Blue Heart - 2012 UIU Project

On Wednesday my friend, Rose retired.  I wanted to tat her something special to go inside her Congratulations card. 

The pattern is Romantic Heart - with Directions by Beelizabeth.  I recently learned about this pattern via the InTatters website.  Specifically this series of posts.  If you are not a member of InTatters, I encourage you to check it out.  It is an interactive website for tatters of skill levels. 
 

The pattern can be found here.

It was made using HDT thread I already had wrapped onto a yarn daisy.  I can't tell you the thread size or name or who the dyer was because, of course, I didn't have any thread info attached to it.  

The lovely Matilda showing you my HDT version of Birgit's Romantic Heart.

#5 of The 2012 UIU Project

My next installment of my self proclaimed UIU Project is a pattern that I found at Be-Stitched.com it is called Tatted Rose Heart.

It was made using the thread I had on my shuttles from my last post "Not a UIU Project", size 30 Peaches 'n Onions from Yarnplayer. Since I'd already confessed to purchasing this new thread and I used it once already, I figured I can now count that thread towards The 2012 Use It Up Project.

Oh I almost forgot to mention that at the bottom you can see a Josephine Ring, it was made using Jane's alternative way.

Tat On,

Bonnie

Not a UIU Project

I had this post ready to go live for Valentine's Day, but out of respect for Gina, I felt it needed to wait. It's been a week, and still it doesn't seem real that she's gone. Alot of us are still blogging about how much we miss her, I do too.

Original Valentine's post:

Okay so I broke down I bought a new HDT, even though I am trying hard to do The 2012 Use It Up Project. Really I'd be ashamed for anyone to see the stash I already have, but regardless I ordered more.

In order to entice my friend Peg to pick tatting back up, after her marathon of stained glass Christmas projects, I got us each a size 30 HDT from Yarnplayer called Peaches 'n Onions. I figured since it was close to Valentine's Day I needed something new to tat a heart with.

Here is Jon's Heart 'o Daisies. I sewed it onto a blank notepad someone made for me. I will be sending it to a friend. Sometimes I lack inspiration of things to do with my finished pieces. But this turned out pretty cute.

Tat On,

Bonnie

By the way, it worked and Peg is making the Butterfly Heart I blogged about here using her new HDT.

#4 of The 2012 UIU Project

This is Irene Woo's Butterfly Heart, the pattern can be found here using the wayback machine. It was made using Yarnplayer's Garden Afternoon, size 30 HDT.

I messed up the bottom and gave it an extra picot on the left, so I had to try it again. The blocking on this one isn't as good, but still it turned out nice.

One of them I sent to my sister, Nancy in Montana, the other I added to the front of a card to make a thank you note for my friend, Mary.

Lovely Pattern, Thank you, Irene.

#3 of the 2012 UIU Project

Here is my #3 of the UIU (use it up) 2012 project.

Sorry for the bad picture, as usual I forgot to scan it before I left home, so had to take a picture with my cellphone.

The close up picture is better. I found the pattern on Jane's blog a few years ago, but recently was reminded of it by Michelle at Tela Magistrae. The original pattern is from Anna Burda magazine, May 1984, page L14, but Jane in South Africa converted it to use split rings. The pattern can be found at Jane in South Africa's bookmark.

In the spirit of my UTU project it was made using size 30 (which is my favorite thread size) HDT, Roses, dyed by yarnplayer.

I forgot to mention the tail, I took a close up picture of it, but it was to blurry to share. Wendy at UMI & TSURU sometimes makes her bookmark tails like that so I had to get some charms to try it also. I love the creative freedom it gives. (yes, I had to purchase the charms because I didn't have any but the thread I had, so this still counts for UIU, right?)

I'm still on track for my UIU project since it's been just about 2 weeks since my last post. So far so good :-)

See you in 2 weeks if not before.

Bonnie

"Oh No You Didn't"

... Oh yes I did........
There are 2 things I would like you to see here. Both are marked with a X. First the top X shows where I missed a join and the bottom X which shows where I cut the thread to finish it off, before I realized that I'd missed a whole section of tatting.

For some reason my friend, Peg - the one I am helping learn to tat - thought that it was really funny that I missed a join and had ALREADY cut the thread. She said something like it was good to see that I make mistakes too.

I was lucky enough to win this Patriotic HDT from Anika. (you can find her etsy shop here) And since I'd just made this pattern, Julie's Hearts and Flower Cross, for a friend I wanted to make it again for myself and this new HDT was itching to be used.

So in the end was there a lesson to be learned from this experience? Sure was, if - rather WHEN - I make a mistake again don't show Peg. LOL.

Tat On,

Bonnie

Is That Giraffes I See?

In April I started helping my friend Peggy learn to tat. Maybe I should say I helpED my friend Peggy learn to tat. She's doing a fabulous job and I'm very proud of her.

I'm pretty sure she's caught the tatting bug, let me tell you why I think so.

• She has more shuttles then she can use at any given time and carries the new ones around ever where she goes.... still in their packages.




• Last Friday she placed a Handy Hands order and ordered MORE shuttles .... different kinds and colors .... a book and 10+ spools of Lizabeth threads.




• She has already visited Etsy and scored some lovely HDTs, some she gifted to me!!




• She has spent hours searching the internet for patterns and probably just as many hours looking thru the books I loaned her.

How would I know all of this? I know because she can no longer carry her "portable" craft in a little ziplock baggie or coin purse, she's graduated to a large bag with giraffes on it.

Last Thursday I noticed the giraffe bag, next I noticed the giraffe on her necklace. Humm giraffes, is there a pattern here? Then Friday I went to her office on a work related matter and I noticed there were giraffes every where. How did I miss this ? So giraffes it is then.

Tomorrow I am leaving home for a week, but rather then spend the weekend preparing to be away from home, I spent it tatting giraffes to make Peg a fabric postcard.



They are made with Tatskool's Antique Bronze HDT, using the pattern from my autographed copy (*smile*) of Martha Ess' More Critters on the Block.

Tat On!

Bonnie

Pattern Revisited

As Christmas grows nearer my hands get busier, not only with tatting, but that's a different story.

Recently we exchanged Christmas gifts at work. I really dislike the stealing gift games, I like to know who my gift is going to. That way I can get/make something specificily with one person in mind. (In fact in past years I've refused to be a part of the gift exchange when "stealing" is involved. I greatly dislike it!)

Regardless, the past few years I've taken control of our Holiday luncheon/gift exchange because then I know we'll exchange names and I'll be a part of the celebration.

My person really enjoys reading. In fact many lunch periods I've seen her at her desk unwinding with a book. So it wasn't to hard for me to realize that I had to tat her a bookmark. But gosh there are so many good ones out there, which one to do.....

I have to admit I went with one I've made and showed you many times before. It's Julie Patterson's Hearts and Flowers Cross Bookmark.

It's made using Tatskool's ChocoRaspberry HDT. I'm not sure, but I think it's done in size 40.

Tat On!,

Bonnie

Thanks to LaceLovin'-Librarian ...

........for turning me on to Kersti Aneari's Stumpy pattern. Back in September Diane, aka LaceLovin'-Librarian, posted some stumpys she made and it set me off in that direction. My tatting time is limited so I'm always on the lookout for patterns I can do up quickly.

All were made using HDT ..... from Left to Right, is Tatskool's ChocoRaspberry size 40, next is her DaffodilDell in size 20, next LadyShuttleMaker's Spring Poppies in size 20 (I ran out of thread so the tail is kind of bare), and lastly Tatskool's FlameLantana in size 20.

Kersti has other tatting patterns posted which I would encourage you to check out while you're there.

Tat On!,

Bonnie

Part Three of Three

Here it is Blooming Trellis by Eliz Davis.

Front

Back

It was made using Tatskool's HDT Apple Blossom and coordinating pink in size 50, it was the only colorway I had that I felt went together, since it was made to go together LOL.

Now that I wear glasses all of the time, I'm really not a size 50 or smaller tatter. I know that sounds backwards but it's just to small for me to work out any errors.

Regardless it was made over many weeks because sadly I just don't have a lot of tatting time. (To be fair, I should say I don't MAKE alot of time to tat. Sad!)

It was a gift for my mother for her birthday. I took it to her when Holly and I went to visit our family in ND a few weeks ago. Not sure why I didn't think to take a picture of her with it.

Thank you, Eliz aka Tatknot for sharing such a great pattern with us. (click on her name for her blog where she lists some of her other patterns.)

Tat On!

Bonnie

Heart's Desire

When we were on vacation in January, I tatted Susan K. Fuller's Heart's Desire pattern.

It was made using Tatskool (store link) size 20 ChocoRasberry. I did tat this once before, but I definitely need to practice tension if I'm going to tat this pattern again. I'm a pretty tight tatter, and I was concerned about how it would turn out if I tatted it in the tension I usually use, but maybe that would have made it more uniform.

I know alot of you have tatted this lovely pattern, in fact I believe it is Tatskool's (blog link) favorite pattern in order to check on color flow when she dyes new threads ......... anyway, I would appreciate any tips or tricks to this lovely pattern from anyone who has made it.

Happy Tatting, Happy Life,

Bonnie

As with my last post, this also was written on Sunday 2/21, but set to upload in the future. See I really do tat, I just don't make the time to blog about it. :-(

Snork!

Does anyone know the Tim Conway skit from the Carol Burnett Show, the one about the Siamese Elephants? Click on the link to view it on youtube, it was quite funny.

Well ......... two of the girls at work were talking about it one day at lunch and laughing and laughing. This started a "snork war" between them. One of the ladies, Linda, and I were talking about it and I said I wonder if I could tat an elephant. Then the conversation turned to I wonder if I could tat two elephants with their trunks stuck together. Well here are the results.

Elephant number 1 was my test elephant. It is Jane's elephant, made using the onion ring method, and is the way she intended it to be. It is made using the last of my size 20 Shades of Gray HDT made by LadyShuttleMaker. Even though I considered it a "test" it turned out very very cute. Notice how the ear flap sticks up, makes it 3-D and even cuter!


Now here is where the fun began. This is the first of the snorked elephants. I had to manipulate the trunks some to get them to connect. I wish I had raised them a bit higher.


This is elephant 2, which is the complete reverse of elephant 1's pattern. I am a front side back side tatter, so this was a bit more difficult for me to get my mind around.

Here are the Siamese Elephants, connected at the trunks.




And here they are completed. It was alot of work for a bit of fun, but I saw it make Linda smile and I'm sure when she gives it to Carol it will bring a smile to her face as well.

Oh yeah and the Snorked Elephants were made using Handy Hands size 20 Lizbeth Thread, Linen Medium # 693.

Happy Tatting, Happy Life.

Bonnie


Today is actually Sunday 2/21 but since I already posted once this morning I'm setting this one to upload during the week. That way your not in shock to hear from me twice in one day.

Crosses

My Friend, Flo's Mother recently passed away, so right away I got out my cross patterns and went to work on a couple of them.

Both were made using Yarnplayer's size 50 Nicobar Pigeon HDT.

The first one is from Wendy's Crafty Hands. It is her Split Ring Cross. I don't mind making split rings, so it was quite enjoyable.



The second one is Elizabeth's Lace's Tatted Cross Pattern.

Sorry for the bad quality pictures. They were taken with my camera phone.

Happy Tatting, Happy Life.

Bonnie

Happy New Year

Happy 2010! Has it really been 10 years since the Y2K scare?

Dare I say YES ....... Where have the last 1o years gone?!

As you are aware my Great Uncle Francis, the person who inspired me to tat, passed away this year. So when I sent Great Aunt Myrtle's Christmas card

I wanted to send her something extra special........

Marilee, Yarnplayer, shared her "Remembrance" pattern with us. The pun of the whole string around your finger made me laugh out loud when I first saw it. I HAD to make it for Aunt Myrtle. It is made using Sherry, LadyShuttleMaker's size 20 HDT ..... I'm pretty sure it's Peach Pandorea.

I also sent her this motif, called Daisy Heart.

It is made using YarnPlayer's size 30 HDT Roses and Leafy.

I'd seen this motif when I first started tatting, but had a hard time finding the pattern. According to what I'd written down it was in a Workbasket dated February 1988. I must have every Workbasket they made except for February 1988. However about a month ago I was looking thru my other pattern books and found the pattern!

VicTats asked about our favorite Christmas tatting patterns, although this isn't a Christmas item, it has become my favorite to tat over the last few weeks.

I fell on Monday and cut the palm and finger tip of my hand pretty good, I'm praying it will heal enough before we leave for the cruise next week so I can tat on the plane ..... and well I'm enjoying a life of leisure :-)

My goal for the year is to remember to take pictures of my tatting to show you before I give it away.

My New Year's wish to you is for a

Happy and Safe 2010!

Bonnie

Rosette Motif & Doily

When we were in Texas earlier this year I blogged about Jon's Rosette Motif & Doily. I showed it to my friend, Mark (different Mark then my husband) who was able to turn it into this awesome paperweight. I asked him to be sure it was made right side up when he made it, which he did.

The paperweight was made in layers so that the motif is suspended in the layers of hard plastic. He did an excellent job, Thank- you Mark.

This is a Christmas gift it to my friend, Rose. She will recognize the thread as Yarnplayer's HDT "Roses" because I have gifted something to her in the past using this awesome HDT.

I forgot to mention that I stuck a piece of white felt on the bottom of it so it's not abrasive to a desktop or any other surface.

Super neat, I think she's going to like it.

Happy Sunday, Everyone.

Bonnie

Austin, TX

Greetings from Austin, Texas. My husband and I are here visiting family. My husband's family actually but since I've been a part of this family for 25+ years they are my family too :-) We arrived yesterday evening, Sunday, and will return home on Friday.

My family is currently on a tubing river adventure. I asked to stay behind so I could try to nap away the headache I acquired yesterday. It did not help and my eyes are "fuzzy" too, so I think I'm dehydrated. Now I'm trying to drink a bunch of water to see if that takes care of the problem.

Regardless this is the perfect opportunity for me to do a blog post.

In September 2008, Jon gifted us with one of her patterns, Rosette Motif and Doily. I fell in love with the pattern and searched for just the right thread to complete the project in. I used Yarnplayer's Roses and Leafy size 30 HDTs. The first one I made is on the left. It is the way the pattern was intended, with 6 flower petals. The one on the right was made while we were outside enjoying an evening with some of my husband's local family members. I was chatting and tatting and found that in the end I only put 5 pedals on it.

See how small they are in comparison to the quarter. Well that got me to thinking that I'll have to make "a million" of them to make a decent size table runner, so I'd need more Roses HDT. Because I know that HDT is different from batch to batch, I decided I would start over using Lizabeth threads.

Currently I have 4 roses made, 1 of them is completed with leaves, and the rest are waiting for leaves so they can be connected to one another. I am unable to show you any progress right now for a number of reasons which you won't care about, but since they are funny I will share them anyway.

First off our new cruise camera found itself in a fishing boat's live well, ruined - not so funny at the time. Then a few weeks later my husband's fishing camera got wet, it was old and again was a freak accident, so deal with it. A couple of days later our printer/scanner combo died. None of these things are funny, but together they have to be considered as such because the only other option isn't worth it :-) (see it really is *kinda* funny)

So began a mad scamble to get a new camera before our Texas trip. We couldn't figure out what to get so ended up getting the same camera we had for our cruise. Right now the new camera is with my husband ... tubing ..... on the water ............. :-)

Happy Labor Day!!!

Bonnie

Before I share my eye candy with you, I need to share this with you.

I work a 40 hr a week job for my local county Department of Social Services. I work an entry level position. I do not have a college degree.

I have worked in my department for 9 years and this job for more than 3 years, although I backed up the previous individual for 4 years before I took over. I am good at my job ...... blah blah blah. Here is my situation. About 5 years ago our department got a new director........ for some reason she took an instant dislike to me .... not sure why, I have never had to deal with this before in my working life. I have been passed over 4 different times for promotions. So much more to that my work story. But really here is what I need to say.......

Just because I am a front line person, doesn't mean that I don't deserve respect. And "because I am the director" isn't always a good reason. More to that story as well, but it is the reason why I am so upset this time.

I would really have to call her a bully.

I respect her as the director, and I am a person who works hard, and I deserve respect as well.

Here is why I bring this up.......... I know that some of my readers are in position where they hold power over the people who work for them. Please treat them with respect. We are people too.

I dread the thought of working tomorrow. But thank you for listening and allowing me to get some of that out. By the way, I like my job and I am lucky to be appreciated by my piers.

No need to comment on any of that. I am not looking for anyone to feel sorry for me. I asked our daughter, who is a manager, to please be good to her front line staff. And I ask those of you who are in a position of power to do the same.

Enough of that............ as promised and the real reason you are here...........

Here are some of Ellen's April paperclips that I made for my friends at work. The dark brown baskets were made using the new Lizbeth thread from Handy Hands, the off brown colored one was made using white which I tea dyed to give it a brownish effect (I had to make one right way and couldn't wait for my order to come from H.H. LOL) The multi colored flowers are Tatskool's rainbow bright HDT.

I have made a couple of them in the past but as usual gave them away so quickly that I forgot to take pictures. I'm really sorry that I couldn't figure out how to turn the flash off when I took the picture, because it really does distract from how cute they are. The more I made of them I realized that the less flowers I put on it the better it looked.

Thank you, everyone!

Bonnie

Great Uncle Francis

Back in March of '08 I introduced you to my Great Uncle Francis, better known here as GUF. I was saddened to learn of his passing on Thursday, July 11th, 2 days after his 96th Birthday.

Those who visit here know that I haven't tatted anything worth showing lately, I have just been to busy. But every other month or so I would send him and GAM (Great Aunt Myrtle) a piece of tatting or a picture of something I had made. Not to long ago, I was feeling sad that I had been to busy to tat lately and hadn't sent them a note in quite awhile. I quickly made up one of Ellen's Spring Baskets, paperclipless, and sewed it onto a notecard and mailed it to them. (I'm not sure when I mailed it to even know if it got to them before GUF became ill on Tuesday.)

My brother, Jack who lives in Ohio, recently went to OK to visit GUF & GAM. A few weeks later he was here to visit us. While he was here he shared with me some pictures that he'd taken of them. They both wore smiles and I could tell they were happy that he was there.

Until I started tatting I didn't communicate with them other than at Christmas, however we bonded over the last year or so because of tatting. You may remember that I showed you the 2 shuttles he made years ago and recently sent to me. I will forever hold them dear to me, as well as the hand written letters I received, that I'm sure were alot of work for him.

It has been more years than I could even begin to count to say when the last time I saw them in person was, probably some time before I got married, so more than 25 years. But the thing is if it wasn't for GUF and his work I wouldn't have known what tatting was. So ........

GUF, Thank You!

When I get to heaven I hope God allows me to remember some of my Earthly life, so I can spend time there with those who touched my life here on Earth.

As I wrote that it made me think of all of the HDT I have in my stash. When my time on Earth is done, it would mean nothing to my family laying there in it's beautiful skein form.
*** Note to self, what are you waiting for, Girl, life is short. :-)

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie

Another Spinning Wheel Glass Mat

When I posted my original Spinning Wheel Glass Mat here, Marge asked about the error. Now that I have made another error free one to show you, I feel comfortable showing the error. Note how in 1 of the set of squares there is only 2 picots, there should be 3 like in the rest of the motif.



So Sad. However here is a corrected one.

See all picots present and accounted for :-) It is done in Marilee's HDT - Vibrato, size 30. I started work on this right after the first Spinning Wheel Glass Mat fiasco and completed it a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed the pattern alot more the second time around, but can't say that I'm eager to make as many as my Friend - Diane, Lace Lovin' Librarian.


Happy Tatting, World,


Bonnie

Happy Easter!

Easter Greetings, Everyone,

I would like to share the Easter "card" I made for our Daughter.


The pattern is Mark Myers, aka Tatman's Bunny. The pattern is located in the online class projects hosted by Georgia Seitz. My Bunny is tatted using Sherry, aka LadyShuttleMaker's, size 20 Coffee & Cream HDT. The rose is done using Marilee, aka Yarnplayer's, size 30 Roses HDT. (Note: click on their proper names to visit their blogs, and their akas for their Etsy shops.) Sherry's shop is closed while she attends Shuttlebirds and her family completes their exciting move.

I am *happy* for everyone who gets to attend Shuttlebirds. I hope that there is alot of blogging done about it. If I remember correctly it starts this week. Maybe I can go someday .......... LOL! Who am I kidding, I could have driven to Hector this year but was to nervous to go without someone I know going along, I'd never be able to attend Shuttlebirds alone.

On a side note I would like to thank everyone who comes back to visit my blog and doesn't give up on me because I don't blog very often. I actually tat (and sew) many things I give away, but I forget to take pictures of them first. I'd like to say I will blog more often, and I'm sure I've said that in the past, but now I realize that is just setting myself up to fail. So Thank You, yes YOU, for continuing to visit when I do post. I enjoy all of the comments that you give me, so please don't leave now without commenting.

Happy Tatting,

Bonnie