And the Winners Are...

 

Number 3 is Marilyn, Number 12 is God's Kid, and number 22 is Pop Lenuta Maria.  Marilyn and Pop Lenuta Maria, can you please contact me with your details so I can send you the pattern!  God's Kid, I have yours already so I'll send the pattern along.

Thank you so much everyone for all your lovely comments and I hope the winners enjoy tatting the pattern.  It's a bit of a challenge with the many techniques used in this design but I hope you'll be happy with the snowflake.

If anyone else would like to make Aeris, I will shortly be listing it in my Etsy shop.  I thank you all for your support, interest in my designs and kind contribution on my blog. I really appreciate it!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Aeris Variation

Whilst looking at my new pattern and the snowflake photo, I decided that maybe the "arms" needed to be a  bit fuller with extra picots to look more like the real snowflake.  So I made a new version without the JKs but with more picots instead.  And this is what it looks like:

And here's the photo of the real snowflake again, for comparison:

And then I decided to pin all the picots before pressing to make it look

more pointy and sharp, more like a real snowflake

and this is what it looks like:

... but I think I prefer the softer shape of the first (unpinned picots)

So there you have it:  Aeris and its variation.  I will put both in the pattern and people can choose which one to tat!

As I've done in the past, I'll have a draw for free patterns (three chances to win!) so please leave a comment if you'd like to be entered.  I'll hold the draw on Sunday (18 October).

Best wishes,

Frivole

P.S.  Thank you very much for your comments, I always love receiving them but I won't answer in this blogpost to make it easier to count them for the draw!

Snowflake 2020

It's already October... the weather is turning colder and it's making me think of one of my favourite things ever:  snowflakes!  For a few years now, I have created new designs inspired by Wilson Bentley's photographs of real snowflakes (after being gifted his book by a tatting friend) and I have done so again this year.

Below is the photograph that inspired this design.

Of course it's not exactly the same but I hope you can see some similarities.  Real snowflakes have straight lignes and sharp angles which are difficult to reproduce with tatting... but I enjoy a challenge!  In this case I used lock chains for straight lines as well as my 1SSCMR technique for sharp points.

Below are some of the several samples which I discarded

though there are features in each that appeal to me

and which I may use in future designs.

And the name?

I decided to call it 

Pattern coming up very soon!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Handkerchief Edging

I finally finished the green one-shuttle edging I had started a good while ago.  You can find the pattern under the pattern tab above.  I took the opportunity to make a video showing how I sew the edging onto the hanky (a question I had received a few times on my YouTube channel).  

Shade of green keeps changing depending on light and setting...

(the first photo is probably the most accurate)

Best wishes,

Frivole

More Baskets

Following on from the previous post, I realised I'd not shown other baskets I made earlier in the summer.  First of all one of my daughters and her boyfriend had collected dogwood some months ago which they dried completely before soaking it in a river for several days before it was ready to weave.  It was a first experience of weaving baskets for all of us and we were all pleased to end up with functional baskets.  The dogwood was not the easiest and bendiest to work with.

Here are a few progress photos...

After completing this first basket, I was keen to make another but we had no more wood.  That's when I discovered you could make baskets with rolled up newspaper!  What a discovery.  I've already made three of those and here is the second one I made.  I tried painting the others but was not happy with the result and in the end, my favourite was this one, left showing the newspaper.  I varnished it and have been using it to do my shopping.  It's surprisingly sturdy to say it's only made of newspaper!

I like baskets a lot... I like using them and I like making them!  

Have any of you had a go at basket weaving?

Best wishes,

Frivole

Holiday Pursuits

We were lucky to be able to get away for a holiday in spite of the current circumstances.  There are some majestic pine trees around where we are so I was inspired to use the needles for basket making.  I had done a similar type of basket with dried grass a few summers ago (Grass Baskets) but it was my first time trying with pine needles.

Starting to curve up the sides...

Wondering whether to stop here or not...

Making a basket  with pine needles is quite slow work.  You have to constantly feed new needles into your gauge and the stitch I am using requires several steps per stitch so it's growing slowly.  But I do like the look of the stitch very much.  I might try a different one for a final border but I'm still undecided.

Also, after my initial trials with dogwood and newspaper rolls for making baskets (I've just realised I've not shown these on here - I'll have to make another post), I finally took the plunge and purchased some willow.  So I gave that a try too.

It's not that easy to keep a really consistent and even shape as you go up the sides with weaving.  I'm a beginner and have lots to learn!  Still, I managed to produce some functional baskets.

Base of basket before adding the uppers.

I can't believe it's September already.  I hope you were able to enjoy a nice summer wherever you are.  The weather is set to be beautiful again this week so I'll soak up as many rays as we come to the end of our holiday.

Best wishes to you all,

Frivole

Lost Earring

This is one of my daughter's favourite pair of earrings.  I had made them for her in "Leaf Green" a few years ago but she lost one.  Unfortunately, I'm out of Leaf Green at the moment so I re-made her a new pair in "Fern Green Med" (Lizbeth).

I really like this pattern.  The layered construction gives body to the earrings and they keep their shape nicely.  I sometimes add a large pearl in the centre but this is how my daughter had her original pair so I remade the same.

Do you have a favourite earring design that you keep coming back to?  I'd love to hear what it is!

Best wishes,

Frivole