I'm Home! Yippee!

It feels so good to sleep in my own bed but I had the best time and show EVER in TUCSON. The opening day of the show was my best first day of a show ever and Phil and I worked out our " dance " with each other and had a great time with customers. Everyone that stopped by the booth had nice things to say about my work and it was so neat to meet my on line customers in person, face to face. Judy was a trooper at the show and put up with me and enjoyed all those Baggins sandwiches. thank you to all who stopped by, said hello and made my days brighter. New charms are being drawn up even as I write this and a friend, Janet ( Contemporary Glassworks ) gave me the coolest idea for a series of charms.

I forgot to take my camera to Tucson so I am posting pictures of some of the wonderful treasures I purchased for the shops. A trunk show is in the works and my studio is softly calling me!

Another great discovery in Tucson? Advil PM! Wow - does it work for this achey, tired girl! I'll think of all of you as I play with my new found delights! Love, Lois

p.s. Special thanks to Kathy D for the nut free chocolate chip homemade cookies! Yum! And ... kisses to Whit for all the bagels and cream cheese in the mornings and kudos to Andrea for being such a great neighbor with the most beautiful PMC work and lampworked beads I've ever seen. I can hardly wait until next year!

Here I GO.......

I am leaving you with two final pictures of the snow here at home. I am taking only thoughts of warm, not hot temperatures with me and a bit of sun. The frenzied packing is over and now I just keep my fingers crossed that I and all my merchandise arrives safely and intact to Tucson. It will be crazy for 2 weeks! Have a great time between my blog entries although maybe, I can get Andrea to load images with me and I can send you an on the spot posting!!! Peace, Lois

Whoo-Hoooo! It DID snow!

Here are a few photos of our snow, a big 5 inches! I know all you mid-west, Alaska kind of people are laughing at this " BIG " snow but for us it is significant AND we have no snow removal equipment. What falls on the ground and roads, stays on the ground and roads.

Jacob is standing in front of our tomato plant patch all fenced to keep deer and racoons out. There is also a nice shot of the snow covered Olympic Mountains and the foot hills.Finally, he is an exhausted sledder!

Today there are fears of flooding in the area. The boxes are packed and shipped to Tucson, our house-dog-cat sitter is here and I have pulled out some summer clothes to wear. I have to finish the last of the charm polishing, pay the employees and head out. I will tempt you maybe one more time with snow pictures and then I am taking this camera to Tucson so I can take and load pictures after my show. Have a bright day! Lois

A Winter's Day

I woke up to a morning of snow! I love the snow! I hate that it makes it a slow day customer-wise in the shop but I love the crisp, cold air, the sight of soft flurries and the feeling of being snuggled at home. It was also a weird weather day as it alternated between snow, sleet and rain and tonight everything is solid ice. The drops of water on the car are absolutely frozen in place. I think that I will spend the evening in my studio, packing, packing, packing for Tucson. Oh, and there is cherry pie for dessert! YUM -YUM! Thank goodness for Marie Callendar frozen pies! Have a sweet evening! Lois

From the Studio

Here is a quick sneak preview of a few of the new charms that I am getting ready for Tucson. These still need the final polishing and finishing but as you can see ( I know, barely see ) I did a lot of rings and prints. I will be doing charms next of my most recent trip to Hawaii and who knows how Tucson will inspire new designs! I am putting in long days in the studio but I think it will be worth it all when the work is done. On to jewelry displays next!

I thought you might also like to see a photo of a finished metal tray I painted in the german folk art technique of Baulinmaleri. I hope I spelled that correctly! I love painting functional objects in traditional folk arts from many countries around the world. This was an old, old tray that I stripped of paint and wire brushed to get the surface ready to take paint. I think the colors just sing!

I'll show you more later!

The View from Home!!

I couldn't leave today without showing the great view from my deck of the snow capped Olympic Mountains and the sunlight ( Yes! Sunlight! ) streaming into my home! Yeah!! Better hit the studio to work on Tucson stuff. Lois

The Culprits!

These are my girls! They are the ones running with me and it was Jesse, the tall and leggy Lab that bumped me and sent me flying into a free fall! They are great aging ladies and I just love them to pieces! After I fell, Jesse must have thought, " I need to get outta here! " because it was Regina who stayed and licked my face and kept running back and forth to the front door for help. I was hollering, you betcha, but my Phil thought I was singing or howling at the moon! Which I do on occasion but it was daylight! Oh well, like George Burns said," Aging isn't so bad if you can stay young at heart! " Have a spendiforous day!!!! Lois