Put this post up then checked and realized none of the links I made worked! I had just hand pasted them into the code and they all disappeared when I published eeeuuw. So I went back and then noticed the link icon, edited and reposted - This version works YEA.

Found my tatting notebooks this morning in the 5th box unearthed from my closet! Now if I can just find my shuttles and thread I'll be on my way.

I'm really inspired by all the motifs for the 25 motif challenge: Wally's beaded motif - it's beautiful, and also Ruth's Celtic motifs -Wow is she fast! Then there's Gail's TAT artisan celtic motif and also her beaded motif from Wally's tat along pattern (see Wally's blog at http://tat-along.blogspot.com/ ) and Cyamese Tats' gorgeous motif. I see Werner also has a motif for the tat along that combines crochet & tatting- I like this idea of combining two techniques. I can see I need to get going fast since I now also want to work on a version of the tat along pattern too. I've got to try a combination of tatting with needle lace in the center of the motif!

All of this will be a huge challence for me since next Thursday we leave to take our 10 year old grandson back home to California. A very quick 5 day trip since and then the day after we get back, I'll need to go back to work. I plan to tat my whole way there and back and hopefully get lot's of motifs done for the 25 motif challenge. Then I'll need to get going on my tatting website to make my deadline.

Here's two more of my starting paisley pieces:

I think the challenge with this piece on the left will be to work it down to 1 or 2 continuous rounds so it qualifies as a "motif" and is easier to tat.

And this last one below right really needs help -better shaping cause it looks awfully blobby shaped now!

Happy tatted threads to you all,

This is a first for me - I've never had a blog until today!


I'm taking up the 25 motif challenge as my entry back into the world of tatting after a looong time away! After publishing a book "A Potpourri of Tatted Patterns" back in 1995 thru the late '90's, I pursued other interests until now. Some of you may remember me by one of the patterns in the book-- Heart's Desire at left, which was used by Georgia's online tatting class in the late 90's or early 2000's (?).

Back to the challenge! I am digging out all the designs I was working on back then and will work on the paisley motifs I had started for the book I had planned to do next - "Paisley Pizazz". My challenge motifs will become this book. I have sketches for all kinds of designs to make out of these motifs including, flowers & butterflies of course as well as angels and more.
Here's where I'm starting from:

Heart's Desire Paisley obviously
adapted from my Heart's Desire!


And since I can't seem to get another picture to go into this blog, I'll put the next two paisleys pictures into my next blog.


As well as the 25 motif challenge, I've also planned a few personal challenges
for myself.

1. I am going to reprint my first book. I could never decide if I should just reprint it as is, or redo it first. My originals for this are printed out pages of the text onto which I've glued the finished designs. I take these and place each page individually on the copy machine, then collate, staple and fold them myself. These originals have now gotten battered & are only good for 1 or 2 more reprints and also they were done before I had even heard of a scanner. In fact I had just been exposed to a computer & taught the basics in order to produce the text for the book. So the book is black and white, many of the images are not so good and I thought maybe I should reorganize it to go along with all my teaching lectures, handouts and notes.

Sooo.....what do I do? I attended the lace convention in Denver last year and a couple of tatters who have my book like it and thought I should just get it out the way it is and go on. I'd love any of your thoughts and opinions - what would you do? Should it be redone with color like so many other books?

2. Get a tatting website up and running by the first part of Sept. Probably a bare bones site at first cause waiting until it the way I want it could take forever.

3. I've joined the online tatting class which starts in Sept. and will be contributing a lesson.

4. Way back in the 90's I had also been working on patterns for a "By the Sea" book. Although for a while after I saw that some other designers had done seahorses, I thought maybe I should forget these. But mine are done differently so I'm going to finish them as well as some shell designs!

5. Finish many of the rest of my partially finished designs - cactus, more snowflakes and hearts, and odds and ends of others.

Now, if I can only find all my tatting notebooks with my sketches and project pieces (we just moved last month and there're in a box I haven't found yet) I'll get started. I guess that's enough for now and I'm sure glad the 25 motif challenge is a year long!!!