Tat's Heaven

After awhile I always come back to Martha Ess's Canopy Bookmark especially if I am winding two threads together as I love the way the long picots show up the different strands.  This was so difficult to photograph as I was trying to get some natural light to show up the colours. I think it is time to get back to some one strand thread tatting as this method was beginning to get a bit of a challenge when I got into a tangle after starting another project!  

Not only have I been clearing out and tidying stuff at home I have also been tackling a huge store room in the church which also contains a lot of craft stuff.  Some of it has been left over from previous children's activities, which have now come to an end.  In the find were these threads, I wound them together with cotton threads in my stash and made snowflakes. The snowflakes are from Lene Bjorn's book.  The top one is The sixth Day of December and the bottom one is The tenth Day of December.  I am now experimenting with more colours and different thicknesses of cotton thread. Sadly you can't see the sparkle on them very well. 

The tidying is still continuing but it is going to be a long time before I see any benefits from the exercise.  The reason being is because I am actually taking storage space away to allow for a sofa-bed to be put in the room, so big decisions are being made with certain items. Although so far no tatting thread has suffered whilst this project is being carried on! I made this watering can, another of Jane's patterns. I wound together some 80 white and 80 black and white, so it looks like a weathered galvanised watering can.  Hoping to make a few of these to put on cards.

My New Year Resolution is going well so far, I am having a massive clear out and being quite ruthless and throwing lots of things way.  Mainly stuff that I have kept because "it will come in useful one day" and of course it never has, and probably never will!  Amongst my finds were some blank cards, some I have thrown away, because they looked a bit grubby, but the rest I am adding tatting to so that they can be transformed into greeting cards. The only tatting which I had to do for this card is the wheelbarrow which can be found here on Jane's pattern site along with the butterfly and the slug. All other bits were found in my stash.