you like clay, it's your favorite

Ahh the life of a self employed new mom whose husband is in nursing school. Stunning how little can be accomplished these days. Our dear babe is three months old today! She is a great baby in SO many ways. She’s smiling and laughing now. She recognizes family and friends and greets them with a stunning gummy smile. Naps are no problem, and sleep has been great. Until Thanksgiving. Seems as though the holiday didn’t sit well with her. Might be the food, all the new people, or the interruption of her routine. Whatever it is we’re suffering a bit of a post holiday hangover here. We’ve reverted to the sleep schedule of a newborn with short fits of sleep followed by fussiness. This sleep change has been difficult because it came after a week of nightly 6+ hours of uninterrupted sleep. Having a taste of normalcy makes this all the more bitter. A pow wow with her Dr. and advice from friends and grandparents gave us some ideas to try and fingers crossed we are on our way back to where we were. In the meantime each time I wake in the middle of the night I think to myself. “No. Sleep. ’til No-Coast*”
*want to hear the original?

Last Friday we held our third Empty Bowls in the Powderhorn area. The week was filled with last minute details and soup making. The vast majority of our soup materials are donated. Food distributors, farmers, and local gardeners donate surplus veggies and supplies. We look over the donated food and design the soup plan around that. This year squash, leeks, potatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms and onions were in abundance. Many, many people came to the park to help with our veggie prep, and most of the food was cleaned and diced on Wednesday evening. One person single handily diced a fifty pound bag of onions. I sauteed thirty pounds of mushrooms, YUM! We make many, many batches of mirepoix and then soup making is easy on Friday! Then menu included curried lentil, black bean chili, minestrone, potato leek, squash, and tomato basil. All the soups were vegan, except for the potato leek which was SO much tastier with cream. (isn’t everything?) Thirteen hundred handmade bowls and approximately 100 gallons of soup and we were able to raise over $20,000.00*! Yippee! (*you can still donate . . . go here )
If you weren’t able to come this year mark your calendar for next year – it’s always held the first Friday in November! Many thanks to the following businesses who helped make this year’s event possible with their generous donations! Classic Provisions, Co-op Partners, Equal Exchange, New French Bakery, and Peace Coffee.

Most people mark time by the months of the year or holidays. I mark the changing of seasons by the events I attend. The trip East for Rhinebeck is always a monumental event. By far the largest event I attend, I’m always nervous I don’t have enough pots – or the “wrong” ones. Add to that a newborn and this year Rhinebeck was a big question mark. Somehow I managed to get four kiln loads out after Lil was born. My mother and friend drove the truck loaded with Rhinebeck booty to NY. (Thanks Mom!) It’s a LONG, but beautiful, two day trip. While baby potter and I flew from Minneapolis to Albany and drove two hours to Kingston.
The weather forecast was grim. Rain was expected on both Saturday and Sunday. Luckily we escaped rain on Saturday. It was overcast all day and we were too busy to worry about the weather. On Sunday it rained, but magically our little grove of trees kept us from getting wet. Lil was tucked away in her stroller under many blankets. When we got cold we just put our hands in her seat. Really, do you need an excuse to hold a baby?
Now that Rhinebeck is done I start to think about the holiday season. The next event for me is Empty Bowls. I have 200 bowls to finish for the event. (just thirteen days away . . . ) Last year we had 1200 bowls and we ran out around 7:00pm. We hope to have enough bowls this year – maybe 1300 or so, and plan to end the event two hours earlier than last year. If you plan on attending – I advise you come early to get the best selection.
After Empty Bowls is one of my favorite events of the year, No Coast. Not only is it ten minutes from the house, it happens to be attended by the best vendors in the cities. I can polish off most of my holiday shopping in one place. We’ve decided to take a year off from our home sale – so plan to come to the Global Market for No Coast instead. Now we transition from fall to winter and the year will be over before we know it.

Big day today. First plane ride for baby potter. She’s loving her spacious hotel room. A little beauty sleep is in order before her Rhinebeck debut!

– Post From Lil

Busy, busy! I’m having fun being a new mom. I feel very fortunate to have a mellow, happy baby. She’s been happy to spend time with me in the studio. I strap her into her bouncy chair, turn on my audio book, and we get to work. With Rhinebeck a few weeks away – so all the studio time I can get is helpful!

Here at Casa de Lanners we’ve been busy. After a long three days at the hospital we were released at 9 pm last night. Mild chaos was our first night but our first full day was great. Our wee one has an elevated billirubin so she’s on a billibed ( a light box ) to help her body process it. Every available oppertunity she’s strapped into a blanket on top of the lights. I can’t help but sing the jingle to Light Brite everytime I peek at her.

It’s a girl! 7pounds 7 oz. Delivered at 6:12 this morning. 9/9/09! Happy Birthday baby Lanners!

It’s been a crazy ride ’round here the last few weeks. I stopped teaching my ceramic classes the first week of August and left two days later for Portland. This show was nerve wracking. I worried I wouldn’t get enough finished in time, I wouldn’t sell enough to make trip worthwhile, and frankly we worried about having a baby in Portland. Unknown quantities are always scary, but especially one three days journey away and while I’m 35 weeks pregnant. All of our worries were unfounded. The husband and I worked very hard to get kilns loaded on schedule and we actually left EARLY. We arrived on Sunday and spent the beginning of the week with old friends and family. On Thursday I transferred to a hotel and the event began. It was a whirlwind of activity. The market place had rather long hours so most of the time I was at the booth meeting many wonderful people. After hours I was able to spend time with old friends and see a little bit of Portland. There were many outings to Voodoo doughnuts. I think I might have consumed my doughnut quota for the year in a matter of days. The event ended on Sunday and my dear husband and wonderful friend packed up the booth while I went off to the luminary panel. It was the perfect end to the event. On Monday we began the long plod home. It took three long days and I’m quite sure I won’t be doing that again soon. Now that we’ve returned I’m trying to get all the special orders finished from the event and get ready for the baby.

Special Note:
If you were at the event and were unable to get one of the limited edition Sock Summit mugs I am taking orders for the second run. The mugs will be slightly different and will be marked as second editions. If you are interested in getting on the list please email me at jennie(at)jenniethepotter(dot)com

Mr Lanners and I left Minneapolis yesterday afternoon for our great roadtrip to Portland. We made it to Jamestown, ND. Mmmm. Nothing says breakfast like a crockpot of gravy.

These little bowls contain hundreds of buttons and stitchmarkers. Today they will be organized and glazed. I’ve arranged for studio help this week so I can throw some last minute pots while these are being finished! Hurrah!