Tree bracelet

Months and months ago I purchased a bracelet pattern. I've finally settled on three colors of thread for it, and now I'm looking for the right beads. In the process I've found beads that go with a lot of my other threads. I'm waiting for another bead order to arrive, so my plan is to take this pattern, add some of my autumn-toned beads and have something to go with the season. I'm not sure what I'll wear it with, but it might look okay with my deep reddish purple shirts. (I don't wear fall colors.) Fingers crossed!

Teaching tatting

I don't know if she got the tatting bug, but I did my best. She did like the motifs enough to hang one at work. Seeing that sign, you can tell we share the same priorities. :-)

Too long

I've been away from my shuttles for too long! So many things have happened and I just haven't had the necessary focus for tatting. In August I went to Santa Fe for Indian Market. I'd been invited by friends but turned them down at first; I wasn't sure I could cope with the crowds that were sure to be at Market. Then a dear friend died and I realized that I needed to get away, even if only for a weekend. The drive to Santa Fe is about five hours, counting stops at Santa Rosa and the Turquoise Trail. Tatting seemed like a good thing to pass the time. I happened to mention it to our hostess and she said she'd like to learn tatting. I gave her a brief lesson, not enough to really help, but enough to show her that the flip is the key to success. When we got home I made a couple of motifs to send to her as a thank you. The initial motif is #30 from Minitats, and the second one is adapted from that. I followed the pattern but didn't get the same result as the sample in the book so I added a few stitches to the chains and subtracted a few from the rings. Here's the result:

The bottom one is the original; I didn't like the way the two rings were so close together so I made the chains a bit longer on the second one. I also made the four rings a bit smaller. I chose this pattern because it reminds me of the Zia symbol. I used Lizbeth 125, Sea Scape, in size 10.