(Round 2 of the 25 Motif Challenge) Motif No. 1 - Tatted Butterfly on Paper Clip

Paper clip for the month - Butterflies - click on the link for the pattern at Georgia's Online Tatting Class. This is a simple and quick one, and I had designed it such that you can slip a thin ribbon on it to make a bookmark, in addition to tatting it on a paper clip. You can also tie the ribbon in such a way to make a necklace or make the head ring a little bigger and add a metal ring to hang as a pendant on a necklace chain. Quick and sweet gifts for little girls!

Awards, and Finally, The Last of the 25 Motifs

A BIG thank you to Laura Rose, who gave me this award. Laura's the one who got me inspired to start ATCs. I see she is also doing a lot of laces on her pillows; I'm so tempted to take out mine too. Maybe in June, and I can do it together with my 3 children, they learnt some basics of bobbin lace and managed to complete some simple projects last year. Oh, I digressed; back to Laura, do visit Laura's site to see her beautiful bobbin laces!

Another award - this one is given by Tatskool. I'm very flattered, thank you, Pamela. Pamela dyes very cheerful Rainbow Bright HDTs and her hand-made Irish leprechauns are simply adorable. And this Renee Award is originally started by Bella Sinclair. She draws so well, check out her blog to see more of her fantastic illustrations.

I have been quiet longer than usual as I was trying hard to complete this motif for Camille for the Extreme Tatters Round Robin. It's finally done and on the way across the world. This will be my Motif No. 25 - Hisbiscus, tatted with Altin Basak size 50 threads:

Now that I'm done with the 25 Motif Challenge (after a full long year), you can bet I will still want to carry on with the challenge, Round 2, that is. My aim is still be to design and tat a second lot of 25 motifs. Well, the 1st will be coming up very soon - on 27 Apr - for Georgia's Online Tatting class. Watch the space!

ATCs - Celebrate Easter, Shamrocks Galore, Blossom and Attraction

Not much happenings. In between designing and tatting the motif for Camille for the Extreme Tatters Round Robin, I used some of the motifs I tatted previously and created more ATCs.

From top left-hand corner moving clockwise:

Celebrate Easter (with tatted egg),

Shamrocks Galore (with tatted shamrock),

Blossom (with tatted flowers),

Attraction (with tatted bee).

So far, I have used acid-free scrapbooking cardstocks or papers as the base for the ATCs. The exception is the background for "Attraction", which was cut out from an advertisement card found in my mailbox. Looked too pretty to just throw it into the recycling bin, isn't it ?

Baskets Galore - Motif No. 23 Basket of Flowers on Paper Clip and Motif No. 24 - Goldfish

It's the time of the month for paper clips again. This time, it is a basket of flowers for spring (click on the link for the pattern). These will by my Motif No. 23. Is there any particular request for any pattern on paper clips ? I'm still open to suggestions, though I can't promise I can definitely come up with what you want.

And imagine my surprise when I see this in the mail:

Coincidentally, Becky tatted this for me for the current Extreme Tatters Round Robin and she has even co-ordinated the little gifts so well! Thank you, Becky!What did I tat for the Round Robin then ?

Presenting my Motif No. 24! (I'm finally almost there after a year of designing original patterns for my 25 Motif Challenge - real challenging!)

This is a new design I worked for Wally for the Round Robin. No real difficult techniques (just pearl tatting, SCMR, floating chains), but in order to make it realistic, I did it in many, many rounds, so much so that when I trimmed off the thread ends, I counted 48! Certainly not a very efficient design, but I hope I have achieved my aim to tat a lifelike goldfish. I used a number of shades of orange, but mainly Flora 20 threads, and 3 shades of orange sequins.

The head looks a bit bare with just outline, but I couldn't think of putting any motif inside for fearing of "distorting" the look, as what happened to Barney. What do you think ?