This is Daisy, we just rescued her from Homeward Trails which is a wonderful rescue group. Daisy is mixed Dachshund/ Beagle. She's very sweet and has been a total angel to get to know. She was found roaming the streets of rural North Carolina and picked up. She had tags so the owner was called. The owner would not pay to pick her up so she wound up with a rescue league (thankfully as the alternative would have been euthanasia). She's 3 years old and the calmest dog I've known. She's almost zen like in her personality. She's a happy little thing that loves scratches and cookies. When we adopted her she had no idea of people speaking to her, I would have thought she was deaf she was so unresponsive to voice except I would see her listening to other sounds. Thanks to using organic chicken hotdogs, some basic training, good walkies and affection Daisy is now coming when called, knows her name and has a few commands under her belt. All in just over a week!!! such a smart girl. I can't recomend adopting highly enough. There are so many wonderful pets just waiting for a home.

I don't really know African art so I did a little research and decided to go with patterns. I hope you like the piece, I had a lot of fun making it and I learned a lot making it

 A top view of the bowl

 The bottom of the bowl

 I need to raise $2200 minimum, which is a good chunk oh change. So I decided to merge my talent with glass with my new challenge.

This is a real challenge for me to do this kind of exercise. I am training every week, 2 days mid week I walk 3 miles, then on Sat meet with the team to train where we increase a mile each week. This Saturday I'm up to 5 miles. Should be interesting, will I be stoic or will I whine?

So you're probably wondering how you're going to win a fused glass pendant. To encourage people to donate I'm doing drawings on various weeks to pull a name from my pool of sponsors and that person wins a free pendant. For the first week Alex won a pendant Way to go Alex!!!

I think that when I do the drawings I will pull from the full pool of donors so if you've donated then you're in the drawing for a free pendant. If you haven't donated then feel free to come make a donation for a good cause. AND if you decide to donate several times during the course of my fundraising effort, I'll put your name in the drawing for each time that you donate.

If you'd like to sponsor me please hit this link

http://www.firstgiving.com/alicyndrew

I'll be announcing the winners of the raffles here. Thanks to everyone that helps support this worthy cause.

 I added it to some dichroic glass and made a pendant that is really pretty. I sent the pendant to the inn keeper because she really loves that beach and her little island. My thought was that she could always have a piece of her beach with her where ever she went.

This got me thinking, "HEY, I can do this with any sand." Soooooo if you read my blog and you have a special place that you'd like to have a memory of, let me know. Get me a little sand (a teaspoon is enough) and I can encapsulate it into a pendant.

This pendant is in ocean colors, but I'm planning to try an Earthy one too. We just got back from a trip to Colorado and visited the Great Sand Dune National Park where I snagged a tiny bit of sand. I think that would go well in a red pendant, so we'll see how that comes out.

Oh I have glass news too. I am getting away from glueing on bails and starting to work with pinch bails. You drill a hole in the glass and then the bail pinches on and grips into the hole. No glue, prettier and less chance of failure. Little hint about glass and glue, ARRRGH it's a real pain. If you get a group of glass fusers in a room and want to get em talking, ask them what they think about glue and stand back. They'll go for hours. Some have the perfect glue, some "claim" to have no problems with glue, others have given up on it. I'm in the camp that has pretty much given up. 

Anyway I'll be posting pics of both, the new garden and some of my new pendants

Last week the Dogwood finally started to come into bloom and I snapped this shot. Now it's in full bloom and really stunning. 

My garden is coming into bloom and I am thrilled. I love watching it come to life after the dullness of winter. First there's the excitement of a little yellow crocus peeping out in the bitter cold. The thrill when I see my Pansies made it through the winter again and they're breathing life into the window box. Then come the Daffodils, and I love every one of them. I'm half Dutch and I love my bulbs, I've got more types of Daffodils and tulips growing then I can count!!!

This year I tried some Orange Princess tulips and I am in love, sometimes I come home and just admire their beauty, I revel in how they change as they mature. Starting a vibrant orange, then shooting a dark purple streak on the outside, then a dusty orange, all of the shades are equally stunning and a great show. It makes me feel happy to be a part of this beauty that is my front yard. When I wake up each morning I snap open the blinds and look down to the garden. When I leave for work I talk to them and admire the life and diversity of color. When I get home I'll grab my camera and shoot a few nice shots in the diffused light of late day. I need to keep taking pictures because it keeps changing. Each fresh new green shoot is an adventure, a sign of more to come. A promise of more beauty. As with the crocuses, these too will fade and I know that more will shoot forth in it's place. I will lovingly care for the fading leaves and nurture the new life. Such is the life of an artist gardener.

 Nature is a wonderful inspiration.

I've been working on this piece for a long time, now I need to figure out what to name it. It's a direction I've been wanting to go in for awhile. The base was made seperately from the top, then fused together in the kiln in a seperate firing. Took a few kiln firings to get it right, I'm excited about it, will be doing more of these.

I was commissioned to make two bracelet sets, one in blue and silver and the other with red with black and gold. The picture of the red one looks kind of brown but it's actually very bright red.

I'm very happy with how these came out even though they were a lot of work, they were fun and I learned a lot. I'll probably be making more of these guys as I think I could do some other designs that will be fun and stylish.

Happy Holidays everyone!!!!

We had our first snow and the rose bush was caught by surprise still blooming. Icicles grew off of the bloom, it was so beautiful. It's all melted now but luckily I got pics before it did.

I love the garden, it is full of beautiful surprises

 I have a whole new line of pendants that are like nothing I've ever done before. Eventually I'll get them photographed and post pics. I also have some nice bowls and serving dishes.

The address is 4444 Arlington Blvd, Arlington VA

Come see me!!! 

I always knew I had cousins here but since my parents divorced when I was a kid I never was able to get to know them. A few years ago I found out them with the help of a very kind Dutchman who was trying to fill out a geneology tree that contained my part of the family tree. Mark and I visited them a year and a half ago and I loved them. This time I came by myself and am really enjoying the visit. Yesterday they took me to a local nursery where I bought bulbs, they had some that I had not seen in the catalogs and the prices were really good. I spent 60 Euros on bulbs which is a frikken lot of bulbs!!!!! I plan to give some to friends and have one beautiful spring in the garden. If we ever sell this townhouse I'm digging these guys up.

Tomorrow I go to Antwerp Belgium to meet with another cousin, they're going to tour me around town. We're also going out for Moroccan food which is very exciting as I LOVE Moroccan food!!

The trip to Belgium will be about the most touristy thing I do on this trip. I came here to visit with my family and it's been great. We hang out and chat, they try to teach me Dutch and I do my best but I can't remember it, they make fun of me, I feel the love. Yesterday we went to visit Lieke my cousins grandaughter who's almost 2, her toys were helping me learn a little Dutch. I now know that the Dutch word for Squirrel is Acorn ( I know I spelled that wrong), also cats are called Poosh (hang out with a 2 yr old and you learn what the animals are called).

It's been a wonderful trip 

Lots of people try to tell me it's a compliment, it's not a compliment to like my work enough to take it without paying for it. I personally think that it was stolen simply because it was small enough and not difficult to get. I don't know why anyone would steal from a community art gallery, I don't understand it. It's just not nice.

 I've started production mode, stay tuned for new designs coming this year. I have started a new pendant line that I'm calling Urban Graffiti. I'll be posting pics when some of them are done, they're in process now and looking really cool. Kind of edgy and artsy. I work hard to bring you pieces that are unique and a reflection of my inspirations. I recently visited Manhatten and came home and found myself creating these urban pieces that I just love and I hope you will too.

 I'm also doing a series of 3 mirrors with floral tiles. There will only be 3 available, each tile hand painted with a floral pattern with a mirror in a finished wood frame. They're nice and will be in limited supply.

I've also started another collection that I call "Those lips those eyes". I love the glamour of the 1940's movie stars, I'm creating simple line drawings with a 40's glamour appeal in my own funky style. Here's one piece that's in progress, I'm in the process of close cropping and framing her.

Stay tuned for more of my upcoming pieces 

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin

olive oil

mint, sumac, salt, fresh chives and dried urfa chiles

couscous

quarter the pumpkin, toss the seeds (or toast em) place on a cookie sheet. coat with some olive oil and sale and place into oven set to 450 degrees. Roast about 30 mins until pumpkin is starting to carmalize and is soft. Pull pumpkin out, set aside to cool.

Mix the spices and dice up the chives. I just toss in enough to taste good, I have no idea on amounts. The urfa chiles are low on the heat scale and high on the flavor scale, they have a warm smokey flavor. The sumac is lemony, the combination is this bright, smokey thing that is great.

Cook the couscous set aside

when the pumpkin is cooled enough, peel it and cut into chunks, add the spices and a little more olive oil then mix with the couscous.

It's a fun dish, easy to make and YUMMY