We're Leaving On a Jet Plane.......

I am looking forward to seeing Maryland Sheep & Wool for myself. I have heard so many wonderful things about the show that it will be a pleasure to participate. I must tell you, it's not that easy to get into this show. We consider ourselves quite fortunate!! Loads of wonderful vendors will be there!!
It's a special place & people from all over come to see. !

We are in Building One......Booth #5.
It's the building that has "t-shirts and gear".
There are other doors to enter so please don't be intimidated by the line-up!



Coming up to the wire now....Wednesday we leave for Maryland!
We're READY!! All of the holes...I believe...are filled in and we have beautiful things to offer to the world!
How happy I am to be able to say this? Very !! ;)






I wanted to give you, my Loyal Blog Readers a Tasty preview of new work that will be in our booth.
New buttons, dps, Lime & Violet Crochet Hook & Circular Needles...plus Lots More!!

I will tell you all about our Wonderful trip when we come home!! Pictures and the whole Nine Yards!

Fruits of our Labor

I would like to Thank those of You who wrote in on posts!! I truly appreciate all the kind words!!

I also wanted to give you the link to look at the Angel Cards! Thanks to "kimber" for asking about them! They are one of the things that centers me and keeps me looking forward. Whenever I feel the need I pull a card and see what Angel is helping me. In some cases I pull two or three...when I am going on a trip...or need some gentle guidance.
Perhaps they will resonate with you as well!
They make great presents!


Michael and I have been glued to the torch...making ready for the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival (or MS&W) as it is sometimes known. We are filling in the gaps where need be and creating new products to entice people.
I have also been taking some new pictures of the circular knitting needles and I am quite happy with the way they turned out. Here are a few for your viewing pleasure.



I just love how this photo of the Gypsy Queen turned out! It's such beautiful glass!!

These are two of the new colorways that are not listed on the website...as of yet.



This is Tico Harlequin...this is such a beautiful way of putting these colors together! They are jazzy and bright!...making it really Fun to work with these needles!



This is Coffee & Cream..another of my favorites!!
Alright, I admit it....I Love Them ALL!

The points on all the needles have been modified to be more tapered and pointier (technical term ;) to make picking up stitches without splitting the yarn....even easier!
It makes them even more beautiful...IMHO!






While I was at it...I decided to take these photos of two circulars....that are on the website...they wanted to be on the blog too!
They are Queen's Garden & Salmon Run!

I'm off to take some photos of some of my new buttons ;)....they are next on the agenda for this week!!
If you take a fancy to any of the new circular colors & Want them, please just let me know and we can work it out for you to have some!!

To Bead or Not to Bead

I decided NOT to go to the Bead Expo in Oakland last weekend.. boy am I Glad! When I saw where they had put our booth...in the farthest reaches of the Convention Center..next to the storage area & then figured how much it would cost to drive down there....gas, hotel, food. I thought I could be spending time with my family & making stock for the upcoming Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.
So as my good friend would say I jettisomed the show.





We made lots of beads for the show and I thought that I would show you the little pearls.
I call these our Ivana Beads because they are SO rich and I can just see them hanging around a certain woman's (who happens to share the same name) neck. Lots of them strung together with pearls and diamonds. Can you see it?

Back to the Green, green grass of HOME!

We're back from San Bird doo (San Bernadino) & our vacation! We had such a marvelous time!!
I pulled an Angel card before we left and it said "education"....boy was that the truth! I thought that I would share our time with you ;)

This is a "glory hole" It's where off hand workers pick up and heat their glass while making...something wonderful...that hopefully makes it into the annealer to cool. It's hot in there!!




Here's the "Motley Crew" watching the demos and as you can see having a great time in the sun.....see Michael in there!! See all the gray hair...these are all people that we/Michael has known for at least 30 years....before the gray came in!! How lovely to have this community of amazing glassworkers as friends.




This is Fritz Dreisbach and two of his pieces of art that were on display in the museum at California State University San Bernadino.
This man is a trip...to say the least! He made a red pick up truck for his demo....wish that I had a photo but it went into the annealer and takes about three days to "come down" to room temp....ah well such is life with hot glass! At least it made it into the annealer!!

This is the amazing Loren Stump....now you are in my territory. Loren is a torch worker, as am I......See FIRE!!
Michael and I spent the good part of a day watching him make a very large garden paperweight.
Loren makes the most impressive murrini...which is a mosaic of very small stringers of glass put side by side to make a picture.
The picture on the top right is just a small piece of the larger murrini below it.....AND the larger one is about 3 inches tall....see what I mean...impressive!! Even the Madonna & Son are pointing in admiration!
Here's the only good picture that I could get...and hey, it's not that great....of the paperweight that took him 5 hours to produce. It really was quite lovely and we learned a lot from spending the afternoon with Loren. He is a most gracious demonstrator and teacher. Normally a 5 day class with him costs $1,000.....I'm saving my pennys ;)





Another artist who has been in our glass world for as long as I can remember is Dick Marquis. Here are some of his recent pieces. His teapots are all over the world. He made one at the show but unfortunately taking pictures of hot spinning glass is basically impossible...unless you like pictures that are out of focus. (The link I included will show you one, if you are interested). I think that his new work is amazing as well and it was a pleasure to watch him!

This is a piece by Dante Marioni....WOW is all that I can say about this gift from Italy. His family has been working glass for centuries and it certainly does show!! He has taken the best forms and techniques from his lineage and coupled it with the new things from America & is what I would consider a Master in his own right. Check out his link and see what I'm talking about.....
Not to mention....he's not bad on the eyes, if you know what I mean ;)


On the way home we stopped and visited with our good friends....Will Carlton & Chris Anderson. They are a husband and wife glassblowing team. Michael use to blow glass with/for Will when we lived in San Luis Obispo. They have a beautiful home and studio in the Central California coastal hills.
They are now building a beautiful new home on their property...and are manifesting a new dream of having weddings in their garden. We really enjoyed our evening and morning with the two of them!!

We are home now....getting ready for the next show....in a week...Yikkes....it's the Bead Work Expo in Oakland. I will be going by myself this time. Michael is going to be working on stock for Maryland Sheep and Wool which we are doing in May. Life is busy and full....and even exciting!!