Valentine's Day 2012

Frivole’s ‘Happy Heart’ Pattern

Frivole’s excellent pattern (see link below) came just in time to be tatted for Valentine’s Day!   It is so generous of her to offer it to us!   This is a quick tat, has a perfect shape, and I think it represents a ‘classic tatting’ look, in a small motif. (Tatted in size 20, Lizbeth Christmas red, the tatting is about an inch and a half across.)

I am delighted that the tatted heart fits perfectly into a metal heart pendant I’ve had for quite awhile (from one of the craft stores). The pendant is solid metal, with a center indentation.    

I cut a heart shape out of black velvet, sticky-backed paper and inserted it in the indented area, then added the tatted heart with glue stick. It really ‘pops’ against the black background.


I also added one of my adhesive scrapbook embellishments for 'bling'.
It covers the 'open space' of the heart, and hides only the center chain.

The feature of this clever pattern is the use of Catherine Wheel joins on the outside chains; however, I did not quite master those joins!    In Marilee’s excellent video (see link below), she uses different thread colors for the shuttle and ball, and very clearly shows how to do the CW join correctly!

Because I was using only red thread, I wasn’t quite sure which thread (shuttle or ball) I was pulling up into the loop.    (In my defense, I was also working on it late at night when I should have been asleep!)

I certainly plan to tat this heart again, in many colors.   Even without the metal ‘frame’,  it’s a perfect size for a pendant, just by itself.

Here is the beaded necklace to which I attached the pendant.   It is one of my ‘converted’ beaded eyeglass leashes (I added the two large red beads).   I am pleased with the way it turned out!

I put together a silk flower arrangement for Valentine’s Day, and under the vase is a lovely tatted doily, which I‘ve shown before in photos in my blog.

The doily was a lucky find at a local shop, and the shop owner was delighted that it was going home with a tatter.   She had found it at an antique store and has no idea of its history. The tatting is a wide lace attached to a linen circle and is perfectly executed. I believe the thread is size 70 or 80.

Here are the links: 

Frivole's Happy Heart pattern:
http://leblogdefrivole.blogspot.com/2012/02/happy-heart-gift-for-you.html 

Marilee’s 'Catherine Wheel Join' Video
http://yarnplayertats.blogspot.com/2011/03/catherine-wheel-join-my-video-demo.html 

*   *   *

After a snowy, blowy weekend, with temps in the single digits, I am glad that Valentine’s Day tomorrow will be ‘warmer’ , in the high 30s, although we may again have some snow showers.   It is, after all, still winter.