Round 5 Completed

Finished round 5 of Renulek's Spring 2016 Doily.  Going to be really pretty.  Round 9 came out today so I need to catch up!

Round 4 - done

Finished round 4 of Renulek's Spring 2016 Doily. Not sure about the center where the rings overlap but I don't think it takes away from the pattern any. It's going to be pretty like all her patterns.

Heel and Toe

I love Mary Konior patterns.  Here's an edging I started as a "take along" project to keep in my bag for Emergency Tatting.  It's Mary's "Heel and Toe Edging" pattern from A Pattern Book of Tatting.  It's pretty easy to tat and looks nice.  Having fun with it!

A Regal Dragon

Let's call this Motif #1 for the 25 Motif Challenge.  Martha Ess' Regal Dragon from her book Flights of Fantasy, tatted in Lizbeth No. 20.  This was so fun to tat!  I have also made the Chinese Dragon from same book and will post after I block it.

Renulek's Spring 2016 Doily

Been tatting a lot.  Need to take photos of all my finished projects and post on here but for now, here are rounds 1, 2, and 3 of Renulek's Spring 2016 Doily.  I'm also working on what I think is her Spring 2014 Doily and am almost finished with that one (on the last round).  Will post pictures of that another time.

For now, here are some (not that great, sorry) photos of what I have done as of today on the 2016 Doily.  I'm tatting it in Lizbeth thread, size 20, color 709 "Dark River Blue".

Round 1 (Please excuse the cruddy pics.)

Round 2

Round 3 (And another cruddy pic.  The color is closer to the round 2 picture.)

And the pretty shuttles from Shuttles by Design that I'm using for this project.  They're lightweight and feel great in my hand, and hold about 50% more than a bobbin shuttle.  I usually like to use shuttles with a hook so I don't need to keep a crochet hook close by while working, but these are worth it.  They do have a very loud CLICK sound while winding but I don't mind that a bit.   In fact, I ordered two more today that I'll take photos of when I get them next week.

Starting another 25 Motif Challenge with three more Gems

I finished my first 25 Motif Challenge, and am going to do it again because it was fun.  So, here are three more from Jon's Elegant Tatted Gems. (Incidentally, I only have one more to finish to have completed all of them in the book.  Woop!)

#1 - Kencana 

Lizbeth No. 20, Color 688, Seagreen Dark.  Finished 8/2/13.

#2 - Mustika

Flora No. 20, Color 60.  (This thread is discontinued and I couldn't find the name of this color anywhere. It could also use some more blocking--kinda looks like a star fish!) Finished 9/1/13.

#3 - Delima  

Lizbeth No. 20, Color 628, Salmon Medium.  Finished 10/21/13.

Lucky Clover

I'm making the Lucky Clover doily from Tatting Pattern's and Designs, by Blomqvist and Persson, using Cebelia No. 20, color 745, "Banana Yellow". (I have this book and several others on my Nook, which I adore!)

I love the way this pattern looks.  I like that there are no picots, other than those used for joining.  In this pattern, it's perfect.

I modified it a bit, and am now having an issue (of course). It calls for 8 repeats in the first round, but when I finished 8 it wasn't large enough to join to the beginning, so I did 10 repeats instead.  I guess I must have tatted too tightly.  Anyway, I don't have a picture right now but I've finished the second round and had too many repeats of that so now it's curly.  I haven't blocked it yet because it made me mad so I set it aside, and maybe blocking will help this problem. That's what I get for not following the pattern as written.  Grr.

Am also including more pictures of the pretty shuttle I'm using for Lucky.  I bought it on Ebay I believe, included in a lot of shuttles someone else found at auction.  They're all handmade wooden shuttles, and there's one I'm going to use to try tatting with yarn.  This one holds a lot of thread, and although one end has a large opening, the other holds the thread in place if I have to dangle it to get rid of twist.   It's large, but I got used to it fairly quickly.

Not sure about the wood.  Oak?