I am slowly working through my dyes to make small samples so that I can have some examples of how the color takes to the thread when I’m picking out what colors I want to use during a dyeing session.  Sort of like paint chips, but with dyed thread.

When I say slowly, I mean that I’ve only got these three in various reds done.  Unfortunately I’ve confused two of them already and can’t remember which one is which.   Dyeing lesson #28.  When making samples, don’t do three baths of the same color all at once.  This weekend I’m planing on picking one blue, one green, one red and one purple and then labeling them as soon as they’re dry.

This single-shuttle motif is part of a small doily I’m working on from Priscilla Tatting #1.  I actually really like the way it looks on it’s own.  Which is good, because the next section (where it all gets put together) is proving rather hard to make work.  Why is it hard to make work?  Well, because once again, it seems like the written instructions don’t match with the pictures.  These 4 motifs were done based on the written instructions, but when you look at the pictures you can clearly see that there are more picots on the outer rings.  So I’m going to have to spend a bit of quiet time studying the pictures in the original book and seeing if there’s anything else different.  There’s definitely going to be some modifications made.  I’ll post some pictures when I actually get something that starts to work.  Here’s what it’s ultimately supposed to look like:

I’m not sure exactly what I’m going to do about the center.  It could be a small enough piece that I’ll actually do the sewing and try to put fabric in the middle.  There are lots of pieces in the Priscilla book that have that and it’s something I’ve never done before so I could use the experience.