a hearty spread

Nicola’s Hearts

3 heart patterns by Nicola Bowersox

A few weeks back, Nicola shared some lovely hearts on Craftree (and her facebook group). I had intended to tat her Kiss Curl heart again. This seemed like the perfect time to accomplish some heartfelt tatting. And try my tatting needles, too :-)

click on blue text for pattern source

Blue Heart

I had recently bought beads and was excited to try some out, despite being larger than what the pattern called for (the purple one below). See the ruffling for yourself, despite adding a stitch on each chain. Abandoned. 
And back to a more sedate colour, in keeping with the name Blue Heart. 

As usual, I measured and made the picots on which to load beads later, rather than dangle beads and paperclips.

Time to try my new tatting needles (my first foray into needle tatting here).....

Kiss Curl Heart

Kiss Curl Heart is the perfect start to needle tatting since it is 95% chains. Started with Lizbeth size 40 and I deliberately tatted tighter to resemble shuttle tatting. I did get nice stitches, but see how it left my needle (pic below) !!! Good thing I have another set of needles (where did I keep them now ?!)

Also, there is a mistake – for some weird reason I got disoriented when it came to making the ring - look closely and you'll see the twist. Luckily my questions were answered in class ("think of it as a SCMR" - thank you ☺) and when I tried again with size 20, it went smoothly. Except this time my stitches were a bit too loose in order to keep needle intact ;-P

So much for my NT foray – I will stick to my shuttles for the present. I do hope to use to the needles for some elements (Celtic, interlocking, ..) and definitely as a beading needle (this is what I used for the Radiant Sun paperclip ;-P )

Oh, and the 3^rd time (pink with gold one above), I did it with my trusted shuttle – I wanted to do justice to her pattern. My notes on the earlier yellow one helped – start with RODS (backside) chain to get the curl on the left. Wanted to take a combo pic of all 4, but seems I’ve already gifted it away.

New Heart

New Heart is another pretty pattern. I used 2 strands of pink embroidery thread, and 1 strand of gold. 

NOTES for shuttle tatting : 2 shuttles, directional or fs/bs tatting :

Rings 1 to 9, tatted clockwise from front with shuttle 1, without RW.

Chains 10 to 14, tatted clockwise from front with shuttle 2, without RW.

Ring 15 is tatted frontside, with shuttle 1. (thus, SS before and after Ring 15).

Chains 16 to 24, tatted clockwise from front with shuttle 2, without RW.

Chains 25 to 26, tatted backside with shuttle 2.

Individual tatting tensions differ. I increased a couple of stitches for these 2 chains to get a nice arch.

All chains are lock joined to previous elements.

This is how the pink really looks, though it was still hard to get the subtle gold sparkle across. 

Nicola’s patterns are not only pretty, but very well presented and clear. Though written for needle tatting, they are easy to shuttle-tat. These little hearts are quick to tat up, whatever the tatting tool ! 
I thoroughly enjoyed myself !

Many many thanks, Nicola, for sharing your warm hearts J

a hearty tatting to you all :-)))