An Adventure in Learning to Tat

My mom says I inherited my "craftiness" from my grandmother. She always had some project or another underway.

I vaguely remember her having tatting shuttles in her apron pockets.  I was too young when she passed so I didn't get a chance to learn from her, and until recently, I've never attempted to learn. But one Saturday out of nowhere I got the bug and sat down with a pair of shuttles and a dozen youtube videos. Ultimately, I think the lure of new "tools" and learning something new was just too strong to resist.

I have to say it is pretty frustrating.  I've gone through at least three full shuttles of thread and still don't have anything useful to show for it.  I've torn out countless double stitiches and have come close to what my son calls a "rage fit".  Oh wait. Actually, I think I may haves given into one of those fits, but shhhhh don't tell him.

All that being said....I think I've got it!  I still have to count and recount my stitches carefully and triple check to see if I remembered to add that 3rd picot the pattern called for.  But I am starting to FLY with that shuttle.  I've got the rhythm down. I'm very close to the point where I will have something to lay out in front of people and say see what I did.  

I've seen web articles that call tatting a lost art.  I am beginning to have delusions of bringing tatting back into vogue and starting a resurgence similar to what's happening in the knitting world.   But I have to say, I don't believe it's a lost art for a minute.  I've found a sweet little community of tatters on the web who share tips, patterns and their love for the art.  Also, I am amazed at the prices vintage shuttles are garnering on ebay.   I've seen an original Mdlle Reigo de la Branchardiere c.1850 tatting book from france sell for $500.00!  I've sourced a few woodworkers who are producing the most beautiful shuttles in the world.  

Nope.  Tatting isn't a lost art; there are a lot of passionate tatters out there.  I have recently joined their ranks. Well, at least at the beginner level.

You'll be seeing more posts about my new obsession.  Keep calm and tat on!

Lovin' my Cameo Silhouette!

My latest Silhouette Projects

A birthday present for my brother whose nickname is Bakka.  

I got these mugs at the Dollar Store, cut the stencil on my silhouette and used Armor Etch cream.

A more formal Richard mug for my brother.

A heat transfer t-shirt for my Son.  Make sure you read the fine print :-)

A special t-shirt for my little nephew Calvin who loves dinosaurs.

Garage Sale Chronicles #6

I stopped by a small strip mall shop where they bring estate items in for sale and found some really sweet items.

Beautiful enameled salt and pepper shakers.  They are marked Norwegian Sterling on the tops. 

These are going to look great when I fill them with glitter in my studio.

Check out these great orange sparkle cat-eye mini glasses.  

They are a bit too big for Barbie.  Wonder what the story was on these?  I love them.

The total stash.

Oh sparkly, sparkly!

I love estate sales.

Elastic Cord Holders

I travel for work and I am always misplacing the wires I use to control the cable and cord mess.  I found this idea on Pinterest.com and made up a half dozen.  Let's see how long I keep these!

It is a 6 inch elastic piece folded in half with a ribbon sewn on to cover the end.  I sewed a 1 inch seam in to hold the cable ends.

I found a cool new free app to share called Tagxedo.  It is a word cloud application.  This one lets you import any image and you can add the words manually or have it generate the text from a URL.  I used this site to make the one above.

The app lets you choose to auto generate the image and you can auto regenerate by pushing a button.  Or, you can select word orientation, color schemes, fonts, etc.  I had to screen capture the image though, but there is probably a way to save.

I think these make great cards or framed for special events like weddings, birthdays, or even baptisms as above would make great gifts.

Hope you have as much fun as I did playing with Tagxedo.