Better

Here is an improved photo of the mobile, taken in morning light.

The colors are much more accurate here. It makes a very interesting shadow on the wall, too, don't you think?

And here is what I started on during all the hours I spent waiting for the stiffener to dry on the mobile.

This is the beginning of a pair of doilies for next year's relief sale. My mom says doilies don't usually do too well at the sale, so I won't make very many of them. But I figure there are always a few people who still like traditional doilies. Or maybe I could take a page from Isdihara's book and call them candle mats. The finished size should be about eight inches, so they will sit nicely under a pair of candlesticks or vases.

The pattern is "Emily" from the book Elegant Tatting Patterns by Janet Carroll. I've always been drawn to this pattern, although I've never tatted it before. As the book title says, it looks elegant. I also think it's a very timeless design. You know how some patterns look dated a couple of decades later? I don't think this ever will.

I still have four rounds left to tat on these. I decided to work on both doilies at the same time because I knew that if I finished one I wouldn't want to do the second. I'm finding that they do need to be blocked every couple of rounds, so doing it this way I can work on one while the other is blocking.

I decided, after considerable debate, to make these in all white, which is something I hardly ever do. I still keep thinking, oh, I could just do one round in blue... but no, I will stick with the white to let the design shine through. I'm using Flora size 20 (and it feels like rope after using size 80 for so long on the mobile).

During the several weeks that I didn't post, I also got behind in reading other people's blogs. I'm getting caught up now. It's nice to see what other people are working on.