Tatting Corner had a 12 Days of Christmas sale in November, in which I bought thread. And such pretty thread!
My thread order arrived!
I chose several metallic threads as well as colors Iāve not tried before. And a couple that I needed for other things ā notice the Ecru balls. But arenāt they pretty? Iām looking forward to using these, as soon as I decide what Iāll be making with them.
The wings are much better on these two.
I made a couple more of the Small Angels. Iām happier about the wings than I was about the previous two. Iām looking forward to seeing other peopleās versions of the pattern to see how they come out for them.
Iāve started another project, which I want to finish one way or another before I start anything with the new thread.
New project in gold
Iām not sure I like how this is working out, but Iām planning on finishing it anyway, to know for sure.
Iām starting 2021 with a new project and new threads. Lots to look forward to. How about you?
I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. Youāre doing things youāve never done before, and more importantly, youāre doing something.Neil Gaiman
I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas! We did. Christmas Eve I finally got a few Christmas decorations put up and decorated a tree.
My 2020 Christmas tree
This isnāt exactly a tree, it is several branches from some evergreens that we took out of the yard a couple of days ago wire-tied together. The shape is not quite right, but it brought the scent of a real tree indoors, didnāt cost anything, and, when decorated, looked festive. The only ornaments on it that I made this year are the music angel and the round paper ornament. All the others are ones I randomly found as I got my Christmas decorations out. I found quite a few more tatted ornaments and hung them around the house.
The little time Iāve had to tat Iāve been making the Small Angel. Which isnāt hard, but that left wing! Making it look like the right is a bit of a challenge. Itās all in the picot size and the chains. And maybe the join for that longest picot.
Three small angels
As you can see, neither of the red angels have wings quite like the original gold one. And they donāt even look like each other! I think the wings on the red angels look more like leaves than wings, but they still look okay. I must be holding my mouth wrong as I tat to make them so different! Iād love to see how they turn out for anyone that makes them.
Usually, between Christmas and New Yearsā things for us slow down a bit, but this year itās not that way. There are several things that need to be done before the new year, so many that we donāt have much time to do as weād like. I have tatting plans that will have to wait a little bit more.
What are your plans for the New Year?
āIf you want to make God laugh, tell him about your plans.ā Woody Allen https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/woody_allen_136686
Can you believe it is only three days to Christmas? The year has gone so fast and the last three weeks must faster (it seems to me!). I have been so busy I havenāt gotten as much tatting done as I would have liked, but, looking back, Iāve gotten more done than I thought.
Christmas tatting 2020
Looking back, there was more tatting done for Christmas than I thought. Iām not sure how many of the music ornaments I finished this year, but everyone I had planned to send cards to received one, so it was several lol! Itās amazing how much time can be spent on such small tatting!. The angel wings came out great, and the angels were well received by the few that got them. I didnāt give anyone the small angel, but that was designed and tatted as well. Not bad!
Speaking of the small angel, the pattern is done and available! Please email me a request.
Small angel Christmas tatting
Now Iām on to more Christmas things, namely getting the house cleaned up and decorated so it looks Christmas-y!
Merry Christmas to all of you.
āChristmas is the day that holds all time together.ā Alexander Smith https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/alexander_smith_379476?src=t_christmas
I was on vacation last week, which was a good thing. I spent a lot of time making the ornaments to send out as Christmas cards. I would never have gotten as many made if I hadnāt had the week off.
Ornament cards for Christmas
Another batch of cards done except for the hangers.
More ornament cards for Christmas
These all have hangers now. There are still a few that need tatting as well as the hangers.
The good news, most recipients have theirs. Some were to be mailed yesterday but didnāt get picked up. I donāt know if the mail came early or we didnāt have a postman come by, so Iāll drop them at the post office today.
While I was tatting small things for these ornaments, I took a bit of a detour and did a small angel.
Small tatted angel
This is one of the few times I jotted down some ideas and a drawing before starting to tat. I had to make an adjustment due to a slight miscalculation, but it came out like I wanted it to. I even jotted down the stitch counts ā amazing! I might get the pattern out later this week, though maybe not the nice drawing. Weāll see.
I was very busy last week with more than just the Christmas cards. There were so many things that had to be finished before this last weekend. The good news is that those things did get done. Now I can do a few of the other things that didnāt get done yet. Like putting up decorations in my house. But I have to clean a bit before that. Christmas is how many days away??
Are you ready for Christmas?
āItās true, Christmas can feel like a lot of work, particularly for mothers. But when you look back on all the Christmases in your life, youāll find youāve created family traditions and lasting memories. Those memories, good and bad, are really what help to keep a family together over the long haul.āCaroline Kennedy
Iāve been giving a lot of thought to what I should make for my Christmas ornaments this year. These are gifts I give to close family and friends, each year different from the others. Some years I get an idea and everything comes together easily, other years, not so much. This year it was a little bit of a search but it came together rather nicely once I started.
I started thinking about something I had done a few years ago. In 2013 I decorated small bags with bits of tatting. On a couple of the bags, I had a bird made of material and a tatted wing. I liked how this wing came out and thought I might build on it for something more.
Bird with tatted wing on a bag
I wondered if I could use this wing to make wings for angels. This is a simple pattern that didnāt take long, which is always a good thing especially when I have a limited amount of time to get things done. Of course, Iād need two wings and figure out how they will attach to each other.
Angel wings
Iām very happy with how these came out. You might notice that the center of these wings has seven rings instead of the six rings of the birdās wing. This was an un-noticed modification that I didnāt plan on. It changes the shape of the tips slightly, but in a pleasing way, so this is what I continued to do.
Something I wanted to incorporate in the ornaments this year was sheet music. Several years ago our church bought the most recent version of hymnals. We still had the previous two versions of hymnals, but not enough places to put all of them. The bookstores locally donāt have much call for this many hymnals, but I hated to just throw them away. Guess what? I kept them. Iāve been looking for some way to utilize them ever since. So I thought I would incorporate them in my ornament this year.
The first angel
This is my first attempt, which Iām happy with. Then I had to make more.
Wings for angels
Then it was on to making a bunch of wings. I wanted to give angels to my family at Thanksgiving, so I had to get a move on. If I donāt make mistakes they donāt take very long and I can get a lot done while Iām the passenger on the way to work. I thought white would be a bit too stark to go with the hymnal music, so I made all of them so far with Ecru in size 10.
Choir of angels
Check out my choir of angels. I got all six of them that I needed to get done just in time! You can see I changed up the body just a bit, but either way, they came out well.
I still have a lot of Christmas tatting to do, more wings and a few other things, too. What are you tatting?
UPDATE ā The pattern for these wings is done! It is on the My Patterns page.
āWhen we are touched by something itās as if weāre being brushed by an angelās wings.ā Rita Dove https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/rita_dove_345421
Itās that time of year, time for the Kansas State Fair. Ā Iāve been very busy this year with things other than tatting but I wanted to enter something in the fair. Itās my attempt to keep them from dropping the category. Ā Last year there were only a few entries, which has me worried about the category disappearing. Ā Iām not all that confident in my entries, but they will be out there, showing the general public that tatting is not āa lost art.ā
I took my doily with āHarperā edging that I had entered in the county fair. Ā It was already made, might as well take it, right?
Only one item per person can be entered in the only tatting category they have so I always look for other types of category/classes that will work for tatting. Ā There are several holiday classes that donāt specify media type that fit the bill. Ā I entered a Christmas decoration and a holiday, non-Christmas decoration.
Tatted Christmas decoration State Fair angel 1
I had several ideas for the Christmas decoration. Ā First thought was covering a satin ball. Ā I have several balls, and even downloaded a fewĀ patterns. Ā And changed my mind. Ā Then I was going to do a 3-D bell. Ā And changed my mind. Ā It ended up being a 3-D angel instead.
Tatted Christmas decoration State Fair angel
The main body developed with only a few changes, other than it started as a bell and ended up the angel body. Ā The wings came out great the first try. Ā As I hadnāt planned on it being an angel I didnāt plan how to attach the wings while tatting. Ā They were sewn on after both body and wings were complete. Ā The hard part was the halo. Ā Yes, the halo. Ā I made something like six different ones before I was happy with the result. Ā These pictures do not show the halo that finished off the angel right before taking itĀ to the fair.Ā I forgot to take a picture.
The third item was the non-Christmas decoration. Ā I had a terrible time even coming up with an idea of what to take. Ā Iāve done Halloween and Thanksgiving in the past, maybe I should choose another holiday? Ā Nope, it came down to Halloween again. Ā It wasĀ down to the wire on whether it would even make it to the fair or not. Ā I started multiple ideas and messed up all of them. Ā The final touches were added just before leaving the house.
Tatted Halloween State Fair entry
I downloaded the āPearl Tatted Skeletonā by Martha Ess to start with. Ā It did not turn out well, so I tried a couple of other things, which ended badly as well. Ā Then I perused Lindsay Rogersā book āTatting Collageā, hoping for inspiration. Ā The outcome was a combination of things, using parts of the skeleton and a few ideas from the book. Ā I donāt feel this is quite done, but I ran out of time. Ā Itās not my best work, and I have no idea what the judges will think, but I took it to the fair anyway.
Whew! Iām glad I have the fair items taken care of. Ā Becky, one of the Tuesday Tatters, took me with her to drop things off yesterday. Ā She entered a beautiful quilt and a quilt block but no tatting (we talked about that š ). Ā She is going to the fair on Friday, opening day, and will text me the results. Ā I hope to make it on Monday.
Now that is done I can make sure Iām all ready for Palmetto Tat Days. Ā Itās this week!! Ā Iām so excited! This is my first time going. Ā Itās gonna be great! Ā Hope to see a few of you there!
My little angel didnāt have to wait a week to get her wings, or her body either.
I finished her a couple of days ago. She has a little boo-boo on one of her
wings because I wasnāt careful with my scissors, but I think sheāll be okay.
This is the first pattern I ever came up with on my own, and after almost 20 years I made
the first real modification to it. I lengthened the skirt and made the wings a little wider.
This angel has been made a lot for Christmas decorations, sending warm thoughts to people
that needed a little lift, and just for the fun of making them.
The blue angel on the right is from the original pattern. The one one the left is with the change.
I know it looks a little pink but itās actually ecru! Both are in DMC size 30.
I guess I havenāt gotten off the bookmark kick from trying to come up with one for the InTatters bookmark exchange. This is what I was aiming for to begin with in the exchange, but kept trying too hard. I like both this one and the one I sent. This is made with Manuela size 20
thread in blues #008 and #019. Now I have a gift ready for the next time I need a little something to send in a card!
No, I didnāt tat any buffalo, I just took their picture. These are American Bison, raised by a man across the section from us. My husband and I happened to drive by last week and see them so I took a picture. I donāt know if you can make them out or not, but the lighter colored ones are the babies. I know these look small, but they are very impressive up close. The bulls get to about six feet at the hump and are very massive.
I was planning on posting yesterday, but we actually had a day off from work(!!). And being Fatherās Day we actually went to see our fathers and then went to our daughterās for supper. Itwas a very full day, but a lot of fun!
And now I am off to finish (I hope!) my butterfly for the InTatters butterfly exchange.
I happened across a blog by isdihara, who has a neat idea ā Tatting Tea Tuesday! A great excuse to pick up your tatting at least for a little while if you need one. So I thought I might try it.
I didnāt have a lot of time, and the tea tasted suspiciously like coffee (I do like tea but didnāt take the time to make it!! Shame on me!!) but I did get started on an angel. Iām actually trying to empty the shuttles to use for another project, and something like this is much more fun than un-winding a shuttle without tatting to show for it.
So, here is the start of the angel. Iām hoping she doesnāt have to wait until next Tuesday to get her wings ā to say nothing of the rest of her!
Here are my little angels! Arenāt they sweet? They are being held by their mothers, Lacey with Mercutio on the left and Shay with Hunter on the right.
And finally, the booties! This is Mercutio wearing his just before church started. They turned out well and stayed on their feet ā at least for a little while. I think both boys ended up wearing only one during the baptism, but you couldnāt see them anyway. But I knew they were there!
I crocheted the tie for them but added a little tatting to the ends, both to keep them threaded and to distinguish the two pairs. One pair had two rings on the end of each tie and one pair had a single ring.
The boys were very cute and actually got through all the excitement very well. Mercutio actually went to sleep and slept through the whole thing. Even getting his head wet only made him open his eyes a moment then he went back to sleep. Hunter wanted to fuss a little, but Momās finger did a good job of pacifying him for a while.
Several people joked that the boys will hate these pictures when theyāre older, but I think they looked more like cherubs than little girls. Maybe Iāll have sepia toned pictures made so they look older, antique even.
Mercutioās other grandmother was unable to come, so we taped the whole thing. Iāll be getting the DVD off in the mail tomorrow. I did loose track a couple of times, watching the boys instead of what I was doing, but not bad for an amateur.
And now, life returns to normal ā or what passes for that at our house. On to other tatting projects!
