Tat's Heaven

For those of you who live outside of the UK perhaps you are unaware of how the ‘Rainbow’ has become a symbol of thanks to those working in the National Health Service (NHS) especially during the outbreak of Covid-19.  Over the last five weeks children and adults have made their own rainbow pictures out of a variety of materials and  put them in the windows of homes and business.  We are truly grateful to all health professionals and to those people who have been looking after residents in care homes and others who have kept essential services running during the pandemic.    These are my rainbows to wear! With the bottom set I used Lizbeth 20 thread Rainbow Splash the colour way my sister Jane Eborall thought of and it is just right with random beads for these earrings. The top set were rather a fiddle counting the colours on to the thread and shuttle in the exact order. The pattern can be found here   it is very old.    I remember seeing it ...

Thank you to those who commented on my last post and welcomed me back, so unexpected and lovely, I really must try and keep up my posts on this bog. Before Easter I made some tatted crosses which I gave away, all but one. It was during the first few weeks of lockdown. My gifts, mostly posted, took the place of a face to face contact. I then made some more but have not, as yet, put  tails on them so they can be used as a bookmarks.  Thank you to  http://tattingbythebay.blogspot.com/p/free-patterns.html   for the pattern, it is simple but very elegant. I used number 80 and 100 thread together and enjoy seeing the different colour combinations that these threads seem to produce. 

I have not posted anything for a long time on this blog, mainly because I got out of the routine and then suddenly all other routines in life went when the pandemic struck.  So I found these earrings which I made using the thread from Singapore. I have done other tatting but have lost some of the items in the past week or two since tidying up!

This month the pop-a-bobbin shuttle is celebrating its ten year anniversary. The design is far more streamlined than the original version and most shuttles are oiled instead of varnished. Also the hooks are now bought from Japan and then cut to size.  Production of the shuttles does not happen that often, mainly due to other commitments going on in our lives. We still get lots of enquiries and try to honour most within a span of three months. The prices have also remained static and so we are going to have to raise them next month, not only to reflect the rising cost of materials but also the new packaging. Instead of putting the shuttles into plastic bags, we have decided to use a cardboard box so reducing materials that cannot be recycled.  However, I think you will agree the packaging looks far more professional and enhances the workmanship.

I can never remember ever owning a rag doll but have always thought they were rather fun with their floppy limbs and big round face. Martha Ess designed this little beauty and it is such a clever pattern. I framed it straight away, no idea why as have no where to put it as yet, just did not want it thrown in a drawer and forgotten about. I have named her Betty Brexit on the day Britain leaves the European Union, something I find so sad as I for one felt we were ‘better together’,  oh well life moves on.

My son in Singapore kindly went to China Town to pick up these shiny threads, and then posted them over to me, they are very similar to the Lizbeth ones, but feel slightly softer.  On my usual charity shop rounds I found two Aero England post shuttles that just had to come home with me. They look to have been well used and I would have loved to know who originally owned them, but that is information lost in the mists of time. There is rather a gap on the tips of one of them, but they will just go into my collection and have a long and happy retirement. 

I have so much praise for tatting pattern designers as there is so much skill in getting the finished design not only looking good, but also writing it down in a format that is understandable. Personally only had a few attempts at pattern designing and the whole process drove me crazy! Martha Ess’s book Toys for Tatting is a real gem, and I highly recommend you buy it. I pick it up now and then and tat something from it. I had to do these ‘dump trucks’ in England we say ‘dumper‘ and just loved the way Martha takes you into a tatting adventure weaving in and out of her design. I really did not set out to tat two but started the first one and thought I had gone wrong, fortunately I did not cut the thread, just abandoned and started another. Found out with making a second one that I was doing exactly the same as the original so went back and completed it as well. I have a grandson in Singapore who may like these, I am sure he will recognise them as he loves playing with cars and trucks....