This rabbit strikes me as being in control of any situation.  He is a little guy, ten inches tall  and a very smooth dude and like I said before the rabbits just keep coming in spite of my trying to make a cow. I don’t know where the personalities come from, sometimes they are obviously someone I know whose image has popped up thru the clay but this one is perplexing.

These rabbits are new, I am experimenting with new forms of hollow construction and surface texture. I am sort of on a rabbit roll again, they just keep happening even as I attempt to make other things, they turn into rabbits. I just let it be, whatever comes, comes and I am happy for it.

Yup, it is a possum, a very orange possum. He is knitted of wool and stuffed with wool roving. I am happy with it as a first attempt.  I learned a lot and am ready to tackle the next one. Maybe in a week or so.

This is crazy knitting that I am just faking my way thru. I am knitting a toy of some yet to be determined animal. It is for my soon to be born grandson. I want some stuffed animals that are natural fibers with natural fiber filling. It has been proven that babies are highly at risk from synthetics/plastics.  All the various kinds of fake cheap crap they make baby products of  really make me sick. I also must admit it is also yet another way to make sculpture out of yet another medium that I have not fully explored. Yes I make sweaters, socks, bags, hats etc. but this is a new challenge. I have looked at many books of animal patterns to knit to get a rough idea but i enjoy going forward and seeing what jumps out. In the background are the peach tart and coffee that keep me knitting, these fingers gotta have fuel. the double pointed needles on the side of the big orange thing are the beginnings of the first leg.  I will keep you updated.

Can’t live without them, can’t afford them. I said I would always have a horse. When I was too old to ride I would have a driving pony. That was over thirty years ago and I do not have a pony. When I lived in the big apple I would love to go to the corner of central park where all the carriage horses parked  and breath deeply just for the smell of horses. They have come back into my life of late because my daughterinlaw has a lovely horse. Sometimes I go with her out to the stables where she boards to be around them again.  Lately actually having a  pony has started creeping into my thoughts again. I don’t want to ride or drive them I just want them close by, I want to feed them carrots and apples. What is it about horses. That however will not be happening. On my income I can pay for my dog and cat and that is the limit. The result of all this is that I am of course making a ceramic horse. He is a working horse, kind of old and tired. He reminds me a lot of the carriage horses in New York, not a life you would wish for any equine, ears back always listening for the next work order or ambulance, fire truck or road rage driver. Hard, loud and dirty with no green pastures. I guess this is an ode to the horse in the concrete jungle.

I have been making these sort of teepee trellises for my cherry tomato plants. I make a ceramic bird, picture on the right, with a hole in the bottom large enough to accommodate four bamboo poles . I push the poles in the ground equally spaced, gather up the tops and put the ends inside the bird.  The bird then holds the whole trellis in place, picture on the left.  So far they have been working out pretty well and have held up thru a couple windy thunderstorms. As the tomatoes grow and I twine up the trellises, they get stronger. I have also used this method for cucumbers and peas and beans with success. I used larger poles for the cucumbers as they can be heavy. Also it has worked in  well with my fascination for making ceramic birds, a new reason to make more. They look  lovely in the garden and are very functional, cannot ask for more than that.

I finished the baby quilt just in time for the baby shower. It has as you can see applique birds with embroidered details. Many people at the baby shower thought they were chickens, it’s all good, chickens or birds. I am just glad that it all came together into an actual quit. It is not my first quilt but I usually make crazy quilts which I feel are much more forgiving of my skill levels.

This is a new planter, about the size of a business envelope. I made it out of porcelain paper clay. I wanted it to be lightweight and  sort of thin/elegant to offset the string of pearls plant.

Here in the near south it is time to pick your peonies. I would happily have left these sweeties on the bush but their stems could not support their big pink mop heads. They also fell over the sides of the vase. Bud vases to the rescue. I enjoy making these, they are like a mini canvas and the necks are also sized to take candles and sometimes I mix up flowers and candles in a group of them. the rest of the world does not find them as fabulous and flexible as I do. I figure the world will catch up.