Holiday Tatting. 5/25 motif challenge

 Hi,

Another beautiful day, pity yesterday was so horrible,  I suppose we did need the rain well the garden did.   Today I have the holiday tatting I did on Kos,   although their is a bit more than this but my hand has stropped me doing so much.
The above picture shows some snowflakes,  as you might have read in a previous post the Greek lady thought they should be bigger and done in thicker thread.  OK I have tatted these in No 20 Lizbeth thread.  They are Wheel of nine rings from Christmas Angels and other tatting patterns by Monica Hahn,  Snowflake Ornament from Easy tatting,  Diane s Snowflake (which you will see again in another post)  Anna magazine December 1991 no 32,  and Katie Johnson's 3 dimensional angel which I made slightly bigger by adding an extra double stitch on the chains and rings.  still not sure I like it a bit bigger.

This is the Flowering Quatrain Bookmark by www.leblogdefrivole.blogspot.com link to her blog
I used one of the balls of Lizbeth no 20 I won from Rachel last year called Carousel,  this is the first time I have used this thread.  I did a spiral chain and using the corner pattern made a square end.

Update here is how far I have got with Renuleks mat,  I did the last row in red by the pool and started the white just before we came home,   In 30 degrees heat plus it was a bit hot to tat too long.   I did talk about this in my last tatting post.

I hope you are having a nice weekend, until we meet again Take care

                                 Hugs
                             Margaret

Clowning around

Hi,
Did they say the sun would shine today,   funny its raining and has been most of the morning,  you can see the rain drops on the picture.
I made this back in the late 90's its from Anna Magazine but I can't remember which one and when I was sorting out the magazines the other day I did not find it,  when everything is over I will have another look for the pattern,  I want to keep the pattern not that I may never make another one but you never know.
It took a lot more ribbon then the pattern said,  each piece was folded and then pined into place, on a  polystyrene ring as the base.    I brought a lilac piece of cotton and covered the top around down to the side and sewed that into place and then put the clown in to sit on the side.  The clown was brought at Cheddar Gorge in Somerset.   Then I added a thin piece of ribbon to hang it from and the ribbon then comes down the side in loops.   I know it took many hours of work.  Its been on my bedroom wall since and  is still is over my dressing table today.
I wont be blogging very often over the next few weeks,   I have a serious operation to go though on my eye, so if you don't see about much I will catch up with your blog when I can.  
Until we meet again take care,  
                             Hugs
                         Margaret

Tatted Window Decoration

Hi,

Oh what a beautiful day today,  the sun is shining,  clear blue sky,   and its warm.   We have had a mild winter and the wettest on record,  for months it rained sometime every day,  these last few days have been fine.  The levels are going down but there is still a large area flooded,  some of residents have at least be able to get back and see their homes while others where the water has gone down are beginning the clean up,  it could be 9 to 12 months before they can live in their homes again.   Hopefully if we can get a dry week we might be able to cut the lawn,  its going to take a while for the garden to completely dry out.   In the meantime we can enjoy the spring weather.

A few weeks ago I found this tatted window decoration,  which I tatted years ago,  I gave it a wash,  its seen better days but its still all in one piece.

Its from Anna Magazine May 1992,  every May they did a tatting course and this was the course for the year they called Blossoms and Tendrils for a basket of flowers.   The basket and the handle are done with split rings,  with the flower motifs  they were all sewn on individually onto the net and I added some beads in the middle of the flowers.  I think I might have used coats white thread no 20,  but it was so long ago I can't remember.
I hope you are having a lovely weekend and enjoying this beautiful weather.   (Sorry Fox I know you are a bit cold, with snow in Canada, hopefully your spring will come soon)
                                Hugs
                            Margaret.  

Lets go on a Tour of Europe Part two

 Hi,

This is the second part of my Tour of Europe,  I was going to post this last weekend but due to illness its a bit late,  These are the last four of eight counted cross stitch pictures I did many years ago of the countries I had visited which were from the Anna Magazine 1987.  While I was sorting out my Annas the other day I found another two which could be added to this set,  Turkey and Greece which Vernon and I have been to in recent years,  something to do when I have nothing else to in years to come.
Anyway here is the last four,.

Italy

The Colosseum in Rome
The Palazzo Vecchio in Florence,  (beautiful city worth a visit)
 The Piazza San Marco,
The Rialto Bridge and the Canale Grande in Venice  (a must visit again)
This picture has an edging of French knots representing the flower Mimosa







Holland

The Dutch bulb fields in the middle
The Cheese market
The musical organ which is seen in the streets over Holland
Delft Pottery
Canal Bridge theres a lot of them around Holland
There is a building on here which I will find out and update this piece




Spain and Portugal

The top half I think is Portugal with the bottom half being Spain
Both countries on the Iberian Peninsula share the same wealth of scenic beauty spots,  this picture seems to be a mixture of bother countries that are so alike apart from language. There was no set piece of architecture in this picture
Bullfighting being represented in both countries
The Oranges at the bottom of the edging are grown in both countries.





United Kingdom - London

The Tower of London
London Bridge
Houses of Parliament in the middle with the red London buses
Beefeater
Gates of Buckingham Palace,
Trafalgar Square and Lord Nelsons Column
Horse racing.
You can't see it but there was a lot of gold work in this picture

Well that concludes the tour,   I do hope you enjoyed it,  I did update the German Picture in part one as I promised.
Have a nice day
                             Hugs
                         Margaret

Lets go on a Tour of Europe part one

Hi,

 I won't go on with the weather but lets just say this week has been totally awful it can't get any worse can it?

The Somerset levels are totally devastated,  the railway lines to the west country are broken so Devon and Cornwall are cut off from the rest of the UK,  its going to take weeks to even repair at least one of the lines, and months for the other lines.  Although we are not flooded here we don't have to go too far before we hit flooding  and its just keeps on raining.  My lawn is going yellow in places which means it has too much water in the ground.  There are many parts of Southern England suffering from floods at the moment, even places that have never flooded before. The southern coastal regions of the UK have just been bombarded by the high seas,  the damage is going to cost billions by the time the weather improves for work to begin and its all to do with the jet stream bring the low pressure systems across the Atlantic Ocean,  anyone know the sun dance please.

Anyway today I thought I would show you some of my set of European Counted Cross Stitch pictures that I did many years,  they are all framed and on the wall going up the stairs.   

This is a series of 12 pictures from Anna Magazine dated 1987,  they did a different picture each month for the year,  I have done 8 in all,   the ones I had been to when I made them,  theres the first four. 

Austria

Featuring the ferris wheel in Vienna in the middle, 

the golden roof in Innsbruck  

Salzburg Cathedral 

and Hofburg Palace.

A bunch of grapes representing wine.

France
 
This is mostly Paris,   with the Eiffel tower in the middle,
The Notre Dame,
Basilica of Sacre Coeur,
Arc de Triomphe,  and the Moulin Rouge,




Germany

With the Black Forest in the middle,
The Brandenburg Gate,
A German cuckoo clock,
The Holsten Gate in Luebeck
A fortified castle overlooking the River Moselle,
Spires of the church of Our Lady in Munich

Switzerland

Lake Geneva with the fountain which does not show up much in the picture in the middle,
the Matterhorn,
the wooden bridge in Lucerne,
the Swiss Horns,
William Tell with his bow and arrow shooting the apple.
A cable car going into the Alps and the Fountain in Berne.

I will post part two next weekend,   I hope you enjoyed the first part of the journey around Europe
Until we meet again take care,  stay dry.
                         Hugs
                     Margaret

Snowflake Challenge - A countdown to Christmas

Hi,
Day Seven

Today its a snowflake from Anna Magazine dated December 1992 no 37,  tatted in Lizbeth thread no 20.  I was asked about the Anna Magazine,  it is still published in German and can be brought across Europe,  but sadly it is now longer published in English,  it was my only way of getting new tatting patterns for many years before the internet now the world has opened up and tatting inspiration comes from all parts of the world. When I go away I do look to see if I can find a copy of Anna and see if there is any tatting in it,  unfortunately I seem to miss the right month,  I will keep on looking at least the patterns are all diagrams so I don't need to know German.
I am back in Cheese and Grain in Frome today with another craft table this I think will be my last this year.
Have a nice day
                  Hugs
               Margaret

Snowflake Challenge - A countdown to Chrismtas

Hi,

Day Four

Today the snowflake is from an old Anna Magazine dated December 1991 no 39,   its a lovely snowflake to do although I have cut out some of the picots.   It was tatted in Lizbeth thread no 20
                   Hugs
                Margaret

A dusting of Snowflakes. 13/25 Motif challenge.

 Hi,

Another Scheduled post this time its my dusting of snowflakes,   I look up what the collective noun for snowflakes and this was one of the suggestions,  A dusting I rather liked it.
There should be more but one got the chop,  still here are what I have been doing over the last few weeks, at the top from Anna Magazine december 1991 no 35,  middle is also from Anna Magazine again December 1991 no 39,  the two at the bottom are Diane's and the larger one at the top is also Diane's.  Same pattern but the two at the bottom are 4ds from ring to JK and 4ds to next ring,   The snowflake at the top has 8ds between rings and JK which made it just a bit larger. This has become one of my favorite snowflakes.

This snowflake is from the book 24 Snowflakes by Lene Bjorn,  this is the 8th day of December, I am in the middle of a new design which needs blocking having not done blocking for many many years this was a good practice piece to play with,  not perfect but good enough for a practice piece.
I say play because see below is one of the bits that got cut off, and then I noticed one thing it made a flower,  so it will get used as part of the decoration on a card.   See it is possible to use up mistakes or cock up as I call them.

There was another snowflake but well lets just say he went wrong and was thrown across the room,   not sure where it is, I think Vernon picked it up and throw it in the bin,  best place for it,  but I will try it again while I am on holiday,  it was looking a pretty snowflake. While I have been ill I have done more cock ups than usual,   but its also been a time of refreshing and re-learning as well so my time was not wasted.

Hope you are keeping well

                             Hugs

                         Margaret

12 Snowflakes 2/25

 Hi,
I was asked to make 12 snowflakes like last week,  she chose the pattern she wanted which was an old pattern from Anna Magazine December 1991 number 39.  I have adjusted the pattern slightly,  which I find works better.   I have put a close up at the top,  she had the first five last weekend and the other seven pictured below are on there way.
I think she thinks I have a machine,  my fingers were a little sore trying to tat them quickly,  which proves I know I need the tunnels on my wrists doing one day.  I have been putting it off, perhaps when I retire.  Now I can go back to the tat along mat and finish off a couple of pairs of earrings,  which I will show you another day.
Take care
                        Hugs
                    Margaret

Tatting at last and start of the 25 motif challenge

 Hi,
Many of you know the last couple of months has been hard,   my mojo just went not surprising really.  Tatting came to a virtual stand still not helped by making a complete cock up of the tat along mat which I might add is still sitting on the coffee table in front of me and not been picked up since we got home.
Anyway I was asked to tat six snowflakes as above,  the pattern is one of Anna's from December 1991.  
I have been doing little things since we got home,  a few butterflies and these hearts which is the small Tatted Heart designed by Betsy Evans,   I saw this on a blog back in January I am sorry and must apologise I cant remember whose blog it was on but they had a link to the pattern.
Top row from left to right its Lizbeth's white, and Falling Leaves,  Pale Yellow DMC
bottom row left to right Lizbeth's Sea Island Citrus,   Gold,  and Rainbow Taffy.
I have enjoyed tatting these,    its a quick easy pattern,  
close up underneath.

I hope now my mojo is returning and feeling a bit  better I can start the TIAS,  the pages are printed ready for me to do,  just got to pick a colour and tat. These are the start of the 25 Motif Challenge which I said I would start in the new year.

Take care until we meet again

               Hugs

            Margaret

Snowflake Countdown to Christmas Challenge Day 12

Hi,

Day 12

Today's Snowflake is from Anna Magazine December 1991 pattern no 37.
I hope you have a lovely weekend.
Hugs
Margaret

Snowflake Countdown to Christmas Challenge Day 6

Hi
Day Six

Today's snowflakes is again from Anna Magazine December 1991 pattern no 39, and tatted with Lizbeth thread no 20

                     Hugs
                  Margaret

Snowflake Countdown to Christmas Challenge Day 5

Hi,
Day Five
Today's snowflake is again from Anna Magazine December 1983 pattern number 46.   Tatted in Lizbeth thread no 20
                     Hugs
                  Margaret

Snowflake Countdown to Christmas Challenge Day 4

Hi
Day Four
Today's snowflake is from Anna Magazine December 1992 pattern number 37.
Tatted in Lizbeth Thread no 20
Have a lovely weekend,  I am at a craft fair today and hoping for a good day,  its a new one and place I have not been before.
                          Hugs
                       Margaret

Holiday Tatting 20/25

 

Hi,

Today I thought I would show you some of my holiday tatting,   I have already shown you Diane's Doodad challenge which I tatted on holiday,  so this is the rest,   above is a selection of snowflakes and angels which I asked to tat for the Nursing Home Mother lives in,   They saw my snowflakes on my table at the summer fair and they asked for a selection for their christmas decorations.  They are from Anna magazine December 1991,  there are three SSSR angels by Anne Bruvold link.  and also three 3-Dimensional Angels by Katie Johnson which I did when I came home here is the  link which I have adapted the pattern to stand rather than glue the skirt to the body which I don't like,  so by adding two picots to the body I can attached the skirt. All were tatted in Lizbeth No 20 white.

I also tried this lovely pattern which I saw on a blog before I went away unfortunately I can't remember which blog but they were lovely with beads, so if you are reading this my apologies    Just to try the pattern and I did not take a lot of beads with me I did the pattern without.   Its Tatted Daisy by Mrs W.M. Odum.  I will be doing this one again with beads and plan to make them into pendants.
To find the pattern link   I used Lizbeth no 20 Summer Fun.

I also made this bookmark for a Friend whose birthday was when we returned,   I used Oren Bayan Perle 8,  I saw these in a shop in Rhodes and brought a load of different colours,   this is a mixture pink and I love the colours,  its a bit soft but has a lovely shine.  I brought so much that the shop owner gave me a free ball of red/gold Altin Basak Thread for my christmas.   I think he was rather amused on one of my visits yes I made several visits to the shop,   when I told him I could pack my husbands suitcase with thread from his shop and leave vernons clothes behind........  Vernon laughed but I don't think he would have be amused.  All in all I spent a lot of euros on thread and I have checked the prices since I got home and I did save a fair bit,  I have also found I can get some more from www.tatting.co.uk,   The pattern yes its Flowering Quatrain Bookmark by Joelle link
This finishes my holiday postings.  I hope you have enjoyed them.
Until we meet again take care
              Hugs
          Margaret

Pay it forward (PIF) the Results. 10 of 25 motif challenge.

 Hi,

What a lovely sunny day here in Somerset so far,  although its cloudy we have had no rain so far.  The weekend looks better and next week looks warmer going by the weather forecast,  not holding my breath.

Now all three PIF have been delivered around the world,  I can now show you what I made for them,   I did not want to share it with you before and spoil their surprise.

  I used Joelle's new pattern which just popped out at the right time when I was thinking what to make them.  link to her blog here   Flowering Quatrain Bookmark, its a lovely pattern  I really love it,   now I did change the end,  from the last Josephine ring which I did as a split ring,  I did the tail,  using the middle piece of the pattern a split chain of 6/6  without the picot x two and then using the Josephine ring in the pattern I did 5/5 and repeated it until I had a long enough end.  Using the corner of the pattern I made a square.  I was really pleased with how it worked up. 

The first one is Sue's in Norfolk,  I used Altin Basak Thread (Turkish)  no 50 which is equal to no 20,  I cant remember the colour number they don't have names for their colours,  but this colourway I love and always works up lovely.

This is a close up of the square.

This is Kelly's which went to Canada,  Using the same pattern as above,   but I used the Thread Lorena sent (nctatter of intatters) Graceful Arts Hand paint,  no20,   sorry I don't know the name of the colour.  Her favourite colour was green and I don't have a lot of green,  this looked green when I took it off the skein but when it was worked up I was worried she would not like it.

This is Sunela's from the U.S.  she liked pinks and in bright colours well I used  Lizbeth thread Raspberry Frappe,  no 20,  

   The pattern looks quite different in the different colours. 

As you can see they also got a snowflake each for their Christmas trees these were from a pattern I have used many times and you have seen before,  Sues was the middle of the 10 point snowflake from be-stitched,  and the other two were from Anna magazine.

This is no 10 of the 25 motif challenge.

I hope you have a lovely weekend and where ever you are it stays dry.

          Hugs

       Margaret

Holiday Tatting Number One

Hi,


Today I am showing some of the holiday Tatting I did while I was on holiday in Crete.
They were all tatted with Lizbeth no 20 white thread,  there will be some more over the next few days/week

This is one I have done a lot of and is a pattern from the Anna magazines dated December 1991,  its one of my favorties.

This one if the middle of the be-stitched pattern called Tatted 10 point Snowflake,   I love this middle and it makes a lovely snowflake on its own.  I think its time I did the whole pattern even though I do like the middle of this one..

This is a new one on me its from a book called Easy Tatting which I brought Bethany for Christmas last year and its called Five-inch Snowflake.   I do like this pattern although it was a bit fiddly in places.










These I am making the 5th motifs of the 25 motif challenge which I joined last month.   The 1st, 2nd and 3rd motifs were put on the blog while I was away and they were the test tatting I did for Wendy,  The intatters Spring Tatting Exchange  and Introducing Taurus, and my goats.
I hope to get the holiday posts done over the next few days.
In the meantime I hope you have enjoyed the long bank holiday and are keeping well.
Take Care
                                  Hugs
                              Margaret

Tatted Angels, Snowflakes and Christmas Trees

Hi,
I am having one of those I can't be bothered days, the weather is windy it has been raining a bit, dull, and not very interesting. The sun has just popped out but there's plenty of grey clouds around.
Today I am showing my tatted Angel, this is Katie Johnson's 3-Dimensional Angel pattern, she glues the skirt onto the body, but I have played with the pattern and by doing two picots at the bottom of the body I can attach the rings and make the skirt so she strands up. I have shown her before but I thought I would show her again.
This snowflake and the next one are from Anna Magazine December 1991, I wish they had not stop printing the English version, I know I have said it before but when I go abroad I always look to see if I can get a copy of any current German ones as they still print it in German.

Both of these are on sale in my Esty store at the moment. they are easy to tat and don't take very long to do.

This is a new snowflake from the book Christmas Angels and other Tatting Patterns by Monica Hahn, I found this pattern easy and I love the way the rings flow, a couple of the rings look a little drunk but I have not ironed it yet.
This Christmas tree pattern is also from the same book, I also loved this pattern although I had a few unpicking at first its not difficult and once you get the hang of the pattern worked up quite easy, I also did it in the Christmas thread by Lizbeth called Christmas Delight, I really love this thread, well I think by now you all know that. I am going to do it again with some beads. I do like to test a pattern without beads before tatting them in.

All the above were tatted in Lizbeth thread no 20.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend and the weather is a bit better where ever you are. I shall be watching the F1 later, I did not get up early for the race this morning so it will be the repeat, Japanese time is a bit too early for me, I hope Jensen Button our local boy will have a good race he was second on the row, I have not seen who won it that would spoil the race for me.

Until we meet again take care

Hugs

Margaret

Knitted Tablecloths

Hi,

A few weeks ago someone and I cant remember who asked to see my knitted tablecloths, well here some of them are.

This was my first tablecloth and was knitted around the beginning of 1980, I found this pattern in the wool shop it had the doily, coffee table mat and then the tablecloth, thinking I would not be able to knit it I started with the doily and it grow and grow I just carried on knitting until I finished the cloth. I took a year on and off and was started with 8sts and ended up with 2,000 stitches and I had to use three circular needles as I was unable to get a very very long one. It was knitted with coats anchor cotton no 20 and took 13 balls.
This is a close up of the middle.

This cloth is a muiti brown and cream cotton again no 20 and I think it was DMC this was a German pattern from the Anna Magazine using a graph, German patterns are on graphs and not written out like the English pattern, once you master the graph they are easy to do.
Close up

This pale pink one was also knitted with coats cotton no 20 and was also a German pattern again from the Anna Magazine.

This long mat is my own design, I knitted it with no 20 cotton but it was a long time ago and I cant remember what cotton I used.

Close up of the pattern

The photos were done using the floor so they are not the best but hopefully shows the designs for you. I hope you have enjoyed this post I am knitting a cloth at the moment I am on round 154 and have around 750 stitches, not a lot more to knit it finishes on round 201 and around 1,152 stitches.

I hope you are enjoying this lovely sunshine we are having today, hopefully it will continue for a bit longer. I hope to find time to sit out in the sun before Vernon comes home and do a few more rounds of knitting, I promise when its finished I will post a photo.

I still cant leave comments on a lot of blogs, on some I found a way round but others it just wont let me, blogger say they are working on the problems, so far I have deleted all the cookies like they said and done a few more changes but so far nothing has worked. I hope they get this problem sorted out soon, I would like to say to Janette your card is beautiful and Nic sorry I still cant leave you any comments, and to anyone else that I have missed out I will catch up with you asap when its sorted.

Until we meet again take care

Hugs Margaret