The End of an Era

I made a decision this spring as I went through yet another panic. When you're not the one doing it, it probably doesn't seem all that hard to come up with a new design, or two, or ten. When I look back over the hundred plus designs I have come up with for the newsletters, nothing seems especially wonderful, or particularly innovative. There isn't anything that a dozen other people couldn't have done, many of them probably better than I. Still, when the publishing date looms on the horizon and I don't have a fistful of new tatting to show for it, there's always a mad scramble to "invent" something on the spur of the moment.

In the beginning I wavered between creating a book and going through the difficulties of publishing it, and working on a deadline where there were fewer printing hurdles, but more pressure. I opted for the deadline and began producing the newsletter "Tatted Lace Pattern Collection". I wonder if other people realize how hard it is to create something new, fresh and wonderful, on demand.

I have to admit that I am my own worst enemy at times because of the self imposed guidelines I use. There has to be 4 or 5 patterns, one of them has to have the tatting content equivalent of a 12 inch doily, there has to be a variety of difficulty in the pieces, there has to be a lot of out of the ordinary kind of projects, some 3D tatting and some of them have to be simple enough for beginners to work on.

Do you know how restrictions and deadlines seriously impede creative ability? I do. There are times when I just get one newsletter sent out and I start wondering what on earth I'm going to add to the next one. How do you invent "new" or "interesting" or "different"?

Some added pressures of my personal life made this year especially trying and I decided that in the interest of my own sanity, I ought to terminate the newsletter after the last issue this year.
I've learned a lot along the way, but now it's time for something new, so this was the final issue. I'm not giving up on designing, I'm just going to design things as I would normally, and when they're ready, I'll publish a book. I've been asked about putting all of the doily designs from the newsletters into a book and I might do that, along with some new designs I'm working on. I have a number of things in mind including doing a dual issue of books in hard copy and electronic format so that people can buy in the format they want.

Challenging!

I have added another image to the Design Challenge page. This one has some more definite lines which may make it easier for a new designer to work with. Work with the black or the peach and see what you can come up with.

My personal challenge these days is getting out of the house (video), going anywhere without a car, keeping up with the 25 Motif Challenge, still tracking down the last few packages on the Round Robins and getting the Tatted Lace Pattern Collection done. Thanks to the wonderful folks who have volunteered to help with the 25 Motif Challenge I think I can keep my head above water.

One ray of sunshine is the I love your Blog award given by Artistgirl's Muse The concept behind this award is to link to the person who gave you the award and to link to seven blogs you love. I thought that this time I would link to some of the non tatting blogs I like to visit. In a Minute Ago, Lost Arts Studio, Teeny Tiny Cabin, 4:53 AM, Patra's Place, Annie's Crazy World, Hello my name is Heather,

The View From Here

This is the view from my front door. 2 weeks ago on the 9th, we were awoken to the news that the water main had burst 2 doors down. After they dug down 10 feet through the road they discovered that the mains were buried under the lawns and driveways of our townhouse complex. So they moved over and dug up the neighbours driveway, which incidentally was where the water was coming from in the first place. Then the rain started. Ever tried finding a water leak in the pouring rain? 10 hours later there was a bandaid on the water pipe and the emergency crew left for the weekend. Monday they were back to fill in the hole and replace the gravel for the driveway base.

We were waiting for them to come back with the asphalt to finish things off, but on the 19th water started pouring out from under the gravel. This time the crew came back and dug up the lawn and a 30 year old tree. That was sad, but the tree was in bad shape and had to come down soon anyway. The mains looked questionable, so they decided to see if the dug a little further if the pipes would get better or worse. After pulling up our driveway the found another trickle of water, not under our driveway, but coming from further up the street. (Thanks guys for the unnecessary driveway replacement!)

So this is my current view and it's likely to stay that way until the decide if they want to dig up more pipe, which I would really prefer, or fill in the hole and hope for the best. I'd rather have it all done and finished, than have half of it done and have to wait for the other shoe to drop.

By the way, a closer inspection of the picture will show my latest piece. It was supposed to be a snowflake, but it grew to doily proportions. Rob has named it Elephant Flake.

Design Challenge 1B

I did another variation of from the design challenge and when it was done I wondered how it would look as a doily.

It has possibilities, but I'm not sure if I like it well enough to design an outer border that would bring it all together. Before you go shooting yourself for being slow, this doily is just a photo image copied and pasted. I wanted to see what the negative space would look like where they join. I like the join, but I'm not crazy about the outer edge. I think maybe it would need something to bring it all together and connect the outer points. I had no idea that the points were going to look so square, but it does make for an interesting design element.

Now there's an idea for an eight person round robin. The first person does a snowflake, the next 6 just make and attach a repeat of the first snowflake, and the last person has to do an outer round to finish it off before sending it home. So everyone would make 7 snowflakes, all different, and one round to finish off a doily, and everyone ends up with a doily which is mostly their own design.

Cross linking

I just thought that I'd post some technical information while I'm thinking about it. A few weeks ago the tatting community banded together to help get some purloined pictures removed from a web site. The web site owner had copied pictures from other people's blogs to promote the sales of their merchandise.

I copy pictures from other people's blogs to post in my own blogs all the time. So what's the difference? Doesn't that mean that I am infringing on copyright too?

NO. For 2 reasons. First of all, when I began copying pictures from people's blogs for the 25 Motif Challenge blog, it was because people offered me the pictures. Later on I asked new participants for their permission. When it became too cumbersome to contact each person individually, I wrote an explanation on the blog advising people that when they joined the challenge it was with the understanding that their pictures WOULD be copied.

Each picture that is copied is identified as to where it came from and each entry includes a link back to the blog where it originated.

Secondly, posting the pictures of your tatting on the challenge blog is not promoting any merchandise I have for sale. Those 2 things make a huge difference.

Something that you may not realize, is that by participating in the 25 Motif Challenge, or in the latest Design Challenge, your blog is becoming more visible and more popular. One of the things that causes a web site to appear close to the top of the list in a search engine is the number of hits the web site receives. When another blog or web site links to your blog or website, you become more visible. More people find your blog, more people visit your blog, and you move up in the ratings.

As the search engine robots work through the internet following all of the links to their final destination, your page comes up more often, with each new link there is another robot finding you and adding you to their list of places to visit.

The cross linking of people to one another and to the 25 Motif Challenge page is making you and tatting more visible on the internet. We are becoming easier and easier to find. Tatting really is alive and well on the internet and these challenges are not only helping us to improve our tatting skills, they are also making us more noticeable.

Taking my own challenge

Since I started this challenge it's only fair that I give my rendition of the challenge image. I started with a couple of ideas and began tatting. This was my first drawing. The drawing only mildly resembles the initial image,

but that didn't matter because no matter how much I tried to make a hexagon with it, it just wanted to be an edging, so I cut it off and started again...with the same results.

That wasn't working so I sat back and looked at the image that Bev called a Rorschach blot. At first all I could see was the letter 'W' but when I looked at it again I saw butterflies. So I played around and came up with another drawing. This one looks a little more like the original image.

So I started tatting. I wasn't sure of the spacing between the butterflies and the chains at the bottom looked weird and disconnected, so as I did more repeats I changed it, adding a short chain between the large rings and adding a join on the tiny split ring at the bottom. It got closer to what I wanted. So I cut the thread and started over again.

See all the ends hanging? When a design gets tweaked over and over again, I just work with whatever thread is still on the shuttles and add more thread in as I need it. There's no point in starting out fresh with fully loaded shuttles because chances are that I'm going to have several tries at it. I weave the threads in as I go if I can, but if I can't, I just let them hang and then sew them in when everything is done. I don't attempt designing with specialty threads as it's most likely just going to be a waste of thread. Sometimes I load the shuttles and tat the design that's in my head start to finish and it comes out perfect the first time. Other times it doesn't.

Here is the latest result. I think I should re-do it adding a longer chain between the large rings at the top because it wants to cup a little. One extra stitch between the butterflies would probably work out better. It's heard to tell since this piece hasn't been blocked yet.

This was one variation of the image. I have another one I'm still working on. After 3 false starts, I'm about half way through it.

I've been tagged

I have been tagged by several people in the last few weeks, or maybe it's months? First it was the Arte Y Pico Awardand more recently it's the Brilliante Weblog award

and while I appreciate the vote of confidence, as you can tell from how long, it's taken me to acknowledge these awards, doing so is way, way down on my priority list. Actually, I don't even get much time to blog here on my personal blog because I spend so much of my computer time updating the 25 Motif Challenge blog. Right now instead of blogging about being tagged, I really ought to be emailing everyone in the round robins to get the pictures of all their pieces so that I can update the Round Robin blog. After which I should send around a notice about a new series of round robins. Then it should be time to update the challenge page again...

Where is that bag of TIME. I'm sure it's around her somewhere.........

I challenge you!

Here's a challenge for you. See this image? Use it as a base to design a snowflake. Use either the blue or the white for your outline and see what you can come up with.

Anne took the challenge and designed a beautiful piece based on this image, but she thinks hers looks more like a flower.
Marty has her interpretation done. Her first attempt had many points of different shapes, then she ran out of thread. After reloading her shuttles shae came up with a successful snowflake.

Tatting and Scamming

Most of the vintage tatting pattern books have been scanned and added to the Antique Pattern Library where they may be downloaded for FREE.
http://www.antiquepatternlibrary.org/
Anyone looking to complete their collection of books should check out what is available, as new books are added regularly as people have the time to scan the books for inclusion in the library. All of these works are vintage and in the public domain.

Recently the tatting community has become aware of a web site which is SELLING these same patterns. This web site: Tatting Patterns
http://www.timelesstattingpatterns.com/ sells the patterns for $37.00 which is extremely expensive when you consider they are available for FREE. There is nothing illegal about selling these patterns as they are in the public domain and if someone puts together an electronic compilation and sells them they are not breaking any laws. However it is important for all tatters to know that they should not BUY the electronic book, they should instead go the the Antique Pattern Library where they can download all of these patterns and more. In fact, it would be much more beneficial to donate the $37. to the Antique Pattern Library which is a non profit organization trying to archive all of the old patterns for posterity, not only in tatting but also in knitting, crochet and embroidery, than to buy this publication.

One of the more objectionable things about the web site at: http://www.timelesstattingpatterns.com/
is the Gallery which has numerous pictures and captions of beautiful and colourful tatting which has been harvested from various web sites, blogs, and photo albums. Some of the pictures are things which tatters have made from these vintage patterns, and the colourful pieces are certainly more eye catching that the black and white drawings in the old books.

Other pictures are for things from other publications not in the public domain and a few of the pictures are of original, one of a kind designs, which people were working on and posted to their blogs. These pictures along with captions that went with them form other people's pages imply that the tatting belongs to Timeless Tatting Patterns and that "Timeless" will be producing the patterns for them.

All of which means that "Timeless" is benefitting from the work tatters have put into creating the laces and putting the pictures of them on their own web sites. Taking pictures from web sites without the owner's permission is a copyright violation. Using those pictures to help sell an electronic publication of public domain material appears to be a form of false advertising. Now, the "Timeless" web page doesn't say that these colourful pictures of tatting represent things in their publication. It just posts them in their Gallery, but why post them at all if not to mislead? They don't really have anything to do with what is being sold.

So if you're a tatter, avoid the "Timeless" web page, except to check for purloined pictures.

Additional Note: Posting similar information on your own blog or web site will help to get the information out to a wider audience. The more people aware of the situation, the sooner it will stop. The gallery has been down for maintenance and back up and as of this posting is down again. Continued pressure on the web site owner and the server will help to keep the gallery closed. Pressure on the gallery owner in the form of polite emails from everyone concerned requesting the removal of the images, and pressure on the server from people with purloined pictures requesting the same. There is more information on what to do and how to do it on the 25 Motif Challenge blog in the "Tatters Unite" posting.

Mounting Lace on a Barrette

Some questions in the tatting lists recently prompted me to show you how I attach my tatted lace to a barrette. The first thing to do is cover up the ugly metal bar. This method takes a little time, but it not only covers the bar it gives you a base to attach your tatting to. You will need ribbon like gross grain ribbon about a half inch wide either to match your tatting or in a neutral colour, a sewing needle and invisible nylon thread.

In this instance I have a white tatted flower and my ribbon is white so I can begin by using ordinary white thread. Open the barrette and remove the centre spring by bending it a little and pulling it out first on one side, then on the other. Put it aside while you work on the bar.
Measure off a length of ribbon about 2.5 times the length of the bar. In this case it's about 8 inches. You need to have more than enough to go completely around the bar. Notice that this ribbon happens to have a pattern of white dots on it. Don't worry about tone on tone pattern as it won't really be noticeable when you're done.
Insert the ribbon under the clasp and pull it about half way down the inside of the barrette as shown here. Wrap the other end around the barrette and insert it under the hinge at the opposite end of the barrette like this. Fold the end about a half inch so that the cut end is folded under
and begin to stitch the end down making sure that it is wrapped snugly around the bar. Shiny metal and shiny white ribbon don't photograph well,

but you can see the fold and the beginnings of the first stitch.

Work across the centre seam to the edge of the ribbon and whip stitch along the edge just catching the outer edge of the ribbon on both the top and the bottom as shown below.
When you reach the end slide the needle under the ribbon and out the other side and continue whip stitching down the second side of the barrette. Here is the completed bar with the ribbon sewn down both sides.

Take the spring and insert it in on the hinge side with the arch facing away from the barrette. Bend it a little to get it under the clasp side. Now the barrette is wrapped in ribbon and ready for attaching the tatting.

If sewing isn't something you want to do you can attach the ribbon by using a glue gun, just make sure that you don't get any glue on the top side of the barrette where it might show. Glue down the first side, then fold under the second end and make sure the ribbon is tight before you apply the glue.

This pattern has green leaves as well as a white flower and white thread is going to very noticeable on the dark green The invisible nylon thread works with any colour of thread and it's invisible when its on.

Tie a knot in the end of the thread and slip the needle under the ribbon on the top side of the bar bring the needle out in the middle on the ribbon close to one end go through the tatting and the middle of one end and then insert the needle under the ribbon again and take a stitch. Work along the bar taking a stitch in the ribbon and a stitch in the lace.

Add in the second leaf and continue tacking it down all along the length of the bar, as shown here. You may not be using leaves and flowers, but the process is the same.

The last piece to be added is the white flower. Stitch through the middle of the flower and and into the ribbon tacking it in several places. Tie a knot in the thread feed the needle through the ribbon out through the side and cut.

Sometimes, depending on what it is I am attaching, I just leave long ends on the tatting and wrap them around the ribbon covered barrette and literally tie the lace onto the barrette criss crossing the thread around the bar and back through the tatting. This method, although not quite as secure, has the bonus of not having to hide the thread ends.

Again, if sewing's not your thing, you can use a hot glue gun, but you take the risk of damaging your lace. If that isn't a concern then go ahead and glue it.

Tatted Pink Carnation

This pink carnation is one of the designs from my book Transitions in Tatting. It was made about 10 years ago and it hasn't gone flat in all that time. The flower measures about 2.5 inches across and was tatting in Coats Opera thread size 20. Opera is a 3 strand thread and size 20 is closer to size 30 in a 6 cord thread. I added some simple leaves that were just cloverleaf tips with gradually larger rings and chains down one side and back up the other. The addition of a bar pin on the back allows me to wear it whenever I need a splash of colour.

I have another one in white made with size 30 thread that I have mounted on a hair barrette with green leaves of a similar kind on either side. Both of these get used regularly and other than an occasional swish through soapy water and a quick rinse when they become soiled I don't do anything to them.

Supply Find

I've only lived here for 20+ years, yet this week was the first time I made a trip down to the Coats and Clark clearance centre. I've known it was there, I just never got around to making the trek, partly because it's in an out of the way place and partly because I didn't know it was open to the public. What prompted me to check it out was some folks on a local email list recommending it. When I did investigate it, I discovered that it is only open 3 days a week.

We had to visit a client about a job and they were just a few blocks away from the Coats and Clark location so I had to drop in. I was hoping for lots of different crochet threads, but what I found was rooms and rooms full of yarn and very little crochet cotton.

I was wearing a tatted collar so that I could show the staff the kind of thread I was looking for, but they didn't have any crochet cotton on hand. I did discover some spools of Dual Duty Plus which is suitable for bookmarks, but as this is the clearance location the colour selection isn't terrific.

The larger spools of thread are Machine Quilting and Crafts thread size #50. These were all plastic wrapped and it was hard to tell what size 50 would look like tatted up, but I was thinking I might do a doily with the thread so I bought enough for that purpose. I opened one of the spools and tatted a wee ring when I got home.
Size 50 is, well, tiny as far as doily threads go. It's fine enough to make bookmarks out of although they'd be a little thicker that I like. Size 50 wouldn't be my first choice for doily thread.

They also had both metal and plastic Susan Bates shuttles. Again not my first choice for tatting but at $1.50 I got one anyway. Even if I don't use it, it gives me a shuttle I can give away if I need to, or one to show students what is available and point out the differences between the metal and plastic shuttles.

If you look close at the base of the dark blue thread you'll see a tiny ring. I had to show the staff what these odd looking contraptions were used for. I left them with my business card and my email address so if they get in any crochet thread they can let me know.

Luster Sheen is 100% cotton and as you can see it does tat. I will either crochet a shawl and add a tatted border, or I'll tat the whole thing. I haven't decided which yet. It's going to take a humungous shuttle to tat with it, but with all those colours, it should go with everything.

I bought the cross stitch kits because they were very cheap and I thought my sister might enjoy them.

Not a bad haul for a place that didn't have what I was looking for!

Tatting a wild rose

Roses are a common motif in tatting comprised almost entirely of chains and they are quite simple to make once you understand how they are done. You begin with a central ring and the length of your picot defines how much of an arch there is in your petal and how much space there is between the central ring and the rest of the rose. The last picot space is actually a mock picot. So you make the ring and begin the first chain of the rose with a lock stitch.

A lock stitch is just an unflipped stitch and because it isn't flipped, it won't slide on the core thread. Without the lock stitch the chain might start out with an open space at the beginning, but when you snug up the stitches at the end of the chain, the space will close. So begin the chain by measuring out a short length of thread the same size as all the other picots. Make the first half stitch and if it flips make sure to pull on the chain thread to unflip it again. After all that practice flipping stitches, it's sometimes hard to remember NOT to flip.

The lock stitch may seem to be a little unstable and want to flip. But as soon as the second half of the stitch is completed normally, that is, flipped, it will stay in place. The space that is formed between the ring and the chain will look like any other picot when the rose is finished, but it isn't a picot, it's a picot space formed by the shuttle thread on one side and the ball or chain thread on the other side. The picot space in tatting when it is formed by two threads is called a mock (fake) picot.

Continue tatting the rest of the chain in the normal manner. When you have completed the chain make a shuttle join into the next picot. Joins in tatting typically are made along the tops of the stitches because you are joining one section of tatting to another. In a cloverleaf you join the outer edge of one ring to the outer edge of another ring. When you tat a motif or a doily you join to the top of the preceding work. When tatting a rose you join to the BOTTOM of the work. So instead of a normal join you use a shuttle join. In a normal join, a loop of the thread over the back of the left hand (assuming you are tatting right handed) is pulled through an available picot and the shuttle pushed through the loop. In this type of a join, the stitches slide on the shuttle thread. In a shuttle join a loop of the SHUTTLE thread is pulled up and then the shuttle is pushed through the loop. In this kind of join the stitches no longer slide on the shuttle thread. Make sure that your chain is snug before making the shuttle join.

After you make the shuttle join and continue with the next chain you will notice that while the shuttle thread is attached to the picot below, the chain thread just lays across the top of the join. You will see why this is important later. Continue working chains around the central ring, and making a shuttle join into each picot, until you are back at the mock picot you started the round with.

Make the last shuttle join of the round into the mock picot. There is only one mock picot in a rose and it's at the end of the central ring.

On the first round of the rose you made the shuttle joins into the picots on the central ring. On the next rows there are no picots to join into. Instead you will use your hook to wiggle under the chain thread that lays across the top of the shuttle join. You may find you have to stretch the chains apart a little especially if you are working in finer threads.

Once you have gotten your shuttle under the chain thread make the shuttle join and continue around the rose.

Each successive row is joined into the top of the shuttle join of the previous row.

If you find that the thread space above the shuttle join is very tight, then loosen your tension as you tat the first stitch of each chain. That will give you a little room for the stitches to move when you do the joins on the following row.

If your tatting is so tight or if you are working in thread that is exceptionally fine you may have difficulty making the joins into the thread above the shuttle join. In that case you may choose to begin each chain with a very, very tiny (almost invisible) picot. This will give you something to join into and at the same time it will keep the ends of the chains neatly in place.

Consistent tension is what will make a nice looking rose. Each chain is slightly longer than the chains of the preceding rows and they need to lay neatly each one above the other. If one round has chains looser or tighter than another round, the chains will have gaps between them or they will overlap one another. If the chain is too tight or too loose when you do the shuttle join, undo the join and straighten it out.

Roses can be used in lots of tatting and they are too pretty a technique not to master them.

Transitions in Tatting order form now up

The Transitions in Tatting order form is now up and clicking on the link

will take you to the page. I've also added it to the links list on the right.

One of the first patterns in the book is one I like to use for teaching and it's pictured here on the right. The design is intended to be worked in size 10 variegated thread.

I created this pattern so that it could be done using all chains an using a variegated thread it works the same way as using 2 colours of thread since you rarely have the same patch of colour both wrapped over your hand and coming from the shuttle. The central ring can be tatted as a ring or it can be tatted as a mock ring so that the whole bookmark is done in chains.

I often cut out flat shuttle shapes out of card stock or plastic lids and prewind them with thread. For the "ball" thread I use my business card and wind the ball thread around it, holding the card and the shuttle together with a paper clip and that way everyone is starting at the same point. The paper clip is slid over the thread between the shuttle and the card and we can start with the mock ring in the centre. I explain the difference between a normal and a mock ring and show them how they are different, but I use chains in the first lesson and rings on the second lesson.

The tail of this bookmark is just a zigzag chain with a tassel. It's a simple enough project that beginners will be able to complete it easily. It gives them practice without adding in anything confusing so they can concentrate on getting the thread to flip and making their picots a uniform size.

There are several small bookmarks like this at the beginning of the book that use different techniques and let beginners learn things step by step.

If you are a tatting teacher looking for a simple pattern to work with, you have my permission to copy and distribute this pattern and picture.

Transitions in Tatting from Flat to Floral

The Transitions in Tatting from Flat to Floral book is printed and the order form is up on the web site now. Click here for more information and the link to the order form.

The cost of the book including shipping is:

if using Pay Pal:

Canada $32.65 Canadian

US $36.40 Canadian

International $42.80 Canadian

If paying by cheque/check

Canada $32.65 Canadian
US $37.55 US or $36.40 International Money order in Canadian funds

International $42.80 International Money Order in Canadian funds.

Catching up

I haven't had much time to blog recently. I have my personal blog where I post, strangely enough, my personal stuff mostly about tatting. Then there is the huge time sucking black hole that is the 25 Motif Challenge blog, and more recently the Round Robin blog. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing all the wonderful tatting everyone else is doing and I don't mind pulling it all together so that the whole tatting community has a sort of central place to check in and see what's happening. It's just that I feel a need to keep it relatively current and sometimes real life has a way of taking up blogging time.

I began in December working on some new designs for the February TLPC newsletter. One of these required working a lot of split chains some of which needed split chains joined to split chains and even after it was completed it didn't look like what it was supposed to be. For the curious, it's a flat rosebud. Now that you know what it is, can you see even a remote resemblance? No? That's why it didn't make it into the newsletter.

Then there were the little square motives I did with woven picots. They looked really cute and I though they'd make a nice bookmark. I forgot that when I was finished with a square I had no way of going from the chain at the base of the dimpled ring into the next square. After some mental gymnastics where I considered SCMRs, split chains incorporating woven chains and other complicated variations, I scrapped the idea of square and went with this model.

Then there was this project. Any guesses? I know what I was aiming for. This isn't it. There's possibilities, maybe, if you stand with your head sideways... Maybe not. Scratch another design.

Then I started in on a design idea that I've wanted to try for a long time. I used to do a lot of petit point. Most of it was done with one strand of embroidery floss on 40 mesh to the inch silk. The one on the left is about a half inch from top to bottom and mounted in a pendant. Tiny. I have always wondered if you could take a petit point chart and tat one of these little guys.

I took one of the simplest charts I had with the fewest number of colours (after all, for every colour I'd need a ball of thread) and I went looking for all of the colours in perle cotton. Some people may not realize that Anchor and DMC use the same colours and dye lots for both their embroidery thread and their perle cotton Since size 8 perle cotton compares with size 20 crochet cotton (Anchor is a smidgen finer) I figured I could use perle cotton. I couldn't find them. At least I couldn't find all of the colours I needed in the stores I could physically go into and I didn't want to take a chance of ordering online waiting for it to come and then finding out one shade was on back order or something. I knew I could get the colours in embroidery floss and I knew that 3 strands of embroidery floss would come out to roughly size 20 so I got my skeins of floss and started on the design.

I needed something that would give me a small square of colour so I settled on a tiny 4 ring motif. That would let me work from side to side or up and down as the chart required. When working in petit point you usually start with the darker colours first because the threads can become soiled with handling and petit point doesn't get washed. With tatting it was necessary to start where the design could be built on colour by colour so it started with the lightest colour.

It was challenging to not only tat the piece but to work from the front and the back and plan the direction of work so as not to miss tatting one little square. I had to retro tat several times because I ended up needing my shuttles to be in a different position to continue.

I like it, I think. It looks kind of pixelated but from a distance, it's clearly a rose. It's 5.25 inches square and it would make a nice patch for something maybe a pieced throw pillow or a placemat. Without the background colour it could be sewn onto the back of a jacket or on a large pocket, or a wide waistband, or maybe appliqued on a bag. Now that it's done I'm not exactly sure what to do with it. It's kind of like an oil painting. Up close all you can see is colour and brush strokes, but from a distance it's a picture with depth and texture. Drawing the design seems like it would be very easy since it's just a repeated 4 ring motif. However I found it hard to clearly explain where to put each bit of colour and how to tat it so that it could all be worked continuously. There are 196 tiny motives and each one needed to be placed precisely so I couldn't just say work like previous one, I need to mark every single ring in the whole design. It took 7 tries to get it right.

One thing is for sure, it's another of those "I wonder if" things that I can check off my to do list.