Just before I went to the Hector Tatting Weekend last year, Sherry T. and I corresponded. She suggested we exchange butterflies. With trepidation I agreed, my tatting skills I felt, were meager and despite knowing how to tat for 35 years I had never sucessfully hidden my ends. Notorious for thowing caution to the wind I promptly picked out a pattern that not only was not in English but also contained clunies and I begin this daunting project 2 nights before driving 6 hours to Hector, NY. Obviously I discarded the clunies immediately. I made the effort to use front side/ back side tatting and belatedly learned One should always know what side one is on. Hence the left side of the B'fly is tatted in reverse. I followed Linda Davies instructions for adding beads to picots for this piece, laptop on lap watching her video and tatting at the same time. Sherry very graciously hid the ends for me and it is painfully obvious that I did not block this piece. At the Hector gathering Karey very graciously demonstrated how to sew in ends.

This is the butterfly I received in exchange. This is in impossibly fine thread and I certainly feel I got the better end of the deal. Thank You Sherry for inviting me to trade tatting. I believe I have gotten better at it. Next post I'll share my 2nd exchange.