Birthday Loot

My husband has never been good at surprises. He usually gets a good one in every 4-5 years. He got me this year. I was convinced he hadn't bought anything for my birthday and prepared to hold it over his head for a good long time. {Come on, it was a BIG birthday!} Apparently, he conspired with my mother, to buy this:



It's a Russian lacquer box. The soda cap is in there for scale (okay, that was a mistake, but it does provide scale!). Several years ago, my mother, sister, and I went on a Baltic Sea cruise and discovered these little gems. They are the most exquisite pieces. The masters paint with a single hair from a squirrel tail. It's a perfect gift - and the best part was he surprised me!


Here's what I bought for myself. It's a Kundert handspindle.



A friend of mine was spinning on one at the last spinner's guild meeting I went to. (Her's has the checkerboard pattern on it.) I ordered it on a Monday and had it by the following Monday. Spins like a dream - I love it when my tools are this gorgeous.


And how's this for potential?



A woman who took the Lynne Vogel workshop with me decided to do a huge order and several of us went in on a bunch of dyes. I have an amazing amount of dyes in every color of the rainbow. If I could just squeeze out a weekend, I may get to this before spring!

My mother entered the 21st century and bought a bunch of books from my Amazon wishlist and my sister made me a kick-ass coconut cake. It was a good day.