I'm back!

I came back early Sunday morning and was exhausted after a very long day.   The trip was great but I'm glad to be home.  There's only so much time you can spend at a beach.  I took some thread with me to work on but after the first day I didn't get much done. 

Victorian sets

Heather of tatted treasures left a comment in March asking about Victorian sets.  I didn't get a chance to respond before I left.  Victorian sets are when you do 4 first half stitches followed by 4 2nd half stitches.  It creates a chain that can be either straight or curved.  I use them a lot for tails on a bookmark.   Georgia Seitz has a better explanation with pictures and all the different names people use for this stitch.

In other news I'm very excited about the Finger Lakes Tatting Seminar next week.  I'm planning to buy books and replace my tatting needle that fell between the slats of my deck.   So far the books on my list are:

Iris Neibach's tatting fantasia
Karey Solomon's Wandering Wheels
Martha Ess's Playing with Picots
Ginny's New book (tittle not known)
Maybe:  the book with the Peacock that Frivole is tatting


I need to make sure to take the list of Lizbeth colors and mark the ones I need to replenish.  There's not alot of time between now and next Friday.  I'll be at my Mom's house most of this weekend so I won't have time this weekend to get things ready.

Heading somewhere hot!

I've got my bathing suit and tatting ready for the beach.  See you guys in April!   

On-line scavenger hunt

looks like a bird?

 So I'm still only at week one of the scavenger hunt. These are my shuttle face pictures.  I'm pretty up on the new techniques so instead I created a pattern using lock stitches and Victorian sets.

If the punisher was a tatter

Creating pattern with lockstitches and victorian sets.

Online Scavenger Hunt

Heather at tatted treasures is doing an online scavenger hunt.  This is her list for week 1:
Here are your first scavenger hunt challenges: (do as many as you like)
1.Photograph your shuttles making a face.

2.Find a reference to tatting in literature or a popular publication and quote or photograph it.

3.Tat a motif that uses a technique you’ve never tried before.

4.Photograph a coin dated the year you learned how to tat.

5.Poll 15 strangers and ask them if they have ever seen tatting before. Record the results.

I haven't done anything from her list yet but I think its pretty funny.  Tonight I'm going to make a face with my shuttles.  I know that Robin D. Owens makes a reference to tatting in one of her books.  I can't remember which one.
Unfortunately I've blocked my teenage years from my brain (its all one big boring blur) and cannot remember when I learned to tat. That makes number 4 impossible.   

Onion rings




Front view of heart...can you tell the difference?

  I made a mistake by showing the wrong side of the heart in the last post.   You guys were correct in saying the onion ring join (ORJ) was on the right.   From the front it looks the same but from the back it looks different than a Catherine Wheel join.
 The ORJ isn't meant for chains, its really meant for patterns where the rings are concentric.  Basically you join the outside ring to the inner ring to hold it in place and ends up looking like a slice of onion.  Hence the name onion ring join.  It has its own little foibles so I leave it up to you whether or not to use it. 


Picture from http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2002/onion/onion.html

I found a couple links for anyone interested in the join.  http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art39226.asp
http://www.georgiaseitz.com/2002/onion/onion.html

Catherine Wheel terror?

 Fox over at tat-ology is currently working towards Catherine Wheel perfection.  I think she's just addicted to making this little heart by Frivole.  I can see why, its a very fun pattern.    To tell you the truth I don't do the Catherine Wheel often.  Instead I cheat and make an onion ring join.   One of the joins in the picture is an onion ring join and the others are Catherine wheel join.  From the front I don't think you can tell the difference. 

I intended to show more pictures but blogger isn't cooperating.  Since the last update I've found it harder to move the pictures around.  Also, I don't understand why they only give us a little window to see what we're writing?  That last part isn't new but it's always bothered me.

I was able to upload one more picture and not accidentally delete it.  I did a few more candy arrangements with my friend Sal.  She took them to Mosque to be auctioned after prayers.  The money raised goes to the Mosque.  We made 4 and they went for about $20 each.  Some of them were Ferrero Rocher arrangements where we stuck the chocolates on tooth picks or bamboo sticks.

ps  I forgot to mention that I added a bunny bookmark to the right side. 



Tatting Demonstration

I did a tatting demonstration/ class at Watson's Mill in Manotick on Monday.  Watson's Mill is a local historical site. I've never done a demonstration and Cam at Watson's Mill wasn't sure about what the turnout would be but we had 88 people come through the door!  There was an exhibit about Mr. Eaton (founded Eaton's Department Store) and different children's activities as well as some neat historical children's crafts.   I was surprised at how excited some people were to try to tat and one man actually thanked me for finding a new hobby for his wife!  I told him that if they had any questions to call/email me.  I made sure to tell them about all the awesome You-tube demos and websites on the Internet.  I have to confess that I sent a lot of people to Sharon Brigg's website.  I love her demos and the practice patterns she gives. 
I hadn't really prepared very much because Cam wasn't sure if anyone would come.  Next time I will have a sheet to hand out of tatting resources.  On Monday I was just scribbling names on scrap pieces of paper.

On a side note, the big box of nothing is now being used as a chalk board!



Obligatory photo:  This reminds me of an old lady with big thick rimmed glasses.

Sharon's website can be found at:  http://www.rsbriggs.com/slb/index.html