2016 Year Long 24 Snowflake Tat-Along

I am so happy to see this has been moving on without me!

I made one more. It has a mistake, it was hard to block, I neve rgot to really blokcing an photographing it.

I have not totally given up yet...

Oy... time for a break from Renulek's Spring 2016,,, time for an easy snowflake.

Snowflakes are always a wonderful break. They always make me smile.

I am catching up, I did some tatting on holiday this time a coach holiday through Europe, motorways get boring after a while so I sat and tatted, may not be my best tatting but at least I did some, day 10 and 11 finished 12 last night, still have to block it and not doing 13 then I am going back to something else. I missed out 8 and 9 they look nasty, so will do one of the others to make up for them.

No tatting, but I got my sewing machine back from the hospital.. major surgery, everything sparkly clean and no old oil dust, lint clogging up the works. So yesterday I took a quilting class! New project. Tatting embellished, of course.

Ah, @Judy, that reminds me that I need to give some attention to my mother's sewing machine. It's a Pfaff she received for her wedding (in 1957). A repairman came some months ago and got it working. But after he left, I messed with one of the dials, and it got stuck in zig-zag mode...

The old machines with metal parts are more reliable than the new ones with plastic parts..... so says my repairman.

Yes, that's right, @Judy. Unfortunately, my old Pfaff has a mix of metal and plastic parts! It could do some repeat patterns. Very advanced for its time.

in reply to Judy's post:

Eager to see your quilting blocks adorned with tatting ! Isn't it a great sensation to sew on a well-serviced machine :-)
I totally agree about the parts - my Mom's 60 year old Singer is still running fine, with hardly any repairs required, except for her own regular maintenance. Fully steel body & parts.
My own Singer Fashion Maker (21 years old, imported from Japan) has plastic parts, which frequently break :-( Thankfully, the body is steel & solidly durable. A couple of years back, the Singer serviceman changed the axle (?) to a steel/metal one & assured us that now it will not need hospitalization ;-P
I prefer getting my appliances repaired & upgraded rather than buy new ones ... all servicemen (from different high-end brands) have the same thing to say : now the appliances have plastic/molded bodies & parts which 'melt' after 2-3 years. Not surprising coz the cost has remained more of less the same even after 2 decades ! Naturally the quality suffers :-(

In the 60's, 70's, many old treadle machines found their way to Native American women on reservations where there might be a community center light, but no electricity at their home. Those treadle machines were also hard to break. That's still true in some cases, so I'd say the machines are probably still in use.

I have my grandmother's 1913 White treadle sewing machine and it has always worked perfectly all these years... With only a few drops of oil now and then and a rare cleaning. I use to sew all my kids clothes, quilts, jeans, even a riding pad, and have even sewn leather on it..... And my thumb! It has way more power than any electric I've ever used.

Well..... it is looking rather doubtful that I will succeed at getting my 24 snowflakes done by the end of the year.... and I was so optimistic!! Life and distractions have won out again!

@IdahoCanuck, don't feel bad. In February I knew I could blow through the patterns. I think I got 5. Life does happen. But sometime I will finish it. Just not this year.

Me too... I will try again next year, LOL!

in reply to IdahoCanuck's post:

Joining the club ;-D
Started in February. Completed 15 + 2 adaptations . I enjoyed myself thoroughly, experimenting and playing, and will be completing the remaining snowflakes in the coming months.
Hope to work through my other books similarly, but mixing them up rather than a single book.
Thanks for the challenge @soyloquesoy :-)

I got 4 done........

I got 22 done, but the last two I started, but I don't like how to look, so I stopped both of them. Now I am too busy with my aunt, who got diagnostic with cancer, so I don't feel the very good and don't do a lot of tatting right now. Too much work to do to get all sorted out.
Merry Christmas to all

Yes, my snowflakes project is another "to be continued..." in 2017

@swissgirl - sorry to hear about your aunt's cancer! I'll remember you both in prayer.

I myself did a lot of tatting when accompanying my brother and my mother through their cancer journeys. It helped me to stay calm! It was only right at the end that things got too hectic and exhausting to do tatting.

Wish I'd spotted this thread this time last year! I just started this book(have the first one done), and had to stop till I have the time to figure out the stitch counts for the second one. Ms. Bjorn didn't put them on the diagram for the original edition, and I don't read Finnish. I've been working my way through all the snowflake books this year, to make a sampler book. My one year project is going to end up being a two year project, since I only got through six of the books so far. I settled early on with Lizbeth's "Blue Ice". If you want to add a little interest to your snowflakes without having to fiddle with beads, this variagated thread is super! I love how it looks made up.

"Festive Tatting" by Marion Leyds
"Tatting For Today" by Marion Leyds
"Snowflakes" by Vida Sunderman(love this one!)
"Snowflake Roses" by Denise Munoz
"A Veritable Tatted Blizzard" by Samantha Melnychuk
"Teeny Tatted Snowflakes" by Samantha Melnychuk

Denise Munoz's book was the most difficult for me, and I'm still not completely happy with them, but they lie flat and are geometrically even. Starching and blocking helped. I look forward to starting the new year adding Lene Bjorn's book to the completed list. :)

in reply to moraih's post:

Wow, you've already completed 6 books ! I haven't gone through a single one yet
Would Love to see pics of your snowflakes, Leigh - where are they ???
I totally agree about the Blue Ice thread - have seen it being used to great effect in snowflakes.
So where are your pics

@swissgirl, sorry for your aunt's illness. You were the most methodic of the ones joining, weren't you?

You are welcome @muskaan! Sorry I have not kept up with everyone's activity. I am going to be all optimistic and propose a new 24 Snowflake Challenge for 2017: Just do two snowflakes a month. From any book, source or even design your own!

Does that sound like fun to you people?

in reply to soyloquesoy's post:

Ooh, that does sound fun! Particularly the design challenge...

in reply to moraih's post:

I too would love to see pics!