25 Motif Challenge - Completed & Starting the Challenge Again for 2009

I have been slow to post all I have tatted in the last few months, but I finally can say that I have completed my 25 Motif Challenge. I completed it sometime ago, but could not show many of the pieces because they were for the Secret Santa Exchange I was in. I posted those pictures in my last post. Here are a few more tatted gifts that I gave out for Christmas.

Here is Motif #25. The bead tatted tree was tatted for a friend from church and I also made her this tatted pin.

Now I will start the 25 Motif Challenge over again. The pin above is Motif #1 and the pins below are #2 & #3.

Here are two other pins that I made and sold recently:

I am looking for a supplier for these porcelean flowers. If you know of a company that sells them, the flowers range from 6mm to 15 mm, Please let me know. I bought a lot of these flowers 15 years ago when I started making these kind of pins and I only have a couple flowers left. These ones were made by "Duncan" and I don't think they make them any longer.

I also tatted a pair of earrings for another good friend. I used Yarnplayer's HDT "Tourmaline". I like how these earrings turned out. Motif # 4.

That's all for today. I still have more pictures to post, but I want to go tat on my latest project. I received a pair of cream colored gloves for Christmas and I tatted a navy motif with silver beads to put on the glove and I am tatting an edge in the same thread and beads to put on the cuff of the gloves. I have one done already and I am just starting the edge of the second glove. I'll post the gloves when I finish them.

I have also received some awards lately. The first one is from Judy at CJ Stitching & Blooms. It is the Kreativ Blogger. I also received an award from TattingChic, and it is also the Kreativ Blogger. Thank you so much Judy and TattingChic. I appreciate the award. I will forgo passing on the awards, atleast for now.

Happy New Year and Secret Santa Gift Exchange

HAPPY NEW YEAR!


I wanted to wish everyone Good Health and Happiness in 2009!!

I joined in on a Christmas Exchange on Gina's Threads of a Tatting Goddess again this year. It was so much fun preparing a package for my partner, LB Locke. What I enjoyed most was tatting the brooch for her. I read on her preference list that she liked brooches, so I found the prettiest brooch I could find, it was a Jane Eborall design and tatted it for her. This is Motif #17 in the 25 Motif Challenge:






Well, I liked it so much that I had to have one for myself, so I made another one. I also made one for my Mom for Christmas too. Actually I made two for myself, one in blue and one in rose. I used antique mother of pearl buttons that i had and I think they are all so pretty. Motif #18, 19 & 20.




I also enjoyed tatting a little edge on this felt mitten that I found. I used a size 50 thread, so it would look delicate. I also tatted some little snowflakes to put on the gloves too. The clear, silver lined beads made the tatting sparkle. Motif #21.




I also tatted a snowflake and attached it to a card that she could take off and put on her tree. The snowflake was Kim Millar's found on Georgia Seitz website. Motif #22.




I also tatted a motif to go inside a paper weight and a motif in a refrigerator magnet. That makes my 25 Motif Challenge # 23 & 24.



Here is a picture of all the gifts I sent LB.





Bina Madden, had me as a partner and I want to give a big THANK YOU to her for all the wonderful things she sent me.


First off there was a very cute Coca Cola Roadside Diner Tin, that held all my gifts.




A ball of Olympus size 40 in red. I can't wait to try this thread. I have not tatted with this brand before.  A Susan Bates shuttle, you can never have enough shuttles.  Some little plastic rings that come apart and are used as markers on glasses, to let people know which glass is theirs. small barrettes to clip onto thread. A tube of Ceylon Dusky Blue Beads. 
A Silver Wire Star, which I will use as a thread winder.  A porcupine quill, which is so cool, it is used as an unpicker. A tin of Barkley Mints.

 A photo album to put my tatting in.  A pretty little star tatted in a silver metallic thread.

A BEAUTIFUL Pair of Beaded Earrings in this lovely gold thread. These earrings are absolutely GORGEOUS. The beads are pearls and garnets!! Bina designed these awesome earrings.


Thank you so much for all the lovely gifts Bina! Everything is very special.  A big Thank you to Gina for hosting another successful Secret Santa Exchange!!

William, My Leprechaun

I was catching up on reading the tatting blogs and came across Pamela's Tats a Kool Challenge Blog. I learned about the Leprechaun's she is making for her tatting friends. I was lucky enough to receive William from Pamela last year in a Secret Santa Exchange, and William was sitting with me, talking on his cell phone and having a cup of tea and cake reading all the tatting blogs too. Well.... he got so excited when he read that some of his relatives would be coming over to the states that he jumped up so fast and ran to the next room.......

and headed for the closet and pulled out his suitcase and informed me he was going on a road trip.

I asked him how he was traveling on this road trip and he ran back to the closet and pulled out his bike and was ready to go!

William also wanted to take along my new HDT that I got from Heather - The Tarnished Tatter.

I told him it was too far to travel on his bike, so he jumped off his bike and came back in his mini van.

William had it packed so full that it was overflowing with tatting supplies, shuttles and lots of thread.

I hope he has a good time visiting with all his relatives, so far he knows of Oisin, he is with Laura at Laura's Tatting Muse Blog, then there is Killian, he is with Diane at Lace Lovin Librarian Blog & Cormac is with Gina at Tatting Goddess Blog and Danny is with Martha at Martha's Tatting Blog. William needs to locate one more Leprechaun so he can finish planning his trip. He hopes he checks in and blogs about his where abouts.

I Won a Giveaway

The newest trend these days are blog giveaways. So many generous and talented tatters are doing this. I entered one and I won. The giveaway was given by Heather, The Tarnished Tatter.


Heather posted a mystery photo and asked if anyone could guess what the picture was. Heather takes some amazing photos. She even has a photography Etsy shop as well as an Etsy shop for 2 tatting books she published and some HDT.

My prize arrived yesterday and was I surprised!! Heather said she would send a sample of her HDT, well she sent more than a sample, she sent 7 skeins to try out. The colors are all gorgeous. I can't wait to try it out. I'll post pictures of what I tat so you can all see the thread tatted up.


Here is a photo of all the lovely HDT Heather sent.




Shades of Rose, Taffy, Peach Parfait, Berry Punch,
Marshmellow Rope, Golden Cranberry Avocada & Blue Raspberry

Thank you very much Heather for all the Lovely HDT.

Catching Up & Picture of TIAS #4 That I Tatted, Motif #16

I have been absent from blogger world for too long. What's my excuse......I don't have enough time in the day to do everything I want to do. LOL! I can barely keep up with all the tatting blogs anymore. Now this is a good thing, that just means more people are blogging about their tatting, which I think is Fantastic!! I get a few minutes here and there and will go directly to the tatting blogs. But once I start looking at one tatting blog, it leads me to another that leads me to another and so on.....

I have been tatting in my long absence, I just haven't had the time to blog about it. I think I have possibly tatted enough motifs that I will surpass my 25 Motif Challenge. I will try to post one or so a day and try to get caught up.

The first thing I want to post is my TIAS #4 that was hosted by Lady Shuttle Maker. (Thank you Sherry for doing this). I had no clue until the end what we were making. This TIAS has been the most challenging for me so far. I have only done block tatting a couple of times, so this was great practice for it. But I think I still need more practice on block tatting. Plus, I never did the front side, back side tatting either, and I will need to work on this also. I enjoyed trying the techniques and will continue to use them. I did have a problem with the Lighthouse though. After I finished, I looked at my Lighthouse and then everyone else's and realized I left out a whole section. So my Lighthouse is shorter than all the others. But that's ok, I like it anyway.

Tatting Earrings Again - Motifs 13, 14 & 15

I've been working on the 25 Motif Challenge and tatting earrings. I am up to Motif #15. I joined the challenge on March 3rd of this year, so it has only been 3-1/2 months and I've passed the halfway mark already. YEA!! This challenge has motivated me to keep tatting on a regular basis and photograph my tatting and post on my blog what I have achieved. I like that idea, as I have tatted so many things and gave them away without taking pictures of them. I'm sure there are many other tatters that do the same thing.

I have tatted Jane Eborall's Flat Snowflake Earring again. I love this earring pattern. This time I made them for my friend, Rayanna, who just had a birthday. I made them in her favorite color, purple. Earlier this year I taught Rayanna to tat. She was such a fast learner. She has even mastered split rings. Sometimes we get together in the evenings to tat, which is a lot of fun.

I tatted another earring from Jane's site, Flower Earring, these are almost like small bell shaped flowers. I like how they turned out and have the beads hanging down from the center of the flower.

The next earring that I made is a pattern by Nina Libin, Beaded Earring. I have had the pattern printed off for sometime now. I have always wanted to try this earring. There are a few variations to the pattern, just by adding more beads in a few places. I want to make a few more of these and experiment with different colors of thread and beads.

That's all for now. I have missed a few days on the computer and have to catch up on every one's blog and see what beautiful things others are tatting. Thanks for visiting my blog!! Happy Tats!

Tagged

I've been tagged by two wonderful tatters, Joy and Diane.

Here are the rules:

1. Link back to the person that tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 6 unimportant/random things about yourself.
4. Tag 4 people at the end of your entry.


I don't know if this means I have to list 12 unimportant/random things about myself since I was tagged twice, but here it goes.

1. I met Billy Boyd from the movie Lord of the Rings, he played the hobbit, Pipin.



2. I love to eat salads for supper. We grow a very big garden to supply everything we need for a healthy salad.

3. I started raising chickens a few years ago so I wouldn't have to buy eggs from the store anymore. One of our chickens doesn't want to live in the coop and pen with all the other chickens, so she has been free range for a year. She has been following me around lately and when she can't find me, she is now coming up to the house and flying up to the window sills looking in the window for me. Today she was on the porch on my glider looking through the big picture window looking for me.



3. My left eye doesn't move past the center, it is called Duane's Syndrome. Therefore, I don't see to my left unless I turn my head completely to the left.

4. So when I was in grade school, the kids would call me crossided lion, because my eyes crossed, because of the above reason.

5. I had a pet rabbit named Sugar when I was growing up. She was an albino rabbit.

6. I wore my Mother's wedding dress when I got married. It was a beautiful hooped skirt wedding dress.

Now for 6 more unimportat/random facts about my life.

7. In my previous post, I mentioned that I just got 7 stitches in my index finger from slicing my finger while cutting celery, well, the only other time I had to get stitches was from trying to separate two slices of frozen ham with a butcher knife, the knife went into my pinky finger and I had to get 4 stitch's. Ouch!!


8. I like my new pj's, they are green polka dotted shorts with a lavender top.


9. I met Cathy Rigby in 1972 and got her autograph at the place that I took gymnastic lessons. The reason I mention this is that my daughter, Katrina and I, just went to see the musical Peter Pan and Cathy Rigby was Peter Pan. If you don't remember, Cathy Rigby, throughout her gymnastics career, she was able to win numerous international gymnastic medals (including eight gold medals) and she went to the Olympics a second time in 1972. Cathy won a silver medal on the balance beam at the 1970 World Championships, being the first American woman to medal in World Gymnastics. I found a clip of Cathy performing as Peter Pan on YouTube - (I did not film this, it looks like this clip is from 2007:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofnOtAN71K0


10. I am fascinated by my friends retaining wall that has moss growing on the top of it. There are these beautiful little red flowers growing out of the moss.


11. I have held a hummingbird twice in my life. First time one was caught in the net that covered my blueberries, I got her untangled and let her go. The second time, it was a baby hummingbird that fell out of the nest and I picked it up and put it in the tree so cats wouldn't get to it. I watched the Mama bird coming in to feed it and the next day it flew off. It was amazing.


12. I never dreamed that when I learned how to tat, that it would become so important to me. I love how it relaxes me. I try to tat a little every day. I never knew how much all the people I have met through the internet tatting sites and lists would mean to me. Even though I have never met these wonderful people, I think of them as my friends. Especially, Jane E., Pamela, Hope G., TattingChic, Joy, Diane, Gina, and the list goes on and on. I can be a very quiet person of very few words at times, but I try to stay active in the list because I enjoy everyones blogs and journals. I appreciate everyone of our talented designers and love tatting their patterns. Thank you!!!!

Now to choose 4 people to tag, actually 8 people, since I was tagged twice:

I tag:

1.Pamela - Tats a Kool Challenge
2.BJ - Ridgetatter
3. Jon - Jon's Thread Escapade
4. Tattyhead
5. Nita's Creations
6. Connie - Tattin' N' Craftin' Rainbow Rose
7. Tayna - Wonk's Tatting
8. Carol Amich - Battatter's Belfry

ARTE PICO AWARD

Who would have thought that I would ever receive an award. I'm so surprised and honored. Thank you Verito!

ARTE Y PICO AWARD

There’re rules, yes, there are:
Reglas (español):1) Debes elegir a 5 blog que consideres sean merecedores de este premio por su creatividad, diseño, material interesante y aporte a la comunidad bloguera, sin importar su idioma.
2) Cada premio otorgado debe tener el nombre de su autora y el enlace a su blog para que todos lo visiten.
3) Cada premiada, debe exhibir el premio y colocar el nombre y enlace al blog de la persona que la ha premiado.
4) Premiada y premiadora deben exhibir el enlace de Arte y pico, para que todas sepan el origen de este premio.
5) Exhibir estas reglas
~~~~~~~~~~~
Rules:
1) You have to choose 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award due to their creativity, design, interesting material and also contribute to the blogger community, no matter in what language they are.2) Each award must have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog in order to be visited by everyone.3) Each award-winner has to show the award and include the name and link to the blog that has given it.4) The award winner and the one who has given it have to show the link of “Arte y pico” blog, so that everyone will know the origin of this award.5) Show these rules.
~~~~~~~~♥♥♥♥~~~~~~~~
I chose to give the award to Pamela - Tats's a Kool Challenge, TattyCat - Laura's Tatting Muse, Joy - Joy in Tatting, Judy- CJStitching and Blooms, Diane - Lace-Lovin' Librarian.

I hope I did this right.

DISCLAIMER:

Awards and tags can be fun. But do not feel obligated to accept the award if you find it a burden or otherwise makes you uncomfortable it's okay by me if you do not accept it.

Please take it as a compliment from me and consider it OPTIONAL.

Tatting Again, Motif #12

I am finally getting back into tatting. A few weeks ago I sliced my index finger while cutting celery and had to go to the emergency room and get 7 stitches. OOUCH, it sure did hurt. I got my stitches out and my finger is feeling better now, so I am finally able to tat again.

But while I was not tatting, William, my Leprechaun, (see post below for William's story) finished tatting the motif he started one day while I wasn't looking. To my delight, he tatted a flower pin. I use to make these when I learned to tat 19 years ago. The back of the pin has a tie-tack fastener. These pins are quick to make, they are just basically two rosettes put together with a porcelain flower in the center.

My husband was out of town at the end of May, he was in Guthrie, Oklahoma, on business and he had some free time and wondered into an antique shop to see if he could find me a birthday present and he found a little antique sterling silver shuttle for me. I was so surprised when he gave it to me. It is about 2-1/2" long and has the initials A.M. engraved on the top and the bottom of the shuttle is stamped with C.B.&H. Sterling. If anyone knows the company, C.B.&H. or anything about the shuttle, please let me know.

My Lephrechaun - William

I am one of the lucky ones to have received a Leprechaun from Pam in Ireland. She sent him to me when we had our Secret Santa Exchange. Well, I was reading Pam's Tats A Kool Challenge Blog, and she wanted all her Leprechaun's to check in. I am happy to report that William is having a grand time in Apollo, Pennsylvania. Let me tell you a little bit about William.

I have named my Leprechaun ,William , and he is my lucky charm. He sits by my computer and watches me while I visit tatting sites. Sometimes he sits and watches me tat too! He is a funny little fellow whom I feel so privileged to have.

I was tatting the other day and had to get up to answer the phone and when I came back, William had started tatting on my motif. He reminded me of the Fairy Tale by the Grimm Brothers "The Elves and the Shoemaker". Maybe William will have the motif done tonight.



Then two days ago, I couldn't find William. I wondered where he had gone off to. I searched high and low for him. Then I heard squeals of delight and you'll never guess where I found him. Did you ever see a ball pit at an amusement park? Well, I found William have a grand time with my thread. He dived right in just like a ball pit, only this was a pit full of thread. I had a heck of a time untangling him from the thread.




Yesterday I found him studying a pattern out of Mark Myers Book "Tatted Gathering of Angels". Maybe that is what he is going to tat for me tonight while I'm in bed.



That leads us to today. I came home from work and found him sitting at the computer. He sees all his friends and wants to know where they are and what they are up to. Are they as happy as I am, William asks.







So these are William's adventures for now. Who knows what mischief he will get into tomorrow. Thank you Pam, I adore William......


The reason for naming my Leprechaun William:

Why William you ask, well, I just watched the movie "P.S. I Love You" with Gerad Butler and Hilary Swank & Jeffrey Dean Morgan. Part of the movie was shot in Ireland and one of the Irish characters was William. So I named my Leprechaun after William in this movie. If you haven't seen this movie and like Romantic Comedies, you've got to see this one. I have to warn you that it is a tear jerker. I laughed and cried through the whole movie.

Nectarine Heart - Motif #11

I finally had a chance to tat with some of the new (HDT) Hand Dyed Threads I got from Yarnplayer (Marilee). The color is Nectarine and the thread has such pretty colors in it. I can't wait until the Nectarine set of solid colors arrives, I bought some of these too!

I found the prettiest Heart to tat with this thread. The Heart was designed by Sandra. Sandra has a slide show of some of her tatting on her site and there are some lovely crosses and bookmarks, earrings and two snoods. If you get a chance, check it out.



I've been going through all my tatting books, mostly the really old ones, looking for something different to tat. I saw many edgings that would look nice as bookmarks and littls tatting bits that would look good for earrings. That's what I do when I am too tired to tat, I'll just look at the books for a little bit and dream about what I could tat.

Motif #10 - Partridge in a Pear

Moving right along with the 25 Motif Challenge, I am already at motif #10, which I am very happy about, since I only joined the challenge on March 4, 2008. Here I have tatted Pam Palmer's Partridge in a Pear again. I tatted this one last year for a Secret Santa Exchange that I was in and posted about it earlier and can be seen on the post for February 6, 2008. My exchage partner was Jane Eborall, so she has the first one I tatted, which was tatted in all white. But I did this one a little different and tatted the pear in a beautiful golden color, which was made by Marilee (Yarnplayer), the color is called Golden Fleece, which you can get in her Etsy Shop. The Partridge is still in white. I used a pearl colored piece of heavy scrapbook paper and a piece of gold paper and used a fancy punch in the corners. I really like how this one looks with the golden pear.



Now I am thinking of what I will tat next. So many things I want to work on. I think I will tat a bookmark so I can use more of the HDT that I got from Marilee. I bought some of the beautiful color Nectarine. I think a floral bookmark would look nice in this color. I recently saw a floral bookmark that would look great with this thread. Now I can't remember where I saw it. Someone tatted about 8 of these bookmarks all in HDT's. I think the pattern might have been Kersti's, but I'm not sure. If anyone knows this bookmark, and knows where the pattern is, please let me know.

Tatting at Old Economy Village

Below is a picture of my Mom, Peg. She taught me to tat in 1989. My Mom learned how to tat from her friend, Evelyn. My Mom, Evelyn, and Kathy Nicklewicz and a few other ladies from Beaver County demonstrate tatting at the historical village of Old Economy. I taught my daughter to tat a few years ago, so we have three generations tatting now! I have only demonstrated a couple of times with them and I wanted to post a picture of us at old Economy from 2005. It is a lot of fun to demonstrate at Old Economy, I hope to do it again this summer with my Mom.


Peg, Katrina & Evelyn

Katrina & Carol (that's me)


Peg (my Mom), Evelyn, & Carol


Tatting display that Kathy puts together.
To see more of Kathy's tatting click on her name.

Old Economy Village, Ambridge, PA, the third and final home of the Harmony Society, was built by one of America's ost successful Christian communal groups. In 1804, the Harmonists migrated to America from Iptingen (near Stuttgart) in southwest Germany seeking religious and economic freedom. Nearly 800 farmers and craftsmen followed their leader George Rapp (1757-1847) first to Butler County, Pennsylvania and then to Posey County, Indiana. They stayed 10 years in each, building and naming their towns Harmony. The towns were designed by Frederick Rapp (1775-1834), the adopted son of the Founder.

In 1824, the Harmony Society returned to Beaver County, Pennsylvania and settled in Old Economy. To read more about this restored historical village, click on the link at the beginning of this post.

Tatted Heart - A Workbasket Pattern

I tatted this heart many years ago, it is from a Workbasket Magazine, I'm not sure of the year or month, I can't locate my copy of the magazine at the moment. But this heart reminded me of spring, with the daisies in the center of the heart.

Motif #9 - Bead Tatted Earrings

I just finished another pair of earrings using Coats & Clark Button Craft thread. The pattern is Jane Eborall's, with a little variations that she has added. The colors I used give the earring a southwest look with the peach, turquoise, cream and brown.

I was at JoAnn Fabrics this past weekend. I wanted to get more of the Coats & Clark Button Craft thread, and I noticed they don't have as many colors anymore. They didn't have the peach thread that I like or the Copenhagen blue. I'll have to go to the Coats & Clark site to see if these colors were discontinued. I sure hope not, I really like using this thread for tatted jewelry.

Tatted Parrot

I was going through my bookmarks of tatted sites and came across a link that I didn't think was there anymore. The site is from TatChat and there are still some patterns on that site that some you of may not have seen before. A mini heart by Liz, a heart by Betsy, a bracelet by Debbie, a butterfly by Lenore, three different tatted shuttle patterns and my favorite is the tatted Parrot by Mary Parrott. I tatted this a few times, once for a bookmark for a friend who loves birds, then I tatted it and sewed it on my daughters lunchbox when she was in 2nd grade. I think I still have the lunchbox somewhere. Katrina is 16 now, but I kept the lunchbox because I put tatting all over it. I also tatted the Parrot and framed it. I kept one for myself, which I made in 1998 and the other two framed Parrots's I donated to a bird club for an auction.

I found the lunchbox, I put on it my favorite butterfly by Mary McCarthy, parrot by Mary Parrott, a swan and chicken by Pam Palmer, a caterpillar and ladybug by Brenda Bonnila. On the other side I have a snake (who lost an eye) and turtle by Brenda Bonilla, a mermaid and seahorse by Jane Eborall. I think I will clean this lunchbox up and fix the snakes eye and put some of my tatting in it. I haven't thought about this lunchbox in so long, I guess I forgot about it.

Motif #8 - Bead Tatted Earrings



Another quick item to tat are these beautiful earrings by Jane Eborall. This is my favorite earring pattern. I like to use Coats and Clark button craft thread, which is like a size 30 thread, but gives the earring a firm shape. There aren't many colors to choose from, but your beads can give you the color. The thread comes in white, black, cream, tan, natural, green, blue, red, maroon and blue. At least that is all I can recall right now. You can find this thread at JoAnn Fabrics with sewing threads.

Motif #6 & 7 - Tatted Butterflies

I did manage to tat some last night. Just a few quick butterflies. This is such a cute butterfly. I added them to some birthday cards. This pattern is by Mary McCarthy and is in an old Workbasket Magazine.

Motif #5 - Tatted Cat Bookmark



I seem to be on a roll with these tatted bookmarks. I always like to have some on hand. I have a few of the Tatted Cat Bookmarks already, this is the latest one I have made. The pattern is by Diana Howe and was in the KNOTS Newsletter, November 2002. I have made this bookmark many times. It is fast and easy and kids love this bookmark. You can also find the pattern in Dianna Stevens book "Animal Bookmarks, A Tatted Zoo" . Dianna turned this Cat Bookmark into a Lion Bookmark by making long picots on all sides of the face. Its so cute! You can find information on the book on her website. Just click on her name and it will take you there. As I was looking up her web address, I see that she has the Lion Bookmark Pattern on her website, along with many other nice patterns.

I didn't get to tat on April 1st, International Tatting Day, but I did have the required chocolate! :) I will make up for the tatting tonight. I'm not sure what to start on. I think I will get back to making earrings.

Motif #4 - Tatted Thistle Bookmark

Moving right along with the 25 Motif Challenge. I have tatted another of my favorite bookmarks to make. The Tatted Thistle Bookmark by Jean N. Faeih.

I have done this bookmark many times and in many different colors, but my favorite colors are the thistle colors. This tats up quickly and makes a nice gift. I made a slight mistake on this bookmark though. At the top where all the long picots are, this is usually the rose color and the rings are the blue. I must not have been paying attention when I tatted this. Oh well, it still looks good. I think my next bookmark will be a cat bookmark. Kids love this one.