A little post-shuffle sweet treat… warm & gooey yumminess from Ann Sather’s. I mean… I’ve already “run” all morning… and it was on my walk home from the “L” train… burp.

It’s always exciting when the new poster arrives in the mail. Looks like we’re just about two months from the ST. CROIX VALLEY POTTERY TOUR! A wonderful pottery event that I drive up to Minnesota for every year… to do the full pottery tour with my friend Sarah, chat with the artists & shop for more pottery! I would LOVE to someday be one of the invited potters… but until then, I’ll continue to shop!!! Dare to dream, right???

So when I said there were some “treasures” from the LILLSTREET SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP… I should have mentioned some of the TINY treasures too! Lillstreet has been offering some classes now using the miniature wheel making miniature pots. Lillie has been teaching them how to make tiny pots with tiny handles & tiny details. Well, Ruth took the class and decided to soda-fire some of her tiny pieces! And they might just be the CUTEST soda-fired pots EVER!!! Well done Ruth!

I mean… c’mon… could they BE any cuter?!

So here they are… after a very long wait… the pottery “treasures” that came out of the soda kiln Monday night during my LILLSTREET 3-DAY SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP. As with every soda firing, there area few hits, a few misses… and some crunchy chunks of kiln wash or brick flakes that “ruin” a few pots! There’s always a certain amount of loss during a soda kiln firing. But the soda-fired beauty of the rest of the pots makes it all worthwhile! And I think my workshop students were thrilled with their results as well.

Homemade food always tastes better on handmade pottery!

A fun little set of green stamped dessert plates… just waiting for a slice of cake, piece of pie, a bunch of brownies, or a pile of OREOs if you’re getting all fancy on me!

A little FLASHBACK FRIDAY…
a great project from last year’s GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class!

The assignment “challenge” was to create a coffee set with two cups, creamer & sugar based on a famous artist. Claire made this amazing set during class based on the artwork style of Piet Mondrian! Fantastic craftsmanship & technique… Claire killed it!!! So much so, that these pieces ended up on the Lillstreet Show-Off Shelves for several weeks!

And oh, but wait there’s more…
a new “season” of THE GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN has just started up with twelve new students…. errr, contestants! I’m extra excited that Claire came back for another round of fun… and I can’t wait to see what she creates this session! I have very high expectations!!!

Cozy, warm & savory… baked Delicata Squash on a stamped plate. Handmade & homemade… always a great dinner combo!

I just LOVE when a plan comes together! Especially when a husband can do some “secret” pottery shopping to surprise his wife on Christmas Day! So happy to be part of the surprise… and even better to see the look on Diane’s face when she opened her pottery presents!

Adding more pottery to her collection & building a set of dinnerware that’s not so matchy-matchy! Well done Jim!!!

Some of my favorite pottery pieces from my Matthew Metz pottery collection… and a cute handmade Santa from my good friend Nancy. It was Nancy’s “fault” in the first place when she suggested we take a pottery class together so many years ago during a bike ride. And look at me now… collecting pottery & making a LOT of pottery too!!!