Bag making frenzy

Hey all!  I haven't been doing much tatting lately, but I HAVE been making Bags to carry the tatting in!  I have made one called a Dorset Bag or Origami Pocket Pouch, the second bag is a Drawstring Pouch, the last is just a pouch that has a zipper pocket added to the outside of it (no pattern here...just followed one I already had)

Inside of Dorset Bags

Dorset Bags (Origami Pocket Pouches)

First try has a full size CD....made the bag toooo small, IMO

Used a Mini CD inside this one...much better size!

Now I have it!  Use a Wide Mouth Canning Lid and make a Pincushion out of it!

Need to find some more zippers...really like the way this bag came out!

I'll be taking these bags with me to the upcoming Craft Show on February 12, so we will see if others like them as well as I do...lol  I think of all the material I've used, I like the golds and browns of the last Drawstring Bag.
Oh, the Christmas Bag is NOT going to be sold!  That one is mine!  I'm adding tatting around the edge of that triangular pockets as well...will show you a finished pic of it when I get it done.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hugs
Carol

So Sorry!

I really do need to post more often!  I have been doing tatting...really!  I've just been so busy, I forget to let you all know what I've been doing.  So, this post is going to be picture intensive.....I'll put a little blurb in with each photo too...(go and get a cuppa, I'll wait....)

Lacey Bookmark done with shuttle

This bookmark is tatted with a size 10 Grey thread that I had intended on using on the following Two-by-Two bookmark, but it was a different weight size 10 than the burgandy I did the center with....so, since the shuttle was already loaded, I made up this bookmark.

Celtic and Two-by-Two Bookmarks

 I really like the burgandy and cream thread of the Two-by-Two, but really think the bookmark would have "popped" more if I had been able to use the grey thread...ah well.  I LOVE anything Celtic, so this bookmark was a joy to make.  What a lot of color combinations you could use to make this gorgeous bookmark!

Jane's Bookmark (shuttle)

 This little bookmark has to be one of my all time favorite patterns to work, needle or shuttle!

Color Challenge

These bookmarks are the results of an interesting Color Challenge that one of the ladies from InTatters put on.  Tat something with a Variegate, then with the Variegate and a Solid Color, then reverse those colors, then the Solid Color.  I had a limited amount of the size thread I wanted to use, so that is why my solid bookmark is Cream instead of White.

Jane's Bookmark

This is Jane's bookmark again, using all of the thread leftover on the shuttles from the Color Challenge.  Not enough for a "full length" bookmark, so I added ribbon to both ends.

Hematited Bracelet

This bracelet is made with Split Rings and Hematite Beads (alternating round and square), then the Chain done after all the Rings are done.  I made this bracelet to give my youngest daughter when we picked her up at the airport right before Christmas.

Greenman Necklace

I made this necklace with Split Rings, various sizes of Hematite Beads and 4 Garnet Beads (right near the Green Man).  The Green Man was a gift from my friend when I went to visit her in Upstate New York late last Summer.  Originally, I just had him on a silver chain, but it just didn't "work".  I think this necklace works really well with him.

My Christmas Earrings

Ok, last tatting picture for today.  These are the earrings I made for myselft for Christmas.  I had made another pair that was similar and when I was at a Craft Show in early December, a lady wanted a pair of Christmas Earrings, and I didn't have any on display.  I was, however wearing a pair that I told the lady I could make a pair like them for her if she wanted.  Well....in the end, I just ended up selling her the pair out of my ears...lol....so I had to make myself a new pair.  The thread is actually some that I plied myself.  My OH made me a spindle, based on the CD/dowel spindle and I used 3 strands of Machine Embroidery Thread.  After plying the thread together though, it had way toooooo much twist, so I found both ends and let it "untwist" onto itself, essentially re-plying itself again in the opposite direction.  I really like how the thread ended up and will be making more of it to tat jewelry with.

Christmas Craft Show 2010

Here is the display from the Christmas Craft Show that I did.  I sold a few cards and actually sold quite a few of my tatted earrings.
I have another show that I am getting ready for on February 12 that will be at the Country Club again.  I can just hope that i do as well there as I did at the Christmas Show.

Now that you have seen what I have been doing since I posted last time, I will "try" to post a bit more frequently so my posts aren't this long again...

Sending you all hugs
Carol

My New Tatting Venture

I am goin on a trip soon and will be flying, so I can't take my Needles with me on the flight, so I am learning how to Shuttle Tat.  I tried to do this YEARS ago and just could NOT wrap my head (or my hands) around this!  Well, thanks to Needle Tatting and actually knowing what the knots are supposed to look like and thanks to the wonderful ladies over at InTatters, I have taken up Shuttle Tatting!

Well, this is my absolute Very First piece of Shuttle Tatting!

Got the Ring and Chain figured out, so now it is time to actually MAKE something, as I never could understand the practice of practicing without actually making something.  This is the Tatted Christmas Tree from BeStitched.  I chose this pattern because I got to practice several things.  I got to practice my Rings, Bare Threads and my Chains.  I also got to practice the Magic Thread Trick for hiding ends.  Very cool trick, let me tell you!

The only problem I am having with the Shuttle Tatting is that I am double jointed and my fingers lock up at the worst moments.  One of those "moments" being when I am trying to hold the thread snug when I make picots, so I decided to make myself a Tatting Chatelaine, also thanks to xstitchntat from InTatters for the wonderful idea in the first place!  I went to a second hand store and bought a crochet hook (the only one they had...a size 8) and had my brother cut the hook off just as it starts flaring into the handle.  I then took a very small lenght of thin dowel and drilled a small hole in it and put Super Glue in the hole, then the hook.  Let it dry an hour or so and Voila!  Mini Hook!  I drilled a hole in the end so I can hang in on my Chatelaine.  The picot guages I made from the plastic from an empty gum box.  You've all seen my Striver before. ;-)

I tatted a cord for my Chatelaine that is about 26" long and it works a DREAM!  I am working on a bookmark right now and not having any problems at all with my fingers locking and I'm lovin' it!

Hope This Helps Clarify any Problems with Adding Threads

Hey, I hope these pictures clarify any confusion there was with my last post about Adding New Threads.  Sorry if I caused anyone any confusion!  Thanks for letting me know.  I'm always more than happy to help out in any way I can!

Hope these larger pictures show better that I am still working off the ball and normally, I would have had enough Core Thread to work with, but it has happened that I have needed to add thread in both the Core and the Knot thread positions.  Hope this helps.

My Way of Adding a New Thread in Needle Tatting

Well, I finally got around to taking photographs of my technique for adding a new thread when needle tatting.  Nothing I hate worse than knots when you don't actually need them!  I hope this helps someone esle out there who hates extra knots and is struggling with how to add new thread.

I've used very large thread here so it photographs better, but I've used this method with thread as fine as sewing thread (size 120)

Let me know if this works for you and how you like it. ;-)

Another Snowflake from Jon's Challenge

I have finally finished tatting up Frakira's (from InTatters) version of Jon's Snowflake Challenge.  I SO love Celtic Tatting!  I tatted this one up with 3 different colors of size 30 thread.  White for the first row, Variegated Blues for the 1st 1/2 of the second row and Blue for the 2nd 1/2 of the second row. 

I really LOVE how many wonderful patterns are coming out of Jon's Snowflake Challenge! Keep your eyes out as I will be tatting Tatknot's version as soon as I get done with another of Yarnplayer's doilies that I am tatting.

Thread Experiment

I have over 60 spools of Machine embroidery floss from when I was doing Embroidery on Cards.  I don't do so much of that anymore, so am trying to find something else to use that thread for so it wasn't a wasted investment.  I have mostly thread from Thread Art but I have a few spools of Gutermann Sulky, Gutermann Metallic and Mettlar, so wanted to see how they all tatted up in comparison to the smallest tatting thread I have on hand, which is a size 70.  I'm not exactly sure what size the other threads work out to be, but I think the Thread Art thread is a 120, based on a 120D/2 on the spools.  Here are my results.

I think that the Mettlar and the Thread Art threads need a finer needle to use these without combining them with another thread.  The Double Stitches are a bit looser than I like them to be, but they both tat up very nicely, so I will be able to combine these threads with some of my plain tatting threads for LOTS of possibilities now.  The biggest surprise for me was how easy the Gutermann Metallic tatted up!  My surprise comes from the fact that the thread is not smooth.  I do have some Gutermann Metallic that IS smooth and that did NOT tat up very nicely at all!  Completely opposite to my expectations!

Now, I'm off to see if they make a finer needle than the #8 Extra Fine that Handy Hands has.  If not, then I am going to try tatting the Mettlar and the Thread Art thread using one of my Beading Needles.  Will just have to watch my fingers as they are Sharps!