This is one of my first attempts at designing. I wanted a bookmark that would look something like a miniature doily, but that would go together rather quickly. This was on my original site tatted in white #40 crochet cotton. This model is red #30 Cebelia. Cebelia is a much nicer thread than the crochet cotton. It’s much smoother and easier to work with. The instructions below haven’t changed from those on my original site except that I added one more ring to each end. It was too much of a stretch around the corner without it. Instructions: ds double stitch R ring p picot sp small pic ..read more

To add a bead, make the picot which will receive the join slightly longer than the diameter of the bead. When you’re ready to join, pull the picot through the bead with a small crochet hook and complete the join as usual. Printable pattern (83K. Opens a new window.) Patterns are available for download as a PDF file and are readable by using Adobe Reader. Download Adobe Reader free. Instructions: ds double stitch R ring p picot sp small picot lp long picot j join Ch Chain     Make clover leaf by: R: 8ds lp 4ds sp 4ds close R: 4ds j to previous small picot (3ds p) 3 ti ..read more

Instructions: ds double stitch R ring p picot j join Ch Chain     This design used two 5mm turquoise-colored beads, 20 gold seed beads, tatting thread size 20, and 2 gold-tone jewelry findings. Wind 1.5 yards of thread onto a shuttle. Add 7 seed beads onto the thread. You will start with a ring. Be sure you leave at least 5 inches of thread hanging so you can tie your work to the jewelry finding when you’re done. Form the ring on your hand, and at the same time keep 6 beads close to the shuttle, and one bead on your working thread and to the back of your hand. R: 8ds ..read more

Summer in Colorado brings fresh strawberries to the stores and to the mountains. I designed three berries to celebrate summer here–a raspberry, a wild strawberry, and a domestic strawberry. Wouldn’t these look great on the collar of a denim shirt? These are beginner-level 1- and 2-shuttle patterns using simple rings and chains. They were tatted using DMC Cebelia size 30 thread. Each berry is about 1 to 1.5 inches long. Printable pattern (220K. Opens a new window.) Patterns are available for download as a PDF file and are readable by using Adobe Reader. Download Adobe Reader free. Instructions ..read more

Last week here in Colorado we had one of our surprise spring snowstorms. The day before was a beautiful spring day, but we woke to big snowflakes and wind. We had about one foot of snow on the ground that morning, but by afternoon, it had melted down to 3″. That’s spring in Colorado! I designed this suncatcher while I enjoyed the storm that day. This is a beginner-level 2-shuttle pattern using simple rings and chains. The snowflake-shaped prism in the middle is a Swarovski crystal and is available at the Be-stitched tatting store. Tatting was done using size 30 white Cebelia. For a more detail ..read more

This is a fun card for a new mother and her baby. Find a shiny, new penny (or other appropriate coin) that was minted in the year the baby was born. Inside the card, add the verse below, or any other you may like. You can find more at Babysite.org or Stork Avenue if you’d rather have something different than this. Precious one, so small, so sweet Dancing in on angel feet Straight from Heaven’s brightest star What a miracle you are!Now here’s a lucky penny To celebrate the year of your sweet birth, May it bring you happiness, good health, Long life on earth.And as life goes by and wedded bliss ..read more

It’s been a hot summer in Colorado. Earlier this month, I was hot and was trying to talk myself out of cooling down with some ice cream. Then it hit me–why not tat an ice cream cone instead? So I did, and saved myself a bunch of calories in the process! This is an intermediate-level 2-shuttle pattern using simple rings and chains. It was tatted using Flora size 20 thread. Printable pattern (84K. Opens a new window.) Patterns are available for download as a PDF file and are readable by using Adobe Reader. Download Adobe Reader free. Instructions: ds double stitch R ring Ch chain j joi ..read more

Tatting with black is a fun challenge for me. I love the elegant look, especially when I use very few picots. Here is a necklace and earring set using black DMC Cebelia and seed beads. I hope you enjoy it! The shoelace trick is a crucial part of this pattern. To do the shoelace trick, cross the shuttle and working thread to make a loop. Put the shuttle through the loop, then pull tight. This is the same thing that we do as a first step when we tie our shoes, and it’s one of my favorites tricks. Many 2-shuttle patterns can be changed to 1-shuttle patterns simply by doing the shoelace trick inst ..read more

Recently at work my computer died. I mean really died. And since my entire job is done on the computer, I had no work to do. So I asked a friend of mine there who tats if she had any shuttles. No sense in wasting time! She had this fun black and white variegated thread loaded on two shuttles with no project attached, so I started tatting to see what would come out. The IT guy tried fixing my computer, but had to take it away, wipe it clean, and start over. That takes a whole day, so I just went home. That was one of my better days at work! This bookmark is the pattern that “appeared” from my t ..read more

We’ve all heard of writer’s block. Well, this month I had “designer’s block”. I’d planned on creating a Christmas-y design and just couldn’t get my mind around it. So I went back to my favorite form of tatting and designed a snowflake. I love the old way of tatting and the old uses for it. Another motivation I had for doing a snowflake is that I intend to use this design as the center of a new doily I want to design. I will add a new row each month until it’s done! This snowflake was tatted with size 30 DMC Cebelia thread. This is an intermediate-level 1-shuttle pattern using simple rings and ..read more