phew!

What a busy few days it has been...

Sunday, I was working on my porcelain production area and we had the monthly meeting of the Hole in the Bead Gang Bead Club.

Monday I had a big bead order to process.

All day Tuesday we prepared for a short show at the Anderson YMCA for National Women's Health Day. I was folding brochures and pulling together all of the display paraphanalia. Terri made several sets of greeting cards and Mom helped gather assorted other merchandise for the show.

We hurridly set up for the show yesterday morning and had a wonderful time there. We met a lot of fantastic people and had a delicious lunch donated by Chick-fil-A. Then it was back to the store to unpack.

We also had the Crafty Crew Rubber Stamp Club monthly gathering at the store last night. Our customer/friend BP had a wonderful project (photo to come...) for us all to make and M & CD brought delicious goodies for us to munch on afterward. Those brownies were so delectable! We had the company of a group of fun and creative people. This month we had 4 guests joining us and we hope they will come back again.

This morning we have a class for 12 through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute through Clemson University.

I have had so much going on, I have not had the energy at the end of the day to finish pulling together a disc of photos for sister Regina (for the store's web page) or the cards won by Ruth.

I WILL get both of those things out in the mail the first part of next week! And I WILL get some new photos for here and a new post for the store's blog.

Keep those creative juices flowing!

thoughts

I don't have any photos to share at the moment, they are all on the other computer. And that computer has a fried modem from a t-storm about a month ago. (I am still on dial-up here at home and I had a surge protector for the power cord, but not for the phone line... I do now!)

This past Friday my sister Sue and two of her friends came up from Aiken, SC to visit and to view the quilt show in Seneca, SC. (I'll find the link later...) We went to the Arts Company and viewed a show there, one at The Artist's Loft and the main show at the Shaver Center.

I love quilts and truely admire the work that goes into them. I have difficulties with sewing, so quilting is not my thing. But with the other creative outlets I have, I don't know where quilting would fit into my routines. So to all of you quilters, thank you. Thank you for creating such wonderful pieces. Some day I hope to finish, or should I say, start the small quilted Heron wall hanging I have the pattern and fabric for (I bought it 8 or 9 years ago at this same guild's show...)

Thanks to the Lake and Mountain Quilter's Guild and the other groups who displayed elsewhere, the Fringe Sisters, Thread Heads and others I cannot recall at the moment.

And the winner is...

A drum roll please....... The winner is my long-time pen-pal Ruth.

The names were all put in a hat and hers was the lucky one drawn.

I will consult with Mom and have her help me with the secondary contest as to who had the best reason (it is a tough decision, the reasons are all wonderful!). I still have not decided what that prize will be. I should just leave it as a surprise until the winner receives it.

Ruth and I became pen-pals when I was in 6th grade. Although I used to be really good at writing, I have gotten lax. But we do still keep in touch. She sends me photos of her adorable little girl and when I actually get around to sending them, I send her Christmas cards and the occasional real email (as well as the normal fwd.).

We have never met, and only spoken on the phone once that I recall. But we have kept up with teen-aged romances, jobs, marriages, the birth of her daughter and other life-changing events. I feel guilty that I don't write as I used to (I would to send multi page letters chronicling my daily life). Please don't feel bad, Ruth, I don't write much to anyone.
Her name being the winner gives me a chance to send her something once again through snail-mail!

And Ruth, I hope you don't mind that I snitched your photo from your comment to post here... : )

I also want to thank everyone who entered the contest - it was fun to read your comments and cross comments.

This is fun...

No photo today, still sorting through all of them.

I am having a great time with the comments from people who want to win the cards... Colleen is the only one I do not know. But I did live in Syracuse for a few years (what seems like a lifetime ago...), so I know her hometown...

I have decided that I will come up with a prize for the most interesting comment as to why you should win my cards. That will be a tough choice, they are all great!

At this point, for the original give-away, I am going to just place all the names into a 'hat' and pick one. How much more random can you get?

Card Give Away

I know, I have not posted for over a month. It has been a busy month for me.

I am going to give away a selection of 8 hand made greeting cards, made by me, of course. They will include some holiday cards and at least one using the washi paper quilting technique shown in this photo.

The give-away contest starts now and ends on Saturday, September 20. I will randomly pick the winner Sunday morning 9/21. When I contact you, I'll need delivery information to ship your cards.

Just for kicks, let me know why you feel you should win the cards.

After the holiday season is over, I will do another give-away featuring a piece of my porcelain pottery. Right now I need everything for the show and sales I have on the schedule.

Pyrography

This is a photo of one of my favorite pyrographic pieces. In other words, it is one of my wood burnings.

I have always loved Great Blue Herons, this picture was done in 1984. Even today, when I go walking with my friends at the track in Clemson, we are ever on the lookout for Herons. You might call them our mascots.

This was the second Great Blue Heron I did, the first was a clock. Both were burned onto maple.

I don't do a lot of pyrography right now, I spend more time with my porcelain and jewelry instead. But nothing compares to the smell of the wood burning. It is not an overwhelming smokey smell, but one that entices you like a good cookout, or a pot of soup simmering on the stove.

I finally got started scanning a photo or two to add here from the days before digital photography. I only scanned 2. But I have more to sort through to find the ones I'd like to share.

Off to work on another project... I just wanted to be sure to get a new photo up for all of you to see.

Oh, a follow-up on my friend Mike and how he is coping with the loss of his sweet Savannah. He still misses her and feels the void without her around. But to help fill his time and keep his mind occupied, he has welcomed a new addition to his family. Her name is Sandie (as in Pecan Sandie). Sandie is an adorable handful of a Yellow Lab puppy. I think she is maybe 4 months old... I am not positive. I hope to get a photo to share sometime soon.

Also, I need to figure out how to link you to Bunspace, a blogging forum for bunnies all around the world (and their owners) that Sharon has been sharing with me. But I need more time than I have right now.

Later...

The Best Totem Pole in Clemson

I mentioned that I had taught a clay class at the Clemson Arts Center a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday was the culmination show with selections of the artwork by the students. One of the projects my kids did was to make a totem pole. I encouraged them by telling them it would be the best totem pole Clemson has ever seen. To my knowledge, Clemson doesn't have any totem poles.

I needed to make it an easily disassembled totem pole so the kids could take their creations home at the end of the show. So each piece is sitting on a bamboo skewer peg and the upright is a 7 foot bamboo pole stabilized by a weighted tree stand in a planter.

There were 8 kids in my class ranging in age from 6 - 9 years old. Starting at the top we have a cat (opposite side is a dog), an alligator, a gorilla (opposite side is a fly), a puppy, a monkey (opposite side is a deer), a kitten, a dog, and a turtle.

It was a joy seeing the kids come in with their families and show off their work.