TIAS fun with Jane

Well, I know it is January as it is super hot here in Melbourne, the tennis is on and I am tatting the TIAS.  Every year for the last few years Jane Eborall has run a Tat it and see ( TIAS) on her blog. It has become something I really look forward to. It is fun for a few  of reasons, as the pattern is split up and released over a couple of weeks no-one but Jane and her test tatters know what it is, so it is a mystery. It also becomes a guessing game that tatters across the world get invovled in. There is a great sense of the international tatting community in this yearly event. Thanks Jane for all of the effort you put in to make sure this is such a fun and welcoming event. 

Here are some pictures of my work so far, day 1, 2 and 3. I am using altin basak green size 50 thread left over from the collar I made recently:

I’m really not sure what it is yet…my current guess is a horse…let’s see what day 4’s pattern brings.  

Until next time, happy tatting!

Fiona T 

1,500 likers giveaway- and the winners are…

Thanks to all the people who took time to comment on the blog and facebook page to enter this giveaway. There were some wonderful patterns shared, and some I hadn’t heard of either. The winners are: Australian prize (Craft pack including the 5 vintage books above posted to you)- Kristen Fink; International Prize (2015 snowflakes pattern and have a choice of 2 other patterns from Alenalea’s store– emailed to you) – Anne Fine.

I will contact you both through facebook and get details to send on your prizes.

This past week I have been busy marking, so  I decided to include one of my favourite patterns- this Anchor doily I made for my sister a long time ago. I really like this pattern for a few reasons:  it isn’t round, has a great balance and use of negative space and I was able to adapt the pattern to use split rings and chains so there were less ends to sew in. I also love the colours and used Altin Basak size 50 threads to make this to match my sister’s beautiful vintage cups. Here is a link to the post about the process of making this doily, and here is a link to the post about it being blocked and gifted. 

Until next time, happy tatting,

Fiona T

Revisiting the Tatted Tardis pattern

Last week I decided to tat another Tardis, and I dug out the pattern and threads to begin. I decided to try and get an idea of the amount of thread needed on each shuttle to make one, and measured out 4.5m of thread for each shuttle. As I had some thread left on each shuttle I will try again this week with 3 meters of thread – hopefully not too much left over.

This is a great pattern to practice split rings on, and there is one split chain too. Once mastered, these two techniques open up a lot of opportunities in tatting, including being able to reduce the number of ends to sew in on older patterns.

The Tardis pattern is one I adapted and shared a long time ago, that Anne Bruvold kindly added to her original version of the pattern as an adaptation Anne B’s Tatted Tardis, available for download from here: http://nuperelle.net/EngPatterns.htm . I have tweaked it again to add a white ring to act as the ‘notice’ on the window of the Tardis.

Don’t forget to enter the 1,500 liker giveaway by commenting on the blog from Sunday: 1,500 likers giveaway or over on the Facebook page under the post for the 1,500 likers blog link.

Until next time, happy tatting

Fiona T

1,500 likers giveaway

I’m very excited to announce a new giveaway to celebrate 1,500 likers on the One Mad Tatter Facebook page. There will be two prizes – one for my Australian and New Zealand followers, and one for my international followers. For my local followers, I will put together a craft pack- including a vintage tatting book and Alenalea thread, that I will post to you. The ever increasing price of international postage means that the International prize will be a selection of PDF tatting patterns, that can be delivered by email to you.

The threads and PDF patterns will come from Alenalea’s Etsy shop . The International winner will get the 2015 snowflakes pattern and have a choice of 2 other patterns from Alenalea’s store. I have organised to pay for these patterns on your behalf and email them to you. Once again- this is a hobby blog and I have no commercial motive, only that I would like to support local and international tatters. Thanks to the lovely Lea for letting me gift her patterns in this round-about way.

For the local winner – I have added a photo of the books I will give away below. I will also include some of Lea’s lovely threads (from my stash) and some beads and little tatting knit knacks.

To enter: please answer the question by commenting below, or on the One Mad Tatter Facebook page under the post where this link is shared. The prize will be drawn next Sunday, November 20th at 16.00 (4pm) Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time. I will list all of your names in the order you have commented, assign a number and get my random number generator (AKA my son, Little Tacker) to pick a number. I will announce the winner on the facebook page and blog on Sunday November 20th,  after the draw.

THE QUESTION: I wonder what is your favourite pattern to make and why? It may be a tatting pattern, or another craft.

In other news: Recently, I did enjoy test tatting and making Alenalea’s little christmas tree 🙂 This was made in size 50 Altin Basak threads, with some seed beads and a little bell added. They would make a nice earring in this size, although I think I will add some ribbon and use it as an ornament alongside some little Angels from last year.

So, good luck with your entries, and I look forward to reading and responding to your comments.

As always, happy tatting,

Fiona T

Doily ll Jan Stawasz

I am working on this Jan Stawasz Doily ll from his ‘Tatting theory and patterns” book. I liked the look of this book and the patterns in it look great- many are quite visually stunning. I decided to work this one when emptying a shuttle from the recent ‘amusement doily’ tat along on facebook. I thought, as with many doilies, I could adapt the pattern to use split chains to climb out of rows- I was wrong in this thought. The rings and chains on the main part of this doily are reversed to the traditional placement of rings and chains, so I had to cut and sew in after each round. This made it slow and tedious and- um- boring- to tat the ecru part of this doily. I have never been bored before when tatting- confused (yes), frustrated (yes), excited (yes)- but never bored! Once I got to the next row- pictured here- it was a bit more interesting. I am now just starting the second last round and the stitch counts are a bit ‘challenging’ to remember. I need to keep checking the visual diagram. It is slow progress, but I will keep chipping away. I also hope the slight bend in the final ecru round can be blocked out at the end- it would be a shame to have wasted all this time and thread. I do love the colour combination, inspired by Morimoto’s colour pallette in her book “New Tatting”.

I wonder what crafting piece you tried that was more challenging than you anticipated? Please share in the comments here or on facebook 🙂

Until next time

Happy Tatting

Fiona T

Starting some new doilies.

After completing the 3 amusement doilies I was left with shuttles that still had thread on them. I recently received Jan Stawasz’s book: Tatting theory and patterns, so used the thread in the shuttles to begin his “Doily II” (in blue) and “Doily VII” (in pink). I really like the effect of both colours against the Ecru thread, based on the design colours of “Morimoto“, so have continued to use these colours.

I am making good progress on doily II, but while this pattern is visually stunning,  it is quite boring to tat (I know- I never thought I would see the day when I said that either!). I had originally thought I could challenge myself to use split rings and chains to climb between rows, but Jan’s clever design means these joins would be difficult- far past my current ability. So I have been cutting and sewing in threads for each round. I am looking forward to the outer rounds, they look a but more challenging.  I really should think these projects through 🙂 , I now have 2 doilies in progress, as well as a few UFOs waiting in the wings, The ‘yes you can challenge’ on Craftree, and my aim to make baubles each month…oh, and Jane’s TIAS. Too many ideas!

I wonder what your ideas are for crafting this year? Have you already committed to more than you thought?
In other news, the facebook page is growing quickly now, we hit 400 likes over the weekend. I will run a giveaway soon, so stay tuned!

As always, happy tatting.
Fiona T

Amusement Doily Facebook Tat-Along

Just before New Year Liyarra, over at the Facebook “Tatting” page, suggested the Amusement doily as a tat along – she and another tatter were keen to start it and it seems a number of us were looking for a holiday project too. The emerging conversation is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Tatting/permalink/10152443252606846/ (you may need to join the group to read the conversation).    The link to the original pattern (in the way back machine- internet archive)  Amusement.  I have had fun tatting this doily, I was looking for a project and when this popped up on facebook I used the shuttles I had wound (just waiting for a project) and began this. It is a nice pattern- quick to work up. So quick I decided to make two of these doilies for my Mum, as they match the colours in one of her smocking samplers. Here are my pictures of work so far- I hope to finish the pink version by tomrrow…and have an idea for one more colour scheme, not purple 🙂  So- do you think you would like to join us? It would be great to see more of these made- what colour will you choose?

Until next time, happy tatting,

Fiona T

Jan Stawasz book- a first for my collection

I have been looking for these books for a while, and found them from a Polish supplier on Ebay. As I didn’t have any books/patterns by Jan, I decided to splurge on this book and it arrived just before Christmas.  Jan’s work is amazing- using simple elements to make eye catching designs. Each pattern seems to be very bold- and I have realised that he used size 10 thread for most items. The majority of my thread stash is size 40- so my work of his designs will be smaller. I think these would look lovely made from some of my Altin Basak solid coloured size 40 threads. I might just start one after the new year – it would be nice to have a big project that will span 2015 I think.

Happy New Year to all of you, and best wishes for a great crafting year for 2015.

Happy Crafting

Fiona T

Tatted Baubles- 2014 installment of the story

In a recent post I alluded to ‘Christmas baubles’ being a story for another time– well, here is the story. A few years ago I bought a bulk lot of colourful Christmas Baubles from a clearance sale, with the intention of tatting covers for them as gifts for family and friends. Here is a link to the post. I had left a box of six with my Mum, who had crocheted a few and decorated some with sequins too. When the DMC book arrived I was inspired again to begin some baubles for gifts next year. Of course this recent post from Sharon also inspired me to have a few smaller projects on the go all year too. So, I began to hunt through my house for where I had stored the several remaining boxes of baubles. For over 2 weeks I turned every cupboard inside out- and still no baubles. I checked with Mum, and she only had the one box (and had decorated them too- much better than me 🙂 ). It was by chance, on Christmas Eve, that my son asked about an old ‘jack in the box’ toy of mine. While retrieving the toy from the back of yet another cupboard, I found the bag containing the remaining boxes of baubles- a ‘Christmas miracle’ in my mind.

On Christmas night I pulled out the DMC book and began making a cover for the first bauble:

I have made the top and the bottom, and am working on the ‘middle’ band that will join them. I think this first one will be for me- as it is purple, and there are a couple of mistakes in it. The next few I will do in white thread – I think they look a bit more striking that way. I will take Sharon’s advice and try to work on one each week – though I am sure I will shift this over the year to one a month- but will still have 12 baubles complete by the end of the year, so that won’t be too bad overall.

All the best for a relaxing holiday period.

Happy tatting

Fiona T

Doilies gifted- and amazing plates.

Remember the second anchor doily I made for my sister, the one that had the “tatting miscount leads to tatting disaster” post? I had tried to block it, then given up and put it in the cupboard in my craft room. I found it 2 days ago, while looking for my Christmas baubles (another story for another time). My mum had suggested that I starch this doily to take advantage if it’s hyperbolic edges, so I decided that is what I would do.

By using a cylinder under each edge, I blocked the doily again. It looked ok 🙂 . I took it to my mum’s when my sister was visiting too. She was pleased. Mum thought she had a ceramic plate that she had made years ago that might fit the doily…and came back with this one.

Perfect! The curve of the plate matches the shape of the doily. My sister was delighted, two unexpected gifts!

The triangle doily, that I made with my milward shuttle, I decided to gift to my mum, as I recalled she had a triangle ceramic plate too (mum has fabulous crockery- something for every occasion).

We were both pretty excited when this doily seemed to have been made to measure too! Two doilies, two plates, and two happy family members 🙂
Until next time, happy tatting!
Fiona T.