Market Countdown

Next week I'm off to St Charles for the Fall market and I've been incredibly busy preparing all the new stock as well as putting together information on a new project to show everyone. Janie and I have been working on this concept for months and I'm going to introduce it to stores and designers in st Charles. It's all very exciting and I'll let you in on the secret when I get back.

I've put all the new releases up on my website so you can poke around to find them if you have the time. I'll add the links in the 'Latest News' section of my website before I head off to market to make them easier to find.

As well as doing all the above, we have our Summer LE pack all ready to go. There is a couple spare so if anyone would like one, just e-mail.



I've had quite a few questions about the new ornament, so here it is. It's called Floral Diamond Ornament and not only is it a pretty 4 sided ornament that is fully lined, the top opens up so a small gift can be placed inside. This design as well as everything that will be introduced at market can be ordered from your LNS.

Working Away

The first St Charles needlework market will be held next month so I am working away trying to get as much done as possible. I'd like to be ready by the end of August but I know it won't happen. As much as I try to be ready early for a show, I am always working right to the last day before I leave.

Here is another sneak peek of an ornament design. It's a little blury, sorry, but for all that you'll see it won't really matter.



I've started working on the Summer Limited Edition Pack and this will be available by the end of the month and possibly sooner. I am just waiting on the fabric to arrive so that can be dyed. Also included will be the last of the seasonal biscornu charts as well as the regular LE silks, cottons and fabric that is in each pack. If you would like more information about this pack, e-mail me at jo@dinkydyes.com

The Spring LE pack is featured in a previous post so if you want to see what a pack looks like, just scroll down.

I received some new photos of my youngest grand daughter, Taylor, this week. She is 7 months now and just loves her veggies. Here is a photo of her with zucchini all over her face.

OK, I'm back

I know it's been a while but I either haven't had anything to blog about or have been too busy blog.

My husband and I spent a week in Floria last month and had a great time. It was hot but nowhere as humid as Houston and we loved getting out and about. Too bad about the storms each afternoon though!

I'm sure you all recognise this famous Disney building.



The last month or so I've been busy working on some new designs, two of which will be released next month and I've been trying to work out the finishing on one of the designs. I think I have it sorted but won't know for sure until I try to put all the actual stitched bits together.

This is a sneak peek of a new Halloween design.



The new Nashville 2009 colours are progressing and I've dyed up a couple of Limited Edition colours for a few designers. I'm also working on a new thread line for release at Nasville but I'll give you more details as it all comes together.

Later this month I expect 2 new pairs of scissors and there will be a cute little fob to go with them.

There is also the Summer Limited Edition packs to get ready so that is on the calender to tackle in the next few weeks.

Columbus here we come!

We are all packed and Fran and I and Kat from Cross Eyed Cat are catching a flight to Columbus tomorrow for the TNNA Summer Market.

Yes, we have new releases! There are 10 new silks bringing the number to 157 gorgeous hand dyed silk threads and we are also releasing 20 colours of 100% silk ribbons in 4mm and 7mm widths. Over the next few months, we'll add more colours.

I have also designed two new pieces, Mt Coot-tha - a new quilt block and Kwitchyerbellyakin which is a fun design with a Celtic border.

Janie from The Cat's Whiskers Design Studio has 3 cute Krazy Kitties charts for release. There is 4th of July Kitty, Halloween Kitty and Ned Kelly Kitty. These cute little guys are sure to be popular. Here is the 4th of July Kitty.



Fabulous Fall is the last of the Collaboration tuffets from Janie and myself. These very popular packs have the charts, full instructions and the specially dyed silk.

Speaking of kitties, Judith from Twisted Oaks Designs has come up with another fantastic design for a pin cushion and scissor fob. Trixie and Treat are sure to keep your pins and scissors under control. Silk packs are available for all the new release charts.

You can find the links to photos and information about our new releases on the Latest News page on our website. Hope you like them!

Things are crazy!

I'm exhibiting at Columbus market next week, so as you can imagine things are crazy around here. I always think I'm right on schedule, until the last week or so when reality hits and I still have way too many things to do.
Alicia bought me the LE Spring packs threads today and I stitched and made the biscornu yesterday and it looks lovely, if I may say so. I used the two LE silks and #51 Kakadu which is the green. There are still a few of the Spring LE packs available if anyone should want one.

You also get a sneak peek of a new silk in the above photo. That silk at the bottom is Mardi Gras which will be released next week. Each pack will contain one of our 10 new releases.
I've also been busy carding samples of our new ribbon line which I'll be giving away to stores at Columbus. So, if your LNS owner will be at Columbus, tell her to call around and see the new silk colours and pick up a sample of our new ribbon. Here are a few of the colours below.

I was finally copying the photos from our trip home to my computer. I thought you might like to see a photo of Shute Harbour in the Whitsundays. This is the region I call home. No beaches in this photo but can see some of the islands in the background as well as the beautiful blue of the ocean. Makes me homesick just looking at this!

Bright sunny days and gorgeous scenery like this is the inspiration for the colours I create.

Week 20....

My husband gave me a new calender for my office which has the weeks shown. We are already up to week 20! Nearly half the year has already gone. I can't believe how quickly the days go by.

I've had another busy week organising for Columbus market and working on my Spring Limited Edition pack. For those that don't know, I create a Limited Edition pack for each season and each pack contains 2 full skeins of silk thread, 2 full skeins of cotton floss, a piece of 13" x 18" piece of hand dyed fabric, a small chart and I always add a little extra something.

The Spring pack will contain opalesence lugana and the Spring tuffet design. This will make the full set of seasonals tuffets.

There are a few of the Winter LE packs left so if anyone out there reading this wants one, just e-mail me.



I've started dyeing the new range of silk ribbons and have about half dyed. I still need to work on the variegated ribbons. I love these colours!

New silk colours

I've finally finished working on the 10 new colours that will be released at Columbus. 3 of them were developed because of designer requests, one developed for my new grand daughter Taylor and the others are to fill in gaps in the current line.

Since I already dye some of my colours in silk ribbon, I am considering adding some silk ribbon to my regular line. This probably won't happen in time for Columbus market but they will be ready for the new St Charles market in September.

Here is a sneak peak of the 10 new silk colours. Hope you like them!

I'm Back!

It's been so long since I've posted to my blog. I have intended to do so but I've been so incredibly busy, I just haven't managed to get it done.

So, where have I been in the past 4 months? Working mostly.

The lead up to Nashville market in February is always so busy and then after there are orders that need shipping, threads that need dyeing and there are just not enough hours in the day.

I also have a new grand daughter, Taylor Leigh Fisher who was born on February 6th and my daughter, Jaime, was married on March 19th. We were back home in Australia for just over 3 weeks and I had plenty to do to catch up after I returned.



Over the past few months I have also re-structured my business and Toni, who has been working for me for about 2 years, now comes in more often,which has freed up more of my time. I still do all the dyeing and administrative work and Toni packs orders and handles the inventory control and organises the work for the other 4 ladies who work for me.

All in all, it is working out well and I've even had time to read the odd book on weekends instead of working 7 days a week.

At the moment we are preparing for the TNNA trade show in Columbus OH, which is the first week in June. I'll be releasing new silks and designs at this show and so we are busy with our normal day to day work as well as preparing all the new stock for release.

I'll post updates as we progress with our preparations but I can tell you I have a new Celtic design and new quilt block to release, Janie will have new designs as will Judith and Janie and I will collaborate to release the 4th seasonal biscornu... Autumn.

'The Wagon' Get Together

I hosted a GT for stitchers from The Wagon BB last Saturday. A few non-wagoners from Houston came as well and I think there were 15 people all up, so a good gathering. We had good company and good food and I think we all ate way too much.

It was Kat and Melissa's birthday this month and there was birthday cake!



Here is a photo of some of those that attended.



This week I've been dyeing ready for Nashville. I keep changing the number of new colours that I'll release but there will be 7 or 8. I'm also dyeing silk for Janie's wonderful new designs. She is going to blow you all away again next year with her new releases. I've seen the most wonderful photos but of course I am sworn to secrecy until Janie releases the images, which should be sometime in January.

Janie and I have been working on several collaborations, one of which will be a Nashville exclusive. Only stores who attend Nashville market will be able to purchase this unique collaboration pack. I'll be posting about all the new releases here and on my website as soon as the photos and information is made public.

I will have two new releases at Nashville, one of which is a new quilt block and I will also be releasing The Min Min in chart form. This design was previously published in the October issue of The Gift of Stitching . I'll add my usual recommendation here for this wonderful magazine. If you don't have a subscription, you really are missing out. Your local needlework store can purchase subscription cards direct from me.

December already!

I know I'm repeating myself but... Where has the year gone? It seems like it was Christmas only a few months ago and here it is again.

Which means I am elbow deep in dyes organsing the new silk colours for release at Nashville and making sure we have plenty of stock for all the new designs that are being released at market.

So, what have I been doing since the last time I posted? Besides dyeing, Ian and I went on vacation for a week which we both really enjoyed. I managed to make progress on the lace for my daughters wedding dress while we were away. Her dress will be purple and silver and I am beading the silver lace with swarovski crystals. I have finished 5 yards and have 3 more to go. The photo below doesn't show how lovely it is but it gives you an idea.



My friend Fran is going to come over after Christmas to help me sew the dress, so I need to get a move on with the lace. The wedding is just before Easter 2008 and I want to ship the dress home in January to make sure it fits.

Saturday I am hosting a GT here for any members of 'The Wagon' who can make it and some local Houston stitchers. I'm looking forward to having everyone here. If I remember, I'll take some photos to post.

I Have the Time

I finally have a chance to blog again. I don't know if I will have something to say each day, but here I am.

It's been an eventful few weeks with The Needlework Show, the Houston Quilt Festival, organising the Fall LE packs and a wonderful trip to San Antonio.

Frances and Sharon, the two lovely ladies from Stitches From the Heart in San Antonio, invited me to attend their birthday celebrations last weekend. They have a really nice store with a great variety of stock and nice big stitching table where customers can sit, stitch and chat.

What a great group of ladies I met on Saturday. Everyone was so friendly and we managed to have a good chat while everyone was stitching.



L-R Jackie, Benji, Nancy, Valerie, Earline



This is Gail, a fellow Aussie who is in San Antonio while her husband is on a year's work contract, and Charlotte.



Carol, Me, Valerie and Dr Chris H, with Frances in the background, admiring two of Janie's (The Cat's Whiskers) beautiful models.



This is the very clever Carol and Benji and the model of The Dreaming that Benji stitched and Carol finished. It is totally amazing and I love the colour scheme, 124 Luna Park and 109 Peridot. The finishing is perfect and shows off the colours in the stitching so well. It is so different to my model and their variation blew me away!

If you are ever in San Antonio, make sure you call in and say hello to Frances and Sharon and if you get an opportunity to sit and stitch with any of these lovely ladies, make sure you do it!

Everything is Happening

I've had a reprieve from surgery on my shoulder. It is very inflamed and the Dr gave me a cortisone injection, some anti-inflammatory pills and I need to start physical therapy next Tuesday. I see the Dr in 3 weeks to see if things are any better.

I have to say, I did not enjoy the injection and my shoulder is very sore at the moment.

But, work goes on. The Needlework Show has started and I've had over 1000 entries so far for the competition for the set of silks. Thank you to everyone who entered and I'm sorry but I'm not able to acknowledge all the entries. Most I've seen are correct but I did have a few entries that made me laugh at the silk names they came up with.

My Limited Edition Fall pack is in the works. I have the silk dyed and hope to have everything ready to ship by the first week in November. I'll be taking names until November 4th or until sold out.

The packs are $26 and for this you will receive 2 Limited Edition silks, 2 Limited Edition stranded cottons, a piece of 18 x 13 hand dyed fabric, a small design and I always add something extra to all the packs.

If you would like to reserve a pack, e-mail me at jo@dinkydyes.com

It's Been So Long

I can't believe it has been so long since I blogged. As I am sure you can probably guess, life has been hectic and there hasn't been enough hours in the day.

There is lots happening at Dinky-Dyes, but I am supposed to be slowing down. I've injured my shoulder and need to see an orthopaedic surgeon this Friday to see about getting it repaired.

Of course I have way to much to do and have tried to put aside some things but I've been as busy as ever. I'm working on the new Nashville release colours and developing new silks for Janie to use in the new LE packs we'll release at Nashville.

The Fall Collaboration packs are shipping this week. What a gorgeous lot of goodies we have for you. There is fabric from Country Stitch, Polstitches and Jayne's Attic, cotton threads from Ozark Sampler and Carrie's Threads and of course silk threads from me. The guest designer is Marc from Needlemania and he has created a lovely design for us. There is also a small design from each of the dyers taking part in this pack so over all, real value for the $48 price. I still have 2 packs remaining if anyone is interested.

The Needlework Show opens tomorrow, Wednesday and I have a great line up of products in the show. In fact everything on my website can be ordered during the show.

We have released many new products over the past month and will be releasing 4 new silks at The Needlework Show.



Once again Dinky-Dyes is donating a full set of silks to a lucky shopper but there is a question you must answer correctly. Make sure you log onto the show for your chance to win.

You can find all the latest news from Dinky-Dyes by following the 'Latest News' link on our homepage.

We have new releases!

My friend Janie from The Cat's Whiskers and I have another Collaboration pack. It is Christmas Ornament pack and it contains the charts for an ornament designed by Janie and one designed by me and all the silks needed to stitch them.



If you would like a closer look, go here

I have also released Lightning Ridge, which is the 4th in the Quilt Block series.


The others are Southern Stars, The Dreaming and Terra Australis.
The 5th in the series, The Min Min will be in the September issue of The Gift of Stitching magazine.

Our new Lapel Pins have arrived! I love collecting different pins and decided I would have Dinky-Dyes pins made. We also now have fun multi-coloured Dinky-Dyes pens.

I will have these lovely pins on sale at Hershey but if anyone not going to Hershey would like one, just send me an e-mail.

Yarn Dyeing

Dyeing yarn is so slow. Since I'm not set up for dyeing yarn the way regular yarn dyers are, It's been slow going but I have made some progress. I dyed striped sock yarn yesterday and really like the end result.

Here is a photo of some of the yarn on the drying rack.



The violet yarn at the top is Wool, Mohair and Polyester and the blue yarn next to the violet is Superwash Merino and Nylon sock yarn. On the next row is a variegated tan Merino and cotton yarn and the striped yarn is a Merino, Silk and Nylon sock yarn with a silver thread through it. The silver adds a nice shine that can't be seen in the photo.

The striped yarn below this row is the Superwash sock yarn again and beside that is turquoise yarn with the silver thread and a blue and turquoise variegated yarn which is 100% superwash Merino. It feels wonderful!

Now it is dyed I'm not sure how to prepare it for sale. Maybe I'll just tag it and wind it back into a skein. I do have a ball winder so that is another option.

What I've been up to

I've had a productive weekend. Ian was taken on a fishing trip by a business associate (and came home with about 50lb of fish) so I had the house to myself and managed to get quite a lot done.

I caught up on all my silk dyeing, sorted out a huge bag of silks for the winding ladies, dyed the first of the box of yarn I have and even managed to do some stitching.

I have dyed some yarn before but forgot how different it is to dyeing silk. You have to be really careful not to felt it but you also need to turn it to make sure there are no white spots. Yes, I have a few white spots on the blue yarn so will need to re-dye those patches tomorrow.

There is a variety of yarn but my favourite is the merino and silk sock yarn with a silver thread running though it. I dyed some a variegated turquoise colour today and I love it. I plan on having a variety of different yarn for sale at Hershey CATS. If I remember correctly I have quite a few different hanks of different silk blend yarn. Well, of course everyone knows how much I love silk!

Oh yes, the stitching. I have been working on Love by Papillon Designs. I love the way this design flows and I am using 3 colours of silk. A new variegated silk #137 Riverina (combination of #119, #132,#136 and blue) that will be released in October, 139 Boulia (a deep purple) a Nashville 2008 release solid silk and #136 Sea Grass. I love the way these colours look together. Riverina was dyed especially for my friend Debbie from My Big Toe Designs and will be seen in a design that will be released in October.

Back to the dyeing. I recently dyed a Limited Edition silk to celebrate our 5th birthday in business. A special promotion began in The Gift of Stitching this month and you will find out more about the LE silk next month. Don't have a subscription? That can be easily fixed. Just follow this link or have your needlework shop contact me about subscription cards.

Last week I had a couple of visitors from College Station. I won't mention any names because I didn't ask if I could do that but I did see some wonderful stitching that used Dinky-Dyes silks. The following designs have either #85 Fantasy Blues or #96 Christmas Pines in them. They are Majesty, part of the 'Legends of the Dragons' collaboration by Teresa Wentzler, Jen Aikman-Smith and Karen Weaver, Dragon Dreams 'I Believe' and a lovely Celtic knotwork piece whose designer I don't know, sorry.





Oh, did I mention that I don't eat fish???

And the weeks disappear

I always intend to blog more often but I'm always too busy doing something else. So what has happened lately?

Our Green Cards were approved. My husband and I are now official permanent residents of the USA. No more leaving the country every 2 years to renew our visas. It also means that my husband isn't tied to working for the company who sponsored our visas. If a better job comes along, and they will, he can accept it if he wants to.

I am now distributing for Judith Tuttle from Twisted Oaks designs. I'll have stocks of all Judith's new designs for your LNS to purchase.

Janie and I are releasing a Christmas Collaboration pack next month. No photos yet, but there will be an ornament design from each of us as well as the silks needed to stitch both designs.

I guess the big news is that Dinky-Dyes will have been in business for 5 years this October. I have been working with Kirsten from The Gift of Stitching, who I also represent here in the US, on a special promotion in her magazine. It all started this month with the announcement of a design competition for magazine subscribers.

The prizes include a full set of Dinky-Dyes silks as well as charts, fabric and threads donated by my friends in the needlework industry. Total of all the prizes is around $1000 so well worth entering.

If you are a subscriber of The Gift of Stitching, get designing. If you don't have a subscription, why not? You are missing out on a great magazine, some fantastic upcoming designs and some wonderful happenings over the next 3 months.

Ask your local Needlework Shop if they sell subscriptions for The Gift of Stitching Magazine and if not, ask them to contact me so we can get you in on all the fun.

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.