Gird your loins!

Get ready the Spring Napkin 2019 is here!  Renata warns that this time it may last into the summer.  A new round will be posted at her blog every Thursday but you can also purchase the whole pattern with more details on Etsy.  Sounds like big fun.
Thank you Renata for bringing this to tatting again this year!
P.s. still working on 2016....

Yarnvent Calendar

I love advent calendars.  I make or buy them for my neices and nephews every year.  Last year I was amazed to realise that they do yarn advent calendars but I don't really need lots of random yarn so they didn't quite work for me.  

This year I was delighted to find out that Log House Cottage Yarns had a micro mini skein advent.  This means that each day you get around 25 yards of yarn which is more than enough for my evil plan and not a huge expenditure of money.  I am using the yarn in 2 ways. The first is in a crocheted long narrow scarf using a grey speckle yarn from Log House Cottage Yarns as the main colour and the advent yarn as a strip of bobbles.  Bobbles just seem festive to me.  The second way I'm using the yarn is to make crocheted puff flowers.  My neice tried to claim one the other day so I'm pretty sure they will end up in a blanket for her.  I'm thinking that I can crochet around each flower with a green yarn to make squares and then join them together. Which means I get to but more yarn!

Don't worry I haven't abandoned tatting and will have a new tree pattern available shortly....as soon as I do the other things I'm supposed to do! lol

Thankful Poppy Pattern

A quick single shuttle poppy pattern to share with you on this day of Remembrance.

36 red seed beads (i used delicas)
4 black seed beads
Size 20 thread in black
Size 20 thread in red (i used 671 Lizbeth Poppy red)
1 shuttle or needle

Add 4 black beads to thread.  Wind 2 yards (this maybe overkill but I just made the pattern lol) on shuttle cut thread.

R. 6 vsp 6
R. 2 pull up bead on core thread 2 pull up bead on core thread 2 +(onion ring join to vsp) 2 pull up bead on core thread 2 pull up bead on core thread 2
Change to red thread.  Put 4 yards on the shuttle with 36 beads.  Cut from ball thread.  Join to picot formed over bead.

*Put 3 beads on back of hand when forming ring
R 6. Close ring (beads will form the inside curve of ring
Make 3 rings*
Join to picot above next bead
Repeat from * to * around center to make 4 petals.
Hide ends.

If you are ambitious you can hide the ends with a single shuttle split ring at the back.  This will allow you to add a clip

Thank-you to all that serve and those supporting them.💟💟💟

Success!

A couple of years ago I purchased Aileen's Best Press at a quilt shop.  I read on facebook that some people were using it on doilies between rounds.  They would do a quick block and use the best press on the doilies to add body.  So when I saw it I thought I would try it but it's been sitting in my cabinet since then. 
Recently, I had this pile of ice drops that I really didn't what to do with.  So I decided to block them and test out the best press.  The ice drops were all test tats or experiments so nothing was lost if they were destroyed.  I aldo wanted to see what the best press did to the plastic gems.
So I rinsed the tatting, laid it out in the shape I wanted and sprayed them with the best press. 
I think it was a win.  The dimensional tatting actually held its shape but was still pliable.  The plastic gems werr not damaged by the spray.
I'm really happy with the results.

Tat's up?

My sister made this sign for me to hang at my cottage.  I'm going to add tatting to either end of the sign. 

Found this

I found this pendant when I was organizing last week.  It just needs the findings added and its ready to go.  Its been in this state for around 3 plus years! 
Its been put in the priority pile lol.

Martha Ess's bath stitch button teapot

I finished Martha Ess's Bath Stitch Button Teapot from the Fringe Tatdays.  Unfortunately I made an early mistake, didn't realise and saw at the end.  I fixed it but then cut a picot when cutting the threads!  D'oh!