First bobbin shuttle listed.

Copper Bobbin Shuttle
Sorry about the tease my friends....I know that I am naughty! I just had a bunch of finishing to do before I listed it...but I was too excited not to share.
A lot of work went into this shuttle and I am very pleased with the outcome. It is a large shuttle with a removable stainless steel bobbin. The tension is adjustable. It also has a size 14 hook. It is coated with non-tarnishing finish. It is the only one I have for now because I wasn't sure how it would do in the firing process and I didn't want to waste any copper in case something went awry.
It will be awhile before I make any more because firing copper is really dangerous and scary and I almost burned my face off in the process...let's just say that I have to handle these while they are molten hot! I don't have to do that with the silver shuttles so I am very particular about how often I attempt this particular feat.

I also listed some solid Ecru silk today. I have had more than a few requests for it. I will be adding other solid silk colors soon as well.

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.

What is happen'n in the belly???....and a NEW all silk colorway

I have miraculously hit the 39 week mark. That means that Piccadilly is "officially" due next Tuesday Nov 2. I had two awesome weeks in this whole pregnancy and those were weeks 36 to 38, no vomiting, no migraines etc. But this past week has been full of painful non-stop contractions. ...Nothing new for me right? Yes I have had contractions around the clock, ALL THE TIME, day in and day out, every hour for 6 months, but these ones have been different, much stronger, longer and painful. Every day we wonder is today THE day? Because of my history we opted not to rush to the hospital but to wait for other signs of labor...(obviously my contractions cannot be trusted.) I decided to hold out until my next doctors appointment which was yesterday (same day pic was taken). I was appalled and discouraged to find out that I have barely progressed since last week. I mean come on?!?!? What the goob are all these contractions for if they aren't going to do anything?!?!? My level of frustration is out the roof. I cried almost all day yesterday. I am so tired of being in this constant state of labor and getting nowhere. I have been in pain, all day, everyday, not sleeping for the past week. It is like Piccadilly and I are stuck. I am effaced, have begun to dilate, her head is low and in position for her grand entrance and ...tic toc...tic toc....nothing. How anticlimactic is this? Anyhow, the docs offered to induce me today but I declined. There is a 66% chance of ending up in a C-section when labor is induced. That is 2 in 3 births...how horrible are those statistics? I am hoping and praying that she comes before Halloween. My birthday is this Friday, I was born on my biological father's birthday, so how cool would it be if Piccadilly was born on our birthday too?
I guess she will come when she is ready...it is just that this state of painful limbo is extremely tiresome.
On to some good news. My docs are still amazed that we made it this far after all this drama. I completely attribute this miracle to all the prayers that have been sent our way, so thank you all so very much! In spite of all the complications I have been able to gain a total of 13 pounds and baby seems to be close to target for weight and size. I expect the next time you hear from me we will have come through the other side of this adventure with something to show for all this work.

PEARLS
This is the all new silk-only colorway.
HOSTA LEAF
HYDRANGEA
And here are new batches of old favorites.

XOXOXO ~ Hopefully for the next post we will have baby pictures.

Monday MONDO Giveaway Part XIV WINNER!!!!

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 numbers and this week's winner is RED.
RED, I don't know who you are and am unable to access your blogger profile, so I am unable to contact you. Please email your contact information so that I can mail your prize to you.

If I do not hear from Red by Monday Aug 9th, I will draw again.

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

Monday MONDO Giveaway Part XIV

This weeks prize is two issues of The Workbasket craft magazine. They are chock full of really fun subjects like Knit, Crochet and of course tatting, recipes and gardening tips plus more. One of these workbaskets has a pattern for a tatted baby bonnet. Also included is one skein of size 20 Purple SILK hand dyed thread.

Please review the giveaway rules here. If you are new to my giveaways please make sure to sign up on THIS post.

The winner will be announced on Wednesday August 4th 2010.

***A SPECIAL NOTE***
I have had a lot of international winners lately which I think is wonderful, however, I can no longer afford to ship my giveaway prizes internationally.
If you do not live in the U.S., PR, AK, HI, or Canada and you still want to enter you must agree to pay the shipping charges.

HAPPY MONDAY!!!

Things I am thankful for

I need to write this post to pull myself out of the funk. So many difficult things are going on in my life that I need to focus on some of the positive so here we go.

I am thankful for:
The tatting world. All of you encourage me so much. Many of your comments have brought tears to my eyes. I wish I had the energy to thank each of you personally for how you are a bright spot in my day.
When asked about my modest little tatting shop, I always tell people how lucky I am to have the BEST customers in all the world. Not only are you guys awesome customers but you are all my friends.
I am so thankful for the hospital that I am assigned to, the staff and doctors are top notch. I know I am in good hands!
I am thankful for my husband who is having difficulties of his own..but he makes sure to take leave from work so that he can stay with me in the hospital as much as he can! He has picked up additional duties around the house and has even started making me breakfast and the best sandwiches ever!
I am thankful for all the prayers being offered up on my behalf!
If I were going through this 100 years ago I would probably have lost the baby by now and perhaps even my own life.
I am thankful that I live in America. Even though we don't have perfect health care it is far better than most other countries (no offense to my foreign friends). I could be still living in Korea and I shudder to think of going through all of this there.
I am thankful for family, even though they all live far away they call to check in on me all the time.
I am so thankful for my pets. They are such a source of joy and comfort...all of them in their own ways.
I am thankful for my faith in a God who is much bigger than all of this. I am ashamed to admit that I have been kinda mad at God lately, but He has never let us down and things always turn out for the best in the end.
My heart is broken, I am still very sick but I realize things could be so much worse and truly I am blessed.


As for Picadilly, we are back home and back on bed rest. The doctors have found a combination of medications to quiet the contractions. It was much worse than I even thought. I was hooked up to a monitor for almost two days and I was contracting every minute of every hour. The contractions are not completely gone but they are much much better. My cervix is still short but has not gotten any shorter so that is a positive thing. The doctors have already started the steroid shots to help Picadilly's lungs develop sooner so if she does come early she will have a fighting chance. We are aiming to keep her "cooking" until at least 34 weeks. That is 10 more weeks from now and that would make her 6 weeks early but her chances will be so much greater.

...and guess what?!?!? I have some tatting to show. I wanted to post this several days ago but being in the hospital for preterm labor kinda threw a wrench in the works. So here it is...as sneak peak of a new pattern I have been working on:
"CORAL ROSE" in size 20 silk

I have also listed some new hook pens.

Being on bed rest is the worst so I am trying to occupy myself with what I can.

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!

Monday MONDO Giveaway Part VII

This weeks first prize is a set of WorkBasket Magazines and two skeins of hand dyed thread.
"Country Christmas" in size 20 SILK, and "Holly Jolly Christmas" in size 50 cotton.

I've included a close-up of the Christmas threads just so you can see how very different they are from one another.


Please review the NEW giveaway rules here.
An extra winner will be added for every 25 entries so the more who enter the more prizes that will be given away...PLEASE share the good news.

The winner/s will be announced on Sunday.

Have fun and good luck!


This morning I woke up to this beautiful sight. It is not our first snow but the Lord knows how much snow does my heart good so I am thankful for it. It gives me a sense of peace especially since I am really missing my DH right now.

More silk in solids and the cutest picture EVER!

All my hand dyed threads start with the absolute best quality thread that money can buy. There is a big difference between the thread I use and the pearl cotton one buys at their local craft center. I then hand dye my threads with loving care. They can be used for tatting, embroidery, crochet, crazy quilting, weaving etc.

Here is the next batch of Silk Solids.


Here we have a new batch of "RAINBOW SHERBET"



This is "PINK & BROWN" in silk only

...and finally a revision of "AVOCADO".


Yesterday I took my pup on a walk because it was such a nice day. We came across this little girl who absolutely fell in love with my doggie. Kyoung-mi was there to snap a photo of this priceless moment.

Dyeing tons and tons of cotton thread and silk

I have been busy busy these last 4 days, doing nothing but winding skeins and dyeing them and preparing them for Shuttlebirds.
This may not look like a whole lot....but trust me....it is a whole lot!
I am caught up an all my colorways and sizes and I will be introducing a couple new colorways soon.

On another note I will be spending the next few days in Japan. We found out at the last second that we have an opportunity to fly there for free. Whoo hoo! How can I NOT take advantage of that!

Have a wonderful tatting weekend everyone!

A mile marker for my tatting blog GIVEAWAY

This is a moment I've been waiting for! I get to celebrate 50,000 unique visits! What do I mean by unique you ask? Well, most counters are set up to track every page load; that means if I visit your blog 5 times a day your counter would go up by 5. I have set my counter to only count one "computer" visit per day; so if you visit my blog 5 times in one day my counter will only go up by one. I feel that gives me a more accurate sense of what is going on with my blog traffic. If I were to count page loads I would have 95,335 hits as of the time of this post.

Anyhow, I am excited to reach this mile marker and I would like to celebrate by giving away a free skein of 100% high quality SILK hand dyed tatting thread (HDT).

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post. The winner will be randomly selected one week from today. WHOO HOO!

Hand Dyed Silk in SOLID colorways

I've finally gotten around to dying silk in solid colorways as opposed to the variegated variety that I am so enamoured with.
Anyhow, I am starting with the basic bright colors and will move on to muted and earth tones. I plan to have somewhere around 30 colorways available...IF there is an interest that is.
I am happy to see that some of my customers are crazy quilters and embroiderers..I wonder what else this silk can be used for?



Also; Easter Egg is back!

#4 for the 25 motif challenge

This is "Swirly" tatted in sizes 20 "TROPICANA" and "KAREN'S HALO" hand dyed silk thread.

Korean Tatting

Here are this weeks progress from our Korean Tatting Group "4:00 O'clock Rock".
I think I can officially say that tatting has firmly taken root in South Korea.
This motif is tatted in size 20 "TUTTI FRUTTI" hand dyed tatting thread. Tatted by Kyoung-Mi.
This is also tatted in Tutti Frutti. Tatted by Hye-Soon. I taught Hye-Soon how to tat the Self Closing Mock Ring (SCMR) today and she caught on very quickly.
Here we have Kyoung-Mi helping Jinju unwind hand dyed silk by using the buddy method.
And finally, but certainly not least, we have a gorgeous edging tatted by Jinju in "GOODNESS GRAPECIOUS" size 20 hand dyed silk, and plain white silk. It is really gorgeous! The pattern is one of my own and can be found free in my side bar under FREE PATTERNS.