From Snowflakes to Ice Drops!

For the past two years I have planned to Tat something lovely to add into my Christmas cards for loved ones back home, and have failed to meet my deadlines due to indecision about what I am going to Tat, or I have run out of time before the final post date.

This year I wanted to send home snowflakes for my children and grandchildren to hang on their Christmas tree's and started researching early so that I could find a pattern I liked, and practice the pattern before starting to produce the final batch.

Unfortunately I got completely lost in the wealth of beautiful patterns available, so lost it took me a long time to come up with perfect one. I love Pinterest and when I am not tatting, crocheting or quilting I can be found pinning to my hearts content on Pinterest, so if you click my link to my Pinterest page you will find all those lovely snowflake patterns to browse through to save you time trawling around the internet for patterns.

 I am one of those people who likes to challenge myself with everything, and I am also a perfectionist. Now I know that sounds great, but it actually can be quite a hindrance when you have a time frame to work to. 

So I picked a lovely pattern, too late in the the time-frame, practiced it, and made up my first snowflake only to realise I had made a mistake half way round my final layer. My first instinct ....Pull it out and start the round again, after chastising myself of course. 

So I put down my work made a coffee and took several deep breaths and thought no, I am not going to do that I will adapt the pattern to incorporate the mistake  and replicate it at the other side of the work so that it is symmetrical, and no one will know. 

Now for those of you who are also hindered by the perfectionist trait, you will already know that the little demon on my shoulder was telling me its no good you know its not perfect even if others don't, and yes the snowflake never left my craft room, and I was very disappointed in my failure to produce a homemade gift to go in my Christmas cards yet again!

So I'm being brave and showing you my first snowflake....can you spot the mistake?

Now I can hear you asking what about Ice Drops, where do they come into the picture?

especially as we don't even get snow in Perth Australia never mind colder temperatures for ice to form.

Well I was so disheartened that I put my tatting away not intending to pick it up again until the New Year and decided to have a look on Facebook for any new sites relating to tatting that I could have a look at for inspiration. I came across a lady tatting around glass pebbles, and they look like small snowflakes. The pebbles which we used to call Dragon's Tears, but are also known as Cabochon's. You can pick them up at craft shops, pet shops (in the aquarium aisle) hardware stores (Paving Aisle or flower arranging / plant section) or online where you can find some very nice decorative ones. They come in various sizes and Diane uses the 3/4 inch pebble for her Ice Drops but you can vary your patterns to any size, and shape cabochon that you like.

 Now it had crossed my mind when making the snowflake that it didn't have any weight to it, to allow it to hang well on the Christmas tree, and was beginning to think snowflake hand made cards might be the way to go. So these little snowflakes weighted by a small glass pebble, which also gave a jewel effect which would reflect in the Christmas lights really caught my eye. It caught many other tatters eyes too and soon grew into an addiction for many, and as a result Diane Green Cademartori created a Facebook page "Ice Drop Addicts" on the 23rd December 2016 and today there are 431 members who are enjoying the ice drop projects and evolving and sharing patterns. It is a very lively group and the ice drops are a nice little project that you can practice your stitches with and have a finished product very quickly. You will be surprised by the variety of evolving patterns that have transpired in just 3 months, and I am sure you will find some that motivate you to have a go, the group has a selection of files that you can browse as a member, and use to start your Ice drop journey.

I encourage you to request membership and have fun creating these lovely little beauties.

Diane also has a blog herself and the pattern for the basic ice drop can be found in her tutorials so pop over to her blog and have a look at her beautiful work, and check out the tutorial too, it is for shuttle tatters, but there is also a video on YouTube by  Lecosedellaanto demonstrating a needle tatting technique, it isn't in English but you can follow the work easily as it progresses.

this is a picture of Diane's basic ice drop.

You will find the link to Dianes' blog Lace- Lovin Librarian here, and a link to Ice Drop Addicts Homepage too .

Here is my first variation on a theme, using two colours and adding a few picots to the centre rings, I struggled to find the glass pebbles for a while but found these large diamond shaped plastic gems in my local craft shop and thought, now they will sparkle in the lights on the tree.........

and the second evolution of the pattern......

I would love to see some of your creations.....Have fun !

PS........I am planning to start my Christmas preparation mid year to prevent another disappointment....fingers crossed!