Carding, Spinning, Family, New Truck, And A Regency Portrait

It's been almost a month since I last posted. It doesn't seem like it's been that long. There has been a lot going on around the house. Both kids and hubby have been sick, we've bought a truck, my parents came to visit, and I've been sewing, carding, spinning, and cleaning up a storm.
I'm still loving this drum carder. I'm almost out of fibers to dye and card though. (Shhh... Don't tell hubby that I've bought more and it's on it's way.) My only problem right now is that I want to spin up everything that I card. Which is bad because I want to sell some of my batts on Etsy. I have a few listed up right now, but the urge to grab them and spin them is terrible!

I found some silk dyes at the Goodwill a few weeks ago. It's amazing what you can find there. I never in a million years though that I would find good fiber dyes there. They were kinda pricey (a whopping $1.00 each). I bought two packages of them which equaled 15 colors in all and all the bottles were full. I looked them up online and learned that they are silk dyes from France. Which are good to use on all natural fibers. Their regular retail price is $4.00 each, so I got a great deal. Yeah! I did a test run with small amounts of fiber with each color to check out how well they would dye up. And, I'm so pleased. I now have lots of colors to play with.
Here on the home front, the kids and hubby have been sick, Ray lost her second tooth, Alaina has gotten a black belt in her recorder class, and my hubby bought a truck. He's been really wanting something to haul stuff around in. We seam to make a lot of dump runs, donation runs, and wood hauling lately. So, this thing will come in very handy. He was smiling like a fool day before yesterday when he came home with the perfect canopy for the back. It's the same blue and everything. It's the taller type with good windows. When we go camping this summer, we could sleep in the thing if we wanted it's so big.
I really haven't been sewing as much as usual this month. I really wanted to get back into the groove, but nothing that I have patterns for was calling to me. I was watching a Jane Austen movie and got very inspired to make some regency outfits. During my research I found this great portrait. I don't know what it is that I love so much about it, I just do. I ended up drafting a pattern for a with a wrap style empire waist dress. I love it. I also knitted up a shawl to go with it and have plans for another dress. I'll do a full post on this dress and the other regency stuff I'm working on later today or tomorrow. Right now, I'm off to make a pair of jeans for a commission.