Ch-ch-changes

Boy, things are changing around here...I have a shop now, and a shop assistant to go with it; my daughter is helping out for awhile.   She's a good stone cutter--she ought to be since my dad gave her her start--and she'll get a chance to work with some of the fabulous rough I've bought the last couple of years.  Look for new pieces in natural American turquoise, Australian black jade, Texas plume agates and more.

My husband has been prodding me to do something for the guys.  He wants to know why the girls get all the cool stones.  So I'll probably debut a small collection in May before Father's Day.  I'm thinking about rings and bolo ties to start, and a friend of mine asked me to make him a silver cross which he loved at first sight.  

Oh wow, I didn't realize just how long it had been since I updated the blog--no excuses there.  Our season has started, with Gruene Market Days on the third weekend of every month.  Other shows are pending, so I'll list them as we get our notices.  

One of the best things about Gruene is that this is our third year there and we have a great little neighborhood of friends.  My next door neighbor is Ann Feldmeier of Clay Hearts Pottery.  She's been a potter since I don't know when and makes the most wonderful hand-painted pieces.  Ed bought a parrot jug from her a couple of weeks ago after he fell in love with it while "booth-sitting" for her.  Ed has named him Pete, and we're still looking for the best place for his perch.  I think Ed is toying with the idea of asking Ann to make a bowl of some kind that he can sit in as a nest, but I'm not positive.

Another of our neighbors is Texas Redneck BBQ Sauce.  Tim and James make the most amazing sauce and they're both great cooks as well.  It makes our potluck lunches on Saturday quite an adventure.  James asked me to make him a silver cross before Christmas and it took me awhile to get it like I wanted it, but he loved it once it was finished.  

We'll be back there March 21 and 22 with lots of cool new stuff, including some new stones cut from rough I bought in Tucson.