Squid and Asparagus

This was a lovely warm salad. The squid was perfectly cooked and the dressing was just right. Delicious!

Tatting from the Past 1

I have some pieces which I have not blogged about. It was tatted when I first started tatting on my own after classes. I have not done much tatting these days. Just slow so I leave you with these. I did them in different colour combinations and will show you one at a time. Hmmm . . . , whose pattern is it? I have to look it up. It must be a free pattern online which I downloaded. I did not have any tatting pattern books back then.

Kopi Luwak

I have not tried this coffee yet. It was a gift from someone who was visiting Bali. This coffee is unusual as these coffee beans have a distinct flavour. Why so? The coffee beans must be eaten by the civet cat and gone through the cat's digestive system and passed out. The beans are then collected for consumption. A delicacy!! I will let you know how it tastes when I have brewed a cup and tried it.

Talking about civet cats, reminds me of the time when civet cats would visit my grandmother's house in the dead of night, making a huge commotion on the zinc roof. She would set up traps to catch them. Poor musang (civet cat)! But as I remember, they were quite ferocious.

A Cloud

Gone - flitted away, 

Taken the stars from the night and the sun

From the day!

Gone, and a cloud in my heart.

~Alfred Tennyson~

New Project - WIP

Could it be another pattern from Ruth Scharf? This one is from her other book 'Occhi Neue Blatter'. Can you recognize which pattern?

I had to unpick a few times before I got it right. But it looks good now. I know I chose an unusual colour. I just hope it turns out pretty.

Tsuru's Portrait

I was trying to get a shot of Tsuru to put on a shuttle from La Cossette. It was difficult as she would not sit still for me. My favourite photo of this set was the last one, although I did not send that one to La Cossette. What I like about it is her expression.

Paper Lingerie

This a shop that sells paper replicas of all things that are deemed desirable and necessary. They are paper effigies that are burnt as offerings to the dearly departed. We came across this shop one day and this caught my attention. Paper or not, it looks quite pretty. Paper lingerie!

If you look carefully around this shop, they also have wooden clogs, T-shirts and shirts, slippers, iphones, ipads etc. Everything you need in the afterworld is sold here. Larger replicas must be custom made e.g. a car or a mansion. What about scratching poles and cat treats?

New Project

This is a new tatting project that I am starting this week. It will be slow as I forsee not much tatting will be done in the next few weeks. My Tischband took 2 months. I wonder how many months this will take.

Sinful Temptations

Remember this?

Now I have more to devour

I can share . . . .

One bar ? ? Anyone ? No ?

More for me.

A good friend bought these for me from Australia.

Can't seem to find these here in Singapore.

Part of Scavenger Hunt

Most shuttles are from the Shuttle Exchanges, orange and white I decorated myself.
The red lips was a gift from Gina and the eyes are the first shuttles I used during tatting classes.

All these are from La Cossette except the eyes which were handpainted by Chris Parsons.

This is a man with a moustache. Do you see it?

This was for the fun of it. As I read here, I wondered which was the simplest to do. Smiley faces using your shuttles. What am I doing?

I should be tatting, yeah . . .

And there I was, thinking of buying more shuttles. This lot isn't all that I have.

Singapore River at Night

On a rare ocassion, we strolled along the Singapore river one night. On both sides of the river were hotels, condominiums, old wharehouses which have been converted to bars and restaurants.

My Tischband Progress

I think this is done. After taking photographs of it, I realized that there is a mismatch of colours in one join. I am not sure I want to cut and flip it. It stays for now. I hope your Tischband is coming along fine.

Martha pointed out that the photos of Tischband in the book shows only 5 sets of chains (instead of 6) in the Blute 1. Thanks to Martha, we now know why the 'fit' of the leaves and flowers was a bit off. I have amended the Blute 1 pattern and hope that if you are about to start the Tischband Tat Along or start another repeat, you will try tatting the Blute 1 with 5 sets of chains.

Now for this week's updates of the Tat Along: Eliz, Cindy, Michelle, Martha, Corina.

Spiral Snails Galore

Well, if you could call 3 a galore. I just had to tat more. Anyway I tried tatting this pattern by Vicki using Perle Cotton 8 and you can see the snail is slightly larger. I used CWJ on the third snail. After tatting two, it suddenly came back to me, without me looking it up, the CWJ. Can you see which snail has the CWJ. May not be noticeable.

The beads are added to a long picot and I did not really measure the length of the picot so the number of beads added may not be exact to the pattern. Also I joined the start (picot on the paper clip) to the same chain so that the starting point is not hanging when it forms the spiral - from Ch 26-6 to Ch 20+6-6. It is just my preference. The 1st snail (pink & green) is as the pattern and it looks perfectly fine when blocked.

I have been thinking of getting the Starlit shuttles. Has anyone tried it. Do tell how you liked it. Is it too large for smaller hands? I like the size of the Sew Mate shuttles but this is much larger.  I find the Tatsy shuttles too big to handle.

Time's Run Off

I have not been coping well, time schedule-wise. Time has run off somewhere or my mind is just pre-occupied. My routine is in a mess. I like quiet days so that I can spend my time tatting with Tsuru by my side. When will I have such days? Freedom to choose what you want to do and not need to do.

Spiral Snail

This little snail (1.5 inches across) is from Vicki's pattern which can be found here. I love Vicki's two patterns which I have tatted so far - Roses are Red and Crabby the Sugar Skull.

I found how the beads in this one were added intriguing. This is done in Lizbeth 40 pink parade and leafy greens. I forgot how the CWJ was done and was too lazy to look it up so I just made shuttle joins. I remember I had to look it up the last time I did the Catherine Wheel join.  I should not be a lazy bum.

Award from Margaret

Margaret gave me an award last week and I was so late in accepting it. Thank you so much Margaret and I must apologize for the tardiness. I have to pass on the award to 5 blogs with less than 200 followers which inspire me. So let me know, you guys:

Michelle of Tela Magistrae - I love her tatting work and the snippets of Latin she posts;

Crazy Mom Tats - I love her cat tales and admire her strength of character;

Vicki of Victats - Her tatting patterns are inspiring and she's so generous to share them;

Tatskool of Tats A Kool Challenge - Her HDTs are always a riot of colours, have you seen 'Gina's Tequila Sunrise'?;

Ginny of Ginny's Tatting - I got to test tat for her and I think her patterns are fabulous.

Test Tatting Belle

Another test tat for Ginny. This pattern is called Belle.  A wonderful pattern with weaving that makes such a beautiful design. Belle is meant to decorate the Christmas bauble that you decorate the tree with. I did not have one on hand and the whole time I was tatting this, I was thinking that it would make a lovely doll's skirt. A great pattern. Well done!!

Cay is meant to be used the same way but I thought it made this glass bottle so pretty. I actually blocked it on my liquid soap pump bottle in the washroom and when I remove the labels on that soap bottle, I will refill it and decorate it with Cay.

Tischband Tat Along - Joined Up

It isn't done yet. This is only 2.5 repeats with some flowers to join. I decided to join the repeats as what Ruth showed in her book Occhi. Thank you for your comments and I too, like the other method (see here) but maybe for another time.

I have not properly blocked this as I still have one repeat to join to. I guess, I cannot use the usual pins to block this now since it is getting quite long.

Now to keep you updated on this week's Tat Along progress of the participants: Eliz post 1 and post 2; Cindy; Jess; Michelle; Frivole's video on how to tat the leaf.

If I missed your link, please let me know.

Test Tatting Cay

This week I am test tatting a pattern which uses a chock full of beads. This is an interesting pattern from Ginny called Cay. Great to tat and I am having fun with it. I decided to use white threads to contrast the blue beads. How do you like it so far? These beads were a gift from Judy from this post.

A Very Special Shuttle

Frivole sent me this (see yesterday's post). Specially made from a photo of Umi. She was inspired by Umi's colours and made me this as a special momento. Isn't it amazing?

I was totally surprised and touched by her kindness.

Thank you so much!

La Cossette is on Etsy.

Comforting Words

I received these two days ago. I wanted to post them on the blog last night but could not due to internet problems. These are from Fox and Frivole arriving on the same day in my mail box. Thank you both for your kind comforting words. I was touched by what you said and sent.

When Umi was sick, I was keeping Fox updated on her condition. You see, Gian was sweet on Umi. Fox tatted the motif during this time. I am going to place it near Umi. Thank you, Fox.

And you will never believe what is in Frivole's envelope. You will have to wait for the next post for that.

Tischband Tat Along Links

I don't know if you noticed that I have a page on this blog (second tab) on the Tischband Tat Along. When participants finish 1 repeat, I post the link on this page. Just to let you know in case you did not see it. And the very first person to finish one repeat was Fox. The second was Eliz. So when you finish one repeat, just drop me an e-mail, in case I miss your blog post.

To encourage participants to finish one repeat, I am preparing a small mystery gift for someone drawn from this list at an appropriate time.

Gift from Gian

This arrived for Umi the week before. She was about to be brought home from the animal clinic. What a lovely thought from Gian and Fox. We thank you. The colour is gorgeous. I will use it to tat Umi something beautiful.

It's been a week and I was hoping to see Umi today. According to Chinese custom, the dead will come home to visit on the 7th day. Maybe Tsuru will see her. I call Umi's name aloud and Tsuru will look around for her. Am I sending chills down your spine? 

Tischband Tat Along Repeat #3

I am excited to see the 3 repeats joined up but it will have to wait for now. I still have quite a number of leaves to tat to connect them up. Thank you so much for all your suggestions in my earlier post. I agree that what it is will be used as will determine how it will be joined. The motif measures only 3.5 inches wide. I have not decided what to use it yet.  

These are links to some of the Tat Along participants:
Neeneral; Tat-ilicious; Mariya; Night; Cindy; Orsi; Frivole; Eliz; Martha; Tat-ilicious; Frivole; Red;

If I missed your link, please let me know.

A Wreath of Roses

I made these using Vicki's pattern for Judy who celebrated a birthday recently. Judy loves roses and pink. I chose a few shades and made her half a dozen (plus 2, apparently I cannot count) blooms. Judy is very talented and has made some very lovely needle art. I am hoping she can use these in her artwork. Thank you Vicki for the pattern of this lovely rose.

Roses by Victats

This pattern called 'Roses are Red' is by Victats. Thank you Vicki for sharing the pattern. I have been looking for a tatted rose bloom outline for some time now. I tried designing one without any luck. This one is so pretty.

Thank You

You have all left kind comforting words about Umi. Thank you. Yes, I do miss her.

She is now in a white urn/pot placed near the window because that is where she loved to sit. I will tat her something with little crystals because she just loved anything dangling, don't they all?

I think Tsuru misses her most when no one's home but when we're back, she loves all the attention. This past week she has been sleeping with me in my bed. She gets extra hugs and kisses too.

Thank you for all your comments and e-mails. I do appreciate it.

Here is a video where Umi is enjoying her little knitted rat from Judy.