Tatted Necklace

I must say I enjoy tatting jewelry most of all. I started this necklace over two years ago. I tatted "Triad" from Mary Konior's book Tatting Patterns with beads and then I kind of got stuck because I wasn't sure if I liked the edging which I had adapted from Phyllis Klosterman's booklet "Tatting Designs -Edging Collection". So....after two years I finally pulled it back out of the UFO bag and took it to Kingfisher, OK with me for the Oklahoma Shuttle Bugs tatting meeting. I worked on it throughout the whole meeting and the remainder of the weekend and finished it Monday. The following day I decided to tat up some matching earrings and this is what the final product looks like. I rather like it. What do you think?

This will be my motif # 22. I almost forgot, the thread is Size 20 Haekelgarn which is a really nice thread to tat with. The beads are a big disappointment. I bought them at Walmart. They came in a pack: a mix of Size 10 seed beads and short bugle beads and the colors were gold, silver, pink and brown, which you can't tell anymore because the paint rubbed off while tatting! The 3 mm beads came in a bead pack from Dollar Tree. They have held up well. I want to attach a charm, pendant or teardrop bead onto the free picot in the center, not sure yet which.

Hearts for Tracy

Amazing how time just gets away from you! I have been tatting and bobbin lacing but still have to scan or take pictures of all the things I have made. Last Friday I finally discovered the Hearts for Tracy patterns on Heather Johnston's tatting blog and sat down over the weekend and tatted two of them. The red shaded heart is Lizbeth Size 20 thread with gold Size 11 seed beads. For the pink heart I used Gem Size 30 thread. These will be my motif # 21. I hope they get to Heather before she sees her friend Tracy in the hospital. I forgot all about today being a federal holiday. Happy Veterans Day!

Oklahoma State Fair Entries

I was able to display my Oklahoma State Fair entries at work and take a picture. I received some nice comments from coworkers and physicians. I entered two beaded items in the beadwork contest, the necklace with earrings in the class jewelry and the bracelet and earrings in jewelry, other. I am very pleased with having received 2nd place on both because there was a lot of competition. The little tatted pendant bag is hiding behind the ornament with the tatted drape. It received third place in the class beaded bags/purses. I still can't believe the bobbin lace bookmark received first place. It's Lesson 2 in the Bobbin Lace Manual. The hairpin lace fan received first place. The Romanian point lace heart received third place and my dragons picture received second place. In the meantime I tatted a pair of pink baby booties but I still need to take a picture before I can show it here.

Hmmm Brains!

At work we had a Neurosurgery Resident with our Department for three months. He is such a sweet guy, that we will miss him. For his last day with us, my colleague Alex brought cupcakes and I made him a brain button. I used Size 20 Lizbeth in pink, the grey was Flora and the green was Manuela. Once I saw the pattern on Martha Ess' website I knew I had to tat it. Thank you Martha for the great pattern! This is my motif # 20.

County Fair Entries

This morning I received the pictures my colleague Alex had taken of my County Fair entries. I had permission to display them at work for a few days. I received many nice comments from the people who saw them. The tatted glass ornaments are from Dianna Stevens' lovely book "Victorian Tatted Christmas". The two snowflakes on the left are from the book 24 Snowflakes in Tatting by Lene Bjorn. I can't remember where I got the pattern of the third snowflake, maybe the Big Book of Tatting. The hairpin lace and tatting fan was a picture I had saved from the internet a while back and I cannot remember who posted it. It turned out well with the Size 20 Lizbeth thread. The owl bookmark is another pattern from Dianna Stevens from her book Animal Bookmarks A Tatted Zoo. For the handmade greeting card I used two creative flowers from Helma Siepman's book and the little rose is from a Victorian crafts magazine. The tatted items are my motifs 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, and 19.

For those of you who have been wondering if I will ever show you any beading, there is the beaded frosted flower necklace and matching earrings which are a pattern by Kerrie Slade published in February/March 2009 Beadwork magazine. And there is the beaded light blue glass ornament which is a pattern by Robin Cowart. The pattern was published in the December 2008/January 2009 Beadwork magazine.

Oklahoma State Fair

I turned my Oklahoma State Fair entries in on Saturday. I am planning on going to the fair on opening day after work, which is Thursday, to see if and how they placed. Once the fair is over I'll scan everything and post pictures. That should boost my motif count quite a bit.

Canadian County Fair 2009

It has been a long time since my last post! For two weeks after returning from our vacation in Germany I was tatting my fingers to the bone to get my Canadian County Fair entries ready. It was definitely worth it. I received four 1st place, two 2nd place and one 4th place. I entered the dragon picture in the category Tatting. I am sure you all recognize the dragons as Anne Bruvold's patterns.

Back from Vacation

Hi there,

We spent 2 1/2 weeks in Germany on vacation. The reason was my mom's 70th birthday party. We had great food and nice visits with family and friends. We also took the train to the German Alps to visit with more family. While there we went hiking in the mountains. The time went by way too fast!

Finally Some Earrings for Myself

Here is one of the pairs of earrings I had tatted for myself. The thread is Size 30 hand dyed cordonnet thread from Marilee Rockley, aka Yarnplayer. It is the most wonderful thread to tat with. It is called Rhubarb Pie. The beads are pink Size 11. The pattern is by Elizabeth Zipay who tats beautiful jewelry.

Never Enough Earrings

Hi there! I hope everybody had a great Independence Day! It was so nice to be off for three days in a row. I needed to rest and tat. A friend of mine asked me for color specific earrings and here they are. The pattern for the yellow pair is from the split ring bookmark that Jane Eborall's friend sent to her. One of the 25 motif challenge participants, Krystle Dawn, made earrings from it and I just love the way they turned out. So I had to have a go at them. The blue ones are the same pattern by Marilee as the ones in a previous post. I used Flora Size 20 thread for both pairs. They are my motifs # 11 and 12.

Another Bookmark

Here is one more bookmark I tatted before I joined the 25 motif challenge. I just love the colors and the pattern. The thread is Altin Basak 50 and the pattern is by Sherry Pence. I liked the way she used the self closing mock ring for the onion ring, very clever!

More Earrings

Here are the latest earrings I tatted with white Lizbeth thread Size 20 and gold metallic beads. The pattern is from Marilee Rockley, aka Yarnplayer. They hold their shape beautifully. Thank you Marilee for your lovely patterns! I believe they are motif # 10.

Bookmarks

The Neurology Resident Graduation Party was a very nice affair. This picture is of the administrative staff aka the Motley Crue. I am the one on the left, next to me are Carole, Alisha and Connie. I am 5'4", this will give you an idea of how tall everybody else is. Alisha is wearing the black tatted necklace and earrings I had given her for her birthday.

The tatted bookmarks were my gifts to the Grads. For the blue and pink bookmark I used Altin Basak 50. The pattern is from Gina Brummet aka the Tatting Godess. The lavender bookmark is a variation of Kersti's Sabrina bookmark pattern for which I used Manuela Size 20 thread. For the very colorful bookmark on the right I used a variegated vintage Star Gem Size 30 thread for the tatting and white for the crocheted braid. The pattern is Ocean Surf by Kim Millar. I am not counting these towards the 25 motif challenge because I had already tatted them before I started the challenge. They looked even better after I blocked and starched them.

Party

Tomorrow is our annual Neurology Residents Graduation Party. We have three doctors who finished their neurology training through our residency program. It is always a very nice affair, with great food, fancy dresses or suits and dancing. My colleague Alisha got a new dress in light blue, medum blue and yellow and asked me if I could tat her a pair of earrings to go with it. I found a picture of these lovely earrings on Marilee's blog and knew these were the ones. Alisha loves them. She held them up next to the dress and they are a perfect match. I used DMC Cebelia Size 20, yellow seed beads Size 11 and blue dagger beads. I shall call them motif # 9.

Snowflake and Medallion

Here is a fluffy purple snowflake from the book "24 Snowflakes in Tatting" by Lene Bjorn. That is a really nice little tatting book. It's easy to carry around with me and I love all the different techniques she uses for the snowflakes. The thread is a Star Gem Size 30.

The little blue and white medallion is from "A New Twist on Tatting" by Catherine Austin. It's one of the motifs in a collar. The thread is a Star Gem Size 30. I am thinking about putting it inside an acrylic coaster.

These two are my motifs 7 & 8. I forgot to mention in my last entry that the black necklace and matching earrings are motifs 5 & 6.

Jewelry

Today is my colleague Alisha's birthday. She is the proud recipient of a tatted black necklace with matching earrings. I had so much fun tatting her gifts. The thread is Lizbeth Size 20 and the beads are silver lined crystal Size 11. The earring pattern is from free-tatting.com and the necklace idea is from Elizabeth Zipay.

Earrings

Over the last two weekends I tatted some jewelry for upcoming birthdays which I can't show yet. I had such a great time tatting with beads. Tatting jewelry is definitely my favorite. Here are two pairs of earrings I did just for fun. The pattern for the blue pair is from freetatting.com. I used two shades of Altin Basak Size 50 thread. The pink pair is Elizabeth Zipay's which she generously shared on her blog. I used Oren Bayan Size 50 variegated pink. I am counting them as motifs 3 & 4.

Motifs # 1 & 2

My mom received her belated Mother's Day card with Motifs # 1 & 2. No. 1 is a flower fragment from Mary Konior's book Tatting Patterns. No. 2 is the Letter H from the new book Tatting ABC's and 123's. The thread is Lizbeth Size 20. It is a very nice thread for tatting because it works up crisp.

I finally got a blog started!

Yes! I finally got my very own blog! I am so excited. I have been wanting a blog since the 25 motif challenge started. I am an avid tatter. I am a proud member of the Oklahoma Shuttle Bugs, the Lace Guild of Oklahoma and IOLI. The last two years I entered tatting in both the County and State Fairs and received lots of ribbons.