Round Robin, Shuttles and Tatting

Last week I really didn't have anything to say or post but I think I'll make up for it this week LOL The first photo is from the Bible Round Robin with the Christian group I'm in and I just received it this past week so have not yet put any stitching on although I have several ideas and one I will share. You cannot see the Bible verse stitched across the top which comes from Psalm 96:12 and says "Let the fields be jubilant. and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the LORD, for he comes." I wish the photo showed the gorgeous stitching by the others in the group. One of the things I want to add are some clouds in the sky ..... I just love looking at clouds and I think this piece needs a few. Okay, that is all I'll say about this piece now but I'll show you when it is finished.

The idea for the round robin was to illustrate either a favorite verse (or verses) or favorite Bible story. I chose an Old Testament story that the women of our church are studying this year - Jonah and the big fish!
This week brought home my square and it is absolutely gorgeous!!!!! Kim added the gold and aqua fish, the featherstitch seaweed, the sand dollar charm and the blanketstitch blue flower seam treatment. In the upper right corner Sonia added some shells that were brought to her from Hawaii and added her twist to some of the traditional stitches. Jill added some fish, fiber seaweed, lots of beads for shells as well as some beaded SRE plants. Lindy, in Australia, added a nice "big" crocheted fish in the center and some starfish, beads and lace for plants. Now when I sent it out I sent it out nekkid so I want to add a few touches of my own. Under my square is a seashell necklace that was given to me several years ago and I will take it apart to put some of those shells on my square. I will then mat and frame it to hang at home AFTER first taking it and sharing it with the womens circles at church.

Oops! I left out the photo of the Season to Season Spring Swap block I'm working on ..... well, that's okay since I haven't finished my half. Will show that another time LOL

On the HBT group I'm working on 25 motifs to be tatted in a years time and at the same time I'm trying new threads. You know how for certain techniques you have certain threads you prefer to use. Well, this bookmark (motif #12) is a pattern I usually use for my beginners as an easy project so I decided it would be an easy project for a new thread I had ordered. The thread is a hand-dyed #20 cotton and was purchased from Yarnplayer Arts (yarnplayer.etsy.com) one of the members of the HBT group. It is a wonderful yarn to tat with and I'm also going to do some embroidery with it as well. I must tell you I have two new tatting students. One of them is 11 years old, a home schooled student, who is using tatting as part of her art class. Her grandmother is learning right along with her. They are really excited about learning.

This is another of my 25 motif pieces. It is #13 and my attempt at tatting a "cloud" to use on the nature round robin I showed at the beginning of this post. I need to modify the design just a little and make a couple more clouds. I'm using a size 50 thread as I didn't want anything too heavy nor too light.

I just received a couple of new tatting books and in the first one I saw this pattern called "crooked mile" and right away I thought it too would make some good clouds for the round robin. It is a very easy beginner piece using only one shuttle ... you just have to watch how you space the rings LOL

One of the recent topics on the HBT list talked about tatting hankie edgings so I thought I'd show one I did quite a few years ago. The thread used is a #70 tatting cotton in shaded greens .... if I had participated in the CQ4Newbies green color study rr I could have used some of this thread there but alas I didn't want to spread myself too thin as I am currently in two rr's although the Bible one is finishing up. This is one of those linen hankies that has the holes around the edge to attach edgings so I just tatted around the edge without having to sew on the edging.

Here are a couple of older pieces .... a tiny doily and a collar. The thread for these is a #30 DMC. Believe it or not the collar is a combination of techniques. The center of the collar is crocheted with tatting on both the inside and outside edges.


Two views of a rare three sided antique tatting shuttle. The top photo shows the side view wherein the bobbin, which is shaped like a sewing thread spool and is inserted in a case much like a sewing machine case for a bobbin. In other words you can only see a portion of the bobbin. Looking at the top you can read the name of this shuttle - "Detach-A-Bobbin" PAT. APPLD. FOR

Here are a few of the shuttles I tat with as well as some I use for demonstration. The three red shuttles at the bottom are Boye and the first ones I bought .... I don't use them unless I have to. The blue shuttle is a TATSY and I use it to demonstrate when I have a large class. I use a #3 perle cotton on that shuttle so my students can see how to make the stitch. I still haven't found all my shuttles as I have another that goes with the three colored shuttles. I also have three more of the cream Clover shuttles and between the Clover and Boye is a tortoise Clover and I've misplaced the mate to that one. To the left of the TATSY are two special shuttles. The one on top is antique and made of bone. Just below that one is a brand new Cluny tatting shuttle. I haven't tried Cluny tatting yet but hope to sometime this year. As to the shuttles on the white background - well, the small one is black plastic with white plastic on the inside and is supposed to come from France and with its own tiny crochet hook. When I bought it from the antique dealer he said the hook was not with the shuttle when he purchased it along with several others from an estate. The next black shuttle which is wound with #3 perle cotton came in a tatting kit. About 15 years ago one of my sisters-in-law had purchased a tatting kit hoping her mother would tat the 3 dimensional snowflake patterns for her. Well, the kit came to me instead and my sister-in-law said I could have the shuttle if I would tat each of her three children one of the 3 dimensional snowflakes. I was glad to get another shuttle for my collection and I had enough thread in the kit to tat three of each of the three patterns ..... I got all the other snowflakes as well as the shuttle LOL The last wooden shuttle is known as a Lael Morgan Shuttle and is made similar to a weaving shuttle. It, too, came in a kit that was given to me. Oh, the ball of thread is attached to the bright pink shuttle for a "continuous tatting" piece I'm about to start (sometime this year LOL).