Ruth Perry and I spent a wonderful day on Catalina Island yesterday. My lace guild, the Hedgehog Lacers, asked Ruth to come out to California to teach a celtic tatting class. The class went very well and we had a lot of fun trying to get that ----- knot tied. I finally did it after 3 tries. YAY!

During one of those times while everyone was happily tatting away and talking, it came up the Ruth would not be leaving till Tuesday. I volunteered my house to continue the class on Monday, but, well, real life got in the way of everyone's plans. We then talked about things to do in the area since Ruth had never visited California before. Catalina Island was mentioned (not by me even though I just love the island). Well a phone call later and I had reservations on the boat for Ruth and myself. I told some other guild members during lunch and they were ready to play hookie from their Monday classes and/or work and join us. (I won't mention that both our husbands protested that they couldn't join us either).

I picked Ruth up bright and early (ok foggy and early) Monday morning and we headed for the boat. The crossing to Catalina takes about an hour from Long Beach and we both tatted our way across the water. The ocean was smooth as glass, no problems at all. After a submersible boat tour and a tour of the interior of the island, Ruth and I settled on the beach to tat. The sun did break through the fog around 1:00. We couldn't have had a more beautiful day to enjoy the island.

Ruth showed me another method of getting a bead into the middle of a ring, a regular ring, not a split ring. After watching and doing a 2nd one to make sure I had the concept, Ruth held up the 2 rings and commented that they looked like cat eyes. I was thinking the same thing, so off we went doing freeform designing.

I must tell you that this doesn't come easy to me, I usually have to think about it, but something about being with Ruth, and perhaps the magical aspect of the island (the city is named Avalon after all) just got the creative juices in overdrive. My cat rapidly turned into an owl, but it is very cute just the same. Ruth named her creation "Lina, the Catalina Calico Cat" and she is saying MEOW!



Well there you have it, the owl and the pussy cat went to sea in a beautiful catamaran (better know as the Catalina Express). We did not tat on the way back to the mainland, I think we were tired.

To continue reposting my motif from the old blog.

Motif 11.

This is the second thread I received from Maria Silva of Alvide, Portugal. It is a very thick thread from Coats called Ancora. It is made in Portugal and if I read the tag correctly it is size 12. The pattern is an edging from the February 1952 Workbasket

Motif 12.

This thread was given to me by Faye Hunt of Clawson, MI. It is Auver a sole silk color 494. The pattern is from the July 1952 Workbasket. The silk was great to work with, but I've got to remember to not do dimpled rings with fine thread! It breaks too easily when closing a ring. I suppose my bane in life is going to be dimpled rings.

Motif 13.

This is a second thread given to me by Faye Hunt. It is Finca Size 16 color no. 30. The pattern is from the May 1953 Workbasket.

Motif 14.

This is a third thread given to me by Debbie Arnold. It is also a Valdani thread but instead of a quilting thread, which I am familiar with, it is a perle cotton! I've never seen this before. The size is 12 and the color is no. M21 (Treasures). It tats pretty much like perle cotton too; quite soft.

The pattern is from the June 1952 Workbasket. What you are seeing at the top of the chains is rickrack tatting. (4 first half of a ds followed by 4 second half of a ds and repeated)

Motif 15.

This thread came to me from Lisa Sipe of Centralia, Washington. It is Flora Size 20 in a yellow-white variegated. The pattern is from the August 1968 Workbasket.

Motif 16.

Susan Taliaferro gave me both the thread and the pattern for this motif. This very pretty heart is Susan's own design. I have her email addy if you want to contact her for the pattern. The thread is Caron Size 10 and the color is Baby Rainbow.

Motif 17.

This thread was given to me by Polly Womack of Los Alamitos, CA. It is Rainbow Linen. The thread was very difficult to tat with because it is thick and rough. The knots kept catching on the core thread as I tried to draw them up tight so you can see where my ds' are
a bit uneven. The pattern is from the September 1954 Workbasket.

Motif 18.

This is the first of 3 threads given to me by Diane Jenkins. It is Olympus Size 40, but I don't have the color number. The pattern is from the October 1950 Workbasket.

The last time I was here was April?????? Boy I've been busy. Between my fair tatting and the project I've been doing at work, I've been swamped. To top it off, I haven't done any work towards completing my challenge. I think I have 1 or 2 to go before I have my 25.

I'm going to post 10 of my completed motifs with their descriptions so this doesn't get too long. I'll leave out all the rest of the stuff from my other blog, just comment on the thread, pattern and who sent it.

For those just finding this blog:

My challenge is an extension of the thread exchange that I run a couple of times a year. What I have been doing with the threads I receive is tat them into little motif's and put them in a sample book. I started with Patty Duff's minitats. When I filled that book up, I started to make a sample of my own, first using patterns from all the Workbasket Magazines that I own, when I run out of them, work patterns from other pattern books.

Currently my sample book is in a binder. I think I will continue the pattern from what I do in my binder here. What I will record is the Month and Year of the Workbasket Magazine. The type of thread I used, who gave me the thread, and where they are from (City, State, Country). In my binder, I also print a picture of what the motif is supposed to look like from Workbasket, but I won't do that here.

Motif 1.

The thread was given to me by Angie Pearson of Stantonville, TN. It is Lion Brane Lame metallic yarn, multi #960. The pattern is from the October 1976 workbasket. This was an intresting thread to tat with. For a metallic, it was fairly strong, but very rough. I tried one standard ring with it but was afraid of breaking the thread while I was pulling the ring closed. I switched to self closing mock rings for the rest of the pattern and it worked out quite well.

Motif 2.

This thread was sent to me by Rev. Doug Marlow of Watertown NY. It is vintage embroidery floss called Peri-Lustra that was made in England. The color number is 100. The pattern is from the December 1979 Workbasket.





Motif 3.
This thread was sent to me by Deborah Craig of Bernville, PA. It is Caron, Size 10, Color - Christmas. The pattern is from the December 1982 Workbasket.

This thread is so thick that 10 yards doesn't go very far. I had to modify the pattern a bit by cutting down the number of double stitches. The pattern called for 6ds between picots, I used 3. Even with that, I was finger tatting the last chain.

Motif 4.

This is another thread from Angie Pearson. It is DMC size 80 color 109. The pattern is from the April 1959 Workbasket. In the original pattern, the outside loops are supposed to be chains that join back into the base of the chain with a shuttle lock join. I used 2 shuttles and changed the outside loop to a ring using the second shuttle.

Motif 5.

This is Omega thread size 50 and was sent to me by Kate Huttar of Duncanville TX. Kate also sent me a basket edge pattern from a 1916 needlework magazine. I took that pattern and doubled it back on itself to make a small bookmark.

Motif 6.
This thread is from Maria Silva of Alvide, Portugal. It is DMC Babylon, size20. The pattern is from the June 1959 Workbasket Magazine.

Motif 7.
The thread is from Shirley Meier of Geelong, Australia. (I hope I got that right Shirley) The thread is Altin Basak size 50 that Shirley found in a Turkish grocery store. The pattern is from the February 1985 Workbasket Magazine.

Motif 8.

This is the last sample thread I got from Angie Pearson. She said she needed to send some thread in Tennessee Orange. The thread is 2 strands of DMC Embroidery floss, color 410. The pattern is from the April 1972 Workbasket.

Motif 9.

Here is the ornament that I gave away in my 2006 holiday cards. It isn't using any exchange threads. The thread is metallic wrapped Altin Basak.

This pattern started life as one of Patty Duffs minitats (#18 to be exact). DH didn't like the look with 6 points and suggested I do it with 8 points. 8 points made it too cumbersome, in my opinion, so I eliminated one of the inner rings and came up with the design you see. For the pattern go to my other blog 360.yahoo.com/tgatekeeper1




Motif 10.
This thread was sent to me by Debbie Arnold of Colorado Springs, Colorado. It is Superior Threads King Tut quilting thread. Very fine and smooth to work with. In my opinion, it is one of the better brands of quilting threads for tatting. The motif is from the July 1959 Workbasket.