Tatting Zen, Oh Tatting Zen Where Are You?

Fox at tat-ology gave me something to think about today, something that made me go hummm .... you know the old saying "things that make you go hummm", well that's me this morning.


She said something like she's enjoying the process of tatting, not being as focused on the end result.


Here's why this particular comment struck me ......... I get very frustrated with myself if my tatting isn't "perfect", if it doesn't look just like whatever the pattern picture is.


My tatting time is very limited, so I try to spend some of most days (even if it's just a half hour on my lunch break) tatting. Therefore when my piece isn't perfect, like I think it should be, it upsets me that I spent valuable time making something useless. Either I cut it off and start over or it just sets until I need more shuttles for a different project, then I trash it.


Last night when I was tatting, it took me 5 starts to get something going..........



And even though I finished the piece I'm not happy with it and won't show it to you. A complete waste of my precious tatting time. Tatting is a time consuming art form for me, I'm not a speed tatter, and to have spent so much time creating and have nothing to show for it leaves me sad and depressed.



Why can't tatting be about the process for me? Why can't I except it for what it is .... the process of creating; knowing that it's handmade by me, and since I'm not perfect my work won't be perfect either.


I'm jealous of Fox, Why can't I find my tatting Zen?

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

One World One Heart Winner

The winner is ........... Why can't I figure out the paste in blogger??



I'm going to have to type out what it says.



I used Random.org.

Random Interger Generator

Here are your random numbers:

161

timestamp: 2010-02-15 01:07:54 UTC

161 is L'Helene. Congratulations! Again I'm going to have to type out what she said "How Cute! I have a friend who's mad about geckos, and who's birthday is coming up, this would be perfect for her. Thanks for the chance to win!"

I'm so glad someone won him that will enjoy him, rather than someone who was at my blog for 10 seconds, just long enough to put in a copy and paste response and be on their way.

A special Thank You to Lisa for all of her work to make One World One Heart a success.

Bonnie