LadyShuttleMaker is in DYE mode

Did you know that I have 72...yes...(((SEVENTY TWO))) tried and true colorways? I have been hand dyeing the absolute highest quality cotton and silk threads for five years now. Wow!!! To keep my recipes organized I have carefully arranged them neatly in my top secret folder....yes this is for real.

This is my current inventory and would you believe that I am low? I really love dyeing thread and I really hate winding skeins...but wind I must, so I am off to aggravate my carpel tunnel and have a blast playing with color.
It's a bittersweet, love/hate thing.

RAINFOREST and VICKIES LILACS

RAINFOREST

VICKIES LILACS

I have been a busy bee!

"Treebeard" and "Enchantment"

This would be 300 skeins of luscious superior quality thread ready to be dyed. After spending weeks winding skeins and seeing so many together...I couldn't resist a little fun.

The first batches are listed and there are MANY more to come!



TREEBEARD


ENCHANTMENT




I also couldn't resist sharing a couple recent pictures of my funny girl!

Finally got a little tatting done...

This is a little hat I have been working on for Piccadilly. It is small so that she can wear it now...but I know she will soon grow out of it.

I just couldn't resist sharing this hilarious picture!

The tatted trim is Piccadilly's own colorway size 20 silk.

Rio, Peach Pandorea, Etsy honors and updated Catalog

It has been over a year since I have dyed these two colorways. So I am re-introducing them.
PEACH PANDOREA
RIO
I have had the honor of being selected for three more Etsy treasuries in the past few weeks. It is always fun to see my thread included in these colorful collages.
MAGNOLIA
CONFETTI SPRINKLES
AUTUMN MEDLEY
To the right you can click on the Autumn Edition of my HDT catalog for the PDF. It has been updated!

As of today, I am 37 weeks pregnant and that officially makes Piccadilly a full term baby. I have to say, and I know this will sound crazy to millions of women since the last month is notoriously the least favorite, but these last two weeks have been the best of my pregnancy so far. Yes, I feel like a whale and it is difficult to sleep and everything hurts, but this is 100 times better than the last 8 months have been. Whoo hoo!

Piccadilly's Colorway

"PICCADILLY"This is Piccadilly's colorway, that is until she is old enough to pick out her own favorite colors. The silk in the photo is a more accurate depiction of what I am going for. A nice green with a hint of pink. I know I have said this many times and here we go again, I really do not care for the color pink (especially ALL pink) and since i am having a baby girl it is hard to get this point across. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not being a Nazi about it, I just prefer to not have my baby look like someone puked pepto bismol all over her. In the spirit of compromise, I feel like I am making great strides towards incorporating a little pink into our lives.
Now, with all that said, I have allowed ONE exception to this rule of "please no ALL pink".
Who couldn't fall in love with this?!?!? This is one of many wonderful and thoughtful items that Gramma Diane from LaceLovin-Librarian sent in a "Shower in a box". Unwrapping each item sent me into a fit of crying, especially this onsie.
So Gramma Diane...you slipped this one in! In fact, we love it so much that we have packed it in our labor bag so that when this baby makes her debut we can say "She is the one with tatting".

I have lot's of good news to report on the Piccadilly front. Firstly, I am now 36 weeks along and that means I have officially graduated from the "high risk" pregnancy group! Words cannot express how thankful I am to have made it this far. In fact all my doctors came in to shake my hand and congratulate me. It was bittersweet as I said my goodbyes to all the staff and nurses that I have gotten to know so well. But best of all, this means that I am off bed rest...whoo hoo!
The first thing I wanted to do was to go for a walk. I haven't really been able to do anything physical for over 5 months so I begged hubby to take to me to the hills even though he still had his reservations.Here we are! It was a short sweet easy little hike....or a more accurate description would be "waddle".
Now mind you, I am not going "hog wild" with my new freedom. We would still like to keep her "cook'n" as long as possible. But with the danger behind us I feel like I can finally, for the first time, enjoy being pregnant...even if the last month is notoriously the worst for discomfort.
I am still contracting like crazy...(and NO, they are NOT Braxton Hicks contractions) and baby is right there really low just waiting to come out....so I am like, "In or out kiddo...stop hanging out in the doorway!!"
Being in a constant state of pre-term labor for 5 months has been thoroughly, physically and mentally exhausting.
Every day now begs the question, "Is today THE day?" It's kinda driving me nuts folks! I'm starting to think that this little baby might be some kind of drama queen.
Is she going to be a Libra like her daddy or will she be a Scorpio like her momma??
All I know is that our lives are about to drastically change forever and we are as ready as we will ever be!
I want to slip in a big hearty THANK YOU to my friends and family who have really stepped up to help us acquire the baby essentials. Up until now I have not been able to do any baby shopping, and honestly I didn't even know what was needed. I have had some wonderful baby items arrive by post and just recently had family visit who helped tremendously in preparation. I am greatly humbled and grateful.

Jimi is back along with some friends

Warning WARNING Warning: Gratuitous display of eye candy following this message. Warning WARNING Warning!!!
JIMI HENDRIX is back along with some seasonal favorites along with other popular colorways!
AUTUMN MEDLEY
WITCHES BREW
HARVEST MOON
PLUM TICKLED

KOPPER PATINA a colorway that is becoming a permanent addition to the inventory. It is spelled a little different since it IS a little different than the last batch....this one is even MORE Coppery!
FUCHSIA
New batches of HELMS DEEP, RIO, GERBERA DAISY, TREE BEARD, and PEACH PANDOREA are being added over the next few days.
I sell sizes 20, 50, 80, and 100 in BEST QUALITY 6 cord cotton thread and size 20 in 100% Superior quality SILK. All my tatting threads are lovingly and painstakingly hand dyed!

New and Old HDT's in the Shop

UNDERSEA GARDEN
For a time, as a child, I lived in Newport Oregon and I loved to visit the Undersea Gardens Aquarium. This limited colorway is inspired by those childhood memories.


COPPER PATINA
This is an exciting limited colorway inspired by working with copper in my studio.

COFFEE N CREAM
NEAPOLITAN
Oldies but goodies these two colorways have been slightly re-vamped and are ready to go.

I am happy today....I almost forgot the feeling

Here is another fun belly picture. The flowers had little bugs crawling all over them so they didn't stay on the belly for very long. I am trying to put together nice photos for Piccadilly for when she gets older. Due to the difficulties we have gone through, this is most likely going to be our only pregnancy. So might as well make the best of it and have as much fun as we can.

I woke up in a good mood this morning. That has not happened for months and months on end. Everyday, there has always been something to promptly put me in a bad mood ...but that is not for this post.
Yesterday at my weekly fetal medicine appointment I discovered that Piccadilly is all caught up in growth! She had been about a month behind in size and weight. But, since I have been able to keep food down and have even had a bit of an appetite she has gone through a growth spurt...isn't that fantastic?
I am still on "light duty", no matter how much I beg the docs every week, I am still not allowed to even go for walks yet. Doc says maybe after 32 weeks if everything looks good then I can start doing more activity. Being such an active person this whole pregnancy has been sheer torture. But at least I am not on bed rest anymore...thanks to our merciful God in Heaven!!!

The other thing that has lifted my spirits is that I finally solved my computer problems by making a browser switch over to Firefox. Some of you have gotten comments on your blogs today because of that switch. I am still working my way down the list to catch up on other blogs.
You see, for the last year, visiting blogs has made my computer crash. Sometimes I would get to three blogs before my computer crashed but lately it has taken only one blog to frustrate the goob out of me.
That is why I had nearly given up on reading blogs altogether, it was way too much trouble...oh and plus there was the whole being sick thing too.
Anyway, I have had a lovely morning catching up (still more to go), so I feel like I am "back in the game baby"!
I hope tomorrow is the same....can you imagine two good days in a row?!!?!? It's almost too much to hope for.

I wanted to mention a few more things about the "Barnyard" project. Each element was sewn on with invisible thread, and the background is flannel. Just in case anyone was curious.

Also, I wanted to show a close up of "DIABLO" tatted up. This is what was used to tat the barn. It is hard to tell by the photos but this colorway is actually a variegated red colorway. Three different reds to be exact. It is subtle but definitely adds a layer of interest.

Hoping the rest of my day and yours is great!!!!

Tatted baby animals

I need to tat a big red barn now. Does anyone have any barn patterns out there? I couldn't find any myself so I am off to design one.

My big belly, New HDT's and a Catalog for you!

Here is my nearly 7 month belly photo. I am happy to report that as of today I am 6 pounds up from my pre-pregnancy weight. I am still suffering from almost constant nausea but I haven't actually been throwing up as much. With being able to keep more food in and having my physical activities greatly restricted, I expect that I will continue to put on weight. I am loving my basketball belly!

"WINTER HAZE"




"DIABLO"



"AMERICANA"


Added some new colorways to my Hand Dyed Tatting threads arsenal.
Speaking of which, I have finally finished one of my long term projects, and that is an HDT Catalog. It's fabulous! I currently have 69 different colorways to choose from. All of which include sizes 100, 80, 50, 20 in cotton and size 20 in %100 Pure Silk.
Get yours here:
Summer 2010 HDT Catalog by LadyShuttleMaker