THE HOLIDAY SEASON

So maybe it is genetic or maybe it is because we drug our two daughters around to all those art shows during their young years, but here they are a couple of decades later with their own Etsy business. AND, they have done this while never living close to each other. In fact for a while, they lived in different countries. Anyway, they share the work and the success of The Blue Agave Studio.

They use beautiful and trendy fabrics to sew an assortment of items. They specialize in reusable gift bags, Christmas advent calendars, pillow covers, zippered bags and little girls' dresses.

Here are a few samples:

If you want to go to their Etsy shop, just click on this link;

https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlueAgaveStudio.

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SUMMER FUN

So for the fun things we did this summer and fall...

Both daughters' families were here this summer. And these were the five little creatures that kept us all busy and happy:

Then in July, our oldest daughter and husband both found out they had job offers here in our area. So, they made a hasty move here and it only seemed practical that they take up residence in our big house and we moved into the smaller house on our property. This used to be Philip's parent's home, which we recently had updated. We moved from about 3000 square feet to 1200 square feet. Talk about down sizing!!
But we love it. We have let go of lots of "stuff" which has been a good thing.
We went from the house in which we raised our girls;

  to the "The Little House" as we call it.

We still have work to do - finish painting, put in some grass, hang curtains, etc, but we ARE IN.
The bell shop is still the same, still the first thing you come to when turning into the property. We just have to walk a little further to get to it and we have to watch out for a grandson on his bike!!

Catching Up

So, I decided I was going to quit posting. I thought there really wasn't anyone reading this blog. Therefore, I didn't post anything about the Rockport art show in July, the Midland art show in September or the Huffhines show in October. Nor had I written about things that we  had been doing for work and for pleasure.

But recently, I have had two actual people tell me that they DO read the blog. ARGH!!! Now I feel guilty. So, here I am tonight - playing catch up.



Hot as usual, but the crowd was good.

Poor Philip had gone to Septemberfest alone for years, but this time I was able to go with him. The weather was great, the museum folks took great care of us and the crowds were great. 

And Huffhines Art Trails was wonderful, especially the weather. For anyone who has ever done this show, you know that the weather is usually cold or rainy, but not this year. It was quite pleasant!!

Now that is all of the shows we have for this year. We are ready for the Christmas season to start up soon. Hard to believe it is almost Thanksgiving.

SUMMER IS HERE !!!

Well, we finished up the spring shows. Fayetteville was great. The people who live there as well as the customers were wonderful as usual. AND, the weather was very nice this year.

We have been busy with home stuff - actually having to mow grass because of the rain. However, we had an unwelcomed visitor to the area right behind our house. Thank goodness Carla and family were visiting and they brought their dog Ava. This is what she found in the area of grass right behind our house.

He/she is so lumpy looking because there was another whole (poor thing) snake that had apparently just been eaten for breakfast.  Yuck.

Here is the SuperHero of the day taking a snooze after her diligent work.

I have signed up once again to walk in the AIM at Melanoma fundraiser in Houston in September.
http://www.aimatmelanoma.org/en/aim-for-action/1158/1159/houston-2014/7687.html

 

Here we were last year. The walk is held at night to combat the Houston heat and humidity in September. It is held in the MD Anderson area so is it well lit and they block off the streets of course.

 

Carla and family are visiting now. Jenny and her family have moved back from Morocco to VA (for a year). They will be down here in TX visiting soon. So, we will have grandkids everywhere!!  In a couple of weeks, we will head down to Rockport for the July 4th show. It is always a fun show. It is a hot one though. Bring your bathing suits and come on down.

http://www.rockportartcenter.com/art-festival/

 

See you there!!

 

King William Art Show Was Fun!!

We had good show, as usual, at King William last weekend.

 

These two ladies were our very first customers that morning.

 

 

Our good friends, Jon and Dave Piper were at the show. In fact, their booth was on the parade route, so that's where I went to get the best view of the quirkiest parade in all of Fiesta.

 

 

This sign at the beginning of the parade tries to keep the King William association out of any trouble for anything that happens in the parade.

 

                                                    There were people marching for good causes.

                                                                    Plastic bag man.

 

Bands...

 

Zombies on a firetruck,

 

Ladies from Southtown.

 

 

The show was great. The threatened rain did not appear.

So, now we are on our way next weekend to Fayetteville.

 

 

Woodlands Waterway is Done

Well, we are finished with this show and are now home. As usual, the Friday night party was great. The food and company were good. Here is Philip chowing done with Dave Piper and Sally Maxwell.

 

Now, the main event of the evening is the ART DASH where patrons of the arts have paid for a chance to run and grab the piece of donated art work they lust after.

 

Philip had made a new display for the three bells to be donated.

 

The money made at ART DASH goes to art education and scholarships.

 

 

So... the person who grabbed up the three bells this year was Dana Tyson. She is a host on "I Heart Radio of Houston". She had helped host the event and apparently is a big art supporter. Very nice person.

 

The show started at 10:00 am on Saturday. The temps were good, a little windy though. We had a good crowd and met lots of interesting people, as usual.

 

 

Sunday's weather was "iffy" most of the day and seemed to reduce the crowd considerably. But, all was good. This was the ninth year for this show, so I would expect next year, being the 10TH, to be a pretty big deal. So, if you missed the show, save up and come next year.

 

We are home now, watched the moon eclipse last night and turn orange. Had to cover my plants - thought it might freeze. We now will turn our attention to getting ready for

The King William Art Show on April 26th.

 

Bells Along the Way

As promised, I am sharing just a few of the pictures we took of bells in Morocco, Gibraltar and Spain. At the end is a picture also of a stylized cross seen in Park Guell, which might be and idea for a new sail ... see we did think about Windsongs on several occasions!! I can't post where each of these bells was from without digging through my travel journal (which may not have been detailed enough for this) and our memory banks (which don't work all that well). So just scroll through quickly and enjoy.