I've finished tatting all the elements for my food net and started putting it together. I've sewn the beaded edging and pinned everything to the net. I have long, fine pins that will hopefully keep everything in place. I won't have much time for sewing over the next couple of days, but I'm happy to have got this far.
The long weekend was more sociable than I expected, so I haven't made much progress on the food net. I have finished knitting a pair of socks though, and started on another pair.
Picotsnkeys suggested that I pair magnolia flowers with Martha Ess's crinolene belle on a food net. I knew I had a pattern for a magnolia flower in my tatting file and, after a bit of a search, I managed to find it. The pattern is Tatted magnolia bloom by Nancy Tracy of Be-stitched.com. It's three dimensional, but I think that it could still work on a food net.
When I finished the turquoise belle, I realised that she was facing the 'wrong' way. So I made the apricot lady to match. In case you didn't see my previous post, the pattern is Miss Caroline, the Crinolene Belle, by Martha Ess.
The sun came out last week, so I was able to wash and dye the wool I'd spun. I've knitted one pair of socks in natural. The pink and green was dyed in the microwave. I'll make a start on knitting this it this evening, after I've finished off another tatted crinolene lady.
When I was looking through my tatting files for butterfly patterns, I came across Martha Ess's pattern 'Miss Caroline, the Crinolene Belle'. I thought she would make a good candidate for food covers. I have used her before for milk jug covers, but not food nets. My plan is to make a lady for each corner and then tat something else for the middle. Perhaps a different crinolene lady, there are several of them about.
I was rather generous when I wound the thread for the first lady, so I made daisy picot daisies to empty the shuttles. You can see that my second attempt I was closer to the mark of thread needed.
For the last few weeks, we've been sewing at our craft group meetings in a retirement home. First we made felt dolls. I showed the sample here. There's a wide range of abilities in the group, so some people work more quickly than others. Those that finished their dolls first made a bed for them. The plan is to give the dolls to a children's hospital, so I thought children in bed might like to have a bed for their doll.
