A couple
of years ago, my 'Blue Ribbon' doily didn't live up to its name and
came third at the Castle Hill Show. This year, the 'Blue and White Square'
doily has made it to the top and came first. The doily is now sitting on a round
table next to my rocking chair where I sit on when having a
quiet time to myself. As for the bookmarks, one came second and one received a highly commended tag. I took photo of all prize-winning
tatted pieces for the next newsletter of Tatters' Guild, NSW Branch, due out at the end
of this month. So, here are the pictures of my winning pieces. The
variegated red bookmark is on its way to Russia. Are you reading this,
Boris? It's for you. Cheers.
I really like the purple and teal square doily pattern by Debbie Arnold and would like to make one for myself. It would have taken me a long time to accomplish the task if I didn't have a deadline to work against. So, the deadline for entries to the Castle Hill Show this year comes in handy. I picked blue and white colours for my version of the doily. After 10 hours into tatting the doily, using cotton size 50, I broke a couple of tatted stitches while sewing in the tails. Now, what did I want to do....give up or start again? I would have felt some kind of failure to give up, so have decided to have another go. This time, cotton size 20 was chosen so that I could actually see what I was doing and I could appreciate the stitches better. Rainy days and being sick with flu helped me to sit still longer at one time. A few long sessions of sitting down and a total of 50 more hours later, I have managed to finish the doily. It will be on its way to the Show this week. There was 'trying time' in the process, with having to unpick a few rings and chains when I wasn't fully alert and didn't read the pattern carefully. If some people think unpicking sewing stitches is hard, try unpicking tatted stitches. The former one would seem 'easy peasy lemon squeezy', as my Sunshine often says. :-) I'm, of course,
pleased with the doily. I have also felt that I have had a good share of
tatting split rings for quite some time, from now. So, I will just stick
with tatting rings and chains for my next tatting project....But before embarking on another tatting project, my next immediate task is to find a place for this newly finished doily in my 'spacious' home.!!
With all the intention to keep up with tatting, my tatting 'purse' travelled with me to places. But, for reasons, at the end of the day, doing some tatting was the last thing on my mind, apart from the fact that I could hardly keep my eyes open by the time I went to bed.!! Having been to the Tatters' Guild of Australia, NSW Branch, monthly meeting and Christmas party last Saturday 17th December, and have become the Guild newsletter editor reminded me that I hadn't done any tatting since April....I have planned to 'play' with the long arm quilting machine during the end of the year break. Unfortunately, I injured my right knee at the start of the holiday. Not being able to move around much or (machine) sew up a quilt top for quilting, I have picked my tatting shuttles again and finished this tatted edge doily (and of course, it's in shades of blue). I made a similar doily once before, in different colours, for my dear friend, Marijke. The variegated cotton thread and hemmed cotton doily were from Handy Hands Tatting.... I live in a relatively big house but I can't seem to easily find a spot to place my handwork, where I can, now and then, look at and admire it. Putting one doily on top of the other gives a different perspective to the pieces. Until I can find 'good' places for both of them, they are staying together for now.!!
I'm practicing 'being practical'.!!... Last Sunday, 3rd April, I volunteered to be a demonstrator for tatting at the Castle Hill Show. I thought to myself '...Right, I will get the doily that I have promised to make for a vase on Marijke's dinning table finished'. While working on the piece, I was also using it as an example to demonstrate tatting. To be sitting down tatting all day long, I couldn't not finish it.!! So, here is the finished doily for my dear friend, Marijke's vase. it's now packed away with other things that I will take with me on the trip to Europe next month.
Life seems to be rushing me along....Trying to get away on time, remembering to take tablets for the persistive headache and all the tatting tools I needed, and of course, forgetting about the daylight saving, I made it to the Castle Hill Show an hour early last Sunday, 3rd April. It took me a while to work out the fact after thinking about when I left home (9am) and got to the Show (8.50am), and I was glad to realise that I wasn't mad.!! I was at the Show as a tatting demonstrator for the day and was quite busy all day. During the day, I was asked to help with taking photos of the tatted pieces for the NSW Tatters' Guild newsletter... There was a rush of mixed feelings when I saw my name next to the pieces with the prizes. I couldn't say that I wasn't pleased with the outcome. :-)
I thought many of the NSW Tatters' Guild members would be entering their tatted pieces to the 125th Castle Hill Show
in April this year. But I was wrong.!! As a member, I haven't been
contributing much to the Guild mostly because of my commitments to
both work and home.
So, I have decided to take this opportunity to contribute and have
been madly tatting up a storm in my spared time during the past
week. I needed to hand the tatted pieces to the Guild's Show
Director this afternoon, so have finished the sixth piece this
morning and I'm tatted 'out'.!! In total, I have tatted 3 small
doilies and 3 bookmarks. I have mixed and matched the designs to
make them my own and have given each piece a name to make it easy to
refer to. In the process, I have found myself enjoying tatting with
beads. They add dimensions to the pieces, I think. I'm now getting
on with my quilt and hope to finish it in time to enter to the Sydney Quilt Show.
The Show is in June but the closing date for entries is in 2 weeks
(11th March 2011), the day before I fly to Seattle, WA, for GHME 2011 Conference.
My toes are tightly crossed, my fingers are very busy sewing, my
brain is sorting through the tasks to be done for work, and I'm loving
it all.
In March this year, I ventured into the open category and this piece came third at 2010 Castle Hill Show, Sydney. The doily didn't live up to its name but I was still quite pleased with the result. The pattern was originally designed by Florence Anthony. I have added some beads to the centre of each motif to make the piece a bit more unique to my taste. During the process of making this doily, I have discovered that I like to tat with beads.
I started to learn how to tat properly in April 2008 at the NSW Tatters' Guild. Clare Banks was my first teacher. Shirley Reynolds was one another fellow student of Clare who started to learn to tat on the same day as me. I have become a member of the Guild since then. At the Guild's monthly meeting on the first Saturday of the month at Dence Park, Epping (Sydney), I have met and become good friend with a number of lovely ladies. They share their wealth of knowledge and experience with me. I have learnt and still am learning a lot from them. I won the first prize in the beginner category for the piece shown at 2009 Castle Hill Show, Sydney, in March. It's the first time that I entered the competition, so I was quite pleased with the outcome. The pattern of this doily is from "Needle Tatting from the Heart by Tina Neudorf, Edited by Barbara Foster, Handy Hands, Inc'.
