A Sick Friend.

Well.  Not a human friend but the electronic kind.  The kilns at LibertyTown are down with the kiln flu.  Hopefully help is in the near future.  All my new face yarn bowls are in there just waiting to be finished!

In good news we got the first of what I imagine will be many estimates for The House Project.  It appears rehabbing all the windows is totally doable....but the studio came in a little high.  Fingers crossed that we can come up with some compromises!

Meanwhile I have not quite kept to my goal of 2 new pots a day on Etsy....but at least I've managed a few each weekend!

Homeowners!

Yesterday we closed on our house.  Everything went smoothly.  When I told the closer that I had been a title examiner for 15 years she gave me a copy of the actual search.  This is such a cool thing to have (and saves me doing the research again) since it tells the history of our new home.  Of course it only goes back 60 years but its valuable information.  It appears our little house was built for a member of one of the local, now prominent Snellings family.

After closing we had a celebration lunch at the local vegetarian friendly Sammy T's, went home to let Layla out of her crate, time for her to calm down, then packed up a small cooler of beer grabbed some popcorn and headed over to our new porch for Happy Hour!  Poor Layla was a little freaked in the new place, was a little shakey and had to be coaxed into the kitchen with her bowl of water....

It's been awhile since she has been in an empty house with no rugs.

She met the neighbor dog, Brother, with only one small incident (she is a bit antisocial in her old age) but settled down on the porch with us.

It's a great neighborhood.  We've already had a good chat with a couple of the neighbors. The adjoining family is satisfied that they don't have to put up a new fence to protect themselves from the new unknown (us) and I think Layla and Brother may manage to coexisit.

Now we are just waiting for drawings...and sweating the budget.

Meanwhile I have been working at LibertyTown, around the afternoon kids summer camp.  The face yarn bowls from the previous post are glazed and waiting to be fired.  I will post pictures as soon as they are cooked and cooled!

Also I have my Etsy shop up again. I finally stopped by a local camera store for some help.  She suggested Fstop settings and I bought some expensive fancy light bulbs.  I discovered this morning that one is not working out of the box.  But even with just one light I feel like these pictures are just a bit sharper.  I am getting there!   I have not been quick to fill up my shop in the past, so my goal is to add two or three items EVERY DAY.  That way there will be something new on a regular basis.  So keep checking. :)

Our Life For Now

Unfortunately the Kitchen Fairy did not show up last night.

But I have since done the cleaning up myself, stretched a bit and walked Layla.  Not bad since I'm feeling a bit under the weather today.....and trying not to let my surroundings make me too crazy.

My spacious photography studio.

(It's no wonder it's taking me so long to update my Etsy Shop....)

Greg's work space and Layla's crate room.....

We are SO looking forward to our new place!  We met with Jon our builder last week.  He seems as excited about the project as we are.  (Of course he will be on the receiving end of those checks we will be writing....) He also seems to feel we are being realistic with what we want and our budget.  That still needs to be proven with drawings and "The Official Estimate".  He plans on doing all the exact measurements this week.  We close a week from today so we are a bit ahead of the game.

Meanwhile I am slowly adding to my inventory for Fall Fiber Festival in October.  I know that it is a few months away.  But working in the public pottery space is a bit cramped for processing so I am doing it in baby steps now.

Waiting for glazing....

I cut this woman's shawl off my loom on Saturday.  I'll be doing the finishing (twisting fringe, washing etc.) at home.

For my next project!

And thanks so much for all your comments on the last post!  Comments keep me motivated so they are very much appreciated. :)



I'm such a bad blogger....



I really am.  Now that Greg and I are both in Fredericksburg I don't seem to have the motivation.  One reason for starting my blog in the first place was to keep my friends here in The Burg posted on what I was doing in Charlottesville....but I need to refocus.  I need to remember that there may be OTHER people who follow along and read my occasional (very occasional it seems) ramblings.  You may not comment much, but you know who you are.

I have been keeping busy.  Every morning I read all the Other Blogs. (Yes Ron Philbeck, I love the Facebook updates, they are so immediate, but I also love the meat of a good blog...and if this WAS FB you would  know I had "tagged" you....)  I get in a good 15 minute yoga type stretch and then give Layla a long, well really only 20 minutes, walk.  With this heat (103 today) it's lucky the old girl (she's 11) gets anything at all!  This past week our walk was shadowed by the families sitting out in the heat on their front porches waiting for the power to come back on after our horrible storm last week.  (Luckily we were only without for 24 hours and some creative juggling saved the fridge and freezer of food....the only losses were the 4 beers that exploded.  Now my kitchen is VERY clean.)

Then on most days I hit LibertyTown.  I either weave, OR believe it or not, throw some pots.

 I really am trying to vary it up a bit.  Sheep pottery is not a big seller in the City of Fredericksburg.

 I love the signs on the back of the car mugs.

Well.  A few sheep aren't bad.

Several years ago I made some rather, well, odd yarn bowls and have been promising a friend I would make more....

These are still in the greenware stage.  Glazing should be interesting....

A little twist on the traditional face jugs, eh? 

And when I return home I jump on my small workshop loom for some small projects...

But the very MOST exciting thing of all.

We found a house.  If you look carefully you will see my new studio in the background...

Over the next several months we will be transforming that tiny garage into a studio AND adding an addition to this new home of ours. So I apologize in advance for all the home improvement ramblings (and complaints?) in the foreseeable future.  And if that is ok with you....then I will be sure to keep this blog rolling.

Thanks for sticking with me!  And maybe you'll leave me a comment or 3.

(PS  I had a few more photos to add, but blogger must have gone to bed early.  They just won't come up.)