I'm still here.....

It's been a bit of a tough week. I have been afflicted by extreme fatigue and it seems that I can stay awake for only about 4 hours at a time. This week I'll be back into the doc's for the "umpteenth" time.

I have written myself an hourly schedule so that I can still get things accomplished. I have added two hours of exercise in the morning in hopes that it will energize me throughout the day. Day before yesterday I fell asleep during a savasana portion of my Yoga routine. I woke up on my yoga mat later in a pool of drool. Not to worry though, I am being as flexible as I can with myself, as I can't seem to help when it is that I crash out. Having a schedule (as flexible as it is) is helping me to focus when I am awake. And it's good for my spirits to accomplish something everyday.

When I am awake I have been tatting away as much as I can.

I have also scheduled in "blogging" time so hopefully there will be more posts to read.

Of course I cannot leave without sharing some eye candy. So here is a hand dyed edging that I am using in a special project.

"HEART ATTACK EDGING" Tatted Lace

Sorry for the delay in presenting this pattern. The day after we moved in to our new Korean home, I fell ill and have basically been sleeping for the last 3 days.
Anyhow, I purchased a new scanner....(It is so much better than my old one) and I downloaded my diagramming software to my laptop so VOILA! Here you go! Enjoy!
"Heart Attack Edging"
This will also be located under "Free Patterns" here on this blog.

Buddha's birthday was recently celebrated here in South Korea and I chose these colors for the edging because they match the buddha decoration's everywhere.

New Multi Flower Edging

There are similar edging patterns "out there" to this one in look but not in design.
I have been working on this pattern for quite awhile with disasterous results but just when I felt like giving up, I finally figured it out and it is so simple. In fact it is very similar to the 5 shuttle grape edging I designed a few months ago.
With this pattern you can have and many shuttles as there are colors of flowers. I chose to do the "baby" colors with this size 20 flora thread.

Or you can keep it a simple two shuttle pattern and maybe use a varigated color for the flowers such as the size 80 majestic blue thread I used here.

Ooooh, a thought just occured to me, Marilee's hand dyed thread would look lovely in this pattern.

It's all about Hankies lately...

So here is the "fancy" edging I decided to do. It is another one of Mary Konior's Tatting with Visual Patterns "Bo Peep" pattern. pg. 33
Only what you see is done...I have a long way to go. I have not finished the corner yet. And of course is has not been blocked yet.
I took out all the frilly picots and am changing up the corner treatment.
I love handkerchiefs! In my mind they are from a long lost "genteel" time. Even though I am a bit young to ever see anyone use a handkerchief I am nostalgic for that time period.
I have given away every hanky I have ever made. I think this time I may keep one of these for myself.

Lilacs Edging Sampler...You decide

More lilacs. I took Sharon's suggestion and threw in some picots. I also played around with the leaves and made some dimpled rings. So what do you think? Picot's or no picots, dimpled rings or no dimpled rings? In one of the flower bunches I even left off the 7th "tip" ring to see what that would look like.
Well, it's been a long roller coaster ride of a week. I am going to settle down, watch me a murder mystery and have a glass of vino!

Clusters of what? And the cutest litte girl ever!

My mother's favorite flowers are lilacs. So I thought I would design an edging of lilacs for her. This is what I came up with. Looking at it, it is probably obvious to you...(but not to me at first) that it looks a lot like grapes. Ha! I can't get away from the grape theme. Anyway, this is a simple two shuttle pattern. Substitute a nice grapey color and add clover-style leaves instead of single leaves and voila!
For those terrified of 5 shuttle tatting, here is my two shuttle version of the grape edging!
I mentioned in a previous post that I thought this would look nice in white so I tested that and here it is.

I do like this, but unfortunately the grape leaves seem to get lost in the clusters.

Anyhow, I will try to make these patterns available in book form and/or in my Etsy shop in the future. I have been having so much fun designing patterns and I am trying to ride the creative wave as long as I can, but it's devouring all my time. Unfortunately, my pottery has been suffering and pottery is what puts the "butter on the bread" in my house. So I need to re-prioritize a bit.
Awww, who am I kidding? If I cut out a few more hours of sleep I think I can fit it all in...

Almost forgot... I had the privilege of doing this custom shuttle for a client. Doesn't this little sweetheart just make your heart melt? This shuttle will be a father's day gift to the grandfather of the little girl pictured.

5 shuttle tatting

Are you sick of grapes yet? Just when I thought I was done with this edging design that has been plaguing me for days I was struck by an intriguing idea. At first I thought I was crazy to even consider such a thing but uncontrollable forces urged me foward.
This was my inpiration:

It is a photo of my kitchen where I have these really cool alternating grape lights. So my goal was to make alternating grape colors on the edging design without a lot of fuss. I wanted it to be a continuous tat.
Voila! After much deliberation and a little frustration I am now enjoying the fruits of my labor....Pun intended!
This blog post is my 50th post. Whoo hoo! This is a pretty big deal considering how ADD I am.
And now that I know I can successfully tat with 5 shuttles at a time I have tons of other design ideas rolling around in my head.

Goodness Grapecious!!

Two posts in one day and my very first edging design! When I get fixated on an idea I can't let it go until I have a satisfactory conclusion. This idea was rolling around in my head for nearly four days. I am very pleased with this edging. I generally don't go in for edgings and doily's and such.
But this is a design I can't wait to use in my own kitchen (which happens to be, what I like to call, my "Italian Bistro").
I am going to have a bugger of a time writing this pattern as I don't know the term (or even if there is one) for the method I used, and I certainly don't know how to transcribe it. Perhaps one of you tatting guru's out there can assist me.
Now that this is done I can get back to doing some pottery.

Necessity is the mother of invention

More 3 shuttle tatting:
So I really wanted to figure out how I could continue this motif indefinately into an edging with no cuts. I mulled over it for an entire day and a half and came up with this. Of course I had to make it extra hard on myself by using size 80 thread. This motif is tiny. I am re-working it today with size 20 and tweaking the design here and there. This is a tricky little thing...mind you I am not claiming that I invented a new method or anything, I am sure someone knows what the heck I am doing....but I sure don't know what to call it.
More to come later.

A Bunch of Grapes

It's been really HOT for about a week and the heat is making me hungry for cool fruits. So I decided to tat me up a bunch of grapes. I think I will play around with this design a bit more. Don't they look tasty?
***You've just had a small glimpse into the weird way my mind works.***