19th Motif - One More Snowflake

There is one more snowflake that I sent in for the Palmetto Tat Days quilt. It was the last one I made before the deadline date for mailing and I think it turned out really pretty.

It is The Second Day of December snowflake from Lene Bjorn's 24 Snowflakes in Tatting book. Instead of tatting it in two rounds, I chose to do a split chain to move into the second round. I have to say that for the longest time, I avoided all patterns having a split chain because I just could not get the hang of it. Well I was bound and determined not to let this technique get the better of me so I searched for all the help I could find online and practiced them over and over until I figured it out and could make them match the rest of my tatting.

I've been looking for patterns with split chains now because I'm fascinated with them and they really are a nice way to transition from one row to another. When I saw this snowflake in her book, I had to try it and I'm glad I did. It's a very easy snowflake pattern (with or without the split chain) and works up quickly - two of the things I like most - fast and easy patterns.

If you haven't mastered the dreaded split chain, don't give up yet. Just keep watching the videos that other tatters so graciously make for us and look for help online - you'll get it with a little more practice. I know you will!

18th - Snowflakes for Fundraiser

Instead of making each snowflake an individual entry for the 25 Motif Challenge, I decided to group them together as my 18th motif.

As many of you know, the Palmetto Tatting Guild is putting together another quilt with tatting as a fundraiser for Tat Days 2011. They did this last year and it was so much fun and raised quite a bit of money so I couldn't wait to see what they were going to do this year.

I sent in 11 snowflakes total; some big and some small, all shuttle tatted, and really enjoyed making them for the quilt. Besides we didn't even have to hide the ends since they will be used to help join the snowflakes to the quilt! Such a deal!

The patterns used, in no particular order, are:

• Ice Crystal Snowflake, Saundra Hameed
• Layered Tatted Snowflake, Be-Stitched
• MHC Snowflake, Sally Magill
• Hearts in a Snowflake, Jon Yusoff
  
  
  
  

17th Motif - Duet

Here's another Mary Konior pattern from her book, Tatting with Visual Patterns. I lover her tatting and have enjoyed everything I've made from this book.

This is an all-rings pattern and I was surprised at how quickly I was able to tat it. Once you get in the rhythm of making the small rings and knowing where to join the large rings, it's a fast tat from start to finish.

Unfortunately I ran out of thread or I would have kept going and going and going. It's a fun repeat and I enjoyed making it.

15th & 16th Motifs - Hearts in a Snowflake & Simple Angel

Here is my 15th motif - a beautiful pattern by Jon Yusoff called Hearts in a Snowflake. I thought it was fitting for Valentine's Day. I really enjoyed doing the second round with chains and clovers done by switching your shuttles. Jon's patterns are lovely, very easy to follow, and fun to tat.

I had some thread left so I tatted Birgit's Simple Angel (Motif #16). Again, it was also a fun pattern to tat and worked up in no time at all. Next time I'll have to add beads to make her more 'glorious' and 'heavenly.'

Modified 2/15/11 to change the motif numbers.

Motif #14 - Amusement Doily

I just finished the Amusement doily. I'm not sure who first talked about this pattern, but I liked it and have had it on my list of to-do motifs for some time. The pattern itself was found through the Wayback Machine. If you've never used the Wayback Machine and are looking for something on the internet that has moved or is no longer supported, you might be able to find it there. Type in the website address and see what happens. There are a lot of tatting patterns whose links have been broken because the hosting services stopped or data was moved.

If you click on the photo, the original photo will be displayed.

Getting Back into the Tatting Swing of Things Again

Here's my 13th motif. I used Roger aka Freedman's Easy Bookmark with Butterfly Top from the Needle Tatting Proboard Forum.

It is needle tatted using Lizbeth #20 thread in the color called Confetti (#105).

Roger's instructions were perfect and it tatted up very quickly. I didn't add any beads this time but if I make it again, I think I will.

Let's see, what's next??

New Year - New Challenge (sort of)

What can I say? I did not complete my 25 Motif Challenge in 2010. I managed to get about halfway through it and then other stuff got in the way of my tatting.

I've decided that for 2011 I'm just going to append the annual challenge by adding the 13 motifs that I did not get done in 2010. That means I'll need to create 38 wonderful, challenging motifs by the end of this year.

I can do that, right? I'd better get started.

Wish me luck!