Tatting

The nativity pattern is from Becky Dempsey. The pattern can be found at

http://www.freewebs.com/blossomsandblessingsdesigns . It is mainly Split Rings with a few Josephine Knots but it is pretty easy. A very good design for practicing Split Rings. I added a star and gold braid over the top of the cradle.

tatting

Christmas is coming and Oh MY!!!!! This is a quick and easy icicle to tat up. The pattern is from The Workbasket, June/July, 1990 by Charlene G. Finiello. The instructions written in the magazine were hard to follow so I wrote them out line by line. That made it much easier to read the instructions. The thread I used was Aunt Lydia's Crochet Thread size 5. It has silver metallic threads which does not show up but on a tree with lights it dazzles. One could use size 20 or 40 Lizbeth thread and add a silver thread with it to make a smaller icicle.

Tatted Jacket

Went to Ok for a visit with my mom and gave her the jacket for Christmas. She loves embroidered jackets. It was a store bought denim shirt with the cuffs and bottom hem cut off. The extra material was used for a pocket at the bottom. I scalloped the bottom edge to give it character. The edging is a split ring pattern from Jane Eborall using size 20 Lizbeth Thread. Most of the tatting threads were size 20 Lizbeth. The back is raw edged applique with free motion leaves and grass. The bumblebees method is block tatting by Martha Ess. Very quick and easy to make. Hanging Cluny ( dragon fly) takes flight by Zena Herbert is a pretty pattern but I left the Cluny head out. I need to take some time out and learn how to do the Cluny! The small butterfly and owl are patterns by Roger aka Freedman. The worms are my own design using split rings. These are all easy patterns. The front pocket has a butterfly by Jane Eborall and the heart by Heather Johnston.

Heather Johnston from the Tarnished Tatter, http://thetarnishedtatter.blogspot.com , has requested to send tatted hearts for her friend, Tracy. Tracy is a young lady of 33 going through stage 4 breast cancer and will be having a double mastectomy. I belong to The Vintage Quilting Society and taught these lady how to tat in March. We all agreed to tat a heart, designed by Heather and posted on her blog, for Tracy. It is a way for all of us to say "we care"! The top 3 hearts will be for sale on Heather's Etsy. This is one of our community world wide projects. Our community project for New Mexico is sending hand embroidered, postcards to the Men and Women in the military.

Crazy Quilt Christmas Stocking

Crazy Quilt Christmas Stocking was made for my niece, Debra. It is worked up with a combination of Crazy Quilt stitches, Hand dyed silk ribbon embroidery, bead work and tatting. This is the front side of the stocking

Debra's Crazy Quilt Stocking

Debra's back side of Crazy Quilt Christmas Stocking.

Heather's Exchange

Heather Johnston from Hastings, PA was my Needle Tatting Exchange partner. Heather hand dyes her yarn and it is for sale at Heather's Designs. The pumpkin is size 10 hand dyed orange. I have made the same pumpkin in sizes 20 and 80 and it is interesting what size they are when finished. The beautiful earrings are her own design tatted in size 30. The hand dyed thread is called Harvest Time. I really like these because they are dainty. The hand dyed thread is size 20, Bali. She gave me instructions on how to work with it. So this will be a first experiment! Thank you Heather, I love it all and what a nice tatter you are.