i'm now up to 5 for my 25-motif challenge

The shamrock bookmark is designed by Ellen Lai. The thread is pearl cotton #8 in color #701. I sent the bookmark to my STA for St. Patrick's Day. With 4 leaves it would be a clover.

The snowflake is from "Tatted Snowflake Collection" by Jon Yusoff and is called "radiance". I love doing these--always a challenge. This is tatted in white--DMC Cebelia, #20 thread.

The next motif is in sunshine colors. I guess i needed that to brighten a miserable blizzardy winter day. It's designed by Nancy Tracy--she does such pretty patterns. The thread is Coats & Clark tatting thread in size 70--the color marker is long gone. It's from my stash from long ago.

And the pretty red heart is from "Tat's Amore" by Martha Ess--such a neat book and fun to use. It is the Antique Rose Heart. Again I used thread from my stash--this is Clark's O.N.T in size 30. The color is #126. This is old thread given to me by a friend who got it from her grandmother, so i'm sure it's no long available.

I hope you enjoy seeing my efforts. It's becoming more and more difficult for me but I keep at it. One project is to make enough butterfly bookmarks to supply all of my doctor offices. i'm getting close. Please feel free to comment.

I received a lovely card from my sectret angel--from Sri Lanka (Ceylon was printed on the back side in case I wasn't aware--always helps. She was having a wonderful vacation in a warm place. That would be really great. This has been an awful winter here. There is still a foot-deep ridge of snow in my yard even after a week of weather in the 40's and 50's. Ah well, spring will come. It was fun to hear from her. Thanks for the card.

my first motif for 2011 25-motif challenge

I bought a new book "Tatted Flurries" by Sharon Briggs and that almost always pushes me to tat one of the new patterns. This is "Pixie". Another thing that pushes me to do something is a new fascinating thread. This motif is done using Sulky blendable 12wt. cotton thread. The color is Autumn. The finished size is just about 3", quite a bit smaller than the size 20 that was used in the printed picture. Great fun to tat!!

I received my Dec. and Jan. gifts from my secret tatted angel on the same day. These are very welcome. Such a lovely variety of things. There was a photo postcard of the Attenborough Church. I love reading the "Ring of Tatters" newsletters. They are always past issues, but that doesn't matter--they are full of wonderful pictures and some patterns. The Dec. envelope contained lots of treasures. 2 shuttles that were new colors, a small booklet of patterns by Rosemarie Peel, and 3 cards with frames for tatted pieces. Thank you very much for all this.

The January card contained another newsletter of "Ring of Tatters" and lots more pictures of motifs and some patterns. It also had a photo postcard of a fascinating national park. There was a very nice hemstitched hanky for me to try an edging, which I have never done and thread to try with it. The threads were Venus Crochet Cotton size 70 in green, yellow, and lavender. And thank you again for your generous package.

I have finished my 25 motif challenge with an extra motif

Now I have another angel from Mark Myers book "Tatted Gathering of Angels". This is "Allyson's Angel". I used DMC blanc in size 20. This was a fascinating pattern. After doing the center of the skirt, there was no stopping and just rings and chains except for one SCMR. Really fun to see where the pattern would go next.

The bright bookmark is "Red Clover Bookmark" by Eliz Davis. I love the thread and this about finished it off. It's Lady Shuttle-Maker's HDT size 20 called Bell Peppers. Really lovely and I might have to order some more--only when I use up a cabinet that's full of thread. LOL.

And the last posting is from my secret tatted angel. It came in October and I finally took a picture. Too bad it's sideways. But there are 2 Ring of Tatters newsletters,which are very interesting, some rayon thread in pink and white and a lovely Indian shuttle. Thank you very much.

And now on to the new year 2011. I hope everyone has a healthy and happy New Year. And lots of productive tatting.

almost to 25 motifs

I love tatting Mark's angels. This one is LaVonne's angel. I used DMC blanc in size 20.

The halo is gold embroidery thread, about 3 strands.

I was fascinated with all the tatting shown online using the Sulky thread. Of course, I had to order some of it. The thread i've used for these 2 motifs is Sulky size 12 cotton. The color I used is Truly Teal. It's wonderful to use--just slides right along. The first motif is the first round only of "Peony" from "Tatting Patterns & Designs" by Gun Blonqvist & Elwy Persson. It was the perfect place to stop. The second motif in the bangle is "The Third Day of December" fromLene Bjorn's "24 Snowflakes in Tatting". I will offer the finished tattings to my friends that I spend each Tuesday evening with. They are wonderful to me and I love all of them. Their picture is in a previous blog.

The purple snowflake is one of Jon Yusoff's wonderful creations from her book "Tatted Snowflake Collection". This one is "Pirouette" and was tatted with some of my stash from ages ago. It is DMC size 70 in a dark purple variegated thread.

The green and white snowflake is from the same book by Jon Yusoff. It is "Astral" and was tatted with size 30 threads in white (blanc) and Christmasy green #701.

My next posting will finish this one and will be done in a few minutes unless I feel the need of a nap (which I do often).

Here is the picture of the things I received from my secret angel.

Thank you very much.

I now have 19 motifs--and i am working on more?

This the way my beagle, Samantha Ann, spends her day, especially when i'm playing with the computer. She's 7 1/2 now, and has arthritis, poor baby. She keeps me sane.

Here is what I did with all the leftover butterflies. They are now bookmarks and each one of the ladies who worked on that blanket has one.

I tatted another one of the bookmarks that I designed and decorated it with more colorful flowers than the first one. It, too, has been given to one of those ladies.

The Christmas ornament is from "Tatted Snowflakes" by Vida Sunderman. It is called Beaded Snowflake. I used size 20 , Color #116 Lizbeth thread. I love the Christmas colors.