Winter on Rabbitville Road

january is a time of enough. it is quiet, insulated with snow, warm with a fire, it is enough. after a busy, hectic, no sleep and constant barage of orders, and happy new clients holiday season, it is peaceful to enjoy the quiet of my house and it's sledding hill. my dogs are alternately eager to go outside and come back in. their barks reassure me. like my fish, deep beneath the ice, I am safe, warm and content. I have lived 55 years and I know spring will come again. it is enough.

today was good, despite being snowed in. I fixed a pot roast for lunch and it was so good. I went sledding with Kelcey in the afternoon and we wore ourselves out climbing back up the hill. back inside we had hot chocolate and watched the dvd from the New York Chocolate Show fashion show. she loved it! fun.

back to work tomorrow...

see what I mean? fun! and if you have the bunnies that spell NOEL...all you need are the heart and V bunnies to bring them to this holiday.

okay now this is ridiculous!!! some snow yes but c'mon! and ice...and my satellite dish is snow covered so I can't even watch the pictures of other people's misery and compare it to my own. sigh...

but it is giving me time to catch up on the web page. new pictures! new hearts and flowers! new snow? no please!

first big snow!

oh my goodness we had SNOW over night! altogether 5 inches or so. it is really beautiful but really puts the whammy on my valentine party in Louisville on Thursday! that is if we get the ice on top of it they are calling for. oh well. I will just have to wait and see.

meanwhile, I am painting away, just in case. fun new stuff...pictures in a bit!

the catalog picture!

I woke up this morning to sunshine and a spring bird call! it is warm but windy here and that bird filled my soul with happiness...and hope. I took a break late morning and stepped outside to take my dogs for a brief walk in the valley below my house. I have a row of deciduous holly plants near the door to the studio and they were covered in bluebirds! it was amazing. I walked, the dogs ran and back for lunch and more work.

this is a picture of the page in that catalog I was talking about yesterday. I am so excited! but all that aside, I have to go do some clay work. hearts and flowers are waiting on me...nothing like the ones we give ourselves, right?

it is good here on Rabbitville Road.

good news on a cold winter's day

I have been working on the newsletter all day. I can't wait to get back to the clay table. The upcoming hearts and chocolate and ritas parties are going to be so much fun. I have other exciting things going on as well. I have been asked to participate in the Women in Clay gallery showing at the American Art Clay Co Gallery of Contemporary Ceramics in March! The exhibit opens March 20th so I must get after it. It features the work of women artists that use AMACO products in their work. they didn't hold this exhibition last year but the year before they used a photo of my piece, "the Picnic" as the cover for their invitation. I have been trying to decide what I will make for this year's showing and I am leaning towards a Cabana beach scene, like I used to do for Tichenor's years ago. I think I would enjoy revisiting that.
and the second bit of news from that company...every year they publish a new catalog of their products. I have been using their clay and glazes for 4o years. they feature photographs of different artist's work throughout the catalog and I have always enjoyed looking at the work of the various artists. GUESS WHAT!!!! I got the call last week..this year MY work is featured in the catalog with a brief description of the piece. I am so thrilled and can't wait to see it...the catalog they tell me, is on it's way to my house.
btw, this is a picture of one of my valentine zebras in the process of drying!

This has been a most wonderful day. I spent the whole day watching the inauguration. it was so inspiring and I enjoyed it so much! Leah, my helper had not seen an inauguration before, so she was fascinated and felt really hopeful also. I am happy for our country and the world!

I made Valentine animals all day. zebras, giraffes, bunnies..so much fun. and then some chocolate bunnies! I am getting excited about my hearts and chocolate and rita parties!

Happy Inauguration Day!!!!

home improvement update.

and I entirely forgot to post this picture of my tiles. I am so pleased with how they look!

hearts and flowers and ritas of course!

oh dear, time has slipped away from me again. I have been working on that bathroom and have it all grouted now. I am going to clean off the excess grout here in a bit.

I am working on valentine's bunnies. and you know how I LOVE chocolate...I am going to have little chocolate shows here and there and it will be so much fun to show off my newest ritas! I never have shows this time of year so this is a treat. and speaking of treats, I will have just that! chocolates, cake, desserts, hearts and flowers and my red and pink collection. in japan, ladies give each other valentine presents more than it being just a romantic thing. men do give their women a gift though. I say, is is a time for fun, desserts and treating ourselves to something that will brighten an otherwise dreary month. yea! I have scheduled one chocolate extravaganza in Louisville, Jan 29th and one on Feb 7th in Shelbyville, IN at Sanders Jewelry Store. now that IS a perfect situation...throw in some diamonds! perfecto!!! more info on my website!!!!

sewing lessons

Tonight I began teaching a sewing class to the young daughter of a friend of mine. this friend has been so good to me and I just couldn't say no when her darling asked me if I would teach her how to use her Christmas present...a brand new sewing machine! I have been sewing since I was wee little. my mother taught me. it is surprising to hear that so many girls want to learn now...I am sure it is a result of the popular show "project runway!" whatever the reason I think it is important that a young lady can make a garment or at least mend one. we were deeply engrossed in our project and the time flew by swiftly, two hours gone in what seemed minutes. I always did get easily lost in fabric.

the sun is out! that makes me happy. the tiles are coming along upstairs and bunnies are shaping up for valentine's day in the studio. the puppies are in and out as usual. all is right with the world...and I am thankful.

winter is the time to work on inside projects, isn't it? I always clean, update and research during January. and today I learned a little more about this blogging business. if you like, you can become a follower of my Rabbitville Road blog. you can become a Rabbitville Reader! just go to the bottom of this list of blog posts and click on the link. it's easy and would be interesting to me to know who is actually reading it. research! I have been having fun with my facebook page, and my send a virtual ritabunny application...the Internet is fun and engaging.

try it!

finally the studio and store are clean and I am back in the clay. and what am I making? nativity sets of course. this summer I am making more than I did this year. and I still have Santas to make too. I am happy about it and not complaining! Morgan and I had a good day. she will be going back to school next week.

I am excited to go back upstairs and start laying out tiles to decide how I am going to do it. I know I am going to have to have some cut but I have several places to get that done. yea!

Okay so now I am really sore. I mortared in the backerboard tonight, screwed it down and taped the joints. My arms hurt. but now I can start laying out the tile and get ready to lay it. I am so excited...

Morgan came to work today and helped dress the shop. she has one more week off from Purdue so she shared some more time with me. We went out to our favorite Chinese place for lunch and planned our summer work schedule. it was a great day.

winter projects

I have a winter project! I am tiling my guest bathroom floor. I am so excited about this, and I am making good progress. I had already torn up the old nasty carpet and the tack strips, so I was ready to get busy on it! I hauled everything out Friday evening, cabinet, toilet, etc. I measured and re-measured to be sure of what I needed. Saturday I went to Lowe's in Bloomington and luckily ran into a fishing friend of mine who now works at Lowe's in the flooring department. He helped me find everything I needed, put it in the cart, and even help load it in my car. Cement backerboard is heavy!

I came back that afternoon and started screwing down the underlayment. And I used about an inch and a half of screws out of that great big box! Sunday morning I started cutting the "Duroc" cement backerboard.Iit was so warm out, almost balmy. By the time I finished piecing and cutting it was 3:30 PM and very cold outside! I was happy to be done with that part of the project. I had picked these lovely terra cotta color tiles out to go with the existing color scheme. at the store I changed my mind and bought a tan color instead..my friend told me I would bring them back. Sure enough the tiles did not work with the colors I had already used. I had absolutely no desire to change everything else and repaint so I took all the heavy boxes of tiles back.

I am so happy with the project so far and can't wait to start putting the tiles down. However, I have to thinset the backerboard in and tape the joints, and let it dry a day before I can get serious about the next step.

Life is good! I dreamed about angels last night. I was going to make them, had to make them, I had made them and they were sitting there. usually two of them together and it made me happy to see them. I am starting back in with the clay today and I can't wait! I miss it and need to work on orders. yes, life is better than good, it is wonderful.

up coming shows and parties!

Back to work! I am seriously working on bookwork and marketing plans. my brain is already racing a mile a minute. You know I am all about chocolate...I am planning valentine and chocolate parties in my major markets. I will be writing a year end wrap up newsletter to be mailed soon with all the details. hearts, chocolate and ritas all go together!