolute ball!  In fact I got to the stage when a picot could not be naked!  It had to be joined to something, have a bead or beads on or failing that the picots had to graduated.  Recently I had been seriously thinking of making a doily, particularly as there is an Art Exhibition coming up in July and it would be a piece of tatting to 'show of'.  Now you can count the amount of doilies I have actually made on one hand, they are not what I usually enjoy tatting.  Although I do enjoy seeing the beautiful ones that other people have made.  So Maureen's comment 'Maybe this is the year you need to try one of Renulek's enormous doilies?' rather stopped me in my tracks.  Then just by chance Renulek posted a beautiful set of doilies on her blog and today she started the pattern instructions.   So that it is I am off, although could not decide on the colour and wonder if I will actually stick to the same all the way through, but who knows?

Renulek promises to post the next bit of her pattern tomorrow but I know I will not be able to keep up.  I also thought of doing a split chain to climb into the next round but as I was  coming to the end of my shuttle thread decided to finish off completely.
I am also beginning to understand why Maureen said 'enourmous'!


On Saturday I was trying to teach five ladies how to tat, they were finding it very hard to get the basic technique so I have sent them home to practise.  They all attended the class with the idea that that tatting was relatively easy as I produce so many items, they have gone away with quite a different perception, well for now!

Candlemas

If Candlemas be fair and bright,

Winter has another flight.                                                                                                                   If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,                                                                                    Winter will not come again.

An old English saying which is meant to predict the weather.  Today in England it is cold,  and there has been no rain and the sun has been shinning, but sadly that does mean that we are going to see a little more Winter weather before Spring comes, according to this ancient saying.

This morning in church I talked about Candlemas and in particular snowdrops and how they are associated with the purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Since completing my mammoth exercise of covering Christmas ornaments, which ended last week,  I have been a little unsettled not knowing what to tat next.  Last night whilst preparing for today  I looked for a snowdrop pattern.  I found this one designed by Jennifer Williams but I sort of adapted it a little and of course made them into earrings.  I wore them this morning and asked the congregation where they could see snowdrops in church, fortunately when I walked down the aisle a few did notice, as they were obviously looking in other places!

I passed so many snowdrops on my walk to church through the graveyard this morning but this particular one is in my garden and I look forward to it's appearance every year.

As it was an All Age Service the congregation were invited to decorate these candles to take home. Centuries ago Candlemas used to be the day that candles were brought to the church to be blessed but today also marks the end of Christmas and so I really do need a new tatting project!