Catching Up On All the Tatting Blogs

I've been tatting away on various projects but none of them are very inspiring right now. I've started and stopped a number of times and just can't seem to decide what I want to work on next.

When all else fails, I tat little butterflies or other small motifs to use up thread left on shuttles. I guess I think if I have empty shuttles, I'll be ready to fill them with beautiful thread for the next tatting project.

Since I haven't figured out what I want to work on, I decided to catch up on all the tatting blogs. Everyone is making such beautiful tatted items and that inspires me. Thank you tatters for posting and sharing your work.

I think I'll check out my pattern books and look online and try something I've never tatted before. One technique that seems very popular right now is cluny tatting. So far I have failed miserably at making clunies so I will look for more info online and perhaps some new videos and give it a try.

Any suggestions on where I might find instructions for making clunies? Videos are great because I'm very much a visual learner. It reminds me of learning to make split rings and split chains. I tried and tried and tried and finally the light went on and I got it. I'm hoping for the same reaction to making clunies!

Word of Caution About Blog Comments

Some of you may already know this, but I just recently figured out something about comments.

I love reading all the comments other tatters leave on my blog but I don't publish them without looking at them first, and this is why. I've been involved in the tatting community for almost two years and am pretty familiar with many names and bloggers but I don't know everyone. While I'm not afraid of a few negative comments here and there, I am very cautious about spamming and other malware that is prevalent everywhere now.

As I was looking as some of the comments I've received, one trend I noticed was after that after a very innocent comment there were a bunch of underlined dots. I didn't immediately recognize the name and wondered why there were 10-15 dots at the end of the comment.

Now, I admit, I often end my sentences in email or when texting with 3-4 dots...it's kind of my way of letting the recipent know that my comments are open-ended and hopefully they will reply with further thoughts or information.

What was interesting about these comments was when I hovered my mouse over the dots and looked at the bottom of my browser screen, all kinds of trashy website URLs came up!

Spammers have figured out a way to create links using this method.

So, fellow tatters, be wary of unknown bloggers or odd comments you see on your own blogs and check them out (hover don't click) before publishing.

Just my two cents' worth but I hope it helps someone.

One more thing - if you receive comments in a foreign language, copy them into a translator (Google has one) before you do anything else. You'll be surprised and probably disappointed in what some of them say...

2010 Tat Days Quilt Block

Not very long ago, I volunteered to finish a quilt block for the 2010 Tat Days put on by Palmetto Tatters Guild. Here's a photo of the quilt block I received:

Well, I looked and looked at the block trying to decide what sort of crazy quilting/tatting I would add. I tatted up some edgings and tried them out; some I kept; some I did not. I tried a number of different single motifs to fill the 'center' area but finally ended up tatting a rose motif for it. I added some butterflies with beads; more tatted edgings; and even a little lace with buttons, and this is what it looked like when I sent back to Georgia.

If you double-click on the photo itself you'll be able to see much more detail.

It was fun to work on and inspired me to practice some embroidery stitches for future projects. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished quilt and I can tell from the other blocks I've already seen, that it will be a huge success!

Big and Small Tatting

As one of my 25 Motif Challenges, I tatted a doily. Even though I was afraid I might get bored doing a doily, I actually found it to be quite fun and kind of relaxing to tat. Some of the rounds were repeats of previous rounds so there were easy tatting times.

It's called a Clover Leaf Doily by Linda S. Davies and I found the pattern at www.craftown.com. It's about 6.5 inches across and was shuttle tatted in Lizbeth #20 thread; a medium leaf green and ecru.

After finishing the doily and while I pondered which tatting project I would start next, I decided to tat up some butterflies. I decided it would be fun to make teeny, tiny butterflies since I had just finished a large project.

These butterflies are all needle tatted and less than 1/2" across. I used a pretty pink Sulky Rayon thread; an ivory hand quilting thread, and blue outdoor UV resistant thread. Quite an interesting array of thread I have on hand, don't you think?

What should I tat next? I still haven't decided...but I'm thinking about doing something with cluny leaves since I've never done them before. I'll keep you posted.

Love to Tat

I don't know about you, but after a long day at work, I really look forward to spending a little time tatting.

There's just something wonderful about picking out a new pattern (or sometimes an old favorite), searching through thread for just the right one, winding the shuttles (or even threading the needles), finding something good to watch on TV and settling in for an evening of tatting.

I can't wait to get home and start tatting!

Back from Vacation and Tatting Again

I’m still here. I know it’s been weeks since I last posted anything but, what can I say, it’s been a busy couple of months around here.

My husband and I had two four-day vacations. The first was a long weekend in Williams, Arizona, with a visit to the Grand Canyon. This was a well-planned motorcycle trip with lots of scenic roads and a little sightseeing along the way. Unfortunately, the weather turned bad the day we left San Diego. It rained and snowed in the mountains and the roads were quite treacherous.

We had a group of almost 20 motorcycles when we left San Diego and had three motorcycles tip over on the icy roads. Everyone was able to get back up and keep riding but the first day was non-stop rain, sleet, and snow for 12-1/2 hours - all the way to Williams, Arizona.

Friday was spent at the Grand Canyon; another cold and wet day but the Grand Canyon is awesome and we all enjoyed seeing it. Saturday was absolutely gorgeous – the perfect day for riding. We left Williams early that day and headed south through Oak Creek Canyon, Sedona, Jerome, and stopped in Wickenburg.

On the way back to San Diego on Sunday we stopped at Lutes Casino in Yuma – a fun and interesting restaurant featuring potato tacos. Just to give you a better idea of the weather we encountered during these four days; the lowest temperature on Thursday was 28 degrees and the highest temperature through the desert on Sunday was 98 degrees!

Our second long weekend involved flying up to Reno for some very important training. My husband and I both ride Harley-Davidson motorcycles and we’re also officers in our local motorcycle chapter. Every year Harley-Davidson puts on four training seminars in the United States for officers of local chapters and we were lucky enough to be able to go to the West Coast seminar in Reno. There were 700 bikers there from all over the United States and we shared stories about our local chapters and learned a lot from each other about making our own chapters more inviting and more fun. It was a very busy month for us but a lot of fun.

Well, enough about our weekend adventures. More about tatting in my next post.