"Hot off the press" giveaway

Here's a photo of the page with my tatting featured in Belle Armoire magazine. Recognize those tatted pendants on the bottom right?

To celebrate, I'm having a GIVEAWAY!The prize is a copy of the magazine, plus 2 skeins of my hand dyed thread. One skein each of "Pizazz" and "A Leaf Falls", both size 20.

3 of these prize packages will be given away, regardless of how many enter. All you have to do to have a chance to win is to leave a comment on this post. You don't need to have a blog to enter, but you do need to leave some way for me contact you if you win.

Three winners will be selected at random on Friday, November 6. Good luck!

Colorful result of careful mixing, painting, curing, rinsing

Here is a photo of me hand painting thread with dye. The next picture shows the finished result, a lovely batch of "Garden Afternoon" hand dyed thread.

"Keyed Up" earrings pattern

Obviously, this design could be varied endlessly by using different charms, findings, beads, thread colors, etc. It's quite simple. There are no split rings - but does require the use of 2 shuttles, and they are "switched". In other words, shuttle 1 trades places with shuttle 2 where indicated in the pattern, which is available as a pdf in my Etsy shop. BTW, there are many Etsy sellers who offer interesting charms and findings for sale. Of course, if you really want the same tiny keys I used, they are available at Bello Modo.

Even though this is so simple a pattern, it did take some experimentation time for me to figure out the stitch counts so that the tatting would take shape naturally without being forced. I think this finished design has major improvements over an earlier attempt.

Chemo Cap Project with tatting

This is the first time I decorated a cap for the Chemo Cap Project.

The tatted flower started out to be a different design, but I made a mistake, so... just kept going and made up a different flower. The center bead is surrounded by a self closing mock ring, and the motif just sort of grew out of that, using one shuttle and a ball thread.

I worked on this during the Fall Beading Retreat held by the Loose Bead Society. So, it was a "tatting in public" day for me, and a lot of fun! The event was also a convenient opportunity to learn some jewelry making tips from the excellent "crimp bead" demo that was given.

"Lacy Treasure" pattern

For something that was intended to be a simple design, it sure seemed like a complicated thing to write up - golly!
There are a lot of different skills used in this little piece, which I originally came up with as a teaching pattern. So many people asked about it, that I have decided to offer it for sale in pdf format in my Etsy shop. I still plan on using it as a teaching pattern for introduction to beaded tatting.