Long Time No Blog - Motifs 3,4,5

Its been over 2 months since I blogged, its amazing how time flies when your not having fun. I love serving as a Pastor in a little country Church but it sure would be a lot easier if there weren't any people (ha!ha! groan). Even though I haven't been blogging I have been tatting quite a bit, its very soothing. There's something about taking string and turning it into a delicate piece of lace that does wonders for my attitude.

Here are the first of the tatting I've been doing since February.
Motif # 3 - Anne's dragon in Flora 20 (several of his relatives have made great gifts for dragon loving friends)


















Motif # 4 - Sabina's Floral Bookmark in Flora #20



















Motif #5 - Santa Fe Cross by Barbara Foster in Flora #20

New Bracelet with Matching Earrings, Motif #2

I was at a loss what to make my angel of a wife (believe me, putting up with me for 17 years definitely qualifies her for wings), I've tatted her hearts and doilies, crocheted her afghans, scarfs, and angels, so this year I took a stab at "Denise's Bracelet" by Debbie Strickland. Thanks to her generously sharing her pattern, I was able to tat both a bracelet and matching earrings.
I used Manuela black #20 with lots and lots of swarovski crystals.
These count as motif #2 of my 2nd 25.

A Blizzard of Tatting motif #1 of 2nd 25

I finally got DSL its amazing what a difference it makes after using dial-up.
It's been a while since I've blogged, but I've still been busy tatting, one of my distractions from blogging was performing my first wedding. The lucky couple are members of the Church I pastor and were actually renewing their vows. They had been married 60 years and had their children, grandchildren and a multitude of great grandchildren in attendance. They even had the couple that been their witnesses there (they had just celebrated 60 years of marriage themselves).
Back to tatting... I've been tatting a blizzard ever since Christmas. Several of the snowflakes are patterns by Tina Frauberger, Jan Stawasz and Teri Dusenbury all done in Flora #20. After blocking them I stiffened them with a water/glue mixture and sprinkled them with some micro glitter. It doesn't show in the photos but it gives a nice finish.
I'm counting all of them as motif#1 of my second 25.

Pendant and Earrings - motif #25

Haven't blogged in a while, I've been busy preparing for my first craft show. I'm a little nervous and praying hard that I sell a lot! These are just some of the items I've been making for it.
A set of matching pendant and earrings. The earrings are a simplified version of Kim Millar's "A Joyful Sparkle" and the pendant is my own creation. They were tatted in Manuela #20 and are my first attempt at using beads (the pendant has a swarovski crystal in the center).
I'm still undecided about hanging the pendant, should I use a cord, a ribbon or invest in a chain.
Any advice would be helpful.

The Last of the Blue Ribbon Entries - Motifs # 21, 22, 23, & 24

These are the last of the my MS. State Fair entries. Again I apologize for my terrible photography. They should almost finish off my 25 motif challenge, so I guess its time to start again :-)

The wedding garter is an adaption of Lenore English's bookmark pattern done in Flora #20. The doily is the Blue doily pattern from the Needle Tatting Two site, also Fora #20



















The Magnolia pin is from a pattern from the tatting calendar, the leaves were my own addition, also in Flora, #20. The butterfly is from a design by an Italian tatter, done in #10, yellow and is part of a pillow. I couldn't find the right size pillow for it, so I made one. Unfortunately, I waited to the night before the entries had to be at the fairgrounds to decide to make a pillow. We own a sewing machine but I haven't used it in years, so I decided to use Fabric-tac to seal the seams. Luckily, they judged it on the tatting not on how the pillow looked. I also entered the snowflake that I shared earlier in my blog.















The Scarf is crocheted in Gryffindor colors, my wife and I are big Harry Potter fans. I also entered a crocheted doily, angel, and snowflake.

More State Fair Entries - Motifs#17,18,19, and 20

Here are some more of my State Fair entries. Please forgive the rotten pictures, I'm a terrible photographer and several of the items would not fit on the scanner.
The Collar is a design taken from Jan Stawasz' book, I shortened the width of the collar, the original was a little too much for my wife, its to be her Christmas present. It was done in size 10. I really like the way the negative space forms hearts.
The runner is an adaptation of several motifs I had found on the net, I just kept adding on till I had a runner. It's in size 10 also.














The Linen napkin was entered in the edging category. It was done in size 20 Flora. It is part of a set I am making for my niece for her hope chest, she gets one for her birthday and another for Christmas. I'm aiming for a set of 12.
The handkerchief was entered in the hemstitch category and was done in #20, Flora. I think my wife has her eye on this too :-)




















This last item is not tatting but filet crochet, it needs to be re blocked there was too much handling at the fair. This is definitely my wife's, she loves fleur-de-lis.

16 Blue Ribbons at the Mississippi State Fair!!!

16 Blue Ribbons!!! I couldn't believe it. I won a blue ribbon in every category I entered. 11 tatting categories and 5 crochet.
The tatting categories were: Baby bonnet, Booties, Doily, Runner, Christmas, Collar, Hemstitched, Edging, Pillow, Garter, Misc. (I entered a 3d magnolia).
The crochet categories were: Scarf, Filet, Christmas, Doily and a Misc. category
I plan to add them to my blog and count them toward my 25 motifs.

































The Booties are a pattern by Lenore English done in #30 Flora white, the bonnet is my own design, in #20 Flora, unfortunately I didn't write down the pattern as I worked, time to go back and figure it out (sigh). They are motifs 15 & 16.