Starting 2012... a little late

I am so late in wishing everyone a wonderful new year! But here it is anyway: Happy New Year! I seem to be finally recuperating from a nasty bug that caught me in early December and has kept me quite lackluster.


It's January 27th and I'm doing the first glaze firing of the year in my newly reconditioned 15-year old Skutt manual kiln. The Kiln Doctor (aka Mike Swauger) came by last week and changed the elements, rewired the dials, fixed the kiln sitter and cemented a crack on the lid. Now I'm all systems go for the next 100 firings or so.


And today was a perfectly wonderful day! The weather was Spring-like in Northern Virginia and I was able to glaze with the studio door open. But what made this day fantastic was the arrival of a very mysterious package by Royal Mail all the way from Wales. Here's what was in it:

A sweet little Phil Rogers jug with a wonderful note from Phil who had heard that I had lost the large pitcher of his that I bought circa 1994 in this Summer's earthquake (see my earlier post). So he sent me this beautiful jar as a small replacement.

I am over the moon! Not only because I once again own an intact Phil Rogers piece, but also because Phil's gesture confirms my view that potters are the most generous people around.

The new pot has taken a place of honor on the dining room hutch.

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Show Time!!!

This year I'm only doing two shows: 

* November 19 & 20, 2011 ~~ City of Fairfax Holiday Show at Fairfax High School in Fairfax, VA. Booth #199 in the Gym.

* December 4 & 5, 2011 ~~ City of Falls Church 2011 Holiday Craft Show at the Falls Church Community Center, Falls Church, Virginia. Booth #50 upstairs.

Guess how many large trees are in the box.

Right now, I'm getting ready for the City of Fairfax show. I've got 2 bins packed and, to take a break, I decided to start putting ribbons on the tree ornaments. Here are all the ornaments I have to work through... and just to have some fun... I'll send one of these ornaments to the first 3 persons who come closest to guessing how many large trees are in the box.

See comment for answer.

Losing Katie

October 25, 2011

October 7, 2011

Well, the studio is done. Chris scraped the old, peeling paint, cleaned off the dirt and gave it two coats of paint. Everything is ready now: the wind chimes and birdhouses have been rehung and the studio looks wonderful. But... can you see who's missing?

Katie is gone... My faithful companion passed away of heart failure due to old age in the morning of Sunday, October 23. She was 14 1/2 years old.

I used to be afraid of dogs as a child. Katie changed all that with her "surprisingly human" eyes that understood everything. She was a superb soccer dog, dribbling the ball between her front paws and heading it with her snout. She kept the backyard free of squirrels and raccoons. And she stood guard. She "guarded" me when I was in the studio, no matter the time of day or the weather... she was at her post. She kept Chris safe from the critters of the night when he went out to the hot tub. She sat by us in the kitchen, in the den, in the bedroom... no matter where we were she was right there next to us. During the past year, the stairs became a real challenge for her, but she still managed them in order to be in the same room with us.

She was doing her border collie job... we were her sheep and she was our faithful shepherd.

Katie spent Saturday lying on the living room rug. Somehow (we haven't figured out how), a bird flew into the house, flapped about the living room, and flew out when the door to the backyard was opened. After she died on Sunday, Chris noticed that one of the large azaleas in the backyard, the ones that bloom in the spring, had one huge flower on it.

Thank you Katie... you will always be in my heart.

First Coat of Paint

 It looks better already... Thank you, Chris!

Time to Paint

I had the studio built in 1997 and it has needed a new coat of paint for a while. So... my husband started getting it ready by scraping off the peeling paint... but that's as far as he got and the rains started again (will they every stop?). This is what we've got so far... They promised some sun for tomorrow so maybe we can pick up the project again then. In the meantime, this is what it looks like.

Etsy Front Page!

My yellow citrus juicer made it to the front page of Etsy! Very exciting!