Tag: pig

Purple passion

There is a lady I know at work that really likes purple – light purple, dark purple, any shade of purple.  You could say she has a passion for purple.

 Last fall when she saw my dragonfly earrings she expressed a desire to have some, so I decided to make them in purple for her.  But this was getting late in the fall and I was busy making things both for the craft show and for Christmas so I didn’t get to them right away.  In fact, I just recently realized I hadn’t done them yet.  Then I had trouble – the dragonflies gave me all kinds of grief.  I finally just did something a little different and things went much better.

Wanda Salmans 2015
They aren’t very fancy but they are purple and she liked them very much.  They were made in Lizbeth #641 Lilac Dark (I think) in size 20. 
She had also seen Jane’s non-flying pigs I had made for a friend of my sister after some trial and error.  She specifically asked for a purple pig.  I finally got around to making her one in the same thread as the earrings.  She did notice that the pattern was different this time – I made the No Onion Ring version this time.
Pig NO Onion Ring © Jane Eborall
Jane’s patterns page
My friend was very happy with her purple pig.
(Do you know how hard it is to find a background for this dark color thread – and purple to boot?   It wasn’t easy.)


I hope all of you that have been effected by Storm Juno are doing okay.  It sounds like a few places got hit very hard, while others were a little more fortunate.  Dealing with that much snow is not a good thing at all.  Over here in Kansas we are basking in 70º F temps, literally 30º warmer than is normal for this time of year. Love the temperature but could use some of that moisture the east coast is getting.  But not all at once.

Thanks to all of you for your sympathy and suggestions on my mouse problems.  We’re still fighting them (of course) but I’m hoping we are making progress with getting rid of them.  We’ve had several dead ones, if that is any indication of success.  I’m getting pretty passionate about getting them gone!
I’d like to be able to forget about them and get back to my passion of tatting.

“It is obvious that we can no more explain a passion to a person who has never experienced it than we can explain light to the blind.”
T.S. Eliot
brainyquote.com

Three pigs and a flower


I finally got all the pigs done as well as a flower.  The lady who asked for them was very vague about what she wanted exactly,  I  had nothing to go on except “flower” so I made one with threads I had on shuttles already.  If nothing else she can tell me what she likes about it and what she doesn’t.
I’m very pleased with all the pieces except the purple pig, which I think looks a little off.  Maybe I should redo it. 
Yes, I think I should. 
Apologies to Gelett Burgess

‘I never saw a purple pig, 
I never hope to see one; 
But if you’ve ever had a swig, 
You might just swear you’ve seen one.’


“Purple Cow” by Gelett Burgess

A tale of two piggies

Well, three actually, but one isn’t done yet.
My sister was telling a friend of hers some of the things I’ve tatted, including a horse, a lion, dragons, that sort of thing, and the friend asked if I could make a pink pig.
Sure, no problem.  How big?  Three inches?  Well…
Flying Pig © Jane Eborall
So I went hunting for pig patterns.  You know, I found there aren’t that many pig patterns out there.  But Jane E. has lots of animal patterns so the first stop was there and it’s where I returned later.  
The first little piggy was made in Lizbeth #617, Magenta Med is size 20.  As you can see, it’s not very big.  My sister thought it was a cute baby pig. 
I decided I would try one in size 10 thread to show her the difference, but I don’t have any pink in size 10.  I do, however, have a purple in Cébélia size 10.  This little piggy was a little bit bigger than the other (of course) but still not three inches.  I sent my sister a picture of both so her friend could see what I had.
The friend said she’d like both.  And another small pink pig facing the other way.  And a flower. 
I don’t know how big a flower, or if it should have a stem or leaves or anything, but I’ll work on it.  And the third pig.
You might have noticed the pattern name is “Flying Pig” but it doesn’t have wings.  I was going to make wings but the lady doesn’t want flying pigs, just pigs.
If you’ve made Jane’s pig before you might also notice that the center is not per the pattern.  I tried multiple times to do the onion rings and every time I got all four done but couldn’t close that last one without breaking the thread.  Yes, I know, she has a pig pattern without the onion rings, but this is what I had printed out so it’s what I had to work with.  So I made three rings then changed to the chains.  I was going to do the final pig a little differently – either do a better job on the onion rings or do the no onion ring version – but the lady likes them the way they are, so I’ll do the third little piggy just like the first. 
And now I have the nursery rhyme stuck in my head.
This little piggy went to market
This little piggy stayed home
This little piggy had some roast beef
This little piggy had none
And this little piggy went “whee, whee, whee” all the way home.