My goodness, 3 posts in less than a month. That must be a record for me.

I had another request. This time to see my shawl in progress, as you can tell by the turned over edges and the hanging threads. I was thinking it was small enough to scan, but apparently I've made more progress than that. It is sitting on the cushion of my couch.

I figure that 20 motifs to a side is my finished goal. Figuring on a good day it takes me 30 minutes to make a petal, and there are 6 petals to a motif... I don't want to do the math and find out, I may stop .

The main time that I work on it is during my lunch break walk, much to the amazement of my coworkers. They wonder how I can walk, tat, and listen to my MP3 all at the same time. I sometimes have to stop walking to make a join. And before you get concerned, my walking course is the inside upper balcony of where I work. I wouldn't think of doing this outside on the sidewalk. This is also the piece I grab when I have to wait anywhere (you know the drill) or when I'm doing demonstrations or listening to a concert in the park.

The base motif is from Jan Stawasz's tatting book. I see by his webpage that is currently out of print. He used it to make a vest and hat, but I have more of a need for a shawl than a vest, so that is what I am making.

The thread that I am using is Valdani Pearl Cotton, color JP 10 and I get it from DS9Designs. While the colors of the Valdani thread are just wonderful, it is far from my favorite thread to tat with. It is extremely soft and sometimes isn't very uniform. I had to stop, cut, and add a thread last week because I encountered a poorly done splice that I just couldn't tat through. As a shawl, though, the thread is just perfect.

I probably should post this, since it came up on the tatting lists. This is Black Beauty. He won "Best of Show" at the Los Angeles County Fair last summer. He is the third horse I have made, the first two being Silver and Mr. Ed. I would post them too except I don't seem to have any pictures of them at the moment. Once I do you would be able to see the evolution between Silver (the first on I made) to Black Beauty (the last and best so far). I need to do 3 more to complete the set.

The base pattern is from Ineke Kuiperij's "Nostalgie" (carousel) book. I just had to embellish it a bit though. When I got the pattern, I couldn't understand why the tail and mane weren't tatted, so I designed my own. After seeing a European carousel, I now understand why. They use horsehair tails on their horses, duh. I also added a flower to the rear as both a decorative element and a stabilizing element. I some redesigning on the head to make it a bit longer. That gave me a bit more room to play with decorative bridals and reigns. And after a bit of creative thinking, I managed to get colored hoofs in there too.

I think I'm on a roll. Let's see how long I can keep this up. Hopefully I will get caught up with my backlog.

This thread is Excella Embroidery Silk. I used all the strands. The pattern is from the March 1962 Workbasket. The thread was sent to me by Nivedita Sen of Kolkata India.



I got this thread from Lily Morales of Yucaipa, CA. It is Anchor Cordonet Size 20. The pattern is the November 1954 Workbasket.







This next motif is actually an edging pattern from the January 1952 Workbasket. It started really curving on me, so I just let it keep going until it met itself back at the beginning. The thread came from Roberta Lawson of Queensland Australia. It is Cebelia Size 20, color 814.




Shirley Burger of Iowa City, Iowa gave me both the thread and the pattern for this heart. The pattern is designed by Marcella Alcantara and the thread is DMC Size 80 color 55





Yes, this thread is as thick as it looks. It is a size perle cotton made by Royal Coats and Clark. The color is 0006. The pattern is from the January 1961 Workbasket. It was given to me by Deborah Craig of Bernville Pennsylvania.


This is the last thread sent to me by Nivedita Sen. It is Modi Thread Size 40. The pattern is from the January 1966 Workbasket.

Well that catches me up with everything I scanned last August :-O! I have a few more scans to do to catch me up to date. Hopefully I can get them posted before next January.

I guess it is time for my yearly update of my blog.

This thread was given to me by Nivedita Sen of Kolkata India. It is Excella Metalic. The metalic thread was rather difficult to tat with so I kept the pattern as free of rings as I could. The pattern is from the March 1962 Workbasket.


Shirley Burger gave me this Handy Hands Lizbeth thread. It is size 20 color number 121. The pattern is from the November 1960 Workbasket.







This is a March 1964 Workbasket pattern tatted with Optima Size 10, color 110. The thread was given to me by Lisa Sweeny of Kettington, Ohio.




This is a very delicate antique thread from Lily Morales of Yucaipa, CA. I have included a scan of the thread tag. The tag says Hilanderia Planas Barcelona Algodon Perle Size 12. The pattern is from the May 1959 Workbasket and I selected it because it is exclusively chains. That was the best way I could think of using this thread without breaking it.




This is DMC Babylon Size 30 made in France. I got it from Wally Sosa from Rome, Georgia. The pattern is the January 1959 Workbasket.




Elizabeth Zipay not only gave me the Oliver Twist thread that I tatted this pretty bookmark with, she also designed and gave me the pattern for it.
At the moment I don't remember where Elizabeth is from, I'm going to have to look it up. The thread and pattern came to me not from a thread exchange but from a secret santa exchange.