Shuttle heaven.....

Today has been a FANTASTIC day.

The mailman was good to me for a change and I received not one but TWO surprises in the mail.

First a little bit of history so you know just HOW special this mail is.........

A couple of years ago Dantatter sent me some photos of a tatting exhibition in Germany. One of the vendors there sold the most wonderful looking wooden inlay tatting shuttles. Of course I fell in love with them straight away and they got added to my.. I REEALLLLY REEAALLLLY WANT THESE list. (one that is WAY too long!)

Easier said than done. I tried everything I could to find the maker and contact details and thought I had it there for a while but alas it was not to be.... language barriers and trying to get the money over there was just going to make it too hard.

UNTIL.....

A few weeks ago I was chatting with someone from InTatters who lives in Switzerland and so I asked her about the shuttles. Yep - she knew of them and not only that - knew how to get hold of some!! WHAT????? How cool is that!

So to save having to mess about with exchange rates and the like - we are doing a shuttle swap. 2 Swiss handmade Edith Roesti wooden shuttles for 2 Australian handmade wooden shuttles from Neil Keats.

Back to today ..... when I got out to the mailbox (trying not to melt in the process - 40 plus celcius up here today) there were two packages - one from Sonja in Switzerland and one from Neil Keats. Talk about good timing...

Here's what was inside.....

ok - first go get a towel cos you ARE going to drool over these and I would hate to be responsible for any computer damage.......




The two top ones are 72mm x 20mm and are for Sonja and the bottom two are 66mm x 16mm for ME!! Handmade, beautifully finished, wooden shuttles from our very own Aussie shuttlemaker - Neil Keats.

I have several of these now and have had him make some as show prizes and also some for when Susanne and Ginny visited in 2006.

LOVE them. They are always beautifully finished and are lovely to tat with.

And in the second package we have.........

  This is one of the Edith Roesti shuttles from Sonja.




And this is the OTHER one!!    




These shuttle are gorgeous and so light to use. I am really rapt with them and can't wait to play with them a bit more.

They say good things come to those who wait!!! Just sometimes it takes longer than you expect!

Thanks Sonja for making this possible.