Almost Spring!

Although it was gray and rainy today; I still managed to trim back some of my lavender plants and maybe spark them into spring. I can never bring myself to actually cut stems from my plants in the spring or summer as I like looking at all the lovely blooms on the lavender. I should have worn gloves though as my hands are a bit scratched up but oh, the sacrifices we make for our gardens!

I played all day in the studio with short breaks for housework ( sigh ), laundry ( double sigh ) and paperwork ( extra heavy sigh here ) and managed to get quite a bit of jewelry made for the shop. I will be in the store all day Friday and Saturday. It will feel GOOD to be back in the shop. My shows have kept me out of town for the weekends so I have missed playing in there.

I am posting a not so good picture of my Guadalupe banner I take to shows with me. It is pretty small with quite a bit of bead embellishment and she goes to all my shows with me. I consider her " my girl " and she reminds me to keep the faith and makes me feel protected. I wish you could see the beading details as I added some of my hand dyed lucite beads.I may try another picture one of these days.

Time to move onto the next project. Have a great night. Lois

Windy Monday

We are having these deep, deep earthquakes some 25 miles underground under the Hood Canal. The scientists who study these things say you can't feel them but I swear I am sensing the earth's movement. I will be still for a moment and then suddenly feel this gentle swirl/swish under my feet. Interesting! The wind is also yowling outside and all the leftover from last summer tall grass is pushed low to the ground. It is a pretty fascinating place that I live in.

The Bellingham Bead Festival was great fun and it was wonderful to meet all my customers and make new ones from up there. It was a fun journey on the temporary ferry too and hey everyone, we HAVE a ferry now!!! You CAN GET HERE!!!

I promise some pictures in the next couple of days and I will try, try,try to do something interesting although honestly, after back to back shows; I just want to sleep! Nighty - nite, Lois

Leaving You With a Taste of Spring!

The sun was out in its' full glory yesterday afternoon and although there was still a chill in the air; the spring blooms that are sheltered in my flower beds softly shed their winter cloaks and bloomed! Faith IS planting a bulb in the deep dirt in the fall and hoping both it and you will bloom in the spring!

Off to the Bellingham Bead Festival this weekend! It seems all I do lately is pack and unpack my beads and self and hit the road. Maybe I will get in a little sketching time or knitting time. Maybe some sun! xxxooo, Lois

Home from SEW EXPO Show!

Finally, I remembered to take my camera with me to a show! Now you can see a photo of my booth setup and some delectable looks at my trays of colorful, tempting, dripping with pizzazz glass beads. I swear I never get tired of looking at or touching the beads. The colors make me weak in the knees with bead desire!

We had a fabulous show and I will probably need to post even more pictures of this event at another time. Having my camera with me made me feel like a kid in a candy store! I didn't know what image to choose next to photograph or post. Enjoy! xxoo, Lois

A lazy Sunday Morning

Jacob and Phil have gone to the animal shelter to do their volunteer work and I have the house to myself! Mmmm ... quiet, spacious, wonderful empty house. Just the sweet soft snoring of the dog is keeping me company. I have read BOTH Sunday papers from front to back and watched the CBS Sunday Morning show with Charles Osgood. The day is partly cloudy and a bit warmish so I am not particularly inspired to get up and about. I do need to pack for the Sew Expo show in Puyallup this coming weekend. I have some fabulous bead and fiber treasures to take and display. I am just not terribly motivated to spend the day in the warehouse. I'd rather play int the studio. Anyway, if I get my get along together; I will add a photo or two later today. Till then - enjoy this day! Lois

Some nights....

I remember when I was in college that one of my drawing instructors in particular told me to stop being so illustrated in my work. I think she was trying to say that I should be freer in my drawing and that the finished piece would be more successful. Now that I am older I tend to draw things that make me happy and then I load the piece with tons of texture. I know that I am enjoying the process more and the end results make me smile. I still fling paints and medium around though and end up with my very abstract, intuitive work but in the end I like drawing fish, suns, flowers, spirals and houses. This piece is a PT kind of drawing I have just begun featuring our local sailboats and big green fish. I think it will be fun when done! Maybe it would make a good wooden boat festival poster! I am staying up much too late! xxoo, Lois