A fine day in May

 Tatting in progress on this day included small flowers made of "Josephine Rings" and stems using the technique of encapsulation. Khomi and Ana were both interested in exploring these ideas for creative, random tatting.

I also worked on simple earrings using Lizbeth thread in the color "Seascape". Personally, I think this color combination is really ugly - but it might work for these earrings. That orange shade seems to be trying really hard to be sand or sailboats :)

Pi Day Tatting

Tatting, chatting, and eating! At the Mayfair Mall food court we helped new tatters practice the basics, and admired the show-and-tell work of the experienced tatters.

Tatted necklace, not yet blocked, made by Sue Anna from a new original design by Marilee Rockley. Hand dyed thread and square opal beads.

Snowflakes tatted by Barbara. I don't remember where she said the patterns were from, but they're all lovely.

Not tatting, but beautifully handmade bracelet of beads and wire, original design by Ana.

They found us

Funny how tatting in public seems to attract attention! I hadn't been at the food court long, and Ana and I were just getting out tatting supplies, when I was approached by a mall security guard who asked, "Is this the tatting group?" I have to admit that I had a momentary flashback to my first encounter with "tatting police" ☺at Tollway Tatters in 2014 :)

The friendly security guard was helping 2 people who had asked where the tatting group was! So, they found us :)

I got them started right away with colorful thread, shuttles, a simple demo of how the double stitch works, and they started practicing. Khomi joined us for a while, too, so there were 5 of us tatting at this meeting!

Each of the new tatters did very well in their first attempts. One progressed to the point where she had successfully "flipped" several stitches in her first practice chain. The other got as far as tatting a ring! Both seemed happy that they had found a tatting group, and plan to come again.

Then, Khomi, Ana, and I started studying the flower motifs shown in the book, "Tatting - Artistry in Thread" by Helma Siepmann. We practiced Josephine rings and encapsulation techniques. Perhaps next month we'll have some finished flowers!

December meeting

That's Ana waving to you in the photo above! 
She's wearing her close-up glasses set consisting of her regular classes plus a pair of reading glasses, which give her several levels of magnification.

She was tatting earrings while I worked on a peace dove in white size 20 thread with size 11/0 seed beads. Pattern by Jane Eborall. I didn't finish it at the meeting, but below I've posted a picture of my finished dove.

I also brought along some metallic embroidery floss to show, and we discussed how it might work for tatting a teeny tiny shiny "aluminum" Christmas tree...maybe painted pink :)
Well, I love a challenge! My finished tree is shown below, from my own pattern "Layered Ring Christmas Tree" with added fringe "tinsel effect" using Corina Meyfeldt's fringe technique.

Handmade shuttles, cluny looms

 So much creativity in this group! Heather showed her beaded Christmas decorations. Barbara displayed some lovely handmade wooden shuttles from her collection, and then began tatting a maple leaf pattern by Tammy M. Rodgers.

 Sue Anna provided each of us with a plastic canvas "star" and showed us how to make it into a cluny loom. For the instructions at Georgia Seitz's Online Tatting Class: click here.

Sue Anna also showed her new loom for weaving dishcloths with selvages on all 4 sides. Without her demo, I would never have been able to understand how it could be done!

 .Ana brought her tatting supplies to the meeting in a beautiful new container. She worked on tatted earrings, and was wearing a beaded necklace that she had made featuring a lizard design; I think she said it was a gecko.

Our activity attracted the attention of a passerby who stopped to ask many questions and admire the work in progress.

Oh, and yes, we had Snickers bars and Barbara brought Brownie Brittle. Good times!

September meeting

Khomi tatted a star motif at our guild meeting.

Here's the star all done except for hiding the ends and blocking. The pattern is one of mine, and available as a free download: click here.

I worked on this Daisy Picot "Key" motif at the meeting. The pattern is part of my new online class on Craftsy, Next Steps In Shuttle Tatting. Click my affiliate link here to see the class preview, and an offer of 50% off.

Ana finished tatting the earrings that she was working on, and in doing so learned the valuable skills of adding a new thread and opening a closed ring! 

August meeting photos

Khomi admiring the "froggers" that Barbara decorated.
Barbara has definitely mastered split ring tatting!

A "frogger" is a needle used to undo mistakes..."rip it, rip it"! 

Sue Anna modeling a headband knit in a traditional arctic pattern made of qiviut yarn (from musk ox), a fiber 8 times warmer than wool.  

Qiviut yarn and a sensuously soft hand knit scarf from Alaska.

Sue Anna winding hand dyed thread onto a storage bobbin. Holding the skein open by putting it around a water bottle and the corner of the table is a clever way to keep the thread untangled!

Close-up of this effective winding method!

July meeting notes

There were 5 of us at the meeting, and we were having so much fun that I forgot to take pictures!
But, here's a photo of a book that we were looking at, "Viktorianisches Occhi" by Julia Haug. The book is written in German, with clear photos and new diagrams of patterns selected from the works of Mademoiselle Riego, first published in the years 1850 to 1886. Patterns include edgings, doilies, and collars, with several designs using Maltese rings and pearl tatting.

Khomi was working on a tatted star, one of my own free patterns:
Here's the link to the PDF 2-Way Star.