Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Snippette the Celtic Knot Snail posted on the http://tat-calendar.blogspot.com/ July 25th


Copyright 2004 - 2007 Ruth Perry


Tatted Flower Pendant I made for a friend today. This has to be one of my all time favorite tatted flower designs!!! I've made a bunch of different color earrings, and it makes just as nice a pendant.

Saturday, July 21, 2007


Lauren suggested a Phoenix in honor of the release of the final Harry Potter book... This is just a quick first draft of it. I'll tat a good one tomorrow and put the instructions on the calendar soon.

Copyright 2007 Ruth Perry

Thursday, July 19, 2007


Two butterflies Copyright Ruth Perry 2005 - 2007
The 7 ring butterfly at the bottom is on the http://tat-calendar.blogspot.com today, and the top butterfly is a variation on the dragonfly in the previous post. It amazes me how one pattern leads to another. I think larger beads would look better for the tail of this butterfly, but I like the way the wings look. I'd like to work out tatting instructions for some of the real butterflies. Someday when I have time... yeah, right.

Monday, July 16, 2007


Tiny Dragonfly Copyright 2007 Ruth Perry

This little guy is tatted with hand quilting thread in blue variegated and silver metalic. Unfortunately, it didn't scan well because of the beads. When I get my photo studion set up later on this week I should be able to take better photos with my camera instead of only trying to use the scanner.
One blue size E bead, three faceted black onyx beads one black seed bead, and two green seed beads.

He is a variation of the butterfly and flowers I have been tatting the past couple of days. String the E bead, faceted beads and then the black seed bead on the blue thread and pull about a yard or so through the beads. Thread the blue thread back through the faceted beads and the E bead. The black seed bead will keep the thread from pulling all the way out.

Tat a reverse ring with rings thrown off [I believe this could be done with a SCMR, but I never that those because a reverse ring does the same thing, only better] This could also be tatted using the daisy picot technique.

Reverse Ring ( 3 ( R* 3 - 5 - 2 - 3 - 2 - 5 - 3) 3 ( R*) 6 ( R* ) 3 ( R* ) 3 )
[ all four of the rings thrown off are the same as the first. ]
[ Adjust the stitch counts if needed between the rings so that the E bead fits inside the ring ]

Using the blue shuttle thread and the silver metalic as the ball thread

ChainA ( 3 + join in the space at the base of the first thrown off ring 3 + join in the first picot of the same thrown off ring 5 + join in the next picot of the same ring 12 - - - 12 + skip two picots and join the the next one 5 + 3 + join back in the space at the base of this ring. )

ChainB (3 + join in the space at the base of the next ring 3 + 5 + 8 - - - 8 + skip one picot and join in the next one 2 + 5 + 3 + join back in the space at the base of this ring.)

Chain ( 3 alligator join between the E bead and the first faceted bead by putting the shuttle thread over and the ball thread under between the rings )

ChainB in reverse order
ChainA in reverse order

Tie the two ends of the blue thread together.

Head
Chain ( 10 B 10 B 10 ) tie this in an overhand knot with the two green beads at the points of the knot.

Chain ( 6 put the core thread through bead 6 through the other bead 6 )

Tie the ends together around the chain at the beginning of the head. Use the ends to sew him to a garment or hide them in the beads and secure with a tiny bit of glue from a hypo glue. This is too small to easily see to hide them in the tatting.

When I get a better photo I'll put this pattern on the http://tat-calendar.blogspot.com

Hugs,
Ruth






Butterfly & Flowers Copyright 2007 Ruth Perry
For some unknown reason Flowers attract butterflies. Or perhaps it's just that an unfinished flower resembles a butterfly.

Saturday, July 14, 2007



Copyright 2007 Ruth Perry

OK, pool party today. I decided to take a day off - NO TATTING, no designing, just having fun in the sun! I participated in a contest for the Most Creative Jump into the pool - and WON!!! The prize was a tub filled with all sorts of goodies including the kitchen towel shown here. Now I wonder where the idea for this tatted flower came from???

Yeah right. Ruth, who is totally incapable of NOT designing tatting, in TN.

Friday, July 13, 2007


New snowflake finished - Copyright Ruth Perry 2007

Thursday, July 12, 2007

Lucky Snowflakes Friday the 13th
Copyright Ruth Perry 1978 & 2007
The next several days will be variations on this snowflake on the
The top one is tatted in Hand Quilting thread, and measures about 2" diameter.
The bottom one is tatted in Anchor size 12 and is about 4" diameter. I used a plastic yarn needle for a picot gauge on the bottom one for all the decorative picots.
Enjoy!






Tuesday, July 10, 2007


Christmas in July - Triangle tree, Bell, Snowflake, AND Star
Copyright 2007 Ruth Perry

One pattern... so many possibilities!

Beaded Center Flower Copyright Rozella Linden 2007

The beaded center ring is the same technique I developed for the little Celtic Bird that I taught at Spokane, but with rings thrown off, and a stem and leaves, this is a pretty little flower.

Monday, July 09, 2007

Sunflower and Violets Copyright Ruth Perry 1989


I was looking in some old folders for a photo I wanted to look at, and instead found this old photo I took of some flowers I tatted a LONG time ago... can it be THAT long ago???

My grandson was "helping me" clean out the garage when he was 4 years old, and found this sunflower in a box that also had scissors in it. He had seen me tatting many times, and used the scissors to take the beads out of this, which is what I used to do if I tatted something I didn't like and wanted to reuse the beads. Well, good thing I had taken a photo of it!!! I'm not sure I could tat it now or not. I'll have to give it a try, from memory and this photo.

Grandson, Thomas, is 6'5" now and will be 18 years old in a few months. Wow, how time flies. Thomas asked me to teach him to tat when he was 14 and went to fairs and festivals with me. He is quite the tatting designer. His first design was a balloon (ring with no picots) and the second was a bunny rabbit (ring with two large picots). How he's pretty busy with a job and high school, but all the memories make me smile.

The best things in life aren't things!

Sunday, July 08, 2007


Martha's 2001 Remembrance Ribbon
I found this easy to finger tat, and other than the obvious mistake of reversing the red and blue, and tatting it way too tight to join the third row evenly, I think my try at this beautiful pattern turned out pretty good.
I used some of the beautiful red, white, and blue Anchor thread I got in Spokane this Spring. It is Pearl in size 12. My ribbon is a little smaller than the one Martha tatted with embroidery floss. It's about 1" long x 1/2" wide.
It did make me remember the events of 2001. I think a lot of Americans have forgotten that our Capital and the World Trade Center in NY were both attacked by "soldiers" trained and sponsored by foreign governments. Terrorists, yes, but soldiers trained to kill innocent civilians in horrible acts of war.
The recent car bombing attempts in England and Scotland indicate that terrorism is alive and well in our world. We need to remember who we are, and why our young men have fought for generations, and are fighting today to protect our freedom and the way of life we enjoy. We often take our freedom for granted.
I pray that we all remember that our freedoms have come at a great price. May we appreciate the freedom we enjoy, and remember the young men and women who are living every day in danger to protect and ensure that we remain free.
May God Bless and protect them where ever they may be tonight.

Friday, July 06, 2007

SILLY YAK copyright 2006 Esther Paris
( This is a sample that I tatted from Esther's instructions.)


Esther Paris designed a "silly Yak" which will be on the http://tat-calendar.blogspot.com/ soon.


It is the mascot for the ciliac support group. I know several people who live with this problem, and I think the Yak is just the perfect tat mascot gift or notecard embellishment to give them a smile.

Here is a photo of Homer the Ciliac support group mascot.
http://tinyurl.com/3d7lbj

And here is a REAL Yak
http://pchanez.club.fr/Himalaya/yak.jpg

For more information about ciliac and a gluten free diet see this web site:
http://www.celiac.com

Hugs,


Ruth

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Perhaps most of you didn't realize what Francis Scott Key's profession was or what he was doing on a ship. A friend sent this to me today, and it is very interesting. I remember that we had to memorize all four verses of the National Anthem in high school, but I didn't know the whole story behind the words!

(Editor's Note- Near the end of his life, the great science fiction author Isaac Asimov wrote a short story about the four stanzas of our national anthem. However brief, this well-circulated piece is an eye opener from the dearly departed doctor......)

NO REFUGE COULD SAVE: BY DR. ISAAC ASIMOV

I was once asked to speak at a luncheon. Taking my life in my hands, I announced I was going to sing our national anthem -- all four stanzas. This was greeted with loud groans. One man closed the door to the kitchen, where the noise of dishes and cutlery was loud and distracting. "Thanks, Herb," I said.

"That's all right," he said. "It was at the request of the kitchen staff"

I explained the background of the anthem and then sang all four stanzas. Let me tell you, those people had never heard it before -- or had never really listened. I got a standing ovation. But it was not me; it was the anthem.

More recently, while conducting a seminar, I told my students the story of the anthem and sang all four stanzas. Again there was a wild ovation and prolonged applause. And again, it was the anthem and not me.

So now let me tell you how it came to be written.

In 1812, the United States went to war with Great Britain, primarily over freedom of the seas. We were in the right. For two years, we held off the British, even though we were still a rather weak country. Great Britain was in a life and death struggle with Napoleon. In fact, just as the United States declared war, Napoleon marched off to invade Russia. If he won, as everyone expected, he would control Europe, and Great Britain would be isolated. It was no time for her to be involved in an American war.

At first, our seamen proved better than the British. After we won a battle on Lake Erie in 1813, the American commander, Oliver Hazard Perry, sent the message, "We have met the enemy and they are ours." However, the weight of the British nav y beat down our ships eventually. New England, hard-hit by a tightening blockade, threatened secession.

Meanwhile, Napoleon was beaten in Russia and in 1814 was forced to abdicate. Great Britain now turned its attention to the United States, launching a three-pronged attack.

The northern prong was to come down Lake Champlain toward New York and seize parts of New England. The southern prong was to go up the Mississippi, take New Orleans and paralyze the west. The central prong was to head for the mid-Atlantic states and then attack Baltimore, the greatest port south of New York. I f Baltimore was taken, the nation, which still hugged the Atlantic coast, could be split in two. The fate of the United States, then, rested to a large extent on the success or failure of the central prong.

The British reached the American coast, and on August 24, 1814, took Washington, D.C. Then they moved up the Chesapeake Bay toward Baltimore. On September 12, they arrived and found 1,000 men in Fort McHenry, whose guns controlled the harbor. If the British wished to take Baltimore, they woul d have to take the fort.

On one of the British ships was an aged physician, William Beanes, who had been arrested in Maryland and brought along as a prisoner. Francis Scott Key, a lawyer and friend of the physician, had come to the ship to negotiate his release.

The British captain was willing, but the two Americans would have to wait. It was now the night of September 13, and the bombardment of Fort McHenry was about to start.

As twilight deepened, Key and Beanes saw the American flag flying over Fort McHenry. Through the night, they heard bombs bursting and saw the red glare of rockets. They knew the fort was resisting and the American flag was still flying. But tow ard morning the bombardment ceased, and a dread silence fell. Either Fort McHenry had surrendered and the British flag flew above it, or the bombardment had failed and the American flag still flew.

As dawn began to brighten the eastern sky, Key and Beanes stared out at the fort, trying to see which flag flew over it. He and the physician must have asked each other over and over, "Can you see the flag?"

After it was all finished, Key wrote a four stanza poem telling the events of the night. Called "The Defense of Fort McHenry," it was published in newspapers and swept the nation. Someone noted that the words fit an old English tune called, "To Anacreon in Heaven" -- a difficult melody with an uncomfortably large vocal range. For obvious reas ons, Key's work became known as "The Star Spangled Banner," and in 1931 Congress declared it the official anthem of the United States.

Now that you know the story, here are the words. Presumably, the old doctor is speaking. This is what he asks Key:

Oh! say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro' the night that our flag was still there.

Oh! say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave,
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

("Ramparts," in case you don't know, are the protective walls or other elevations that surround a fort.) The first stanza asks a question. The second gives an answer:

On the shore, dimly seen thro' the mist of the deep
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep.
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream
'Tis the star-spangled banner. Oh! long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

"The towering steep" is again, the ramparts. The bombardment has failed, and the British can do nothing more but sail away, their mission a failure. In the third stanza I feel Key allows himself to gloat over the American triumph. In the aftermath of the bombardment, Key probably was in no mood to act otherwise? During World War I when the British were our staunchest allies, this third stanza was not sung. However, I know it, so he re it is:

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

(The fourth stanza, a pious hope for the future, should be sung more slowly than the other three and with even deeper feeling):

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heaven - rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, for our cause is just,
And this be our motto --"In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.


I hope you will look at the national anthem with new eyes. Listen to it, the next time you have a chance, with new ears. Pay attention to the words. And don't let them ever take it away ... not even one word of it.