DAL2026 roundup 2

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 So let's just continue to enjoy what emerged from Muskaan's DAL 2026 Challenge where you have to design additional round(s) on the given base/foundation motif. Details: https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/08/time-to-play-again.html   

Continuing from https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/08/dal2026-roundup-1.html 

7. Anita Barry - She has played so many of my games! And this time she has remembered Frau Endrucks through the little blocks in her round.

(pattern awaited)

8. Donna McDade - the one who put it into my head about the next DAL and because of whom this 2026 challenge came about! And as always she tatted 8 starter motifs to add rounds to, 4 of which she has already completed with patterns! She says her motifs are not blocked yet.

Version 1 - her upside down clover round.

(pattern ready)

Version 2 - Using up some of her leftover stars from her award-winning quilt.

(pattern ready)

Version 3 - Clever application of colour with frequent use of the shoelace trick! I call it the Mind-Twister motif.

(pattern received)

Version 4 - Snail!!! Who would've thought to use the square motif to create a snail?! And she has something up her sleeve which will be revealed at the very end .... curious.

(pattern ready)

9. Ninetta Caruso - If Donna takes top position in the number of versions she is tatting, Ninetta is at the top for the number of rounds she has added - 9 rounds!!!

(pattern awaited)

10. Linda Mazerat - created 2 rounds for this very elegant motif with 'trees' in the corners. But guess what? She only learned tatting in February this year!!!! And this is her first attempt at designing. Could've fooled me - it is so professional and masterful.

"I had a great time participating in this challenge. That's when we realize that creating a pattern is not that easy." 

She has also started tatting more of this motif for a runner. She uploaded a video on Instagram.

(pattern received)

11. Marie-helene Longau - She readily 'accepted the challenge' and added 3 rounds in this beautiful motif!

(pattern ready in French & English)

12. Silvana Buonvino - has been quite active in our Endrucks group and here she added several rounds to the base motif. The 7 additional colourful rounds create a rangoli or mandala effect.

Silvana let her shuttles do the work and is regretful that she does not remember the counts.

(no pattern) 

13. Muskaan - I've already shared my thoughts here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/08/my-round-3.html and no progress on the pattern presentation. Got busy with all the rest that have arrived ;-P

(pattern in the works)

14. KRine créatif - This is KRine's first attempt at designing, too! I think she did a really nice job and I love how well her colours fit. She even sent in her diagram!

She tried many and finally chose this as her last model for now. She has decided to train on patterns shared by professional designers to understand and learn and return to improve on the above piece when she has gained more experience. We wish her well!

(pattern ready)

There has been some incidental consequences and learning pertaining to this challenge. I have already touched upon some and will share more in the next post. 

... to be continued ...

There are no words that can fully express my gratitude to each of you for participating so enthusiastically and creating more beauty!

DAL2026 roundup 1

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 So many DAL 2026 models have come in that it is better to start sharing in batches than to wait till the end. Fewer pics also mean you get to enjoy and admire each one at a better pace. For now I have arranged them according to the designer who first uploaded an image whether it was competed or not. But for the roundup, I chose only the completed projects. Plenty of time for the WIPs to work on their designs and/or tatting. 

I have privately shared the Google doc with all participants - it contains all details and entries and pattern links, but will make it public at a later date when more patterns are converted into PDFs. So let's just enjoy what emerged from Muskaan's DAL 2026 Challenge where you have to design additional round(s) on the given base/foundation motif. Details: https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/08/time-to-play-again.html

1. Sheetal Kakodkar - Her very first time designing and after her 3rd round design she was so motivated that she added two more and was happy with the result!!! I'm happy, too.

(pattern awaited)

2. Carolyn Craig - went on a spree belting out Five additional rounds, one of them with 'flat solid tatting'. Then she thought that since the center motif was square, perhaps I was looking for an ultimate square. So, she got to work again with another round and also filled in the large open space with pretty motifs. And now she has gone back to her 3D birds, refreshed with this break. 

(patterns received)

3. Barbara Arango - tried out her round in one pass but later modified the design and added two rounds. She even tatted this twice since the first piece had some experimentation.

(pattern ready)

4. Jagruti Joshi - quickly worked a 3rd round which imitated the 2nd round. Her use of vibrant colours makes it look like a flower in full bloom.

(pattern ready)

5. Julie Villegas - created a nice square motif with lots of thrown rings.

(pattern ready)

6. Wanda Salmans - was in a tatting slump and this challenge brought her out of it! She created two versions and shared her thoughts in her blog here - https://wandasknottythoughts.blogspot.com/2026/08/muskaans-2026-dal-design-long.html

(patterns awaited)

As you might have noticed, several patterns have been received and are in the process of being presented as PDFs. Instead of putting all patterns in the master doc, this time I am creating separate PDFs for each and sharing the link there. I think it looks more organised and focused and tatters might also find it easier to download and work with it. 

to be continued ....

Many many thanks to each and every one of my dear participants!!! You make these challenges worthwhile!

my round 3

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I started and finished tatting the 3rd round of my DAL 2026 Challenge yesterday morning. Gave it a simple damp, rolling pin block in the evening and took pics at night. Today I started to prepare a presentation for the pattern (as a PDF file) and finished diagramming and also notating and uploading the pics in this post. But writing the blog post could only be accomplished now at night. Happy to present my swirling type of motif...

In Anchor and Red Rose size 20, the final motif is a bit more than 8cms across, tip to tip.

While I worked it in 3 separate rounds, it can be worked continuously with split rings and a split chain.

 For a long time I couldn't get my head into designing mode for the DAL 2026 challenge. Ruth Perry had suggested adding the inner motif and then filing up the space between them. I decided to give it a go.

Ugh, I didn't like my working one bit! Snipped it off and sketched the base motif on grid paper and tried out a simple round.

Mind you, there is two models where these rosettes have been used very effectively! So the fault lies in me.

I tend to sketch with a light hand which is why this is the best I could achieve in a photograph.

I laid the base motif on the grid, aligned it such that the center point was on a point on the paper, etc. Then I made points with the pencil through the picots - notice dark dots? Then I roughly drew the rosette and scroll. Thus this sketch was to scale and it was easy to draw the 3rd round and guestimate the size of the rings, etc.

 

Well, the chains arr way more curved than in the diagram but I kind of like it this way, too. I also experimented with the 2nd repeat, joining the large ring to the previous chain, but didn't like it. 

The small rings were supposed to be in line with the large rings. This would happen if there were stabilising picot(s) - joining to the large ring and to the chain. 

Again. I took the lazy way out and opted to see what would happen.

I like the slight angle! I think it adds to the sense of movement that the chains created. Which is why I didn't even try to block them straight. Au contraire ;-P

I hope to be able to share the Google doc with all participants and their models soon. Waiting for patterns to come in and do some of my own cleaning up. By the way, I am now officially 16th on the list of participants ;-P 

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A confession.

Are you wondering about the pair of motifs below? Hmm. I had made a mistake!

The one on the left is the original motif which I put in the challenge post - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/08/time-to-play-again.html 

However, it was only when I sat down to design the 3rd round and referred to the post and diagram did I realise that one count was incorrect! The rings in round 2 were 8+8, not 6+6! 

But nobody complained about cupping, etc. So, instead of confusing issues at this late date, I tatted another following the diagram just like everybody else.

As you can see, this one on the right is a more defined square. And it seems to have worked structurally too. 

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For previous design-alongs - 

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search?q=DAL 

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search?q=design-along

help please

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 The DAL 2026 challenge is progressing nicely with 13 participants already sending in their start and/or finished models and a commitment from two others. Some have made/are making multiple versions and/or multiple rounds!!! Some have designed for the first time, but looking at their models, you wouldn't ever guess that! It is so exciting and inspiring. 

Since my blog has been silent for a couple of weeks, here's a quick write-up where I need your help.

This is an onion ring motif I created using Anne Fairchild's Skylark Join which works well to join both chains as well as true rings to a picot that lies below the current work. It is an old join (the Lark's Head Join) with a new function or application.

So here's where I'd like your suggestions -

1. Should I add another round around the rings?  My intention was to add a chain round that dips in to resemble petals. What do you think?
2. What should I name this motif? I am drawing a complete blank there.

I have been enjoying some tatting time and have taken stepwise pics for several of the projects, including the join and motif above. Many are for 'new' techniques. Some day I hope to upload them all.

Hope to hear from you, after which I will prepare a proper post with pattern, links, etc. ....

time to play again

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I wasn't going to, honestly, I had no intention of doing a design-along challenge this year! But then I made this simple motif to show the common picot and it looks cute, quick, and easy enough to work as the starting motif for a DAL, right? 

Disclaimer - The design is so basic that I did a quick image search for a similar pattern done before, but couldn't find any. I used my own count without referring to any previous pattern. Yet, if you know of any, please do let me know.

So what is a DAL, you ask? 

• Design-Along (DAL) is a little game I 'invented' where I give you a starting pattern. You tat the motif and then you have to continue by designing and tatting your own round or rounds to it. 
• In this 2-round motif no special techniques, no special effects are used, hence it can be a good stepping stone for relative beginners to design another round.  
• The motif can be tatted as separate rounds (like in my model) or you can climb out with a split ring.
• Feel free to add more picots to these two rounds if you need your 3rd round to have more attachments.
• You might even think of repeating this motif to create a larger piece, BUT you still have to design a round around them for it to be considered a DAL.
• Send me a pic of your tatted-designed piece and as before, I will include it in a Google doc for everybody to see. You can upload to Facebook (tag me - MuskaanM), or in your own blog (leave a comment here to let me know), or send it to me privately through email.
• Tatters are always looking for new patterns. Hence we would all appreciate if you shared your pattern as well in whatever way you can. All participants in my previous DALs have done so.

So here's the pattern. I hope you can find the time and enthusiasm to participate and display your budding or experienced talents! It is always such a huge inspiration to see the wonderful designs you come up with! In case of any doubts, feel free to ask.

Muskaan's DAL 2026 Motif pattern - 

Round 1 - (pink in diagram) Rosette, single shuttle. 

  NOTE: Common picot (△) - height is about 3 stitches across when folded.

  NOTE: For continuous tatting, use two shuttles and make the last ring a split ring followed by a mock picot, the same size as the common picots.

ringA: 2 - 7 △ 7 - 2. close ring, Do Not Reverse Work (DNRW).

ringB: 2 join to last picot of A, 7 △ 7 - 2. close ring, DNRW.

ringC: 2 join to last picot of B, 7 △ 7 - 2. close ring, DNRW.

ringD: 2 join to last picot of C, 7 △ 7 join to first picot of A), 2. close ring. Tie, cut, hide ends.  NOTE: This last join is a picot join to the right or a folded join.

Round 2 - (black in diagram) Scroll, ball and shuttle.

ringA: 6 join to any △, 6. close ring. Reverse Work (RW)

chainB: 6 - 6. RW

ringC: 6 join to same △, 6. close ring. RW,

chainD: 6 - 6. RW.

Repeat from A to D all around. Join back to base of A, Tie, cut, hide ends.

Round 3 - Your Design!!! You can design and add more rounds, too.

You can find links to tutorials here - http://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/p/my-tut.html and here https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/p/tatting-resources.html

Feel free to scroll through my previous DAL challenges and see what emerged from the shuttles/needles of participants.
Past DALs - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/search/label/DAL
DAL 2023 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1pVqM6S5Ng49xk6erSsDyRm3y7SdV2tCIUOCgltze4lM/view
DAL 2025 - https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mQmdXWXQmcbXQ48nRz9FBeTJf_DoJqKz/view

Hope you join!

calling them done

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 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!

Related Posts - 

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2025/09/flower-in-flesh-in-thread.html

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.

Related Posts -

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2025/01/last-and-first.html (slip stitch)

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. 

Related Posts - 

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2018/02/beautiful-hearts.html

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/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

Related Posts - 

https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2026/06/multiple-celebrations.html

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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)

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/1MVEEhKE79euDmOY65Es95rYihb5P9UcqmAJWG5qw4Ws/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 ...

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!