Pearl bead snowflakes

 This will definitely be my last post of 2020 a year that I have not been blogging that much. This is mainly because I did not have a lot to show, tatting seemed to be low on my priority list most of the time.

I have tatted these snowflakes they are not a unique design in anyway but I loved the way they turned out with the Pearl beads. The white one was the first, the red one the second and when I got to the green one the bead placements and thread count was much better. 

I am going to tat a few more of them and then it is back to the special pattern that I am trying to design. I gave up some months ago when things were going horribly wrong with it. 

Santa’s Sleigh

I know this is a little late but here is Santa’s empty sleigh after all the presents have been delivered and parked up for next year! The thing is I have only just finished tatting it, so obviously this version is also going to be packed away until next Year.

The pattern is from Pam Palmer’s book Tatting treats and I decided that instead of using white cotton which is the version illustrated in her book I would use Christmas colours and beads. It isn’t pressed yet and resting on a cushion so may look a bit bumpy but it really is a well thought out pattern and will not need much more attention.  

I am now going to start thinking about some Christmas tatting ideas of my own as I find that I can cope with the idea of having nearly twelve months to actually bring them to fruition. 

Christmas Bells

 Have not achieved much tatting on the run-up to Christmas, but then I did manage to finish off a few unfinished pieces as well as making about 20 cards. At this very moment working on a picture that may or may not get finished today, depends on planned or unplanned distractions!

Not able to be with any of my family this year because of very strict Covid restrictions so may be a good opportunity to get those tatting shuttles working harder than usual! 

The bells are from Pam Palmers’s book Tatting Treats and I was going to make Santa’s sledge from the same book, may be I will over the next few days! 

Snowman

Another piece of tatting that I started a year ago and have just finished! 

A cheerful snowman to brighten up your day. Now off to finish a few more Christmas projects, only have a few days left to catch up, otherwise they will be packed away for another year. 

The pattern can be found here but with a different hat, I think this hat was on the original pattern, I like it better than the one on the updated pattern. 

Snowflakes & Cards

As usual I have left everything to the last minute but really not interested in preparing for the festive season this year. I have tatted the simplest snowflake going and used a glue dot to stick them on to cards. This is so that they can easily be taken off and used as a Christmas decoration by the recipient.

The snowflake in the middle of the display is a favourite design that I keep coming back to and is one of Martha Ess’s patterns.

Three Crafts in one!

What I so enjoyed doing when we were away on holiday last month was to walk along the beaches and find interesting shells, stones and sea glass.  

Although at the time I did not know exactly what I would do with the bits that were collected . The sea glass amounted to a large cup full of various shapes, colours and sizes. This is what I have used the first bits for.

I  glued the glass onto the prepared wooden piece in the shape of a Christmas tree, used the  pyrography pen to mark around the edges and then tatted a  string of lights to go around the branches. 

Robin

I tatted this robin quite a few years ago, it lingered for another year or two without any legs and then the legs were finally attached to branch and again it never got finished but was put away for another Christmas. Last week I added the beak and finished the last few bits off!  There are a few more robins hanging around somewhere that must get completed!

And the pattern is here designed by my sister Jane. 

Cornelia

 Cornelia is the name of this tatted Doily by Iris Niebach, from her book Tatted Doilies.

 I took this project on holiday as I thought it would be quick to make, but it wasn’t. Fortunately I had enough patience to finish it on returning home and so pleased I did. 

I wound  two threads together, one was sparkly but sadly the photograph hides this fact. But very pleased with the result.

Butterfly Snowflake

 I tatted these before the pandemic hit the world and then forgot about them until Jane showed them on her blog a few weeks ago.   I knew as a loyal sister it was not right to post them until they had been properly launched and she had published the pattern, so held back, even though I just loved the design. My intention was to tat a lot more of them but everything changed in my life and for everyone else! 

Definitely a snowflake that I can tat for friends as Christmas approaches.  

Crochet Shawl

 So the granny square blanket that I showed you a few posts ago actually turned into a shawl and I am so pleased with the result. It is lovely to have around my shoulders now the evenings are getting chillier. 

The photograph was taken in this building, called the Cider House, where we were able to spend five days last month surrounded by amazing countryside.  

Lockdown 2 - Hearts and Crosses

So tonight All Hallows Eve, we hear that in the UK we are, before the end of the week, going into another lockdown to try and reduce Covid-19 infections. 

So possibly more tatting time?

In the meantime I tatted this heart, pattern from Martha Ess’s book ‘button jar tatting’ which I attached to a top 

And to cheer myself up I made some 'death cakes'  or 'soul cakes' which used to be given out at this time of the year to commemorate the dead.  Which is pretty apt as I spent most of yesterday in the churchyard taking funeral services. 

May be I will also find more time to write on this blog.  

Holiday Tatting

Holiday packing demands making lots of decisions especially when it comes to what clothes to take with you. So a few days on the Dorset coast in England mid October was no exception. At the last minute I threw some threads and shuttles in my tatting bag. On arrival started to tat Cornelia from Iris Niebach’s book. Just hope I will finish when I return home.

This part of the U.K. is known as the Jurassic Coast where fossils from the pre-historic age can be found. This was one of our finds.

 

Crocheting

I was listening to the Food Programme on Radio 4 last weekend it was talking about biscuits, their history and the British love of them especially during lockdown. Then the presenter quoted ‘tatting and sampler making’  in respect of how biscuit making could have gone the same way. So I tweeted that tatting was very much alive and her reply was “ One unexpected outcome of the biscuit programme is the rise of the tatters! Hurrah”

But today I have some granny squares in crochet, to show you,  they are for a project I am working on, perhaps you can guess what I am making? 

Lavender Wands

It’s that time of year to collect and dry lavender. Last year I made lavender bags but in the last few days I have tried my hand at making lavender wands.  As you see not only did I weave ribbon in and out of the stems but I also added tatting and wound that around to finish them off. The aim was also to try and enclose more of the lavender especially as my weaving was not very precise. Making lavender wands is not easy to do, even though the videos show otherwise! 

Sunflowers and Daisies

 I love to see sunflowers as they a so big and bold and just remind you of smiley Summer faces. Each year I grow some with limited success, what usually happens is they get blown over whilst they are trying to make a break for the sun!  

A red sunflower as well as a yellow one!

Using the daisy pattern here they are tatted

 

Yew Shuttles

 Here are the latest pop-a-bobbin shuttles to be made, at the moment there are other woods to choose from but I thought you would be more interested in these from my last post.

They are on a huge piece of cedar of Lebanon wood. As you can see from the rings (which are supposed to determine the age of a tree) it came from a tree over a hundred years old. The tree is still growing and this piece, along with many more good sized chunks,  came down in a storm. 

Yew Wood

The yew wood is beautiful and we were fortunate to be given a chunk of it, which has been seasoning outside for many years. In ancient times yew wood was used for making bows, the trees were planted in graveyards so they are a common sight around our churches in the U.K. some going back at least a thousand years. 

Here is a newly cut stack of blanks to make some more pop-a-bobbin shuttles with. 

Resting on them is this pattern  http://janeeborall.freeservers.com/MotifFerrisWheel.pdf and of course I have used the version with a button in the middle.  As you have gathered it is Jane's pattern.   

Jane is actually helping me write out a pattern at the moment for a design of my own. I have been working on it for weeks and weeks and nearly given up many times as it is so very complicated.  It is going to be a very unique pattern based on something which is very well known, especially in our family. I don't think anyone has ever attempted to make one in tatting before.  I am so looking forward to it being finished!

More Jam

So my jam craze continues and over the last few weeks have picked and cooked the black currants which I had grown in my garden. I also have an abundance of rhubarb growing,  so by adding  ginger to the recipe have made a very flavourful jam.

One of the jars I gave away but before I did added a tatted owl because the recipient is a ‘wise  old bird’   The owl  is one of Jane’s patterns,  just love the design.

Jam Day

I have no idea why I decided to make jam on the hottest day of the year!  Strawberry  &  raspberry and also another batch of  strawberry rhubarb & ginger.  I haven’t made jam in years, now need to make some scones to go with them! 

Amusement Doily

I recently found two metal rings that I must have had for at least 10 years. About that time there was a craze in ‘tat world’ to cover rings of various sizes and make jewellery or Christmas decorations. My aim was to use a series of rings to make a wall hanging,

So as you see I tatted the amusement doily and have nearly attached it inside the ring, however as usually happens with me, I got distracted and the project is unfinished. My tatting distraction was to make some more rainbow earrings.

I have now another distraction, for the first time in years I am actually in the process of designing something in tatting.  It is not a doily, it is not an animal or motif. It is going to take a few weeks and from time to time will probably have to talk to Jane and ask for advice, but I am rather excited about it!  

One day I will finish what I started!

Found

Now I had lost these teapots when I tidied them away soon after lockdown. My aim was to put them onto cards, I can now do this, when I have found the cards! Just love this pattern from Martha Ess’s book ‘Tatting with buttons’.

The miniature teapot in the picture comes from Hong Kong, I bought it when we lived there and from time to time I think it should go but it is so unusual and therefore have not the heart to get rid of it.

Bag

I began to sew this bag in March as a ‘lock down project’ all was going  well and I was enjoying the free time and opportunity to do some creative craft work. However, very soon I lost interest in it and in fact everything. Three weeks later I picked it up again and made a massive effort to finish the bag. 

Also determined to make it a little bit different I tatted a trim, although  I thought it may spoil the bag and make it look too fancy.  However, I am  pleased with the look especially as it matches the decor of the room in which it will live.

This is a close up of the trim and the pattern can be found here

Rainbows of thanks

For those of you who live outside of the UK perhaps you are unaware of how the ‘Rainbow’ has become a symbol of thanks to those working in the National Health Service (NHS) especially during the outbreak of Covid-19.  Over the last five weeks children and adults have made their own rainbow pictures out of a variety of materials and  put them in the windows of homes and business.  We are truly grateful to all health professionals and to those people who have been looking after residents in care homes and others who have kept essential services running during the pandemic.   These are my rainbows to wear!

With the bottom set I used Lizbeth 20 thread Rainbow Splash the colour way my sister Jane Eborall thought of and it is just right with random beads for these earrings. The top set were rather a fiddle counting the colours on to the thread and shuttle in the exact order.

The pattern can be found here  it is very old.  
 I remember seeing it years ago and wanting to tat the earrings, now my time has come!  Thank you Georgia Seitz it seems that your pattern has now had a lovely come back.

Tatted Crosses

Thank you to those who commented on my last post and welcomed me back, so unexpected and lovely, I really must try and keep up my posts on this bog.

Before Easter I made some tatted crosses which I gave away, all but one. It was during the first few weeks of lockdown. My gifts, mostly posted, took the place of a face to face contact. I then made some more but have not, as yet, put  tails on them so they can be used as a bookmarks. 

Thank you to http://tattingbythebay.blogspot.com/p/free-patterns.html for the pattern, it is simple but very elegant.

I used number 80 and 100 thread together and enjoy seeing the different colour combinations that these threads seem to produce. 

A bit of a break

I have not posted anything for a long time on this blog, mainly because I got out of the routine and then suddenly all other routines in life went when the pandemic struck.  So I found these earrings which I made using the thread from Singapore. I have done other tatting but have lost some of the items in the past week or two since tidying up!

Ten years and still going

This month the pop-a-bobbin shuttle is celebrating its ten year anniversary. The design is far more streamlined than the original version and most shuttles are oiled instead of varnished. Also the hooks are now bought from Japan and then cut to size.  Production of the shuttles does not happen that often, mainly due to other commitments going on in our lives. We still get lots of enquiries and try to honour most within a span of three months.
The prices have also remained static and so we are going to have to raise them next month, not only to reflect the rising cost of materials but also the new packaging.

Instead of putting the shuttles into plastic bags, we have decided to use a cardboard box so reducing materials that cannot be recycled.  However, I think you will agree the packaging looks far more professional and enhances the workmanship.

Rag Doll

I can never remember ever owning a rag doll but have always thought they were rather fun with their floppy limbs and big round face. Martha Ess designed this little beauty and it is such a clever pattern. I framed it straight away, no idea why as have no where to put it as yet, just did not want it thrown in a drawer and forgotten about.

I have named her Betty Brexit on the day Britain leaves the European Union, something I find so sad as I for one felt we were ‘better together’,  oh well life moves on.

Adding to collection

My son in Singapore kindly went to China Town to pick up these shiny threads, and then posted them over to me, they are very similar to the Lizbeth ones, but feel slightly softer. 

On my usual charity shop rounds I found two Aero England post shuttles that just had to come home with me. They look to have been well used and I would have loved to know who originally owned them, but that is information lost in the mists of time. There is rather a gap on the tips of one of them, but they will just go into my collection and have a long and happy retirement. 

Dumper Trucks

I have so much praise for tatting pattern designers as there is so much skill in getting the finished design not only looking good, but also writing it down in a format that is understandable. Personally only had a few attempts at pattern designing and the whole process drove me crazy!

Martha Ess’s book Toys for Tatting is a real gem, and I highly recommend you buy it. I pick it up now and then and tat something from it. I had to do these ‘dump trucks’ in England we say ‘dumper‘ and just loved the way Martha takes you into a tatting adventure weaving in and out of her design.

I really did not set out to tat two but started the first one and thought I had gone wrong, fortunately I did not cut the thread, just abandoned and started another. Found out with making a second one that I was doing exactly the same as the original so went back and completed it as well. I have a grandson in Singapore who may like these, I am sure he will recognise them as he loves playing with cars and trucks. 

Fir Tree

On the day when Christmas decorations are being taken down I have tatted a fir tree up to look like a decorated tree.

The pattern is another one from Inga Madsen’s ‘12 Tatted Fairy-Tales.’ As you can see I made sure that it has coloured lights on it by included lots of seed beads.  In the book it is illustrated in white and instead of a star on top there is a bird.  I have used hand dyed thread and this one is called forest. 

I am tempted to make another one as I am particularly eager to use up the container of mixed beads (bead soup) that has grown over the years, mainly because of spillages.