This is another example of my design in placing beads throughout an ornament when none are in the original design. I used Lene Bjorn's book "24 Snowflakes in Tatting", and this pattern is called "The First day of December". I love the bright colors in variegated threads that are available and this one is HHLizbeth size 20 in color #118. There is a single 1/4" metallic gold bead tatted into the center and 1/8" gold beads on the shuttle thread and placed on picots between rings. It was rather difficult keeping track of where I was on the pattern. The motif measures 4 3/4" in diameter.

I've used the Dover book "Tatting for Today" for a long time. The red, white, and green ornament is done in #30 thread with red crystal seed beads tatted in with the pattern. It measures 3 1/4 " sq.

The green triangle is from the same book. It is tatted with #30 thread also, with tiny silver metal beads. It measures 2 1/2" from point to point.

The beadwork is done by my own design.


The pink motif, or small doily, is from my Japanese tatting book. The thread is DMC pearl cotton #815 maroon, #818 pale pink, and #3326 dark pink in size 8. The beads in the centers of the circles are 1/4" silver tube beads. The original pattern called for 6 seed beads where i have substituted 2 tube
beads. The piece measures 6" in diameter.

The angel is from Martha Ess' tatting page and is Joyce's Angel. She is tatted with J.C. Coats Best six cord thread size 30. I had trouble finding any gold thread and finally ended up using 4 strands of DMC metallic gold floss.

This was very difficult to work with and, only with the help of two friends, was I able to separate the strands and get it in a shuttle.

It did end up looking acceptable.