Updates

I've finally got caught up with myself again! I was frantically trying to finish 3 butterflies for the intatters butterfly exchange - the piccies will have to wait as as yet the recipients haven't received theirs.......so watch this space! And also my DS has just finished P4 so I had 2 gifts to make for his 2 teachers.

First I tatted some earrings based on this post from Krystle and Jane's post here. Thread is Lizbeth Jelly Bean.




And then I did one of Karey's snowflakes (fish tales) from her book "Let it Snow". Thread is Lizbeth Caribbean



I am SO annoyed - before I started on the exchange butterflies I was working on my own butterfly design but quickly realised that it was far too complex to be made in time for the exchange (loads of clunies and other things)- so I put it down and did ones for my three exchange partners. Now, I've finished I thought I'd go back to my butterfly - can I find my drawing? NO! And boy am I p****d! I was really happy with it (the first time this has ever happened with my own design) and thought that maybe I could even go so far as to publish this one! I have the actual tatting that I had started but cannot find the drawing with the actual noted stitch counts on it. I had only done 3/4 of one of the 4 wings when I stopped so cannot even recount as more than a 3/4 of the pattern is just missing!!!!

Anyway on to more pleasant thoughts........look at what I found wandering about with "タティングレース" in google

look at this doily

Isn't that simply stunning!! If you look at the categories section (カテゴリー) on the left and then into "編み物" which incidentially translates as "knitting" you'll find the tatting and see some other stunning pieces.

Optimistic or fantasyland?

I couldn't help but be quite shocked by the following 2 items I've just found on eBay

1) earrings #1 - now at today's rate of exchange €150 is approx. £128 or US$210!!!

2) earrings #2 - and the cherry on top - €180 or approx. £153 or US$253!!!!!!!!!!

Now I realise that what we do is a time consuming, intricate and skilled craft but surely this is just being ridiculous? I personally would expect real gold and precious gem earrings for those prices! Surely there must be a happy medium between "over the top" and unrealistic pricing and so cheap it devalues our craft.

I'll also apologise if I have offended the creator of those earrings but this is purely my personal opinion.

Please voice your opinions as I would really like to know the general consensus about pricing.

A better shot of Jenni's bookmark

I was just about to upload a better picture of the bookmark Jenni sent to me but I found this one that she took herself and I couldn't do better than that so here is the link

Now you can see what I meant about the stunning woven picots!!!


UPDATE: Just realised that you may not be able to see the above if you are not a member of intatters so here it is as well with the relevant info as well.


From: Liyarra
To: Trayna
Pattern: Jen's Woven Picot Bookmark
Designed by: Jen Chioatto
From: Australian Tatters Guild - New South Wales Branch newsletter 2001.
Thread: Manuela variegated 204 - size 20 and white Coats Mercer Crochet - white size 20.

The rest of the bookmark exchange

As I now know that Jenni in Oz has received her bookmarks I'll post the relevant pictures..........


This was adapted from an edging pattern I found on a Russian site (don't have a link handy - to be truly accurate don't even know if it is still active!)


and this was Ellen's butterfly bookmark from Georgia's site (this time as written and not fiddled with by me, LOL!!)

TattingChic's lovely post

I had to chuckle when I read Tatting Chic's post about the goodies I sent her - strickly speaking she is only half right (unknown to her!!!)!! It was "Scottish tatting" as in the fact it was executed in Scotland but if you are adhering closely to the defifition of nationality, it wasn't done by a "true" Scot - I hold dual nationality.

...I'll explain....I am Tasmanian (Australia) by birth and most of my upbringing but born to Aberdonian parents who had emigrated to Tasmania before I arrived. I was always brought up to the fact that I would go to Scotland to finish my education and then go on to a Scottish university so never questioned their reasoning (and I was an only child). My dad thought I was too young to go into boarding school 13000 miles away when I reached 1st year high school level (we are talking about the Australian & UK systems here) at age 11, so it was then decided that I would for my final 2 years of high school at age 16. In retrospect, this was a very good move as my Dad died during my first year in high school. So age 16 I was packed off to boarding school with weekends out with my family here [Mum and Dad's respective families had remained in Scotland - we or I (by myself at age 11!!) had been over on 3 previous occasions for Xmas hol's etc). The plan to be as I previously mentioned until my Mum found out that even though I had only ever held a British passport (got an Australian one later) I would be considered an overseas student at the Universities here and thus, expected to pay overseas fees of thousands of pounds per year. I had such a great time here that I was so upset when Mum told me I was going back to Tassie I hung-up on her!!! To cut a long story short(er) I returned to Tassie got my BSc there but couldn't get a permanent job, so rung my Uncle here a asked about the job situation here - he said great so I came (my Mum had come back to Aberdeen to live after she retired (I was a late child) but had also died very soon afterwards) - I got a job using my degree at the University of Aberdeen very quickly - met my "Scottish-by-birth" but army brat so no-Scottish-accent-either husband and the rest is history..........

As you can imagine though this leaves DS in a house with an "English" sounding father and a weak Australian-tiny-bit-Scottish mother, so needless to say he also doesn't have the local "twang"!! Here I am considered Australian and there I am considered Scottish!! - It's enough to give someone a personality complex, LOL!!

Thank you so much TattingChic & Jane in particular, but all the others as well, for all your lovely comments on their respective blogs - it really is appreciated.

The promised pic's and bookmark exchange

As promised here are all the wonderful goodies that Aileen sent - firstly the tea towel itself.



Then there were packets & packets & packets of beads & sequins & ribbon.


Two wonderful threads.


And candy & chocolate.


This is the whole lot together - Wasn't I an extremely lucky girl!!!



Also I participated in the bookmark exchange on intatters - choosing to send and receive 2 bookmarks. My partners were Jenni in Australia & Kaira in Norway. I am very lucky that I have received both my exchange bookmarks - this very poor picture is of a stunning woven picot bookmark from Jenni (by chance she had done it in my very favourite dicontinued :( Manuela thread & white (I'll scan it later to post a better image). She even sent me the pattern!!!!
Jenni hasn't received mine yet so I won't post it as yet.

The other stunning one was from Kaira in variegated blues & white - isn't it lovely!! The pattern is here.

The ones I sent her was an adaptation of Iris' Eleonora doily as suggested by Marty (see here) and my own version of Ellen Lai's bookmark.

Feeling very virtuous & extremely lucky

As the title says, I am feeling very pleased with myself!! I have finally caught up with everything - the teeny tinsy winners things are packaged up to post tommorrow, so are the two bookmarks for the intatters bookmark exchange, as are a couple of other gifts for other people - 8 different packets going to 4 different countries!!!

I am also extremely grateful to Aileen, after the lost Secret Valentine exchange she has more than made up for the wait I had. The parcel arrived a week ago but with everything else that I have been doing this is the first chance I have had to post about it - her generosity is truly extra-ordinary - I got packets & packets & packets of beads, thread, chocolate, candy & ribbon as well as the tea towel. I have taken photos of all the items in this post and am planning on posting Aileen's gifts tomorrow. I will also add the ones of the tatting I have done after the recipents have received their respective gifts.