Liyarra's Tatting Nook

Someone wrote to me the other day and asked why I had not updated my blog with tatting lately.....Oh wow...what a question! Between leaving my job (where admittedly I had a LOT of tatting time), helping Ben film Debutante Balls, playing photographer at a recent wedding, and dealing with a demanding (in the nicest possible way) new family member, my tatting time has been limited quite a bit lately. Here is ONE of the reasons...... Meet Amelia A Border Collie x Kelpie (about 17 weeks in this pic) After losing the amazing Alli (a red kelpie) in August last year I was very reluctant to get another dog even though it would be the first time in my entire life that I was without one (or more), But it was nagging me so I started thinking about what type of dog. It had to be trainable, intelligent, loyal and quirky, but not being on the farm any more, if I WAS to get one, it would have to be one that was NOT an energetic working breed.......yeah....right....famous last words! Don't ask me...

Quite a while ago I found a picture online of a really cute heart based doily so I thought I had better track it down and give it a go. I had bought a job lot of Cordonnet Special and had a huge stash of red thread....PERFECT! Lovely doily but for me it has been a pain to make. The original pattern had 5 repeats in the centre but that didn't join up and sit for me very well so I did it as 6. Everyone tats differently! The row of hearts for the outside is done as a separate round then connected to the main body of the work with a connecting row. That is not so hard but the hearts twisted all over the place as I tatted them and trying to make sure there were no twists in it when I did the final row was....well let's say it just gave me a headache LOL. Thank goodness for coiless safety pins! I think a trick to keeping it all straight might be to fold the hearts over as you tat them and put them on a pin so they can't twist. That is what I ended up doing. Then I held the ou...

Been a while since I did a challenge doily so I am starting one Susanne (Dantatter) has proposed. Need some relaxation tatting for a change. This is going to be fun! This is the doily. Off we go!