On March I participated of a Doily Exchange and I didn't post the photos until now.  This doily is from Aileen Chia.  She is from Singapore.  Also sent me some beads and a lovely postcard.  Still I haven't scan them because they're still working on mom's pc.

The doily is so lovely and goes really well with a Lotus I made a few months ago.


Thanks so much Aileen and I hope one day you can come back to PR and we can meet in person!

I got another one, form Valerie Cho, but I'll post it tomorrow.  Now I need to lay down because the pain medicine is knocking me early!

This is one of the collars I finished the other night.  The pattern is by Jan Starwasz from Poland.  His patterns are marvelous, though he has his own tatting method and can be a little confusing.  I'm getting use now to his method and this one worked much better than the other patterns I tried before.  It's made in 2 rounds and took me like 4 days to complete.  The thread is DMC Cebelia #20 and it's to be sew in the front of a shirt.  I didn't count the points to make a complete one so this is only half.  It's a wide collar measuring around 4" from neckline to tip of the point and 16" along the neckline.



This other is a Russian pattern and it's more of a traditional pattern.  It's longer than the green and goes around all the neck.  The thread is Altin Basak #10 in white and pink.  It was a fun collar to make.  Simple but elegant.  This one is 3" from neckline to tip of the point and 22" along the neckline.

They will be on the Marketplace if anyone is interested. 

For a long time I wanted to make this pattern.  It's from Jan Starwasz, a great Polish designer.  He has his own way of tatting and sometimes I don't get the project as it's supose to be.  But tyhis basket worked perfectly!  I need to balance better the colors of the flowers but that's usually my problem when I'm working with the same color range.  I used the reds/pinks only intead of using more colors. 

The flowers were made with El Beida, the stems were DMC Pearl and rhe basket DMC Petra.  All of them pearl cotton #8.

Click on the photo to see it in detail.

Today I made this flower to continue with the 25 Motif Challenge.  I'm trying to catch up in this one.  The flower is easy to make.  There's only 1 ring and it's in the center, the rest is made with chains.  I called Aquamarine because the petals looks like little seashells.    The pattern for this one will come later also and will be on my web site.

I used Coats Dual Duty (T3) in White.  I never worked with this thread before.  Naida got it for me like 2 weeks ago, in white and royal blue.  The thread is a polyester/cotton mix and it's not so bad to work with.  The only thing that is a little annoying is that the thread's twist is altered (too tight or too loose) when doing big rings or long chains and I have to "drop" the shuttle or the work to get the correct twist back.  I "walk" the shuttles when filling them, so I'm not adding twist to the thread and also I "walk" the ball when working, but the twist problem continues.  Anyway, the final result is a crisp motif and I like it.  The thread is cheap and comes in several colors.  I think I'll get more colors and play with it, may be using another thread as a core.  It tat's like a #50.

A few weeks ago someone post in a blog (Blogger site) this pattern that she found but didn't dare to make because it looks very complicated.  Today I was looking something to make and remember the pattern, which I saved.

The pattern is really simple.  The only "tricky" part is the last round because is a little ackward the joining of the chains to make the overlay petal.  The original pattern has 1 ring only, the one in the center.  The rest of the motif is worked on chains.  I changed it a little and instead of making the "petals" as chains I made them as rings.  Also I made like 3 rounds less because the threads on the shuttles where finishing.

I used Altin Basak #10 in white and pink and measures like 3 inches.

Here is the pattern if you want to give it a try.  Click on it so see it bigger.

Mom wanted a hat and I finished one today.  The hat pattern is from Patterns by Dot.  I used Red Heart yarn in white.  The flowers and butterfly are my original patterns.  I used El Beida cotton perle #8 in different shades of pinks and reds.  The patterns will be on my web site soon.  I made a smaller version of the hat in "Watercolors" for my sister Letty's niece.  Tomorrow I'll take photos of that one.  I made it with a smaller hook and placed one butterfly on it.

You can find the rest of the photos in this photo album.

This one is basically the same as motif 14.  It has an extra round.  The scanner flats it, but the flower stand very pretty in 3-D.  Tonight I will finish the hat and will sew the flowers and post the photos.

The threads used are El Beida in red and light pink.  It's  a super quick pattern.  I'll write it and share it later as with the Patty flower.

I have been busy this week tatting some flowers for a crochet hat that mom wanted me to do.  This is one of the flowers I'm making.  It's an original pattern.  I called it Patty because I made it Monday (St. Patty's Day).  The pattern is pretty simple and I'll share it later on the weekend.

The threads are El-Beida cotton perle #8 in light pink and bright pink.  Measures like 2 inches.

Last night on the Online Tatting class the discussion was about if it was possible to make a ric rac ribbon tatted.  It was a very interesting challenge.  Ruth Perry came with an ideaand was explaining it on the classroom.  I was at the same time tatting and didn't understood really well Ruth's explanations and after the class finished I sent the piece I tatted to her; thinking that it was what she was explaining.  Well, it was something totally different!  Here Ruth's Ric Rac method:


It looks like a real Ric Rac ribbon.  She got the inspiration from the crocheted ripples patterns.  It's made in 3 rounds.  Now here is mine:

My version are small blocks with a tiny chain between them.  I used 2 colors because that was the 1st thing I had near the computer. I think that the use of 2 colors gives a very interesting effect to the braid.

Then someone (I think it was Ruth) mentioned about adding beads.  Oh!!!  Another rush....  I had to try my Ric Rac with beads!  It looks amazing!!!  I made it short because the thread was finishing on the shuttle and was too lazy to get up and find the thread I was using.












But the thread was enough to finish a quick bookmark:
















It's a little stumpy-chubby bookmark.  But the idea is there...  So, this morning, after sleeping like 6 hours I woke up and had to work with the idea again.  I tried to make the Ric Rac bookmark I made several years ago but using the tatted ric rac instead of the fabric.  Anyway, I don't have ric rac here in Egypt.  It worked again so beautiful! 


I think I'm in love with this technique!!!

Now I'll try the same but with Ruth's version. 

I was thinking now...  This kind of block can substitute clunny leaves. 

I have to write the instructions for what I did, but you can find Ruth's version here and on her blog.  For my original Ric Rac bookmark you can go to my site.

Yesterday was the 29th.  Did you remember what was going to happend?  The announcement of the 1st Naming Contest for the Nameless Tattings!  I didn't forgot, just that was so tire yesterday that I spent most of the day sleeping.  Got time to make 2 posts in the blog and then fall asleep translating a pattern for tonight's class and playing with my sister online.  She had to "BUZZ" me several time!  lol 

And now here are entering the the Hall of Fame the nominees this year to our 1st Namening Contest.  All of them in their best Gala.


Here is the list of all the motifs with the choosen name and who suggested that name (the nominees):

1. Baby Blue Bonnet - Connie
2. Snow Star - FruitloopGirl
3. Vines of Life - Connie
4. Fringe Flake - Umm Ali
5. Laced Snowflake - Elideneige
6. Reflections - Wally
7. Eye of the Sun - Barbara
8. Forest Flake - Cory
9. Lifetime Friends - Connie
10. Life Cicle - Connie
11. Jade Dreams - Umm Ali
12. Bronzed Beauty - Umm Ali
13. Cicle of Love - Connie
14. Maiden Star - FruitloopGirl
15. Tiara - Sewicked (E-Tatters)
16. Pink Sand Dollar - Cory
17. Snow Peony - FruitloopGirl
18. Lovely Loops - Umm Ali
19. Kaleidoscope - Dr. TLT (E-Tatters)
20. Iced Margnolia - FruitloopGirl
21. Bejeweled Carnation - Umm Ali
22. Froggy Went A'courting - Sewicked (E-Tatters)
23. Halos - Sewicked (E-Tatters)
24. Pomegranite Passion - FruitloopGirl
25. Tat of Many Colors - Umm Ali
26. Cotton Candy Castle - Lynn (E-Tatters)
27. Coconut Ice - Maureen (E-Tatters)

And the winner in the "Tatter" category is.............. Connie (5 names)

And the winner in the "Blogger" category is................  Umm Ali (6 names)


Winners' Speeches please!!!!  lol

Congrats to everyone who participated.  There will be another contest later.  I'll PM the winners for the prizes.  Thanks so much for the help!!!

I joined an exchange.  It's been a long time that I don't do exchanges, mostly because the postal service here in Egypt is so bad.   So now that I'll travel to PR I decided to join again the exchanges 'cause I can mail them from there easily and without the worries of the package been open or lost in the Twilight Zone.

So I made the one above but the chains still need some tweaking.  Some of them overlap and I had to steam it to lay flat because it was cupping a little.  I think I need to work with my picots.  The joining ones are like "disappearing", each time are smaller and smaller.  I still need to hide the ends of that one.
This one I just finished it and steam it.  The pattern is from Iris Niebach's book Tatted Doilies.  It's a lovely book.  This one is called Nora.  I used cotton perle #8 in raspberry and white and it measures 6 1/2 inches.

I have 2 partners and I think I'll repeat this one using other colors for the other partner.

Hmm...  One of the partners mentioned that she likes cool colors.  What colors are cool?