Just FYI, mostly, I update over on Instagram @corettadeesign.

But I like this for hosting my free patterns and design works. 

But here is some eye candy for the last few quiet months. I finished the TIAs and was delighted with the little fox bookmark. I want to design a rabbit to go with it. Probably because since December when we randomly saw the Uncle Remus Museum on our winter trip with the kids and made sure to stop in on the return trip home. We educated them on the tales as we drove so when we came back they would have some appreciation like my husband and I do from our youth seeing Song of the South. So glad we made it a priority to add to our trip. It is such a neat place and the experience was made all the sweeter by Miss Georgia who guided our tour. I was so grateful when she introduced herself that my kids withheld the fact that our dog is also named Georgia. That's not always received well. 

On the bookmark I made in the TIAS, I had a little error where I swapped the thread colors. So I made another with correct coloring as a gift. 

I love how cute the fox head is sticking out of the copy of the Complete Uncle Remus Tales. We got the original text and my husband has been reading it out loud to the family. In some ways we have had to learn a whole new language. The audio book we listened to in order to familiarize the kids with the stories had modernized text. That was the right choice as an introduction, but I'm glad we got the original text for the home library. 

I then started a project where I really was just trying to make sure I was being creative in some way fulfilling to me each day. That produced a few small tatted motifs. 

3D tatted heart, pattern by Birgit Phelps adapted by @mad.jar.tatting

Rose motif and stitches halved by Inevavae

Shamrock Icedrop from Marti J Copenhaver

Snowdrift Snowflake by the Shade Tree Designer

Flurry Snowflake pattern by The Shade Tree Designer

Clover with thread remnants and no particular pattern

Rose and bud, my patterns. 

Triple Play pattern by Elaine P. Gan

Pattern by inevavae

rose with calyx (my free pattern)

made to replace a lost earring

As well as some crochet projects, I'm still new at it but find projects that help me grow in confidence. 

7 day Sampler Pattern from the Crochet Crowd

Metal crochet pattern from a library book a friend lent me

Shark backpack and mini shark stuffie 

Then I started focusing on making little water colors and other medium sized paintings. Which, now I am learning something I never learned in college painting classes. Varnish and medium. That feels like a glaring omission. Whatever, thanks to the internet I am still learning. 

A Valentine for you

A while back I was looking for a rose pattern to tat. A friend had requested rose bookmarks for her two emergent readers. I went hunting for a pattern assuming there would already be one,  I found Vicki Clarke's rose and liked the premise but needed a bit different angle for what I had in mind. You can find Vicki's rose here. Since her original pattern was free I figured my adaptations would be too. It has been a long time in the making getting it ready to share though. I had my pattern notes and good intentions to diagram it and lay it out in PDF and had reminders as people kept asking for it. however, I rarely sit down to the computer these days and some things I just have to do at the computer. Add in a myriad of other things in life, sickness, and technology and here we are over a year later. That's embarrassing.

 

So it came up again and I decided it was time to get moving on it. I started to lay it out but found days going by without more work on it. Enter Muskaan who has delighted me with her "how else can it be accomplished" and "look what else you can do with this" etc. Seriously take a look at her blog. She contacted me and offered to help me on it. At first I was like, "naw, I'm a graphic designer, I can do this." Then I remembered that can and doing and done are different things. Besides it's always good to have a test tatter and another set of eyes looking at and proofing. And I couldn't have had a better set of eyes on it. Muskaan asked the right questions and we reorganized the method of tatting the pattern. It can be done with shuttle and ball as I originally did it based off of Vicki's pattern or it can be done quite simply with two shuttles CTM. I decided to use the latter for the pattern instructions. 

Over the course of all this I have tatted the rose part a number of times and then added options like a stem with a bud and a version for earrings. These are also on the pdf. There are so many more options, a bigger leaf, thicker stem etc. etc. So put your own touch on it, and then come back and share it with me. I'd love to see it! So get to the good part right? See the PDF below. If you tat this item please make sure you give credit where it is due, and for the love if you pin it, make sure it links back to the source! Happy Valentine's Day! Share the love.