Moving on to the next holiday gnome...

2023 Limited Edition Easter Gnome

I have the prototype finished and started taking orders on Sunday. I take orders for 2 weeks and then make my decision on how many extras over the pre-orders I should make. Once I reach that pre-determined number, I stop making them, afterall, that is what Limited Edition means. 

With these, the hats will all be the same color purple, but the eggs patterns and colors will vary.

Mouse #1

The mouse was made for a special order. It is my first mouse, but I love how it turned out and I will make more!

Valentine flowers

Being single isn't always easy on Valentine's Day. Some friends invited me over for dinner and gave me the purple Daisy Mums. I added the Jonquils from the garden at home. 

2023 Limited Edition St. Pat's Gnomes ready for glazing

I have a total of 35 LE St. Pat's Gnomes to complete this year. I started glazing them yesterday and will hopefully finish before the weekend. My deadline is to be able to send the ones that need to go travelling to their new homes before the first of March. I am on schedule for that time frame.

My younger sister is coming to visit next week to help me finish sorting, cleaning, and packing up the house and getting it ready to sell. 

I found a house I would love to buy, but haven't heard back from the bank yet... many years with NO credit, I am having doubts that I can get a loan. This has my anxiety level quite elevated. I will most probably miss out on what I consider the perfect house for me, which will make me very sad. I haven't seen anything else that even closely fits my needs and budget (from the proceeds of Mom & Dad's house).

 

Feeling lost and celebrating a find!

This is one of the saddest days of the year for me.  I used to adore Valentine's Day and celebrating love and romance.  These days, not so much.  I would rather stay at home and eat a peanut butter sandwich for dinner than go out and see all the couples gaga about each other (or at least putting on a good show).

Yes, I love my family and friends, but I have nobody to call my own.  Simply telling it like it is.

OK, enough about my intense dread of this day.

The find is thanks to my sister-in-law Jan.  She noticed a pair of plates advertised by one of the local antique shops in my home town.  She thought she recognized them and posted them to my facebook page.  Sure enough, they were plates that, along with Laurie - another sister-in-law (and probably others as well), I helped produce in 1990 while working for my father-in-law.  My contribution was the decorating.

Long story short - they now belong to me and safely made the trip via USPS.

A Fitting Tribute

Dogwood trees and blossoms were a favorite of my mothers.

While growing up, we lived in an area that Dogwood would not grow.  When my father retired, they moved South and Mom was finally able to enjoy Dogwood in her own yard.  Although the photo does not show it, in addition to the large pink Dogwood in the yard, up closer to the house are several young white Dogwood that were no longer in bloom when I took this photo (a few years back).

Pink Dogwood in the side yard... Mom's favorite tree in the yard.

Mom passed away nearly 4 years ago.

In our area there is the Upstate Heritage Quilt Trail.  A group pf people create quilt "squares" out of wood (or now aluminum) boards & paint to copy a fabric quilt that already exists.  They are then mounted on buildings and added to their web site with map coordinates so people can find them.

Fabric quilt made by Sue Congdon (my sisiter).

I noticed that there was currently only one such quilt square in our downtown area.  (Since then 7 more have been added with 2 more to come, that I am aware of.)  I talked to my sisters (I have 3) and we all decided that it was a great idea to commission a quilt square to mount on the side of the building that our store is located in.  And we all decided it needed to be Dogwood blossoms.

I scoured images of Dogwood quilt patterns and nothing really "spoke" to me until I saw this one (design by Annette Ornelas).  The fabric quilt pictured above was made by my oldest sister Sue.

We raised money through family (I also have 2 brothers), including my father, one of my mom's sisters and a close family friend.  Then, I filled out the paperwork and sent them a check so they could begin the production process.

They borrowed the fabric quilt to use as a guide and they chose paints, drew templates and started taping off areas to paint.

 The painting was done once a week (or so) at a facility about 15 miles from us.  Because of work, we were not able to make it to their painting sessions, although we (and anyone else) were welcome to help.  But they were sure to send photos of the progress.  (See the fabric quilt on the table in the background?)

Once they had put marine grade varnish on all surfaces to seal it, they delivered it to us and we waited a few days until the installation crew could come by.

Blue Ridge Electric - you guys know your quilt installation "stuff" - Thank you!

With my sister Terri Brooks on the day the square was installed.

Once the installation was complete, the 4' x 8' copy of the approximately 2' x 4' fabric quilt looked quite small...


We know Mom would have loved it.

Creatively, all I did was find a pattern I liked & asked if my family agreed.  The rest was completed by others.





Here is the wooden quilt :

Life's surprises

Just as life seemed to begin to find some element of normalcy, something happens to cause turmoil.

A wonderful Christmas with Mom & Terri

As I posted before, my Mom passed away last July.  I have been having troubles getting my creative muse motivated & I am missing her so much.

My sister Terri did a lot in the last 5 years of Mom's life in taking her to appointments as I had previously.  Terri had a better mind for comprehending and retaining the medical information.  I would understand as they told me, but then it wouldn't make sense later.

Now, Terri is facing her own diagnosis of a Cystic Tumor on the surface of her brain.  And, like Mom, she is facing it head on with a great attitude and complete trust in her Neurosurgeon (one of the best in his field).

Terri is the closet to me in age of all my siblings.  We shared a room growing up, and now we share the responsibilities at the store.  Although our teen years we rough (whose aren't? that surge of hormones & trying to determine boundaries with the world is not easy for anyone)  we are very close now (as we are with the rest of the family - we are blessed that way!).  I know this is difficult for the rest of the family, especially those who are not nearby.  I remember from the years I lived so far away from most of the family. 

I am trying my best to be strong & to keep an even keel at the store & home.  Terri's surgery is tomorrow morning at 11.  We are keeping the store open.  Terri's husband will be at the hospital with her.  The procedure should take nearly 3 hours.  Dad & I will keep ourselves busy & act as the information hub for all of our family & friends.

This is the time I really wish Mom were here to talk to & hug & cry with.  I know the tears don't help Terri, but they are cleansing for me.

If anyone reads this, thank you for reading it all as it rambled on.

Keeping busy...

It has been a busy month.  

Mom has had some rough patches in her chemo treatments, including an adverse reaction to an antibiotic when she had a sinus infection.  This left her pretty sick for a while.  But, she rallied and was feeling better when my sister Regina and her family, plus my sister Sue came for a weeks visit.  She went into work for the first time all month just yesterday.  Today she is feeling a bit tired, as is natural for the 3rd day after chemo.  But she is definitely stronger than she was after that sinus infection/antibiotic reaction!

Classes at The Mercantile have been hopping!  That is a GOOD thing!  We have a total of 11 wonderful ladies taking classes through Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Clemson each week.  They just completed week 2 and have 3 more to go!  And our regular class schedule at the store is also quite full.

I am in the throes of getting ready for my last show of 2010... The Mistletoe Market at the Anderson County Museum... this coming Friday and Saturday!  Casting, trimming, bisque-ing, sanding, glazing, firing...   I have a bisque firing and a glaze firing yet to do before Friday.

I hope you all have had a good October, and that November will be even better!

Somebody I know turns 50 in November...

ME!

Happy Birthday Regina!

Today is my youngest sister Regina's birthday. She and her hubby and munchkin all have birthdays within the next week... whew!
The photo is just a file photo that came on my computer, but I wanted something...
It is raining this morning (we need it!) but Spring is in the air. The robins are flocking for their trip North, the daffodils and crocus are blooming, the Redbud and Forsythia are also. And on those mornings without rain, the birds singing outside my window sure sound like Spring.
I had dinner with a friend the other night and she keeps encouraging me to come to the Wednesday night gathering of the Electric City Shag Club. They are a great group of people and I am seriously thinking of going. I just cannot go for a couple of weeks because of prior obligations/plans. No, I have not signed up for lessons... but it is not out of the question.
It is hard to believe that February is more than half over... what happened to January?

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.