Tatting Tea Tuesday - Christmas Gifts & Tea

Mmmmmmmmmm! I'm enjoying another cup of cinnamon candy flavored tea this morning. It got me to thinking about Christmas & gifts.

I love little tins for tatting. They have to have hinged lids, though so I don’t have to chase the lid. LOL! Last month I showed my tatting tools tin made from a little tin that came with sewing notions in it - until I re-purposed it to be my tatting tools tin.

I decided that tatting tool tins would make great Christmas presents for my tatting friends, so I went on the hunt for hinged-lid tins. They aren’t easy to come by, I can tell you! I found these very cute ones at Hobby Lobby, though!

Hobby Lobby has an incredible selection of felt squares, so I found a square that was textured & matched the tin. That got me to thinking it would be cute to color-coordinate everything to match the tin. I lined the tin, & made a coordinating pincushion to attach to the inside of the lid (I don’t like chasing tiny pin cushions, either.)

While waiting in line to check out, I spied these cutest of manicure sets - just the right size to fit into the tins & color-coordinated to boot! I took out the scissors & nail file & replaced them with one of my decoupaged shuttles. I left the tweezers & the nail clippers in for opening rings & cutting thread.
I grabbed a couple square bead containers, & put together enough color-coordinated beads for a small tatting project or two. I added a skein of HDT to pull it all together & put in 2 snowflake thread winders (also found at Hobby Lobby - in the wood section.)

Since I used my own HDT, the whole shabang came to around $13. The only issue I had was that I needed one for myself! Merry Christmas to me, too & thank you Santa! LOL!

Katie

Another HDT Sampling & Motif #4 of 25

Well, that little heart I did last week was a nice pattern for sampling threads. Here's one of the HDT's I did a week or so ago tatted up. I decided to a dd a bead & turn this heart into a pendant. The thread is the 3rd one from the right in the pic below. Now, there was a day when I would be horrified at the thought of these colors together, but I'm happy to say that's not the case today.

Thread I dyed was Lizbeth size 20.Pattern - Sweet Heart by Birgit Phelps.
Katie

Heart Picture Frame

On a visit to Hobby Lobby to look for small tins, I found they had picture frames 50% off. I spied a heart-shaped frame that looked like it might fit that little heart I tatted the other day. Brought it home, & sure enough, it fits!

Katie

Lady Shuttlemaker Shuttle

When Lady Shuttlemaker announced she had new shuttles in her etsy shop, I zinged right over, because I know how fast they sell. Oh, was I surprised to find a few left. Here's a link to what she had made. Mine is the 2nd from the left on the bottom.
http://ladyshuttlemaker.blogspot.com/ I'd post a pic from etsy, but I don't know if that's ok to do, so I'm just sending you over to her blog to have a look.
Katie

Motif #3 of 25 for the Challenge & Tatting Tea Tuesday HDT Sampling

This is officially Motif #3 in the 25 Motif Challenge. I only had enough time to sample one of my HDT's. I tried to be very careful about getting dye under the threads securing the skeins, but I saw a few eentsy white spots, so that's something I'll work on next time by loosening my choke ties a bit. Still, though, I'm liking this thread. Here's the sample - not blocked yet. The pattern is Sweet Heart by Birgit Phelps.
Katie

Tatting Tea Tues & What's In Your Stash?

Ah, another Tatting Tea Tuesday! Love them! Ambitatterous asked us all to respond to What's in Your Stash? She wanted to know particularly about HDT. We must be tuned into one another! My Tatting Tea Tuesday was going to be about my latest HDT experience.

Now, I love buying other people's HDT, but I learned how to dye warps for weaving many years ago, so it was just a matter of doing it on a smaller size thread. I just couldn't resist the call of the dyes! I will continue to purchase from you well known HDT dyers, so no fear there! My HDT stash isn't nearly the size it needs to be!! LOL!

Today I'll be tatting samples from the results of my own dye pots. Here's some of what I did on Sunday. I started a dyeing journal with my formulas & samples, so I can do these colors again in case I like how they tat up.

Antique Mall Find

We went to the antique mall yesterday. I always look for tatting shuttles while I'm there, & always come away disappointed. Not yesterday!! I scored this little beauty. It needs some work as the ends are separted, but other than some scotch tape adhesive, it's in excellent condition! It's a lovely beige on brown pearlescent celluloid shuttle circa 1920.

Next Project

Here's the Crinoline Lady for my next project. I'll use one of my new size 40 Lizbeth variagated threads & a matching solid for the hat.

New Book

I did a search on Crinoline Lady patterns, & found the one referenced in this book, so since I needed a size 15 crochet hook for size 11/0 seed beads, I ordered the book & hook from Handy Hands.

Tatting Tote Almost Finished

Woohooo! The Tatting Tote is almost finished! I have a row & a half to complete the tote, then the handle to do. Then, I think I'll take it to the fabric store to find a lining fabric for it.

Tatting Tea Tuesday

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! I'm enjoying a cup of my favorite tea. I still had some left from my trip to Seattle. It's a spicey tea that tastes like cinnamon candy.

Here's what I'm working on today. It's the little tatting tote by Sharon Albers. I'm using Lizbeth size 20 in a variagated color for the rings & a solid for the chains. I'll be working on this for a while-it's slow going. I wish I'd added some picos to the rings, but I'll do that on the last round & on the handle. I've been using my Laci's shuttle which holds way more thread than a Clover. Everytime I hide ends, I'm kicking myself for not taking the time to learn what I need to to jump out from one round to the other. I've learned split rings, now I just need to try split chains (which don't look very difficult) & mock picos. Why do I hedge on this? (shaking head)

Tatting Related

Although, I tatted all week-end, I'll post about it on Tatting Tea Tuesday, because for certain I'll still be working on that project!!

I did manage to get some cleaning done, & I worked on putting together some items for an exchange. While I was shopping at Hobby Lobby on Friday, I took notice of the felted pieces. You can purchase individual, already felted parts to make flowers, or entire, already made flowers for purse projects, etc. I've been in need of a tiny pincusion, & when I saw packages of these tiny flowers, & packages of leaves, I thought, "Oh, tiny pincusions!!!" Each little flower is sewn together & even has seed beads sewn on them.

Now, this was an easy project.
Instructions:
Glue flower to leaf. Let dry. LOL!!

Now, I have a tiny pincusion for each of my tatting boxes. They're about the length of a Clover shuttle, & if I'd had my photographer hat on, I would've thought to include a shuttle in the pic & added some pins.

Motif #2

Whew! I finally got Motif #2 finished. I, apparently, am not very adept at visual patterns yet. I started that motif 4 times, & really worked to get it right. I kept reversing where I wasn't supposed to. Well, I did finally work through the pattern once, & took notes, so the next one should be much easier. This will be my first attempt at joining motifs, too. I hope I can figure that out without getting it all twisted or something.

OK. Motif #2 is from Tatting with Visual Patterns, & I used Lizbeth size 20 in Spring Garden (I love this new color.)

New Blog Look

My blog has a whole new look. For some reason, the graphic parts of my original template disappeared.

So, I chose a different template. I had to recreate my Blog List. I knew that in advance, so had jotted down everything. I had to add all the Widgets again - sigh. I love the new template, though. It's so pretty!!

While I was at it, I changed the name to something a bit more keechy.

Yet Another Pendant

I'm just joing the 25 Motif Challenge, well assuming I did it correctly, so here's my first official motif. I really love this Lizbeth color! It's one of the new colors - Spring Garden. I've started a doily from Visual Patterns in this color 3 times, & I'm about to start it again today.

This is Yarnplayer's Keyed Up pattern again. It's a really easy pattern even new tatters can do. The pattern uses the 3 seed beads in the center & key charm on the bottom ring, but I subbed the 9 beads for the charm - didn't have any charms on hand. My photography skills need improving!

Steampunk Time Traveler

Happy Halloween!! I'm time traveling this Halloween! Here's me as a Neo-Victorian time traveler. I did manage to get some tatting done this week-end, but it's very late, & time traveling wears one out so.  I'll post a pic of yet another pendant tomorrow. I'll just say, "Goodnight Halloweenies!"