Shuttles

Occasionally I  look at e.bay, but trying to discipline myself not to look at it too often can be problematic!  It seems that once you are on the site there are so many things to look up and see.  Last Sunday evening I went out leaving a reasonable bid on a couple of shuttles but by the time I returned home just knew that I would have been outbid as one of them was an Aero England.  So you can imagine my surprise and absolute delight when, much later on in the evening I looked and found that I had actually won them!   And here are the shuttles, the other one is metal, a little tarnished and has a removable metal bobbin, but there is no makers name on it, it is slim line and very light.

I would love to know the history of these two shuttles, where they came from, who owned them. The thread was still on them and it begs a question is the person who wound them still alive?  Were these items taken from the home of someone who used to tat but is not interested anymore in the craft?  You very rarely build up a relationship with a seller on e.bay so often whatever you purchase is clouded in mystery especially with regard to the owner of a particular item.



During the storms we had in England just before Christmas some branches of a Sequoia  and a Cedar tree blew down.  On Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) we went and collected these bits sawing them to a size that could be transported in a car.  They came from next to the church where Revd Awdry (author of the Thomas the Tank Engine Stories) used to attend when his father was Vicar there.  

I would like to say that the wood is drying out, but it is certainly not doing that at the moment with all the rain we are having.  Eventually this wood will be used for making shuttles, although the Sequoia has a tendency to split.

If you have not already heard, there are some pop-a-bobbin shuttles going into Jane's Etsy shop at 20.00 GMT this evening.

Today marks 60 years since the first weather broadcast on British television 



Fox helped me out on the story of the shuttles - believable or what?!



"The Aero belonged to Tessie Blanchard, from Surrey. Her husband deserted her after a political scandal in the 1980’s, taking her shuttle by mistake in his suitcase. He had left in a rather big hurry succumbing to the demands of his new love. His paramour recently divorced him for further infidelities, found the shuttle, and trying to raise some funds has put a number of things he left in her house up for sale on various internet sites.

The metal shuttle I am sorry to report was used in a bank robbery in Marseilles in 1996. The owner fled to England and hid in a small Yorkshire cottage till she was discovered in a clinic, where she was discovered masquerading as a midwife. She was arrested during the birth of triplets and instructed a friend to try to sell the shuttle as she was raising money for her defence. She skipped bail and is still at large, avoiding capture and arrest."

Hope this helps! Fox : ))



Thank you Fox