Leap Day Treat!

Well, this is a day that comes around only once every four years. I have spend the day doing nothing constructive (well almost). I have been looking through my patterns and threads and discovered that I do not have any fall colors. A search of our local Hobby Lobby store turned up the only offering in tatting threads:

 The trouble is that they only stock size 20 thread. There is nothing smaller in town. Any place else I would look requires a 30 minute trip and even then they don't always have a good selection. I would buy locally if at all possible but alas it is not to be today.


Guess I will need to turn to Handy Hands for my favorite thread providers and place an order for some fall colors in smaller sizes. So in my cart right now are the following Lizbeth colors: Falling Leaves, Vineyard Harvest, Autumn Spice, Autumn Apple Pie and Leaf Swirl.


I am looking forward to receiving these threads so that I can make some fall colored Tea Roses for my big fall project. I have also received some paper mache'  eggs that I had placed on order last week. It was a really quick turn around for placing the order. So my next debate with myself is whether or not to use them as is or to paint them colors to put tatting over them. I have several border patterns picked out to try on them.


So, enough chatter for now. I need to get on with my tatting.


Happy Tatting
Arial - Tatting Faerie

Monday Musings....

For the last couple of hours I have completely drawn a blank on what to write. I just can't seem to wake up this morning. When I sat down I knew just what I wanted to write about but then my brain decided to draw a blank and leave me with nothing. Then all of a sudden I seem to have woken up. Guess my tea is not working yet this morning. *sigh*


What I started to write about today was getting inspiration from antique patterns for other combinations. I was looking through my books yesterday for ideas that I could use on Easter eggs this year. I got to looking at "tatted edging" patterns and began to see some good possibilities. It is not the edging itself but what it inspires us to do. Simple edging can make lovely tatted cases for eggs as in this item I did some time ago.

This particular casing uses a split ring center with two medallions threaded together. The pattern is published in Georgia Seitz book "Tatting Online" which I believe is still available. (No I don't get royalties from this. Just the fact I have a published pattern out there.)


So today I will play with edgings to see which would look best on an egg and what sort of shapes that I can come up with. I may actually put out some of the patterns that I come up with during this "play" period. 


Tell me how you use patterns in different ways from how they were originally designed. I would love to hear from you.


Happy Tatting
Arial - Tatting Faerie

Inspiration Sunday

I have spent the last several days looking over patterns and internet patters for things to inspire me with new design ideas.With Easter coming soon I am getting new ideas that I need to work up for egg designs. I published in an earlier post that I had several eggs that I had done in the past but now is the time for a few new designs. So to that end I am going to put here some of the really nice postings that I have come across with the theme of tatted eggs.


Here is always a good place to start with looking: http://www.occhi-world.de/eastern.htm They have some really pretty designs on both regular eggs and goose eggs.


A really good way to see all the different egg inspirations on the net is to do a Google search like this one: Google Images (I substituted "Google Images" for the very long web address.) Not quite sure just how Justin Beiber fits on page six though. LOL


Here is a video for inspiration:

I must admit that I have really never seen anyone tat quite that fast. If only.... At Bellaonline you can find many patterns for either 2d or an occasional 3d pattern to use on your own Easter eggs.


Happy Tatting
Arial - Tatting Faerie

Family Saturday.....

I have spent much of the morning just trying to sit down and write this post. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men (women, too) often go awry. Yes the post is mostly written before I even sit down at the computer but the issue today is getting to sit down. Saturday is the time when when my number two son comes over and does their laundry for the week while mom is working. So grandma gets to visit with the little one while daddy is busy. (Not much else gets done on a day like today.) Here is my favorite photo of him trying to act all big. You would never know that he is still less than a year old. 

I did manage to get many more of my saved web pages into document format for processing to read on my tablet. I was amazed while processing them at how many pages are no longer available to the internet community any more. It is such a shame that so many patterns have been lost to everyone over time and who knows how many more that I have not seen have been lost. I will have to work up some samples to share with everyone as I go through them, though it might keep me busy tatting from now until eternity. 


To finish this I wanted to show you my continuing Tea Rose project progress. I am able to do one or two roses while I am watching shows in the evening. So here is what I have so far:

Yes, that is only seven roses but that is really doing good for me. The container that they are in is really a gift card box in the shape of a book that I picked up from Barnes & Noble. I actually bought another one for one of my daughter-in-laws for Christmas and got the idea that this would be good to hold projects in. (Yeah, I know that it will not hold the number of roses that I will need for this fall but it is a place to start.) So the front cover the the book box is shown below:

Oh, so that  you know, the inside of the box is a pale purple color but the flash on my good camera just washed out the color. I really need to get a directional flash for indirect lighting when I take shots like this. 


Hope you all get to spend time with family. Gotta go see what the little fella is up to now. 


Happy tatting
Arial - tatting faerie

Browsing Patterns....

I have been going through my patterns just trying to decide what I would make for a gift to be given away this fall. I came across the "Vlinders - Tatted Butterfly Pattern" that was created by Teri Dusenbury in 1994. I was looking for her website and the information to share but sadly it is no longer available. It is my understanding that there was some sort of flap over tatting innovation and techniques. Because of this she has left the tatting community on the internet and we will be all the worse for the loss. I have always admired her beautiful designs. I will make the pattern and frame it but I believe I will not post any other picture than the one listed below.

I am going to continue to look through my patterns from the internet and find something else that I can also work on and share as I make progress. Recently I have begun the process of converting many of my tatting books to electronic format so that I can have a traveling library on my tablet when I am traveling with my hubby. I am surprised that more of these books are not available in electronic format for just this purpose. Yes, I know that some people like having that paper to follow but I really enjoy having my patterns where I can easily put my hands on them and search for what I need. I currently have 234 books in electronic format that I can easily read .

If you have not guessed by now, I am into computers big time. When I was working I made my living by programming main frame computers and troubleshooting the desktop models. I even build my own desktop computer when I feel the need for more horsepower under the hood. Now that the kids have been moving out I will begin rearranging one of the rooms to make my own office for my computer artwork and crafting. Someday I will change this canned theme into something that is all my own. Right now I am working on making this blog a daily habit (that will take 30 days to become that habit.). I must confess that once I begin writing, it tends to get wordy and rambling. Guess this is as good a place as any to end this entry.

Happy tatting.
Arial - Tatting Faerie

Tatted Musings with Tea

I set down this morning with a cup of tea. (blend of green and Darjeeling, for those interested). I spend quite a bit if time reading the latest on some of the blogs that I follow. So much to read and so little time to read them in. I follow quite a few other tatting blogs and see a lot of pretty stuff that comes off of everyone else's shuttles. It has made me realize that I have come a long way from those early days when I created my first medallion using the needle-tatting kit I purchased so many years ago.

I have decided that I will go ahead and publish here a link or two to my galleries at my website to show people just what I have done. My Tatted Eggs album is the first up since Easter is now just 39 days away. Eggs 1, 10 - 12 were done with tatting needles. The rest were created using shuttles. Eggs 7 and 8 were ones that I received in a couple of different tatting exchanges that I participated in several years ago.

For those of you interested, the picture below shows my current favorite tatting kit. It is created by stripping out the foam from inside of a Plano fly case (yes, found in the fishing isle at Walmart). This gives me a clear case to see the contents of the kit and protects my shuttles and tools and the current project in process. The shuttles are "Lady Hoare" style shuttles. The trick I found for holding the thread in place and not unraveling when you drop it is to loop the thread over one of the "picks" twice. Yes, you do have to release these loops when you want more thread but it saves loads of time when you accidentally drop the shuttle.

You can create a kit from any number of containers provided that they are big enough to hold one or two shuttles, small scissors or nail clippers and a mini hook. I also have a couple of fabric pockets that were made for me from another exchange that will hold just two shuttles, nail clippers and a mini hook. Having small kits like this makes your project very portable to put into your purse to go anywhere. I have been know to pull my kit out when waiting in long lines to add a ring or chain to a project. It will also open doors to conversations with responses like "My grandmother used to do that" or "I didn't know that they still do that type of lace". The eyes of the little kids get really big when I have an extra shuttle to make a butterfly or a small flower for them.

Well, I am still learning about blogging and the ends and outs of tags. So it may take a while for me to get any followers. Right now this is just my online journal and I am happy with that for now. Thank you if you start reading and following.

Beginning of Adventure.....

I have been a tatter for many years. I first learned to tat using the needle kit purchased by myself and my mother on a trip to Branson MO. We had gone together to Silver Dollar City to have a fun day of wandering through the old time crafts. One of the shops specialized in lace and cross stitch. We each purchased a kit and took them home to learn. My poor mother could not really figure out how the patterns were to work just using the thread and needle. However, I found a new love in that needle and the lace that came off of it.
That was the beginning of my adventures with the art of tatting. Shortly after I started tatting with those needles, I attempted working with a shuttle. The worst part of switching from one to the other was the "flip" of the loop from your working thread to the other thread. Back when I was working, I was playing with my shuttles trying to get the flip one day. This was between meetings as a state conference. Someone who knew how to tat came up to me and commented that she could help me get the flip and took the time to show me how it was done. Bless her heart because I wish to this day that I could remember her name and show her just how far I have come from those days of struggling with that flip.
I have a website with a lot of my tatted projects in a photo album. Arialgr.com is the main page of the site and there is a link or two for my album pages to be found there. For those of you who visit you will see many other things that are there besides my tatting.
My current project is to work on many, many Tea Roses for a Ladies Day activity at my church this coming fall. These Roses are actually very simple to do and the pattern by Ruth Perry can be found at Tat-Calendar . Here is a picture of what I have done so far:

That is just a quick picture with my cell phone but any future pictures will be done with my very fancy camera and much better lighting.
If you are a tatter, let me know what you are working on. I would love to hear what others are doing.
Arialgr