Windmill Motif, TIAS 2010 Progress, and The Return of The Mutated Orchid

Before I begin this post, I am pleased to announce that I am feeling much better. I felt absolutely terrible on Sunday and Monday. It probably didn't help that I went to work despite not feeling well. But by Wednesday, I was beginning to get better. Sorry for the health update, but I didn't want anyone to worry. Um, you were worried right? Anyone?

As I mentioned in my previous post, I planned to retat Mary Konior's Windmill motif, using white thread. Well here it is:


I really like the motif in white, although any solid colour may work well with this design. Though, I think the main problem I have with my previous attempt of the motif was with the little dot of colour that occurs at the base of the many shuttle/lock joins that are needed in the pattern. Hopefully you know what I'm talking about. I have been playing around with other joining methods to prevent the dot of colour. What I'm trying is when joining to pull the thread from the front to the back. It seems to help, but if anyone else has a suggestion, I'd love to hear it. Thread stats: DMC Cordonnet size 20 in white. I am planing on making a small doily, consisting of seven motif. Of course, I may decide to join more motifs once I have the seven done. I'm not counting this in my current 25 Motif Challenge since I already counted the other one.

Next on my list is Jane's TIAS 2010. I have skipped the last few TIASes, so I am trying to keep up with this one. I love the concept of the TIAS. You tat a little bit of a pattern every few days, until you are done. You don't know what you are tatting, until you are close to the end (usually); Jane, and the other ladies who have hosted a TIAS are pretty good at hiding the identity of the motif. So here is my current progress:


The top image is my progress after Day One, and the bottom one is after Day Two. I'm using Lizbeth size 20 thread in colour #142 (Turquoise Twist). The next three days will not be shown individually. I, um, forgot to scan the piece after I did each days tatting.

Here is Days 3, 4, and 5. I used DMC Cordonnet size 20 in white for these days. And, as you can see by the two ends showing, we aren't done with this piece. While the previous piece looks intriguing, these three days looks especially interesting. I'm still not sure what we are making, but I can't wait to find out.

Finally, I will end this blog post with an orchid photo. As the title suggests, the new year welcomes the return of The Mutated Orchid:

I love this orchid. As I mentioned in the first post about this orchid, it is a Phalaenopsis orchid with a mutation that causes the plant to have three lips instead of one. This is referred to as a Peloric mutation. I'm glad that the plant produced the mutated flowers again, but I guess it should since the plant re-bloomed on the same flower stalks as the last time. Which, while writing this post I realized that it has taken the plant about 15 months to re-bloom. I'm pretty sure it takes less time to happen, but I guess the mutation could have caused it to take longer. No matter; I'm just glad it has produced more flowers.

That's all for now. I'm not sure if I'll get a post up next week. I am going to my parents next weekend (well, I'm leaving Thursday after work) to pick up a new truck. My dad had the opportunity to buy my grandmother's truck off of her estate, and he's letting me buy his truck off of him (which is a 2006 model while the one he bought is a 2009 model). But we'll see. My parents also recently had a satellite internet service installed, which will provide a high speed service to their farm, so a post is possible. Till next time.