A Herd of Giraffes

Last year I made entwined hearts and butterflies for a friend whose daughter was married in July.  here are the butterflies.  In October her sister is getting married and because she likes giraffes I was asked if I could make hundreds of them, plus entwined hearts in blue and yellow.  So far I have made 150 giraffes.

And 100 entwined hearts

The wedding reception is being held at a local zoo and during it the couple are going to be taken to the where the giraffes are and given a personal close up view of them.  I have been making these giraffes for months, even took them on holiday but only managed to tat 10 of them!  Over the months there have been a few mistakes and they have had to be rejected, for instance who has ever seen a three legged giraffe or a one legged giraffe?  I cut the head off one of them because it did not have a nose!

Sadly I missed a visit to Singapore's zoo as I was ill, so cannot show you a real life giraffe.  But I think this chap which I saw in Indonesia  is super and would have liked to buy him but he would not fit in my suitcase.

Of course the giraffe is one of Jane's doodle patterns which can be found here.

Covering boxes and lions!

I have no idea why over the last two years I have been attracted to buying plain little boxes and then covering them with a few layers of paint and a bit of tatting, so transforming them.  My immediate family (all men) are really not impressed with the boxes, and can't see the point of going to all the trouble of decorating this small useless item.  So hopefully some one reading this blog may be a little more enthusiastic about my efforts!

Most of the tatting that adorns them is from a stash of long discarded items that linger in a wicker basket

The flowers are from bunches that I put together and were in a crocheted basket in a flower and fabrics exhibition last year.  I still have a lot more of them!

A friend of mine has recently visited Paris and sent me this picture taken in the Palace of Versailles and she thought it might be tatting.  It is crocheted lace over a Pakistan marble lion, in fact there are two of them.   Just look at this link if you want to know more about the exhibition.

This is a Chinese Soapstone lion (one of a pair) that I thought I would cover with tatting, these are the bunches that I took to pieces, added a pearl bead and stuck on the top of the yellow box.

Not quite in the style as the Pakistan marble lion!  So you might like to look at these animals also created by the same person who decorated the Versailles's lion, does that inspire any one to cover an animal with tatting?

Ireland and Indonesia

If you go back to this blog post you will see the edging that I started 10 months ago.  I found the muddled piece of tatting (typical UFO!) and managed to complete the edging this week.   The pattern, Crowning Glory, is from Mark Myers site (AKA Tatman) and can be found here.

It is surrounding a piece of Irish linen which was purchased when I was on holiday there, placed on it is a piece of  Connemara marble (found only in a remote area in the Connemara Mountains of Western Ireland) in the shape of the country.  


Whilst in Indonesia I purchased small pieces of batik with the intention to tat around them. Well may be one day!  

They are very creased as they got rather squashed in the suitcase!  But here is where the pieces came from. We were taken to the back of the shop to see how the batik is made, this woman's skirt is just full of wax as she wipes her pen on it.

This fellow is putting colour on to a picture.

I did not purchase any batik pictures from this shop, although my sons did.  The pictures I bought came from the shop village near to our hotel, which I will write about at a later date.


My suitcase though contained plenty of other items in the batik style!


I have come back to say that tomorrow is St. Swithin's Day 15th July, he was once a Bishop of Winchester, a city we live quite near to.  It is a day on which people watch the weather, for tradition says that whatever the weather is like on St. Swithin's Day, it will continue so for the next forty days.
There is a weather-rhyme well known throughout the British Isles since Elizabethan times.

'St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain
For forty days it will remain
St. Swithin's day if thou be fair
For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.'

dost = does
thou = you
nae mair = no more.

So we are really hoping that tomorrow will be dry after so much rain over the past few months.

My shuttles and your shuttles!

A small walk from the hotel where we were staying in Indonesia was the village of Tembi, where scattered amongst the homes, quite a large selection of crafts were being made.    I bought some leather handbags and this leather box which now holds my pop-a-bobbin shuttles. 

The walk to the local craft industry took you past these sights

One mode of transport

A very early prayer call was heard every morning at 4 am from the Mosque and at other times during the day.  Notice the loud speakers on top.

There was no door to the place where the leather and rattan goods were being made, you just came upon it quite suddenly after going past some small dwellings.

All the goods were stacked on shelves and on our first visit we had a job to find someone to ask how we could buy them. So we went back the following day.

I am pleased to announce that a small quantity of pop-a-bobbins shuttles and a few hooks with hats on were delivered to Jane at the weekend and will be going into her Etsy shop very soon.

Marilee's Earrings

Now that my hair is shorter I have gone back to wearing earrings, although my ears are not pierced, but that is no problem I just attach clip-on findings.  These are what I have been working on.

I made them without extra beads

 But then got carried away and added more beads!

The pattern is from Marilee Rockley's book "Tatted Jewelry" and called Giddy Earrings

The set I wore on Monday night whilst having a meal with colleagues at the Bishop of Winchester's palace were these

Although I did make one or two mistakes on one of them but needed them quickly to wear with this necklace

Amazingly someone recognised them as tatting!

Just to show you that ancient people did wear earrings this is taken from a temple in Java, Indonesia -  and I am not sure if they are men or women!

More pop-a-bobbin shuttles have been made and will be arriving at Jane's place shortly

We have also had a consignment of crochet hooks from Japan. It has been the best way to buy them as they have been so expensive to source in the UK. But look where they came from Hiroshima City, a place that will never be forgotten.

To all those across the pond Happy American Independence Day!