smiling together

Ninetta recently surprised me with a thoughtful and gorgeous gift on my birthday. She sent me the pattern for her cute little flowers which she named after my moniker Muskaan which means Smile! What an honour! This sweet Hiding Lady knows how to impress and she shared the Smiling Flowers (rose) pattern here -- https://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/2024/07/smiling-flowers.html 

This is my adapted application into a rakhi/bracelet choosing to represent our tricolour (tiranga) Indian flag. This month we celebrate our Independence Day and Raksha Bandhan just days apart.

Saffron Marigold impression - Marigolds are considered pure and auspicious flowers and you will find them during any Hindu festival or ceremony.

It largely follows Ninetta's instructions except for the petals on the 2nd row where I used graduated treble tatting with 4 wraps. 

(For graduated tds, refer - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/07/multiples.html)

 

White Lotus impression - Lotus is our national flower and also symbolizes purity and peace. 

Although not very clear in the pics, the 2nd round petals have distinctly graduated tds with a pointed tip. Instead of 5tds, there are 7 tds with 1tds(1,3), 1tds(1,4), 1tds(1,5), 1tds(2,6), and ditto on the other side with 5, 4, 3 wraps.   

(For notations, refer - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2020/05/double-trouble-motif.html)

Blue Center - Clear blue bicone faceted crystals at the center for the Ashok Chakra in the center of our flag. I didn't have any blue bead larger than this.

Tempted to tat one more round of petals for the marigold but I desisted for two reasons - one, I ran out of thread; two, how can a marigold be larger than a lotus, LOL.

( Find treble tatting tutorial/video links here - https://ninettacaruso.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_95.html and on my Tatting Resources page.)

Green Leaves - The third colour of our tricolour is green which symbolizes prosperity, vitality.

Ninetta used the tds rings as calyx for her flowers. I used it to make leaves with more tds and some graduation.

Tatted continuously with a single shuttle, the leaf clusters are connected with a ring braid with pulled loop joins (leave bare thread at the back of the ring and make a lock join to the picot). This will act like a frame to secure the flowers.

Assembled together and attached to a doubled string of beads (12 on one side, 14 on the other for that 'gap'). All sewn in.

The beads are actually silver - like silver lining clouds against a blue sky.

So this is my Rakhi/Bracelet 2024 from Ninetta's beautiful pattern! Over the years, I have often used the tricolour to celebrate August 15th (including Har Ghar Tiranga with the 75 year old coin), and have also shared some of my tatted rakhis. 

And making short work, I am submitting this for Natalie Rogers' PICOT Bingo game, crossing off three boxes --- Treble Tatting Stitch , Add Beads , and Tat a Bracelet! 

Oh, and I used Anchor Pearl Cotton, size 8, throughout. 

I find the treble tatting stitch quite addictive! I honestly didn't want to stop tatting. If it weren't for the thread and time running out, I would've continued!

In my haste, though I forgot to add a clasp to the beaded ends!

Small 3D flowers always remind me of Carollyn Brown who had made it her personal goal to tat one floral sprig every month for a year! She always managed to amaze me. You can find her blog here - https://tennbrown.blogspot.com/2020/11/

And adding to the all-encompassing nature of this post, this rakhi/bracelet in flag colours is my August submission to splocik's Small Decorations game. Please do head over to the July gallery to check out the talented and diverse submissions compiled there - https://splocik2.blogspot.com/2024/08/male-dekoracje-2024-galeria-lipcowa.html

Thank you my dear partner in crime, Ninetta, for the honour and friendship you bestowed on me. It is precious! Keep smiling, always :-)))