Still waiting and tatting

Update: As of Dec 8, we are still waiting on baby. So there is still time to enter the giveaway!

Still waiting for baby to makes his/her arrival in the world. In the meantime, I've gotten some Christmas and other tatting accomplished! This is a horrid scan, but the scanner is on the floor and trying to get it all lined up is a bit beyond my capabilities at this point :) On a similar note, I'm wishing that I had one of the new Lizbeth thread holders right now. I've been chasing so many balls of thread on the floor--my husband finds it so amusing! On the right is a needle tatted cross for a lady from our church who is having surgery soon---it is desperately in need of some pressing. On the left is my shuttle tatting of the same cross. It is taking me a long time, but I have noticed my shuttle tatting is quite a bit smaller than my needle tatting. I still have a long long way to go with tension and even-ness, but at least I'm getting the flip almost all of the time. I'm practicing my shuttle tatting so that I can enjoy my Pop-a-Bobbin shuttle when it arrives. Sally, I'm wondering if the shuttle will arrive before baby!


We had a bit of snow yesterday. Thankfully Snowflake enjoys snowflakes!! The kitten certainly enjoyed it as well. She was disappointed when it melted.


Last, but not least--I want to thank Tat-land for all of your answers to questions, generosity, and encouragement. So I'm going to do a giveaway! Just a warning though, I need to make what will be given so it might take a while before you get your winnings! I do promise gifts to the winners though. There will be 2 winners of the giveaway. Leave a comment with the following to enter the giveaway:

1. A blogging nickname for the new baby. My daughter's blogging name is the kitten. Baby's gender is unknown, so you can leave a boy and a girl name if necessary.

2. A guess of the date and time of when baby will arrive. The date and time will be Central Standard Time in the US. Just to help you out--baby was due to arrive on Dec 1.

One winner will be the one with the nickname that I choose for baby. The other winner will be the one with the closest date and time of the arrival of baby. Ties will be chosen randomly.

The cut-off time for entries is whenever baby decides to arrive!! Hopefully that isn't too long away. I'll post the winners whenever I get a chance. Best of luck to all and a very Merry Christmas to all of you wonderful tatters as well.

Awareness Ribbon (19/25)

This is Lenore English's Awareness Ribbon shuttle tatted in Lizbeth size 20. This is tatted for my mother a breast cancer survivor. I need to find something to hold it together so that she can wear it on her next walk.

The completion of this motif can be blamed on the "good fortune" of having a broken tatting needle. Although this is soon to be rectified in a most surprising manner to me...I'll share more later.

I'm still not pleased with the tension, picots, or even getting rid of the space between the rings and chains in my shuttle tatting. Hopefully more practice will help. I have some more practice planned.

shuttle tatted edging done (18/25)

This is my completed shuttle tatting edging. I received a start of the edging in an exchange soon after I began needle tatting. I can't remember who it was from, but thanks for you since it was a great help in getting me started with the shuttle. It is completed since I have run out of yellow thread, so I can't continue. I'm thinking about using it to decorate a denim jacket for the kitten, but I will probably have to use some creativity since it is a bit shorter than what I actually need.

Edging (6/25)

We received snow again last night. Not much, but just enough for me to spend the morning pulling a sled around the yard and throwing a few snow balls.


I received the start of this edging in a Christmas exchange in 2009, but I can't remember who sent it. Whoever you are, thanks!! Three of the rings and three of the chains were tatted by me. I thought that this might be a nice addition to the back of a denim jacket for the kitten.

Are there any secrets for un-tatting shuttle tatted work? Last night one of my stitches didn't flip and I didn't notice until I tried to close the ring. I've been using a crochet hook and doing everything in reverse, but I'm hoping for a faster way :)

I think that these shuttles need some decorative paper added to them, what do you think?

Luck of the Scottish??(5/25)

Yes, I know that it should be Luck of the Irish, but my husband is Scottish :) And yes, I even have a kilt that I love!! This is my successfully shuttle tatted shamrock from Gina's pattern. I think that I might finally be getting the hang of it.


This is a doily that was recently passed onto me that I thought you might enjoying seeing. I don't know who tatted it, but the doily is just fabric with the ends tacked down.

Shuttle Tatting Update (part 2) (25/25)

I usually compose grand blog posts and emails while washing dishes, but my computer time is limited and it never gets onto "paper". I had a "Good, Bad, and Ugly" post all set up in my mind days ago and then I saw yesterday that Fox had used it already!

The Good
The shuttled tatted Stumpy is finished.


The Bad
I still haven't figured out my shuttle tatting tension and the thread keeps moving in ways that I don't like. Time for practice, practice, and more practice.


The Ugly
I decided to spare you my ugly shuttle tatted Stumpy and show my needle tatted Stumpy instead that I finished recently as well. Believe me it is ugly. I think that I need to focus on smaller projects to help my learning curve and keep my practicing. Any suggestions--something beside the traditional ring and chain pattern? I also learning that I'm not a fan of big rings.

(Update: I forgot to mentioned that the Stumpy shown here is Dr V's thread Sea Glass in size 10).

Well this completed my second 25 motif challenge. Count me in for another one Sharon.

And Happy Pi day to all (3.14159). Make sure and eat some pie :)

shuttle tatting update part 1

I promised a shuttle tatting update, so here it is. I've figured out the flip and have yet to break or throw a shuttle. A good start I thought :)

I still haven't gotten tension and the rings as close as I would like. Hopefully practice will help to fix that. Here is one of my first motifs. I still need to figure out how to add threads. I have some websites on my list to help with starting and adding threads.



After my grand success at this ring and chain motif, I decided to do something bigger! It didn't turn out so great. I tried Stumpy thinking that it would be easy. Boy was I wrong. I'm having a problem with the big rings--how do you make the loop big enough for all of the stitches? I ended up having to pull some extra thread out of to make the loop bigger, but still ended up with just enough room to squeeze my shuttle through at the end. This made for really tight rings. I decided to start again and see what happened. This is my Stumpy with really tight rings.


I have a solution to the big ring problem, but if you have a suggestion please let me know. I wrap the thread several times around my ring and little figure to give me some extra room to make the ring. So here is my new Stumpy and my shuttle. The shuttle was part of a giveaway from Gina . Thanks Gina!! Now with all of the practicing I need to add some thread to my shuttle. Time to read the tutorials.

Be our guest (16/25)

This is Martha Ess's tiny square teapot tatted in Lizbeth size 20 Wedgewood Dk. The top is a bit floppy, so I'm not sure what to do with it yet. I had thought about a bookmark like the one Threads of a Tatting Goddess did, but with the floppiness I'm thinking about either stiffening or gluing it to something for the kitten maybe with a cute tea cup added.

And last but not least, here are my shuttle tatting accomplishments. There is still much to accomplish, but at least this way I have proof of what I've done to look back at. My rings don't seem to close all of the way yet, but I'm definitely making improvements. Maybe back to some youtube videos again.