Small Heart Pattern–free–just in time for VD

Just realized that I had easy access to these patterns digitally so decided to share them with you.

Since it soooooo close to VD, I am including the smallest heart pattern with hopes that you could get it done by VD.

Enjoy!

Textiles/Tatting at the Denver Art Museum

 

This is another post about my trip a couple of weeks ago to Denver, Colorado. The purpose of the trip was to help my daughter move from Omaha, NE to Denver where she is starting grad school in counseling (I’m so proud). I have already posted a couple of observations and exhibits previously. The last day I was there, we decided that we had had enough of the ‘moving thing’ and opted to go downtown to the Denver Art Museum (DAM). We kinda screwed up by spending too much time in another part of Denver and didn’t allow ourselves ample enough time to explore the DAM to the extent it deserves. DD & I found ourselves choosing which exhibits we most wanted to see. I chose the TEXTILE Exhibit and was very pleasantly surprised by what I found there.

 

One gallery had a quilt exhibit. Since I have been studying historical quilt blocks and recreating them into my Quilt-Inspired Split Ring Tatting series, I was interested in this. As is usually my experience when viewing quilts (in a museum or at a run-of-the-mill local quilt show) I soon get overwhelmed by the incredible details in them.

 

DAM quilt on display featuring a picture created from small squares of fabric. Substitute rings for the squares and it could be a future SRTatting Design!

 

A second gallery had THE MOST WONDERFUL introduction to Textiles as ART. I WENT CRAZY WITH the joy of seeing such a comprehensive approach to the introductuction of using fibers to create art.

 

The exhibit was split into 3 different categories:

1. Intro to what are fibers, spinning, weaving, dying process to create fabric
2. Needlework Art
3. Lace Art

Lace ART Exhibits

Tatting Display

 

L: Tatting shuttles, R: 2 GR-8 shuttles & what looks like one of Gary/Randy Houtz’s pattern, almost completed.

 

Traditional and Modern tatting examples. The modern is ‘Hyperbolic Tatting’–a mathmatical approach to tatting design–genius!

 

Tatting Exhibit with a quote from HM The Queen of Romania–a famous tatter

 

Sol Lace Exhibit Part 1

 

Sol Lace Exhibit Part 2

 

I will be teaching a 6-hour class on Sol/Teneriffe Lace at the 2015 IOLI Convention this coming August…..Come have fun with me exploring a simple yet fun technique of lacemaking.

Bobbin Lace Exhibit Part 1

 

Needle Lace Exhibit

Battenberg/Tape Lace Exhibit

 

Needle Lace Exhibit part 2

 

Filet Lace Exhibit

 

Historical Split Ring Tatting Pattern #7 (Anne Orr)

Anne Orr Pattern #7 from Cross-Stitch and Tatting, Book No. 14 (published by J. & P. Coats Co., 1923)

Go to this address and click on the appropriate link to the PDF pattern you are interested in:
Anne Orr's SRT Patterns Illustrated by The ShuttleSmith

Interesting Fiber Art Exhibits in Denver

My daughter and I decided that after 3 days of moving her into her new apartment in Denver that we would take one day to sightsee around Denver.

 

We went to a really wonderful neighborhood on Broadway that had alot of great antique, thrift and other stores. We ate at an Argentinian cafe called Maria Empanada, which I highly recommend–the mushroom torta is ‘to die for’. While in the Broadway neighborhood I saw my first ‘yarn-bombing’–a bicycle rack covered in knitted and crocheted squares.

According to Wikipedia: Yarn bombing, yarnbombing, yarn storming, guerrilla knitting, kniffiti, urban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk.

DD behind a ‘Yarn-bombed’ Bike Rack in Denver, CO

Then we went downtown to the Denver Art Museum (DAM) where we saw the following exhibit that sparked my Fiber-Art-Loving interest.

Me (The ShuttleSmith) and DD at DAM (I’m the old/fat one)

DD peaking out from the Blanket exhibit at DAM–notice tags that tell each blanket’s story

This was a relatively new exhibit (Sept 2013) in which blankets were donated & collected from the community along with stories about the blankets meaning and memories to the owner. Each blanket has a tag attached to it with its ‘story’. The stories were published in a book (one was located next to the exhibit). The blankets were stacked (quite high) to become part of a permanent artwork and blanket story column installed in the American Indian art gallery. The artist’s (Marie Watt) work is centered around community, particularly through her use of wool blankets. Wouldn’t this be an interesting way to accumulate other fiber art pieces such as lace, doilies, dish towels, etc. to preserve historical memories to bygone times?!?!?!

Lace Plates found in a Denver Thrift Store

 

Rosanna (TM) Venetian Lace Plates
 

 

While in a Denver thrift store (looking for items for my daughter’s new apartment) I found 4 of these ceramic plates. The photo above is from the internet and shows all 4 designs. I have only 3 different designs–I have 2 copies of one design.

From what I can tell, they are still available for purchase. However, the price I paid of $2.50 each makes my thrift store purchase a bargain.

In my research I found the following items in the same design series. Darn it! that Christmas is over—I could have put these on my ‘Want List’.

'Tatting' seen in Denver--1

Last weekend I had a bit of an adventure ('adventure' defined as something other than being home, doing what I typically do at home). I helped my 24 y/o daughter drive her car and move from Omaha, NE (where we live) to Denver, CO (where she will be starting grad school in counseling at No. CO Univ.) We drove out on Saturday and had her new apartment waiting for our arrival that evening. It was an uneventful trip with the minor exception of a fairly crazy head/side wind on I-80 across the plains of Nebraska. I took Monday and Tuesday off of work to have a mini vacation in Denver. Most of the time was spent shopping for things she needed for her new apartment, including a bed, as well as moving in her possessions (all moved in the back of her car--so not too much stuff) & setting stuff up.

I wasn't planning on having any tatting-related sightings. But while shopping for a bed, I was pleasantly surprised to see this backpack at a restaurant that had lace on it. Upon further observation, it had tatted designs on it. And when I really started looking, the tatted designs were high-level SPLIT RING TATTING motifs!!!!!

The girl who was wearing the backpack thought I was a crazy woman to be so interested in her backpack. I told her I was a 'lacemaker' and that was why I was so interested....but I don't think that she had a clue as to what that meant. She did (somewhat grudgingly) allow me to photograph it (though she mentioned that I was to purchase her lunch for her--which I ignored.)

This is a very interesting backpack!!!! When I got home, I did a little bit of research on it. The company is Dakine and is made/sold from Oregon. This particular model is from 2013 but is no longer available/for sale. I WANT ONE!!! I think that the model is called Prom Crochet. If you click on the photos (especially the top one) you should get a enlarged, fairly crisp view of the intricasies of the design. The tatting is crazy cool! A lacemaker, especially a tatter had to have been the one to design the pattern. I have no idea how to research this any further.

I will be posting OTHER Lace, Tatting, & Fiber Art related sighting from this same trip in further posts---coming soon.

Catch up since Palmetto Tat Days

My collection of Ann Orre SRT Edgings
 

Since I've been back from Palmetto Tat Days I have been busy with Tatting-related activities.

For starters, I am and a friend drove from Omaha to Indianapolis, IN to go to Tatting Corner's Tatting Workshop.  It was a lovely weekend and I got to meet some new tatters.  Jennifer Titus has quite the 'Tatting Empire' set up in a quiet, countryside location.  However, the future of the shop is still up in the air (last time I checked) as Jennifer was going to be moving and starting a new chapter in her life.

I was selected to teach two tatting classes and a Teneriffe/Sol Lace Class at next years IOLI Convention in Iowa City, Iowa. 

I am sooo excited about the upcoming IOLI Convention in 2015 for several reasons:

1. It is in my ‘backyard': I live in Nebraska and the convention is being hosted by the Doris Southard Lace Guild in Iowa City, Iowa. The actual address is Coralville, but Coralville is a suburb of Iowa City
2.  I’m teaching–It gives me the excuse to work up design ideas into a book and class format. I loove the design/tatting work!
3. The theme of the convention is “Lace on the Prairie”. I, being a Nebraska farmer’s daughter, embody that idea completely. I grew up ‘on the prairie’ and learned tatting from my maternal grandmother. Later I found out that my paternal grandmother AND grandfather (a farmer) also tatted.  I truly am a 'Lacemaker of the Prairie".
4. On of my tatting classes is titled "Quilt-Inspired Fun with Split Ring Tatting".  I have been having lots of fun studying historic quilt patterns and then recreating them in tatting.  More about all of this in future posts.