A New Friend?

 This dragonfly landed on my sleeve when I was out by the pond.  For some reason it took a liking to me.  When I tried to move it walked onto my hand.  Fortunately I had my camera with me so I managed, rather awkwardly to get a few shots.

I think I'm going to be doing a lot of winged critters on my pottery for the next few months.

Here a couple of small piggy banks.  It's odd that I have lived among oak trees for the last forty years, but have rarely used them in my work.  Go Figure!

The flower pig is an experiment.  The feet are glued on and it's glazed with one design then a couple of coats of glaze and a new design.  Toes crossed, that this works!

The sun is trying hard to come out after a week end of rain.  We had over  3&1/2 inches over the week end.  No complaints as we had all of 1/3 in in May!

As always, thanks for stopping by........*s*

Lost Stuff Found

The dahlias toes that I found at the beginning of August have begun to bloom.  The toes were in a bucket of dry peat and cat litter that I thought I had emptied.  All I really wanted to do was give them enough growing time to get strong enough to make it through the winter.  The blooms are a real bonus. These is also a lavender and purple that is starting to open.  Toes crossed that it makes it through the oncoming rain.  Mr Harrelson had a find old time chewing up a bunch of them that blew over in some wind a few weeks ago, so we moved them up close to the house.  Even the gnawed ones are showing signs of buds.  Maybe frost will hold off for a few more weeks!

I made the pigs and garlic pots back in the fall of 2011.  The garlic pots dried so fast that I never cut the air holes in them.  The pigs were supposed to be banks.  I cut the slits but never made the cork holes on their bellies.  Then their feet fell off and were glued back on with spooze.  I saved them for glaze tests and experiments.  I went digging for them yesterday because I was thinking about making a bunch of test bowls; remembered these guys; it only took me an hour to find them!

I may make a few of a better size for our upcoming Christmas Sale.....we'll see, grasshopper....we'll see!

We are expecting a couple of days of rain to start soon.  Toes crossed we get some heavy showers.  Things are not dire....but rain is good.  It's amazing how the garden has picked up with the few inches we have had.  Plants are much happier with rain than with hand watering!

BTW to see how dogs are celebrated with their own holiday in Nepal go to Jenny Mendes's blog!

We've had warm days and cool nights; I hope everyone is enjoying good weather too.

As always, thanks for stopping by...........*s*

Pigs and Whistles

Many years ago I made lots of piggy banks, then stopped for some reason lost in the mists of time.  I think I  grew tired of fussing with them.  These two little guys will have stoppers on the bottom.  I loved the funny little noses, but it took me a while to figure out how to get a coin opening into them.

  When I was little I had a bank that didn't have any coin opening.  I used to lie on the bed with a dinner knife and tip coins out of the slot.  It made the savings that much sweeter!

two piggy banks

Last spring when I felt like I had no new ideas left in me I came up with a year long project to get me going again.  The idea is to make a different animal whistle each week.  By the end of the year I will, hopefully, have fifty-two different animals in various sizes and shapes.

It has not always worked out as I had wanted it to, but I have kept going.  At last count I was about six weeks behind.  I'll probably keep going until I am at the magic fifty-two.  There have been a few deviations from the original plan.  I made strawberries at the height of strawberry season and little peppers when I was putting up pepper lights on the deck.  I am easily influenced after all!  

All these little guys are, or will be decorated on their bottoms.  I have good luck firing on stilts.

unfired bird whistles

unfired bunny whistles

seahorse whistles