Detmold

This is what happens when you are too engrossed in the Korean serial you are watching. 

It should look like this instead. Tatted in Lizbeth Size 40 Country Turquoise Medium (#661). Both Essens and Detmold are Adelheid Dangela's patterns from Occhi Patchwork.

Serene Backyard

A row of back-to-back shophouses has been converted into a hotel and this is the backyard.

It was filled with bamboo plants and this curtain of roots hanging down. 

They were planted on the top wooden trellis and the long roots just made a lovely organic curtain.

Cool!

Esens

This is two motifs joined making a diamond shape. Tatted in Lizbeth Size 20 in Cotton Candy (#111). Can you see flowers and leaves?

Hari Raya Orchids

I put this together with 5 pots of mini Dendrobiums and it all fitted into this tin planter. We were off to celebrate Hari Raya with friends. It is an annual visit and always surprised how fast one year passes by.

Belimbing Flowers

Such a pretty pink among the green of the leaves. 

It was planted by a coffee shop where we ate breakfast. 

The owner of the coffee shop probably planted this belimbing tree. He provides extra chairs for his regular customers to have coffee near his little patch of a garden.

We drove 18km to have the fish ball noodle at this coffee shop. I love it because it is in an old neighbourhood, not crowded and the noodles are prepared by an old timer - a hawker who has been in the business for decades. A hidden gem, not found out yet by food bloggers and swamped by foodies.

Page 69 Kurbatskaya WIP4

I looked through my Lizbeth Size 40 thread supply and went with blue river glades. Does it look strange? Should I continue?

I have not cut off the previous tatting.

Flower Tea

Watch the flower bloom, then drink the tea.

Antwerpen 2

Since it is such a pretty pattern, the second Antwerpen is tatted in Size 40. Can you see the design element if many were joined? I missed a ring in the smaller piece. Can you spot it? 

Done in Lizbeth Size 40 Blue Ice (#163). Love the light blue spattering through the white.

Flower Installations

Here are two more from the Floria 2014 show.

The top one uses lots of Anthuriums in various colours. What I noticed about this was the plastic bottles in the background. They looked pretty - like glass blocks.

Heliconias seem to cascade down gracefully in the second installation.

Page 69 Kurbatskaya WIP3

This is not working out and proving more difficult than the last Kurbatskaya doily. After filling my shuttles with blue and white Venus Size 40 threads I started the edging. This was all (4 repeats) I could tat with 30 meters of thread. Definitely, there isn't enough thread to complete 22 repeats. What now? Need to change plans yet again. Feeling like giving up at this point. Looking at my Venus thread stash, there isn't a color that will work with this and no chance of buying more Venus thread now. 

Guessed Correct?

Empty water bottles making up the canopy of a temporary structure.

Did anyone get it right? 

There were some interesting guesses - link here.

Page 69 Kurbatskaya WIP2

The design elements with the long picots joined in threes and twos can be better observed here. I thought these rounds would never get done. Now for the edging. It is getting rather large and I am quite sure I do not have enough blue thread on the ball for that edging. Need to change my initial plan of using just one color. I also like to use only the same type and size of thread for one project.

Flower Show Animals

More photos from Floria 2014.

Flower giraffe and geese

We were just thankful for the air conditioned pavilion where the flower show was located.

Anything to shelter from the heat and humidity.

Antwerpen

This is four repeats of Antwerpen from Occhi-Patchwork book by Adelheid Dangela. Tatted in Lizbeth Size 20 Ecru (#603). You need about 3 meters of thread. Wind thread on shuttle leaving a short tail to tat 10 ds for two split rings.

How did I decide the length of the thread gap? I looked at the photo in the book and compared the length to the size of the rings. Chose based on that and whatever size picot gauge I had.

Retro Tailor Shop

This shop seems unchanged from several decades ago. It brought a smile to my face as a few doors away there was one of those small hipster cafe offering little cakes and beverages. Located in a not so new neighbourhood with good hawker food and surprisingly not so crowded, even on a Sunday morning. Love it!

Margaret's Tatted Bloom

This is Margaret's pattern which she named Lacy Orchid. I used Lizbeth Size 20 Carribean. You can visit her Etsy shop to get this pattern.

Make a Guess

Can you tell what they are?

Square Sachets

Since it is tatted in 2 rounds, I used two colours after tatting the first in one colour. Pattern is Figura 39 from the Italian magazine Il Lavoro Chiaccherino 9 on page 68.

Top: Venus Size 40 in tangerine and peach 
Centre: Venus Size 40 in gold and fuchsia
Bottom: Lizbeth Size 40 in Linen medium #693

Page 69 Kurbatskaya WIP

I started another Kurbatskaya pattern. After taking this photo, I realized I missed one picot. I'm going to leave it and not correct it.
Tatted in Venus Size 40 thread in Col. 371.

Did you notice the 2 or 3 long picots joined together. It makes a nice design effect. Many rounds to go before it is done.

Flower Tree

I call this the flower tree. 

There were quite a number of flower installations at the Floria 2014 in Putrajaya but I only took a few photos. 

This is one of my favourites.

Round Sachet

This is a pattern of Figura 36 from the Italian magazine Il Lavoro Chiaccherino 9 on page 68. Tatted in Lizbeth Size 40 in Purple Iris Light (#646) and Scottish Thistle (#175).

This one lays flat and is quite pretty.

Chwee Kueh

It's a breakfast dish popular in Singapore. 

It is a rice flour batter poured into little cups and steamed. Serve hot, 

topped with chai poh (preserved radish) and chilli.

Stawasz Doily III Motif x4

Yes, its done. Four of the motifs makes a nice square. While blocking I found a mistake. I wonder if there are more.

I like the neutral colour of Lizbeth Size 40-690 Light Mocha Brown. Colour would probably give it a different look too.

Kurbatskaya Challenge - WIP 5

This round is done and I am liking this doily a little better. I rather enjoyed tatting this round. Right now it measures about 10 inches across.

Next round is a single row of split rings and then more stars. Lots of cuts and ties. I am not sure if I want to tat this any further as it is just repeats of elements here just to make it larger. It's done!!

Floria 2014 in Putrajaya

It was the last day of the week long flower and garden show in Putrajaya. We happened to be there and mom wanted to visit, while my sister wanted to get some orchids for her garden. It was hazy but still a humid day. We could only spend slightly over an hour but it was quite fruitful. Will post more photos of the flower show later.

More Sachets

Another sachet pattern from the Italian magazine Il Lavoro Chiaccherino 9 on page 68. This is Figura 38. Simple rings and chains. I used Venus SIze 40 threads. There is another round of edging which is tatted after the sachet is made. When will I sew the sachet? 
I wonder too. . .

Honey Bee

I wanted to try my hands at this. It was not as easy as I imagined. The wood was quite brittle and I did not have any sandpaper or glue so some pieces broke.

After fiddling with it with my 5-yr old niece, we gave up.

Only on the second attempt the next morning, we managed to get it done with one or two missing pieces / fragments. Touch it and it will fall apart.