A new year

Happy New Year to all. I haven't blogged in a long time, but the tatting never stops, especially those last couple of months before Christmas. This year I did a few Christmas bulbs like last year and lots of snowflakes, because I finally ordered Jon's books and had to try all those beautiful patterns. Thought you would like to see the picture I took for my Holiday greeting cards.

Made in America

American shuttle makers shown:

Jimmy Allison,    Jack Coen,

Kermit Molde,   Georgia Seitz,

Diana Andra,                                                 Randy Houtz,

Dennis Hand,    Chris Hinton,

Karen Bovard,    Sherry Pence.

Snowflake patterns by Jon Yusoff

Special offer

To jump start orders for the second printing I am offering free shipping to the first 20 U.S. orders I receive to my email inbox, tatkrazy@gmail.com .

Sorry I can't offer this to international buyers.

Diane, your the number one, thanks!

Second printing

Hi All,

It's been a long time since I've been on the blog and a lot of things have changed in my life mostly taking care of my mom. It's a full time job on top of a full time job, but I'm making lemonade.

I just wanted to announce the second printing of my book is now available. You can email me directly at tatkrazy@gmail.com to order by check or Paypal. Same price $25.95 plus shipping. 

Heidi

December sure came and went quickly.  My side of the family took a 7-day mexico trip. Mostly because my mom (86) wanted to go. We all had a great time with nice weather. Destinations were Puerta Vallarta, Maztaland, and Cabo San Lucas. I think I liked Puerta Vallarta best. Won't mind renting a house down there for a week, just to lay around on the beach.

I did get a little tatting done for Christmas but not as much as I usually do.

Happy New Year to all. Heidi

Here's another Christmas bulb like the last.


This time I added beads between the rings. Personally when your trying to make as many as possible, I'm not sure it's worth the time.



I was pulling out my Christmas decorations today and came across the bulb I was making last year.

I definitely like this one better, more bling. I think I may make a few this year if I find the time. Guess I need to make another trip to the bead store.

Christmas tatting

This is always a busy tatting season and I always swear I'm going to start my Christmas tatting earlier, but as usual I'm getting a late start again this year. And what's best when you start late....keeping it simple.

This is one of my easy projects. Dollar store bulbs with hen, chicks and beads. Sorry for the poor quality photo, but I know you'll get the basic idea.

This is a small bulb. I've adjusted the hen and chicks pattern to cup a bit to fit the bulb. Pattern is 4-2-2-4, 4-4, 4-2-2-4, 4-4-2-2-4-4, 4-2-2-4, 4-4, 4-2-2-4 (joins not included in pattern).....If you know hen and chicks patterns you can figure it out from there. I did five repeats. Make two motifs and just string beads to hold them together.

Happy Holiday Tatting

This will be my last post for a while on Japan. I'm expecting to receive the photos my host took while I was there in a couple weeks. So I may post a few later this year.
One thing that was unexpected was the gifts the students would bring for me. Many were just small thoughtful things Japanese towels or bookmarks. Then others were so generous I wish I had brought more to share with them. This card with matching painted shuttle is one of the things that I wished I had asked where it came from. Notice the shuttle looks like a clover but isn't marked.  I didn't even notice it until my friend Gwen pointed it out.


The bag of Clover shuttles was given to me by the representative that came by to see my display in Kyoto. I hadn't had a chance to purchase the new colors yet, so this was a wonderful surprise.

I was also surprised at the amount of shuttles that are hand painted here. This one is wood. I need to learn how to do this. It sure makes for a beautiful shuttle.









This lovely little doily is about four inches wide.
I always enjoy seeing familiar patterns, like this heart one by Georgia Seitz that was given to me with a shuttle and variegated thread.

These two rings are wrapped with thread. I don't know what this art is called, but would like to know if anyone out there can tell me. It was given to me by a tatter in Nagoya. She said it was something her grandmother and mother taught her.








This little strap is something I'd like to find more of. It's a close up of the ones used on the purses in my Tokyo workshop. I wonder if the local craft stores have these little suspender type clips?

The flower below looks small but is really about 5 inches across. I was given to me by Taek Takashima, the daughter of Toshiko Takashima. This is made with a cord by Japanese needle tatting method.

These last shuttles were given to me by various tatters and are commonly used by the tatters in Japan. Who paints them is something I never did find out. But you can't help but love 'em.