Blossom Crochet Hook Chatelaine

    

This Chatelaine has a mix of  tatting lock chain, beads and a small portion of macrame. Hidden inside the large blossom bead is a crochet hook size  14. 

I purchased this kit at Shuttlebirds but some of you would have taken the class from Karen Miner as she  taught designed this pattern.  She had a few extra kits for sale and I was fortunate to be able to purchase one. 

Mary Anna Robinson

 Lee Flower with Pearl Center and  Curled Ring Cinquefoil Motif

Mary Anna is a tatting teacher and lovely lady with cute little sayings like "I'm not the boss applesauce".  I  took two classes from her at the Shuttlebirds Workshop.  In one, she read us a story she had written about a tatter.  She told me that in  another class she sang for them.  

Mary Anna is open to new ideas and in class we shared ways to adapt her patterns and how we would do them. Both classes made use of the folded join.  It is  good one to practice, here is what I do. Fold the joining picot over the thread, then come up the picot with my hook and pull thread down the picot, then down  the loop with the shuttle.  She passed out another method called the hard left  turn into the garage by Judy Banicheck.

Now I have just looked and you can meet this teacher at Palmetto.  If you are lucky enough to see her say hello from "CANADA".

Square Pinwheel Motif

I am back from the Shuttlebirds Workshop at Ross Point Camp and Conference Center.   I had a real treat taking a course from Heidi Nakayama and produced this Dora Young motif.  Using a size 20 thread the blocked motif measures just shy of 4" square.  It would make a perfect coaster. 

There is one split chain, you can see it at the 9 o'clock position.  The pinwheels are made up of lock joins and you use a few new techniques to move the thread over one to create the pinwheel effect.

The pattern is on Page 16 and 17 of All New Knotless Tatting Designs.

I also took another course from Heidi but she has asked me not to post a picture so you will need to see me in person for that one.

I participated in the Poker Run with Natalie and even completed a small blossom for the competition.  I will tell you more about that in another post.  

I brought home new books, threads and even a few shuttles. 

The venue, food and classes were once again well organized and each mealtime  we were gifted little goodies.   I just want to thank Patti D and the rest of the Shuttlebirds for a totally awesome time at Ross Point.  I hope to see you all again next year.

Wild Rose Lacemakers

The Wild Rose (Rosa acicularis) was adopted as the official flower of the province in 1930.

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to spend the afternoon with the Wild Rose Lacemakers guild based in Calgary, Alberta Canada.  Although most of the members do bobbin lace a few of them also tat. 

I brought along a variety of tatted items for show and tell.  Janet A. brought out a pattern she was pricking, every now and then she held it up to the light.  She went into detail what she was working on and how it will be done.  She also took out a box of  bobbin lace she had made or was gifted, a variety of pieces, mostly white but some metallics. Two other lacemakers brought out their cushions and I tatted , we all had a cup of tea and chatted the afternoon away.

This is a very  informal group, as Janet had the most books and equipment, they always meet at her place once a month.  Fortunately for me she is only a short walk away.  The group will be doing some lace demonstrations this summer and I have been invited to tag along and demo my tatting. 

I am very thankful to have found a gifted lace group so close to home. 

Heart Earrings

My favorite heart pattern.  I started on the top clover and then down ring and second clover then repeat around.  To finish up I added a SSSR (Single shuttle split ring) and hid both tails in it.  By adding a metal ring before the earring finding there is less wear on the thread as the earring will swing between the metal ring and the earring finding loop. 

The only trick to the pattern is to switch shuttles (to change direction) before the side ring on the way down and then after on the way back up.  Or you might try a SLT (Shoe Lace Trick).

You can easily adjust stitch counts and add beads to personalize the earrings.

Good thing I took this picture as my cousin has laid claim to these.