bowls

A piece a week – Ceramics out of the Kiln

| poppypeach
This week I finally made it an Open Studio Pottery Session for 4 hours. I figured this week is going to be super busy so why not take some time out and make some bowls. As I was there I found 5 of my bowls had come out of the kiln. I was experimenting with wax resist and the glaze that made it easy to find the bowls I had made though the look was OK and would be way better if I take it an extra step and work out how this whole process works 🙂 Still it was fun and the colours that came out were very interesting combinations and I love how the glazes react with each other too – a couple of my favorites are in the close up shots. 
A bunch of bowls working away in the kitchen
A favorite combination of colors
Another favorite though this is a matte and gloss glaze combo

A close up of the wax resist
Tuesday night it was Sew Sew with FabMo at the Mountain View Library and here is one of the attendees with her Infinity scarf. We had 12 people who came to the workshop and we could have used another 3 sewing machines as there was a bit of waiting around. Still it gave people time to discuss the steps to be organized once it was time for them to go on the machine. It was a pretty easy project that everyone enjoyed! 
Finished scarf out into the night

At the library some promo material – time for me to start the next months project!

Thursday it was Arts Focus with the kids at school and we made stuffed animals – here is a little one made with some beautiful stitches – I am looking forward to seeing how these animals turn out as the kids really love this project!

A little red elephant!

Friday was a night out at the museum and we went behind the Project Lab to peek at a small amount of the Academy’s gem collection – I love seeing gems in their raw form and these were presented beautifully. Hopefully they will have a show in the future!

Love the colours of these stones

Sunday was a family bike ride before heading over to the theater to see Annie in the afternoon – it was such a lovely morning for a ride and here we are at the end of the road looking over the water! We rode about 8 miles at a steady pace which accounts for some exercise 🙂

On the jetty!

I love my bike! 

Checking out the stinky shoreline!

A piece a Week – A fun party skirt

| poppypeach

Following on the grand success of the circle skirt pattern from last week I had found the perfect fabric with a lovely soft drape for a circle skirt! As it was Ash’s 10th dodge ball birthday party what a great excuse for a party skirt and to dress up 🙂

Let us party down at the park on this hot October day!!
On top of my usual boutique preparations and general house management I also made this amazing cinnamon roll pound cake from Grandbaby Cakes – it was such a hit with everyone! It was perfectly moist and the flavor was not too sweet. Super easy to make and the bundt tin was perfect for a party of 20 people. It was fun to break away from the theme cakes of the past and make a big boy cake 🙂 with a little hint from mum to say, you like cinnamon right?

The birthday boy and his yummy cake
And the beginning of my week I went to open studio to collect some ceramic pieces – yes more bowls but in an interesting array of glazes. I was so happy with some of them that I would love to repeat the experiments and see what happens – as it goes with glazing you never know what to expect! 
A stack of bowls – now only to get them all the same size?!?

A piece a Week – A bunny with Neon Whiskers

| poppypeach
I made this bunny blanket buddy for my friends new bubba, their little one is now over 2 weeks old so I cannot wait to visit him. This week is way too busy so we have to wait until the play In Wonderland is over this weekend. 
Little bunny blanket buddy with neon whiskers!
I wanted to also try a new embroidery technique that I have been wanting to try for a very long time! This is reverse applique from the Alabama Stitch book. It is very relaxing and I am enjoying it very much – I can just put the fabric on the hoop and take it with me in my basket. I decided to make a quick hair band from the book, simplified without beads, as this is for my pottery class to keep my hair out of my face when I work. It is super cute and I am looking forward to wearing it on Friday. 
1 panel down another 3 to go…
Reverse applique hair band to keep my hair out of my eyes

Here is one of the bowls I have made in wheel throwing class. My teacher Danny showed me how to trim last week. The process itself was not too bad once I got a hang of the tool and how to hold it in the right place. This one is sitting by other greenware ready to be fired in the kiln!!

2 bowls trimmed ready to be fired!

And Saturday was the Spring Parade (go to the link at 18:33 to see our school!) we all had a lot of fun with lots of other families wandering down the main drag and enjoying lunch in the sunshine on a beautiful Saturday .

Around the World in Mountain View – this years Spring Parade theme 

A piece a Week – Some of my ceramic pieces, at last and something knitted…

| poppypeach
In the lead up to the last week of school it has been quite frantic, hence the late posting! I finally fired my set of bowls I have been working on in ceramics class which are slab built into a mould and my pumpkin fruit bowl was finished a while ago and that was my first big piece that I am very happy with! At the moment I am completing a textured succulent container and some other planters for the garden as I want to add a bit of colour to all the green.

The pumpkin fruit bowl and my sunshine yellow bowls with Ms Hollys cat and candle holder from ceramics at her school

At the end of the week we had Market Day at school. This is where each class sells a product related to subjects that they have been studying in class. The kinders have been studying insects so they sold Ants on a log (celery, cream cheese and sultanas) for 2 pony beads and the 3rd grade class have been studying Roald Dahl and they created sock puppets inspired by a character from the Roald Dahl books they have been reading. And the idea was to have your picture taken with a sock puppet in their photo booth. Mr Ash designed the Tiny chicken from George’s Marvelous Medicine. The teachers needed help with this project so I went in and helped with the prep for the sock puppets. Also help was needed on Market Day itself so I helped organize the Kinder kids on their stall duties and helping them earn beads to spend on whatever they wanted to. I absolutely love Market Day and the kids had such a great time as well wandering around the different classrooms looking at their wares.

Bug eyes borrowed from the other kinder class
Mr Ash and his tiny chicken puppet

The weekend was a bit of a blur with some friends over for dinner with a tasty couple of smoked salmon and asparagus tarts, salad, bread, wine and a mango dessert. So with having people over for dinner I went to the Sunnyvale market and enjoyed what is around this time of year and the strawberries are amazing as well as the dates. I found this vendor who had a lot of greens, perfect for my salad and they had these beautiful posies of flowers full of color for the table. I love the market and I really should go a lot more often. It was so much fun that I nearly forgot an appointment with a sewing machine at the local library that morning!!

Flowers that make me happy from the Sunnyvale market – see the sweet peas!
Asparagus, leek and smoked salmon tart fresh from the oven

On the Sunday we went to the Computer History Museum! We have never been there all the time we have been living here and it is only about 10 minutes from our house!! It was community day so it was free to go in and play so we took advantage as a friend of ours has his self driving cars project by Google on display. It was certainly a trip down to old school computer days with the fun toys we had in the 1970’s and showing the kids but they do not care for such things as they would rather have an iPad to play with. The kids favorite area was the computer games and they loved Pac Man – with my son saying, ‘Mum you are such a great player!’ Little did he know that gaming was such a huge part of my child hood growing up. We got to sit in the self driving car and check out the controls, though you had to sign up about a month ago to go for a ride in the car. A couple of friends went on the weekend and enjoyed a trip in a self driving car on the highway – it was very exciting for them! Google Earth was set up on some huge screens and I nearly zoomed in on our house in Australia but the kids got a hold of the control and you can see what happens to the earth then in the picture below…

The kids in the self driving car
Where in the world are they??

Oh and I did manage to create a gift for my son’s math tutor who is having a baby in a couple of weeks something I did make in 1 week! A bunny blanket buddy by Lion Brand Yarn – a super cute baby present in green.

The bunny blanket buddy without a face