Saturday, January 9, 2010

Stumbling Blocks



Until last year twisted picot joins, which are part and parcel of MANY wonderful tatting designs, were a MAJOR stumbling block for me.  Try as I might I could NOT complete any motif with that critical join without it becoming twisted and ending up a lumpy mess.  After many failed attempts I put my shuttles into a dark, dark corner of my closet and they didn't see the light of day for MANY years.  Then last spring I became interested in tatting again after reading many of the wonderful tatting blogs in cyberspace and I finally had my AHA moment when the twisted picot join became a building block rather than a stumbling block.

This is my first motif for the 25 motif challenge which I joined on New Years Day and is also the first piece I have made from Mary Konior's book, Tatting With Visual Patterns.  It is called Posy.  It is a wonderful motif made with just one shuttle and MANY twisted picot joins.  The thread is Lizbeth #663, size 20.  My photograph doesn't do this color justice.  It is deeper and shinier and I LOVE IT!

As I worked on this motif with its MANY twisted picot joins, I decided that I would like to try my hand at a tutorial on what else... TWISTED PICOT JOINS!  I welcome any input on the tutorial if anything seems unclear or changes need to be made.  I sure don't want to lead anyone down the garden path!

So here is the link to my first ever tatting tutorial (or you can just scroll down because it's the post before this one):  Tatting - Twisted Picot Join

8 comments:

rainbows and raindrops said...

lovely lovely tat. Congratulations on the join! I love the colour you chose. it's one of my favourites! previously only Omega thread had that colour and when handyhands stopped Omega I thought I was doomed! Thanks!

Fox said...

WOW!!! WOW!!!! WOW!!! The tatting, the colour, the pattern - all WOW!!!

Congratulations. That is beautiful and your explanation in pictures is fabbo!

Somebody is going to have their own A-HAH moment because of that post.
: ) Fox

Arty Lady's blog said...

This is just a gorgeous piece. Well done, it's fantastic and the colour is beautiful.

sewmuchfun4 said...

Thank you Aileen! It is a GREAT color isn't it? I'm wanting to tat something else with it straight away!

Hi Fox! Thank you! When I read your comment I was positively glowing and I think my head grew a size or two! Don't worry though I tamped it back down close to normal and then the kids took care of the rest. :)))

Thank you Arty Lady! I love the simplicity of all the patterns in Tatting With Visual Patterns and I'll say it again... that blue thread is WONDERFUL!

:) Ann

Martha said...

This is my favorite motif so far. When I first looked at it, it reminded of the old Flying Swallows quilt pattern (which I have always loved)
http://www.earlywomenmasters.net/quilts/s/swallows/index.html
The color is just beautiful and your technique looks absolutely perfect. You really are getting good at this -- I'm so impressed!

sewmuchfun4 said...

Hi Martha!
Thank you! I think it is also my favorite - I am generally not a "blue" person, but I love that shade. It feels like the best part of summer!

It does look like the Flying Swallows quilt. I hadn't seen that one before so thank you for the link. It's a nice pattern. I think quilt blocks and tatting motifs have allot in common as far as their patterns and repeats. That's probably why they both appeal to me.

:) Ann

Vanessa said...

What a gorgeous piece. I think I'll go back to the library and borrow the Visual Patterns book again.

sewmuchfun4 said...

Thanks Vanessa! How GREAT to have tatting books at your library!

:) Ann