I have found my helpers

I had many replies from ladies who have more thread stash then I am sure they could use in a lifetime and I have chosen two to help me. One has an amazing personal thread stash and the other works at an LNS that I know stocks just about every thread there is, so I'm well covered.

As soon as they have conversions worked out, I will post them on my website and BB. Of course not every conversion will work for every design so if anyone needs a final opinion, I will always be available to help.

The Limited Edition Summer Pack is all dyed up and the threads ready to be wound. I will start shipping at the end of next week.

I just LOVE some of the colours in this pack and perhaps a similar thread will find it's way into the regular line at a later date.

Here is a sneak peek of the threads and fabrics. I have also designed a cute Summer book mark to go with the pack.



There are still a few packs not spoken for, so if you are interested, e-mail me.

On a personal note, my only daughter is getting married at Easter 2008. She is the only girl amongst 4 boys in our family so I am very excited. I will be making her wedding dress with Fran's help and I can't wait to get started. My daughter isn't a girly girl but has found a photo of a dress she loves and I am going to be stitching on lots of crystals and beads to make sure it is just right.

AND.... My second son and his wife are expecting a baby in February and this will make grandchild #6. I have a feeling this one will be a girl and if so, we will have 3 girls for me to spoil with lots of pretty things and 3 equally spoilt boys.

I need help

Are you the person I need?

This morning I had 2 more requests for help converting other companies threads to mine. Of course I Like to help but each request means I need to log onto the website of the opposition and check out their threads and then find some of my silks that will work in their place.

It all takes time, which I don't have a lot of these days. While I was dyeing up another 100 hanks of silk today (this takes a long time) I had a thought. Why not look for someone who could work on conversions for me so I'm here asking for your help.

I know there are hundreds of stitchers out there who collect many different threads. Is there anyone who would like a full set of Dinky-Dyes (RRP $550) to work on conversions to other threads?

To do the job properly you will need to have a large selection of other brands of hand dyed silks and cottons and be prepared to compare photos on the net for any threads you don't personally own.

I will look at all e-mails I receive and choose the person who is most suitable to complete the task for me. If you are interested, please send me an e-mail ... jo@dinkydyes.com and tell me what threads you personally own and how you would go about working out conversions. If two or three people want to pool their resources and work together, that is ok too. I just need to end up with conversions that are as correct as possible.

So, if you have every thread ever created or even a really good stash of threads and are interested, send me an e-mail!

What's New

Well, I've finally found the time to post again. The last two weeks have been so incredibly busy and I've been flat out trying to keep up.

I'm also working on the Summer Limited Edition packs which will go out at the end of this month. For those who haven't heard of these packs, I put one together for each season and they contain 2 skeins of LE silk and 2 skeins of LE cotton thread and a 18" x 13" piece of hand dyed fabric and a small design. The sell for $25 and are very popular.

I also managed to finish designing a couple of new charts and have a few more to finish and I have decided I want to stitch 'Love with a Capital L' from Papillion Creations. Yvonne has some lovely designs but this one is my favourite.

While I was poking around in my store room yesterday, I found Long Dog's Rosemarkie that I started this time last year and haven't had time to get back to. I love the way it is turning out. I have used 3 colours. #87 Yalling up, #88 Saltbush and #92 Eungella for the backstitching. I need to try and find the time to finish it but it isn't going to happen any time soon.

This is Rosemarkie and it is stitched on a piece of lavender cashel that I dyed.

Back to work

We arrived back in Houston on Saturday night with no airline dramas except for circling Bush International for about 20 minutes waiting for a storm to pass over and the airport to re-open.

I might have been on vacation but work never seems to stop and I started yesterday by dyeing up 8 hanks of Limited Edition silk for a special order and today packed up nearly 20 orders and shipped them out. I have a few more to do tomorrow because I need to have a few colours wound.

While I was pulling those colours for winding I did a quick stock take and have a tidy pile of hanks ready to send out to be wound. This dyeing, winding, packing and shipping cycle never seems to end. It is a lot of work but very rewarding.

I have to say again how much we enjoyed Williamsburg. It is such a beautiful area and both Ian and I (my educational background is mostly History and Art) loved all the historical exhibits. We spent time at Jamestown on Friday and the Galleries of history there are also amazing.

Here are a few photos. The first is the avenue of trees leading up to the Governor's Mansion in Colonial Williamsburg.

Below is the Coat of Arms surrounded by weapon decoration in the entry hall of the Governor's Mansion. All those weapons would certainly give the impression of power which is what was intended.

The last photo is on a coach on one of the streets of Colonial Williamsburg.


We also made a visit to Williamsburg Winery and had a lovely lunch there and we managed to buy some very good wine. I think one of the highlights of the trip for Ian was the Royal Cream (SP) ale he had in Colonial Williamsburg. He asked for it at other places but couldn't find it again. A friend had told him to try it because it was really good and Ian agrees!

Happy 4th to my US friends

We are having a great time relaxing and looking around this beautiful area of Virginia. I LOVE,LOVE, LOVE all the trees! They are magnificent!

We are staying in a beautiful time share resort in Williamsburg and I think this would have to be the nicest, cleanest and best appointed time share place we have ever stayed. It is Fairfield Kingsgate in case anyone is interested.

I am sitting in the rec centre at the moment using the free wifi. We can get dial up in our rooms but this is much more social and quicker.

We have had quite a week until now. As I mentioned in previous writings, we originally came to Virginia to go to a wedding last Saturday. Well, due to the storms and total chaos at Atlanta airport where we needed to connect to Newport News, we were totally delayed on Friday night and didn't get to the wedding Saturday morning. I was furious, frustrated and have decided I never want to go near Atlanta airport again but unfortunately we need to connect through there again on our return flight. All I can say, is thank goodness for the Delta Club and Continental Presidents club's free drinks and food that made the whole saga a touch (only a touch) more acceptable.

We checked in here Saturday afternoon and slept in late on Sunday t catch up on some of the sleep we missed Friday night. Monday we spent the day at Colonial Williamsburg which is a totally amazing place. It is like a step back in time and we both thoroughly enjoyed our time there. I was checking out the various pieces of stitching in some of the exhibits and the skeins of yarn and threads. All I can say is I'm glad I don't need to stitch with any of it.

Yesterday we went to Busch Gardens Europe amusement park. It has been voted the most beautiful amusement park in the world for several years and you can certainly see why when you get there. This is another great place and since neither DH or I like riding the roller coasters we stuck to riding the train around the grounds and then wandered through the various 'countries'. We listened to a band and singers and ate wonderful food in the Piazza in 'Italy' and saw and pantomime and then the amazing Irish dancers and singers in 'Ireland'. I do have to say we enjoyed seeing the number and variety of roller coasters and watching everyone screaming their lungs out on the 'Griffin' was very entertaining.

I do have some photos but they are on the camera back in our suite so I will have to add them some other time.