New Shuttle Design

Well, now that silver prices are through the roof I have to carefully plan each and every silver shuttle that I make. What do you think of this design? I will practice it in copper first.
It used to cost me in materials alone $70 to make each shuttle, for that same shuttle it will now cost me $112 and of course that doesn't include time, firing costs, or the investment I made in tools and equipment. So this is not a money making enterprise for me at all. My ultimate goal is to make the world's most beautiful tatting shuttle that ever was and ever will be! Now, whether or not I accomplish this goal remains to be seen, and of course beauty is subjective, but if I aim high the shuttles I make along the way should be pretty decent. It may take my entire life and I may never "get there" but the journey should be fun!
I am spurred on by my love of tatting and the encouragement of my beloved tatting family.
...and of course I will always keep you posted on my progress.

Current silver shuttles for sale.

New shuttle and the "Squinchy face"

Newest silver shuttle can be found here.


Miss P just discovered a new face to try out. I call it the "squinchy face" and it isn't very pretty but it makes me laugh.

If anyone follows my MadMadPotter blog you know that I have undertaken a new endeavor. Every first Thursday of the month all the art galleries and art coops hold an open house. The artists are encouraged to attend so that customers can meet them. That is where I was last night meeting new people and talking about my work...my pottery work. But it is known that I am also a tatter and that is perking some interest. I am hoping to get a display together to put in the shop to draw people's interest and educate. Also, there is a very good possibility that I can teach tatting classes there as well.
Life one step at at time.

Finished!

Here it is, the fruit of all my labor over the last few weeks, from concept to reality, my largest silver shuttle to date. I used twice as much silver for this shuttle than I have used on other silver shuttles. The enameling was a success and overall I am happy with the end results.


Little Miss P is learning to sit upright on her own and she is so proud of herself, it is all she wants to do these days. I can't believe how fast she is growing up.

Blathnaid gets mail and so do I

Blathnaid received a lovely card from Ciarran and although I don't think she likes to admit it, it made her heart flutter just a bit. She and I have been so busy designing new shuttles that we nearly let St. Patty's day come and go without notice. Well at least I did (I am deeply ashamed to admit), and she is too well mannered to make a fuss about it. Had it been her brother Brendan, well...., he would have given me a proper and well deserved "what for"! So it's a good thing he is still gallivanting across the globe. Whew!

Looky what I got from dear Diane! I LOVE these blinged out shuttles and have been secretly drooling over them from afar. I feel very honored to be the recipient of not one but two of these fabulous shuttles. She also graciously sent me some of that cool paper (one of the ingredients for blinging). My mind is now whirling with creative possibilities. Thank you Diane!

...and finally here is the most recent photo of Piccadilly. Here she is wearing her booties and bonnet from my friend Karen....and oh how I just want to gobble her all up!!!

Tatting ladies, pictures galore and my special diet

I had the opportunity and privilege to meet three of the four ladies of DMR. Teresa and her lovely daughter are visiting from GA. Dena and grandma Elaine are fellow Idahoans. It is always nice to meet other tatters, especially a tatting family. No one in my family tats...and trust me I have tried to get my sisters to come around. So I think Piccadilly is my last hope.

I have been working hard on some new shuttles and despite my ever growing expertise, my failure rate is still around 50 to 60 percent which is why I think I am still the only known ceramic shuttle artist in the world....because it is an exasperating venture ...AND I'm crazy!

Here are Miss P's four month pictures. The knitted hat she is wearing is from LaceRn. She is finally starting to grow into some of her lovely gifts and I am trying to document it before she grows right out of them.

Check out the knitted Mary Janes from Tatfully Yours! Yes they (as well as the scottie dog dress) are still a bit big but I just couldn't help myself!
Also still a bit big, here is Marty's onesie with her beautiful tatting on it. She is growing so quickly that I am afraid to miss any opportunity for her to sport her fancy duds.
Since I have been nursing I am having such a difficult time trying to maintain a healthy weight so that I can continue to nurse. It is taking everything out of me and I think it is greatly contributing to my constant fatigue. I drink 1050 calories of Ensure everyday on top of an already calorie loaded diet. It's become a full time job in and of itself. I would like to be able to breastfeed for the pediatrician recommended year but I may only make it to 6 months. I am very grateful that I have made it this far!


Here are a few more treasuries that my work has appeared in. I think it is always fun to see how people group things together.

Well I think that is plenty for today!

And the winner of the shuttle giveaway is.......

I am always nervous and excited to see who is going to win. There were so many entries that it took me quite awhile to input the data. I was secretly hoping that maybe just maybe one of our tatting gentlemen would win because we have not yet had a male winner for a "Mondo Monday" but alas not this time....but keep trying men, your day will come!

I always feel a little sad for those who didn't win, (probably because I never win anything and I know how it feels.)
I truly wish that I were independently wealthy because then I would give every tatter a shuttle

Anyhow, lets get to it shall we?

I entered all participants of my Random Monday Mondo Giveaway into an Excel spread sheet. Everyone was assigned a different number and those who were eligible for two entries were assigned two numbers. I then used a random number generator to randomly pick the winning number and our winner is Dena from DMR. Whoo hoo and congratulations Dena!!!

Stay tuned for there will be more Random Monday giveaways coming soon!

Mondo Monday FREE SHIPPING Valentine Anniversay

Happy Valentine's Day

Four years ago today I opened my Etsy shop. To celebrate this occasion I am offering free shipping on all my shuttles for today only.




HAPPY MONDAY!!!

100 Percent hand painted hand crafted ONE OF A KIND Ceramic tatting shuttles are here!!!!

The Bird House
Autumn Prairie

I will try my best to list one a day or at least one every other day as time permits.

Tat it up!!!!

Special new shuttles coming right up!

I am excited to present to you my newest ceramic shuttles. I have been experimenting again (you know I thrive on that). I have finally found some permanent enamels so that I can now paint landscapes and other things that catch my fancy. This is something I have wanted to do since I started producing my one of kind ceramic shuttles four years ago. I could just never find the right medium until now.
Here are the first completed shuttles. They are all hand painted by yours truly. I will offer them up for sale this coming week in the Etsy shop.

Where am I finding the time to do all this you ask?? Well, I just don't sleep anymore and while I am not sleeping I might as well be doing something right?

Now let's get one thing straight, my lack of sleep has very little to do with Miss Piccadilly. She is wonderful and has been sleeping through the night since she was 8 weeks old. It is my fault entirely and I accept all the blame. I just cannot sleep when DH is away...and now that I am acting as a single mom and taking care of every living soul under my roof and everything else that consists of keeping a household, sleep evades me.

So with all that is going on in my life I am unable to attend Shuttlebirds this year. I am sure everyone will understand. I will dearly miss my favorite event of the year...and I will miss all my favorite peeps! There are some exciting new teachers this year so if you are at all able to attend I definitely recommend it!

Miss P is now 12 weeks old...can you believe it? She is my little muse. She gives me energy and makes me laugh every day. What a precious little "old soul" she is!


Piccadilly 12 weeks old
In case anyone is wondering how sweet pea pumpkin britches miracle baby is sleeping through the night already...it is all due to the wonderful BabyWise method. Since birth we have been working on this plan. The book promised she would start sleeping through the night between 8 and 12 weeks and sure enough it works like a charm. The main benefit from her predictable sleeping habits is that she is a very happy baby. YAY...I certainly need that!

New Ceramic Shuttles and Hook Pens added to the shop

Really trying my best to get back into "the swing of things" as far as the Etsy shop is concerned. A lot of new items have been added to the inventory.

Ceramic Shuttles


Hook Pens
It feels good to get back to work!
Cheers,

How did the rest of my day go????

So I woke up soooo happy on Thursday right? I had a physical therapy appointment that afternoon as I have been suffering from severe migraines and being pregnant cannot take any medications for it. Anyway, I arrived at my appointment all happy and bragging about my weight gain and telling my therapist how things were looking up...and I kid you not, five minutes into my therapy session I puked in his garbage can. I continued to feel pretty sick for the rest of that day. I went to bed that night at about 8:00pm (I know, pathetic huh?) and then woke up in the middle of the night to drink some water and that gave me the worst heartburn ever so I couldn't go back to sleep. I spent all day yesterday feeling "wrecked" and again had a very violent "throwing up" session. I have no idea what has gone wrong. Last night I didn't sleep well because I had cramps in my tummy, legs and feet. In fact, this morning DH says I woke him in the middle of the night screaming and convulsing (his words). I don't remember that. But I do feel as though I have run a marathon this morning.
I don't feel super awesome today, but I have to say my spirits are still pretty high. I am still enjoying being able to read blogs again at least.
Oh well, I am going to do my best to not let this get me down again. Piccadilly is still doing awesome and that is the most important thing!

I am hoping to get these Tatting Hook Pens listed in my Etsy shop this weekend, along with some more ceramic shuttles and perhaps some new hand dyed thread, all depending upon how I am feeling.
...until next time...

Newest "Jewel"

I have been working diligently and meticulously and I am very excited to present my newest pure silver tatting shuttles. I will unfold the new ones every day or so starting with this beauty today.
This one has a light green enameling to really show off the raised design.

Too excited...MUST SHARE!! ..and my progressing GRAY hair

I have been busy busy busy! I am stopping for a few minutes to share a little of what I have been up to.
I am mixing up my working media with Ceramics, Silver, Copper, Glass, and Jewels.

Whoo hoo!!! What fun!




I am also dyeing my threads like a maniac. We have a new batch of "ENCHANTMENT". It is one of my new favorites to tat with.
...and I am working on re-stocking my silks in SOLID colorways....and guess what?!?!? I will be adding ecru and white silk as well! That was Brenda's idea...she is such a practical leprechaun lass!


My husband is home again for a short time. We are trying to enjoy each others company but it is difficult when he works (and this is NOT and exaggeration) 15 hour days.
He looked at me the other day and said, "Did you get your hair highlighted?"...and I said "WHAT?!?!!?....no that is just NEW gray hair that has sprouted up."

Someday soon my hair will look like this..... and yes...I will most likely have a leprechaun living in my hair too!