And the Winner is?...

Sorry everyone, unexpected events got in the way and I was not able to do the draw on Sunday as planned.  But here I am Tuesday morning, and in fact I don't think there's been any new comments since Sunday so you still have the same chance to win.  I shall go enter the number into the random number generator and let you know who the winner is.  There were 43 comments.

Drum Roll.......

And the winner is:

Number 38

and that is N. Maria

(Please contact me with your mailing address)

CONGRATULATIONS!

I will be shipping the earrings to you this week.

I was spoilt too this week as I received a lovely parcel from Germany which contained not one but several treats!  Some beautiful tatted flowers and a wonderfully scented candle and also this really cool candle holder...

It looks so pretty when you light the small candle inside.

I love it.

Thank you so much!

This may well be my last post until after Christmas

so I would like to wish you all a...

I hope 2019 will be a happy, healthy, and creative one for all of you.

Best wishes,

Frivole

Christmas Giveaway

Hello everyone, I hope your Christmas preparations are going well?  

My Christmas gift to you this year is a pair of earrings that I drew from my Snow Crystal tatting pattern and then laser-cut out of Perspex.  I think clear Perspex makes them look "icy" and realistic (apart from their size of course!).  They are hung from sterling silver ear wires.

I'm wearing a pair myself today as I'm typing this.  They are lovely, lightweight,

and perfect for this time of year!

 I hope you'll like them.

Please leave a comment to be entered in the draw,

which will take place next Sunday, the 16th of December.

Please only leave one comment and I'll not publish any answers myself

so as to make counting easier!

(but thank you in advance for all your comments)

I'm afraid this may mean whoever wins

might not receive the earrings in time for Christmas

but I just didn't manage to get organised any earlier.

See it as a New Year gift.  :-)

I've enjoyed working at making drawings of my tatting patterns and as you can see below, just small changes from the same pattern create quite different looks.  All four designs below are based on my Snow Crystal design but I just slightly changed the way I drew them or added an extra element here and there.

The white one is also clear Perspex but I have not yet removed the protective sheet.

Makes me think they'd look nice in white too though...

So that's it for this blogpost, back to studies for me for another week.  Good luck for the draw if you're entering it!

Best wishes,

Frivole

Twinkle Cabochon Variations

I was recently shown an "ice drop" version of my Twinkle Twinkle pattern that a lady made in the "Ice Drop Addicts" Facebook group.  It looked really pretty.

I think she had used a 12mm cabochon for hers but I did not have any that size so I went with what I had, and tried it with a 20mm flatback rhinestone cabochon.

I think my centre is a bit too big but it set me off trying variations on that theme.

I have played with cabochons before (see this post) but realise now I think I forgot to take notes!  Silly me.  I can't remember my stitch counts so will have to try to examine my photos closely to figure it out.

Anyway, this time around again I was keen to see more of the cabochons so I went with my smaller-rings-longer-picots style for the front side.

Here is a very quick pattern for them if you are interested:

I make both sets of rings at the same time in the first round.  I was working on a video of this pattern yesterday but sadly it didn't work out very well and I'm having to re-film it.  But I hope to have one uploaded very soon.

First Round:

R3--3--3 (picots made with a 8mm gauge), dnrw and with same shuttle R8-2-8 (very small picots)

Fold two rings back to back and tat C4-1--1-4 (graduated picots), rw

R3+3--3  (second picot made with 8mm gauge)

With the other shuttle R8+2-8, rw

C4-1--1-4...

Continue like this all the way around, not forgetting to join the last rings on both sides.  The last ring on the back is a bit fiddly to accomplish but it's do-able!  :-)

Join back at the beginning.  Dnrw.

Second Round:

C5-2-2-2, SCMR3-1--1-3, carry on with C2-2-2-5, join at base of small ring.

Repeat all around.  Cut tie, hide ends (or use magic loops, inserting them in the first and last chains of the second round).

If you prefer not to use a SCMR, you can use a regular thrown ring instead but the points will be rounded.  Here is what the motif looks like with thrown rings:

I can't believe it's December already!  

... keep an eye out, I'm thinking of doing a Christmas giveaway very soon.

Best wishes,

Frivole