Saturday, 23 August 2025

festival tatting

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 I should've posted this days ago but my head is immersed in another project and days kept slipping by. As always happens with me, I start off with a small goal but it keeps expanding and I seem to fall into a black hole, LOL! 

This is Manju Talekar's brilliant adaptation of a leaf pattern into an artistic collage of one of the most beloved and vastly invoked god with an elephant head - Ganeshji! There are interesting stories of how he ended up with the head of an elephant! Manju also added his vehicle, the mouse, and his favourite plate of modaks/laddoos. I'm sure you will find it interesting to read up a bit more about this god who is welcomed home every year and then sent off into the sea! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesha  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganesh_Chaturthi
Among Hindus, any festive occasion, rite or ritual, starts with invoking his blessings for an auspicious start. Even wedding invitations have his image or mantra inscribed right at the beginning. 

 E15 Ganesh by Manju Talekar (2024) pattern pdf for #Endrucks1920Project -   https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EgXVMpAEsXA0CASayy_rShQHjGGbbQvn/view
Adapted from E15 Leaf Doodle #1 (by Muskaan) which in turn was adapted from Eleonore Endrucks' pattern E5 in her 1920 book titled, 'Die Schiffchen Spitzen'.
There is also a short explanation of a Hidden Picot in the PDF.

Here you see the leaf doodles from which she made the head and used part of the motif to create the rest of the body. The entire collage is worked in several separate pieces and then assembled together. She meant it for a greeting card, but ended up framing it.

I worked the pattern as an unofficial test-tatter while doing the pattern presentation. I still need to complete the ears before I post my version. It tats up very quickly!

With Ganesh Chaturthi on 27th (through to 7th Sep) there is still plenty of time to tat your idol in thread and add to your decorations when Ganpati Bappa comes home!

PLEASE mention the name of the designer, the name of the pattern, and the hashtag #Endrucks1920Project whenever you post your version, as a courtesy to the designer.

Many many thanks, Manju, for this lovely model and pattern!

Thursday, 21 August 2025

happy fragrance

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This is just a quick photo of the flowers my hubby picked from his garden and handed to me this morning. He knows I love to inhale their fragrance, LOL. It is night now (2130 hrs) and they still look pretty fresh and the soft fragrance is just as intact. 

These mogras (jasmines) are from one of his potted plants which has been giving us flowers in huge numbers throughout this year! There are five here and there were still fully bloomed flowers on the plant which he did not pluck. We try to leave them if there are buds around them. 

Interestingly, the early flowers did not have much fragrance despite being prolific, unlike the other plant which gave few but extremely fragrant blooms. And I was quite disappointed - good to look at, but not to inhale. Suddenly a month back, in its third or fourth flourish, the heavenly fragrance arrived! 

I haven't taken any pics of his potted plants in a long while, but many of them are doing really good, giving us so much pleasure including a 'crop' of ajwain (oregano) leaves, etc. Some, though have had to be replaced.

Friday, 15 August 2025

independence day tatting

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 Well, I managed to finish it, almost. Chain for the necklace remains to be attached, but this will give a fair idea of how the Lotus Motif Necklace looks. 

My necklace with the Indian flag colours for #HarGharTiranga2025 using tatted motifs of our national flower - the lotus. Proud to celebrate our 79th Independence Day today.

Two motifs layered to give a lotus with more petals and layers. On top is the motif from my previous post (Anchor Pearl cotton size 8) while the larger one behind is with a thread I'd remembered buying and thinking it fit for ANKARS.

Kankri thread (in cones) that I'd bought back in April and boy, was it smooth sailing! No issues with either tatting or closing the large rings. It was super fun to tat. This is an artificial silk thread. However, the difference in the motif sizes is quite visible.

I made no changes to the orange petals - pattern shared here - https://tipsaroundthehome.blogspot.com/2025/08/lotus-tatting.html
However I did tweak the green rings as follows -  (from right to left, clockwise) 
ringF: 12 - 4 - 9. 
ringG: {lies above F}  9 +(F) 6 - 6 - 9.
ringH: {lies behind G} 9 +(G) 4 - 12. 

Another visual comparison of size. The larger motifs measure about 4.5cms across and 4cms high.

Another arrangement of the three motifs.
 
And joined into a necklace or a bracelet if you prefer. At present the length is 7.5 inches - just right for a bracelet.
I tatted a pair of white rings (Anchor Pearl cotton size 8) attached to adjacent motifs with a blue bead in the center. So all colours in my flag are included!
TIP: The center pairs are (8+8) while the end pairs are (6+6) with a bicone crystal between them. 
Instead of tatting over the first ring tail, I slipped it through the bead after closing the ring, and then tatted over it in the 2nd ring. And the 2nd ring tail was again slipped through the bead to the other side and sewed in. This way I have 3 threads through the bead, making it quite stable.

Its difficult to capture the effect and colours here unless I take time out to try out different backgrounds and brightness .... Hubby approves, so you have his word that it looks quite spectacular.
I haven't even blocked or processed the motifs.

The motifs tat up so quickly (when the thread is right, LOL) that I'd love to make a little scenery with them.