GOTTA LOVE THE GOURD!
I’ve always been a huge fan of gourds… even more than pumpkins! I love the colors, the curves, the warts and the colorful fun of a bowl full of gourds!!! Especially when the bowl is made of rusty tools, right?!

A cutie-patootie vase perfect for a cutting of lantana flowers…
with a cute-patootie cat keeping watch. Thanks for the photos Kristy!

Lots of clouds. Lots of wind… with rain predicted for later in the day, this morning was a bit blustery with a race for the sun to rise before the sky covered with clouds. Beautiful… but the clouds won!!!

I did a LOT of trimming today… mugs, vases, jars, etc. Could have been a tough day… but so much easier with some of my favorite studio tools! Loving my Giffin Grip & DiamondCore Tools … the perfect pairing to make trimming a joy!!!

Makes me LOVE TRIMMING even more!!!

Well, it took awhile for my dahlias to bloom… and I had no idea I would get a second “harvest” of blooms! This is the first time I tried growing dahlias in my yard and I was very pleased… and planning on growing more next summer!

Another beautiful sunrise ride… although I’m thinking I might need to pull out the heavy Winter gloves soon?! It was pretty chilly this morning… colder than I expected. I love Fall, but I’m not a big fan of frozen fingers while riding so soon. Can’t we hang on to the warmer weather for a few more weeks… please, oh please, oh please?!

As part of FALL INTO DAMEN AT NIGHT, my other pottery student Chris is the proud owner of District Chicago. A very cool & stylish home furnishings store on Damen. The store’s style is great – so well curated… loving the bronze bears with eyeglasses! And oh, but wait there’s more… Chris also refinishes all of the vintage furniture himself. A fun night seeing two of my students outside of pottery class… and to see what they do outside of taking my pottery class!

Follow Chris and his store DISTRICT CHICAGO on Instagram – @districtchicago

Tonight I swung by FALL INTO DAMEN AT NIGHT near the studio to see two of my beginning pottery students who were participating in the event! Robert makes these great candles with witty names, metal containers & great fragrance combinations! After smelling almost all of them… I ended up coming home with a “Spruce Wayne”. Can’t wait to light it up!

Check out Robert’s soy candles on Instagram : @rapwaxcandles
… or click here for the website!

With the sudden cold-spell coming through, plus a threat of frost in the next day or so… I thought it was time to take some cuttings from my coleus plants to start propagating for next year! Okay, so I might have gotten a little carried away… but once I started cutting I just couldn’t stop myself!

More is more… even with plants!

Remember a few days ago when I posted about the cool cement carvings along the lakefront?… well, apparently this is “a thing” here in Chicago…. who knew?! Thanks to Matthew for letting me know about this history of carved cement art along the lakefront in Chicago.

For more details… click here for the article & photos!