Halloweeeeen!

Well I didn't get to go to the Brownies Halloween party this year, it was early and someone's birthday party clashed with it!.....sooooh I didn't get to dress up....aw!!

But with a bit of luck I am going to spend Halloween with a new tatting friend and get to do exciting things.

I did tat Halloweeny things. Having been inspired by others it was Heidi Sunday's Pumpkins on a Vine.



My first attempts in Flora 10 and 20. I did find the pattern tricky at first.

3 Pumpkins, then 4...the lines got longer...up to 6 pumpkins...now what shall I do with them....mmmmm! I have an idea!



Time to play around a little and make some individual pumpkins.



All in Flora 10 and measuring about and inch and a half. the top one with two leaves and the bottom two playing with different colors for the side rings..are they leaves or miniature pumpkins??

They have more scope for little decorations... to turn this card....



....into this, with the help also of some holographic glitter.



So aren't you all dying to know what I did with my string of Pumpkins?????

Well...I had a really pretty tall jar filled only a week or so ago with Grape jelly made by my very special House Elf from his very special Black Hamburg grapes in his very special greenhouse...ripened in this especially awful summer!!

It was so obvious that it needed pumpkins wrapping round it...of course it should have been Pumpkin jam! and it should have had a much prettier label....but you can't have everything...this is of course for a special friend...with the very special card.

OK,OK enough is enough!





HAPPY HALLOWEEN to all my blogging friends! you are all special, very special!!

Numbers 19 & 20. Bats, Cats and all things Halloweeney!

Just can't be doing an animal challenge and not include some Halloween favorites so Happy Halloween to all my tatting buddies. Click on the picture to get a better view.
I just loved making it.

First to be tatted were the bats. Ruth Perry's 'Tootie Fruity' the Southern Illinois fruit bat was just asking to be tatted.
I didn't have any trouble with adding the bead using a 'beaded double core reverse ring' and after a few tries managed to get the bead sitting in the right size ring! Pity that I didn't have magnetic haematite as they would have looked cool, in my kitchen,and the non magnetic haematite beads I had were too small. The wings were a little tricky to get just right, again just needed practice.
This is my best attempt. 5cm wingspan in Coats Red Heart 20



And together with a few of him misshapen siblings!
a few of my earlier attempts.


Next up was Mark Myers's (Hi to long lost cousin Mark!) bat. This was my favorite bat as it was so easy to tat. Made in Flora 20 he has a 5cm wingspan too.



Back to cats again,black cats this time, not Siamese! so I think I can call it Animal 20.
I have been itching to tat Mark's Cat on a Broom

Mark's pattern was only in diagrammatic form and I did find this a little difficult to follow ( but isn't that part of the challenge!)especially the brush part of the broom which being yellow didn't show up very well in the less than intense light used while tatting and watching TV! A little bit of jiggery pokery and I soon got a much larger deep blue image to follow and suddenly it was almost all plain sailing!!
The cat was also hard a bit hard to follow. Being right, left, upside down back to front challenged I always find it difficult to know which way round to start the first ring!! The ring numbers were great but arrows would have helped.Got that then made a major mistake in joining one of the rings in the wrong place which actually worked out quite well as it pushed the cat's head further to the left and made him even more sinister. Just proves that there is no such thing as a mistake...just a new pattern!



Second attempt and got him as Mark intended! See the arched back and much more upright stance.



Oh! but I did add large, well huge beads for the eyes(had to increase the stitch count). I loved Mark's slanty eyes( the cat's that is!) but since I learned from Jane how to add a bead in a ring all my animals have to have beaded eyes, and doesn't it make him look sinister!!

Made the cat on a broom in flora 20 mainly and it measures almost 16cm from the tip of his whiskers to the end of the broom. Used a slightly thicker thread(Red Heart) on the broom handle the second time to give it more body.