Team Lift

Workday breakfast omelette - green onion and Chinese chive

John Zentner plate - antique tile

Today is the final push of the studio move. Aside from the gas kiln we should have everything packed and moved by tonight. Yesterday we moved the large raku kiln, with the help of a neighbor, and our landscape guy. It's a giant, one piece, electric kiln that Jeff converted to gas. It's a bear to move because it doesn't come apart in rings, like most electric kilns. We finally feel like we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!
The town of Seagrove approved our sign at 505 and tomorrow it's going up. Our gallery isn't finished but we will be open for business this weekend. Since we had to dry our tent out from the rainy show last weekend, I decided to set up the booth and use it as our sales venue for the next two weekends. We can't afford to not be open for another couple of weeks... I can't survive on Etsy alone. At least not yet.

The end is in sight!

Remember back in 2010 we bought a school bus and moved south? Well, we still own that bus. It has sat in the yard for five years. We were neglectful school bus owners, and didn't keep starting it every week. Thankfully, Jeff did take the batteries out of it. Last week we had those batteries charged, and after bleeding the fuel line (we had it replaced shortly after it's last trip North) the beast started in no time at all! 

This news makes us very happy. The bus is loaded with all of our glaze buckets, chemicals, and assorted pieces of equipment. It can now make the one mile trip up the road. Once it's unloaded we will put it for sale on Craigslist. In the past we contemplated a mobil studio/gallery, but with the maintenance, fuel costs, insurance, it just doesn't seem like a wise financial endeavor. I would rather sell it and see the money in my bank account!
Today we will unload the trailer from our very wet, outdoor show, and pack it back up with more studio stuff. The rain has stopped, the weather is cooler. A good day for working.

I am still here!

Tired and worn out... but still here.

The past two weeks have been a mad rush to move out of 1423. I will be honest. It has been totally overwhelming for us. Not only did we have a September 30th move out deadline to meet, we had to orders to fire and a wedding to go to. Despite hard work and long hours, we didn't meet our move out deadline. We fired the gas kiln on the 30th, and on October 1st we were on the road to New Hampshire for my niece's wedding. I wanted to cancel the trip at the last minute. The trip was not only bad timing, but a financial strain as well. Even with lower gas prices, driving 1800+ miles is hard on the pocket book. My sister was so disappointed that I couldn't let her down. Her disappointment made me realize that this was her first child to marry and she was sort of going it alone. Her husband passed away two years ago, and my Mom last year. Sure she has Dad, but he needs a lot of care and needs someone to care of him.

So we packed our bags and went.

And I am so glad we did. The bride was beautiful, the groom handsome, and my sister was so proud. Look at my Dad standing there without a walker!!! Back in June this moment seemed impossible for him.

 My great niece, the brides daughter, loves her Pepere. She spent a good part of the reception sitting with him, when she wasn't dancing that is.

There was no wedding cake, instead it was wedding pie. Perfect for a fall wedding in chilly New Hampshire.

Our whirlwind trip lasted 6 days. Four days on the road and two days with family. We returned home in the nick of time for the town council meeting on Tuesday night. Jeff took our application to the meeting and came home with our business license.

It's official, we can now sell pots in the town of Seagrove! We were very relieved that they gave us approval that very evening.
The last two days have been spent packing up the gallery at 1423 and packing for the CCM Fall Pottery Festival in Charlotte. That's happening on Saturday- detail in the side bar of the blog.
Did I mention that I am exhausted?
Well I am.

Onward...

Jeff and I are done making pots at the log cabin. We will fire the gas kiln once more before the end of the month. This weekend I started to pack the studio. I am taking time to wash my tools and tool containers. It will be good to get a clean start in the new space.

When I left my studio in New Hampshire it was very emotional. Yes it was exciting to start a new life in a new state, but I was leaving so much behind. I don't have an emotional attachment to this studio. I am happy to have had the opportunity to work here, it has been a great place to get established in Seagrove... but it's definitely time to move on to our own space.
...and to make it our own..

Boxing it up

 While packing, I came across John's sketch books from his days at Alfred College of Ceramics...

His first year at Alfred was the fall of 1969.

I am really trying to lighten up on all the "stuff" I own. I considered tossing them.

But I boxed them up instead.

Sometimes it's hard to let go.

The Joys of Moving...

We have been eating out of the same few plates and bowls for weeks now. As I unpack boxes we are reconnecting with pots that haven't been used for some time, many haven't graced the dining table in years. The bowl in the photo is from Cornish Hill Pottery in Wolfeboro, NH. It was my go-to cereal bowl for years. Unpacking it inspired me to buy some Cheerios for breakfast! The mug is a long standing favorite made by Jeff Dean, here in Seagrove.

While in the midst of this move, I have decided to head to New Hampshire at the end of the month and help out with my Dad. My sister made plans months ago to visit my brother and his wife in Alaska. I don't want her to cancel this trip. Dad will still be in a rehab facility but we both will feel more comfortable if someone can visit with him everyday. Last year she had scheduled a trip to Ireland and had to cancel because of my mother's illness and subsequent passing. My sister deserves a vacation! It's not a great time for me to pack up and leave, but family is important. It will all work out in the end.

Next post should be photos of our completed kitchen... we are so excited!

We Moved...

Well, sort of. We are mostly in our new house. All the big stuff was moved on Friday. There are still some odds and ends that need to travel up the road, and still lots to do at the house. We realized it would be easier to move in and finish it while living there. Too many nights have been spent working until after 11pm, then going back to the log cabin, cooking dinner and falling into bed exhausted. Now we can tackle the house in the evening and have dinner cooking while we work.

The living room is the only room in the house that isn't filled with boxes! Sophie cat is adjusting quite well to the move. I am sure she misses playing on the spiral staircase at the cabin, but this house has so many more rooms for her to explore and hide in. Centurylink really dropped the ball with our telephone and internet move. We kept internet only at the studio until our move is complete and for some reason that made the switch over very complicated. Are we the first people to ever move phone and internet to a new location and keep internet only at the old one for an additional 30 days? They acted like we were. I spent over four hours on the phone talking to different departments and waiting on hold. Today I finally spoke to a reasonable and polite woman at our local office. It took her only an hour to get a tech out to the house and hook us up. I finally feel like we are connected to the world again. How did we ever survive back in the day?
Today we are firing the kiln. Jeff got up early and lit the first burner. He came home and we switched places so he could do some plumbing work. It's a beautiful evening to sit on the porch and wait on the kiln to climb to 1650 degrees. At that point I will put her into reduction and Jeff should arrive to finish off the firing. I am still not sure when we had time to make the pots that are in this firing.
Perhaps it was the elves.

Getting Rid of the Yuck Factor

Our kitchen had a formica back splash with aluminum trim. It was dreary looking and very stained behind the cook top. Jeff started to rip it off and as he suspected it was glued to the sheetrock wall. The formica removal took most of the paper from the sheetrock with it. 

In another life, long ago, Jeff hung sheetrock for a few years. He was able to make it all pretty and ready for paint. 

While he played in the mud, I stripped the wallpaper where the fridge goes. Behind it I found an icky, moldy mess. On the other side of this wall is the washer hook up. It must have leaked at one time, creating mold. Jeff cut the wall out on both sides to also find some rotten framing.

The framing is now replaced and last night Jeff hung the sheetrock.

I have started to tackle the pink bathroom. The wallpaper is gone. Now to scrub the glue off of the wall.

We hope to be in the house by this weekend. Everything won't be done, but the icky stuff will be gone!

Getting Primed

It felt more like Labor Day than Memorial Day. Yesterday we got almost all the cabinets primed. Today we will rip off the countertop on the outside wall to make priming the interior of those cabinets easier. We are leaving the interior of the cabinet over the wall oven green! It was the only one that was green, and it looks like the cabinet was never used. We will put the doors back on that cabinet. It will be a good one for storing baking pans. All of the lower cabinets are getting their doors back on. Some of the uppers we will leave off so that we can show off our handmade dishes.

Today we will unload the kiln and ship pots. Then it's back to the house to put a coat of real paint on the cabinets. No funky colors. We are playing it safe with "Churchill Hotel Vanilla". I can't wait for this project to be done so we can move in! Sunday night we slept in the guest bedroom. It's the only room with some furniture right now. It felt so good to wake up in our own home and enjoy coffee on the patio.

I just need to be a little more patient!!!! We are almost there.

Patience is a virtue?

I am loving this new batch of spoons that came out of the wood kiln that was fired during FireFest at STARworks. I like them so much that I want to keep them... but I will be strong and put a price on them. Well, maybe I will keep one.

There is so much that needs to be done at our new house and it's making me crazy to not be there every minute! But alas, there is a studio tour this weekend and I have to prepare for that, as well as piggy bank orders to complete. It doesn't help that the house is just a mile from our current location, making it all the more tempting to sneak away. I need to be patient. We knew that the timing of our closing would be squeezed in between studio tour preparations, and Jeff's impending trip to Japan and S. Korea. Yep, he leaves in less than two weeks. It's a good thing we aren't under pressure to move out of here! Our goal is to be completely down the road by June 1st.

I am both exhausted and exhilarated, just thinking about it.

Looking forward to the New Year

I love that the camellia blooms this time of year in North Carolina. I have been here for four years and I still think they are a wonderful, winter surprise.

The year has come to close, which give us the opportunity to reflect upon it. 2014 was a complex year for me.  The first half I was faced with my parents car accident and then my mother's passing. Next Jeff's trip to South Korea was postponed, leaving us with a very expensive plane ticket, that wouldn't get reimbursed until the trip was rescheduled. Somehow despite these obstacles, and a few more, we managed to increase our sales and financially had a pretty good year. We are probably still poor by many people's standards, but we are happy and enjoy our lifestyle.

I am feeling very positive about 2015. So positive that Jeff and I have been looking at a house to purchase. Now we have to hope that the bank will feel the same way. Please send good energy our way. We are already arranging our furniture in the new house!

My wish is that you all ring in the New Year in the manner that makes you happiest, and that 2015 brings you health, happiness, and a little extra cash wouldn't be so bad either.
Happy New Year.

"come on get happy!"

remember my last post said that jeff and i had an exciting morning? we have been trying to figure out how to move 1000 miles south and do it economically... we looked into lots of options and after reading potter linda starr's moving adventures on her blog and corresponding with her we made the decision to....

BUY A SCHOOL BUS!!!!!
we are going to remove the seats and all the "school bus stuff" and use it to move us to north carolina.

my first thought was "can we paint it like the partridge family?!"

when we are done moving we will either:

A. turn it into a traveling studio
or
B. sell and recoup our moving expenses

...i still can't believe i am a bus owner :-)

a new adventure...

... the word is officially out... jeff and i are moving to seagrove, nc!  my apologies to any of my friends who  found out here.  i tried to call as many people as possible and unfortunately couldn't get to all of you.  the plan is to move the house contents and most of the studio by the end of may.  our goal is to have dual citizenship between NC and NH since we have family, friends and connections with the potters guild and the league of new hampshire craftsman.
i had fun putting together this slide show of our two recent trips to the 'grove...

a new beginning...

...is the art journal theme this month and it arrived right on time. i am in the middle of a move. not going very far, just a few miles down the road. i love my new place! it's quiet and spacious with lots of storage (yeah i have lots of stuff). many thanks to paul, harris and jeff for all their help in getting this disorganized girl moved.

...the move has put glazing, loading and firing the kiln on hold. hopefully i can get back to the studio next week.

i almost forgot the best part of my new digs.....washer and dryer hook ups :o) !no more coin laundry for this girl

...is there anything you need washed?