muskaan's T*I*P*S

Monday, 27 July 2026

calling them done

Several pieces of my tatted lace over the past months are 'incomplete' if one considers the respective pattern. Yet, I am calling them done. And interestingly, most patterns here were gifted to me by kind and friendly tatters. In no particular order .....

Dora Young's Round Pinwheel doily - from All New Knotless Tatting Designs (1974).

Back in April I had wondered how to continue since I had run out of thread. And Jane McLellan commented 'to leave it as it is'. Sound advice 'coz I really like these arches better than the final circle it turns into.

Against a different background where the grey shows up.

In Anchor perle size 8. the diameter is 17.5cm.

There is a slight overlap at the dips in the arches but that's fine - hardly even visible. And hubby is quite happy with this on his table!

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/04/2d-solid-tatting.html

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Centri Rotondo - from Il Lavaro Chiacchierino 7, Mani di Fata (1994)

A while back there was a post in a FB group which mentioned Cyprus tatting where continuous tatting involved simply leaving bare thread right up to the point in the next round where the next element starts. This is visible unlike Mlle Riego who kept the bare thread at the back of work.

I used this doily pattern, leaving off all decorative picots, to show this spiralling climbing out.

Only 5 rounds tatted in Anchor size 40 measuring 10cm in diameter. Yet I had to snip off two rounds because there was cupping, but I re-tatted only one adding 2ds to the chains. I have come to the conclusion that my chains are more snug than normal.

The pattern was gifted to me, along with her hand-drawn sketch, by Anna Bertini.

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2020/02/not-one-ring.html

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April Fool's Rose Circle (2016) -

This is merely the center motif which gets repeated in a later round of the doily pattern. This single round in Red Rose perle size 8. measures 9cm in diameter. The full pattern was gifted to me by Erika Tashiro. Hopefully I will complete it some day, but with different threads. Not happy with this perle cotton as seen in the stitches and imagine my surprise when the dye ran!!!

This angle highlights the raised/3D effect where the rings of a running scroll are interlaced one over the other and joined to create Celtic Interlacing and a realistic-looking rose motif. The pattern has very clear colour-coded diagrams, yet I found it easier to refer to my own sketches to confirm how the rings were inserted into each other.

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.co m/2021/05/rosebud-heart.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/04/honoured-and-humbled.html

And remember Lauretta Tondelli's Interlaced Onion Rings earring (2024)?

Notice how it uses the same technique to interlace the three rings in an onion ring. In this case, however, the rings get kind of squished resulting in different shapes. This is the only piece I tatted, but single earring is not a new phenomenon for me ;-P

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Its been a while since I crossed out another box in Natalie's PICOT Bingo 2026 Level 2. This time I am offering the above two models for Celtic Tatting box. (Details: https://www.patreon.com/posts/happy-new-year-147124370 )

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My heartiest thanks to all named in this post (and some who wish to remain anonymous)

Wednesday, 22 July 2026

angels needed

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Tamie Montgomery who has taken over the baton from Georgia Seitz and has been successfully conducting classes through The Online Tatting Class (TOTC), has organised a Heavenly Angels Challenge for a charity drive. She is looking for angel patterns and designers who can share their patterns for the drive.

She has been asking in several FB groups, including in our Endrucks group. So when I contacted her, this is what she wrote to me some days back -

"There is a charity foundation that I am trying to get involved with to share tatting around the world. I have students from all walks of life and different countries. I thought a good way to get everyone involved in sharing their love of the art is to open up a charity drive and make it a challenge.

The rules are this. I will start the challenge off by nominating 5 tatters and they each have to tat 5 angels. Each one must be different. Then once they tat their 5 angels and send them to a local branch of this particular charity then they nominate 5 tatters to tat 5 angels. Where the designers come in is we need more angel patterns to choose from and I am asking designers to design 1 angel then everyone can choose from the patterns listed on the website from each designer. The patterns will be located on the designers page. This will also drive traffic to each designer's website who participates. So if they are monetized then they will make a few dollars for their time and effort.

The charity is Angel Tree Foundation. They put paper angels on the Christmas trees and people pick an angel off the tree and the angel will have a child's name on it. They will then purchase a gift for that child for christmas and it will be a gift from an Angel. Churches and childrens hospitals all participate in this charity all over the world. The children that the Angels on the trees in Churches are underprivileged Children. Children's hospital's participating are children who are very sick and may not see another Christmas. It gives them hope and love. The person donating the gift keeps the tatted Angel as a thank you for being an Angel.

Now for the overseas people we want them to give to the local children's charities in their country if there is none then give a sick child an Angel to watch over them. Small things to sick little ones are big to them.

The Challenge's name is Heavenly Angel's Challenge."

She has now opened a dedicated page for the event with details and links to patterns/sites and you can read about it here - https://www.theonlinetattingclass.com/tatting-angels-tribute

- 3D model only -

On behalf of the Endrucks 1920 Project, we are offering the patterns we already have. You can find them in the Angels and Tree Ornaments from Endrucks directory here - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MVEEhKE79euD mOY65Es95rYihb5P9UcqmAJWG5qw4Ws/view or scroll down for individual PDF links.

E7 The Slim and The Chubby Angels by Ninetta Caruso (2022) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sHQfHC2Al-o5dGE0tTRhuhwajN0QRB5D/view

E12 Angel in White (one pass) (page7) and its coloured version E12 Sky Blue Angel (page11) by Krystyna Mura (2021) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E26K3FFgHygdkEKUvVHn-f0MFlENDsqA/view

The 3D model of E12 Christmas Angel at the lead is also part of this document but without a dedicated pattern.

E22 Eleonore's Li'l Angel by Muskaan (2015) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5MqI5ByadI4RmRhS3ZBeDVjcnc/view

E37 Endrucks' Angel n Bell by Margaret Davies (2022) - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aq202-ESOzP_DLlA1bQ1mz3unyTTrpwr/view

For different versions of this E37 Angel with beads, halo, etc., scroll through the images in these posts -
https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/12/tagme-roundup-1.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2022/12/tagme-roundup-2.html
https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2023/03/tagme-roundup-3.html

All the above patterns are free to use but please give credit to the designers and use the hashtag #Endrucks1920Project if you post online.

Many thanks to all designers for their willingness to share.

With best wishes ... keep your shuttles busy ...

Sunday, 19 July 2026

flowers and fire

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a tatted piece by Donna McDade (2024)
Temperature Tat-Along designed by Helga

I first came to know Donna McDade when she participated in the DAL Celtic Snowflake challenge in 2024, designing the 3rd round in Five versions! We've been communicating off and on since then. And last year she participated with 7+1 versions of the 2025 DAL! Her twin passions include quilting and tatting and a lot of her tatted pieces get appliqued to her quilts as you witnessed with motifs from both the design alongs.

Below is her 3D Ruched Flowers quilt top and ...

"I received the first place award in the national American Heritage fiber contest. There were over 3,000 entries in all the categories. The award was for "3D Ruched Flowers" unquilted top."
She is actually a descendant of George Washington!

Below are some close-up pics of three blocks to show some ruching details ...

Basket 1 - Sunflowers

Basket 3

Basket 4 - Cactus

This was the Daughters of American Revolution (DAR) 2025 event and she also won the state level award for the same quilt top!

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This year again her quilt titled 'Words Catching Fire' placed first at the Daughters of American Revolution (DAR) at the National level! She had sent me the story as a PDF file several months back at a time when she was uncertain if her quilt would be accepted or not! However, time slipped by and I couldn't blog about it and now her article is published in the latest IOLI Bulletin! The symbolism and acute focus on the topic is worth reading about to fully appreciate the thought and work Donna put in. Here is the link to her original PDF - https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ABNIRSEKrfwj4lzuy-RgTBKDIZxFXX80/view

As you can see in the images below, there is ample use of tatting, besides embroidery, applique, quilting, etc. and her choice of colours and shapes provides an additional layer to the entire story of the 250 year celebrations this year.

bird's eye view of the quilt

embroidered crown of King George III

each piece here, each colour here, has a reason, a purpose.

words scattered around, but not randomly!

tatted words catching fire!

tatted impression of the Stars and Stripes

This quilted montage is a passionate representation of the role of women in the revolution. I hope you read the detailed story in the link above to understand and appreciate why she won the top award... how could she not!

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Yet another feather in this unstoppable and ever-young octogenarian is her newsletter! She started the Queen City Lace Makers (Ohio) Newsletter (a chapter of IOLI) late last year and has sent me 5 out of the 7 published so far! Within the first couple of newsletters one could see how much she learned and improved the presentation, layout, and format! From absolute novice to professional in a matter of 7 newsletters!!!

Her group works on several different types of crafts and laces such as bobbin lace, crochet, knitting, and tatting, too. There is always lots of practical and inspirational information in the newsletters and often a pattern as well. In the latest issue #7 (June 2026), she included a pic of my Buttercup Trellis bracelet that applies the split/SCMR technique.

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Congratulations, Donna ... well-deserved!

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