I did it again.

With the two weekends of travel, and holidays, I hadn't been able to get back to the studio to look at my last two pieces of glass.  When my parents didn't need me all weekend and there was an opening in Saturday's workshop, I went to see how they look.

I added a bit to the water scene, some more flower bits, and some pieces to make the fish look more like fishies.  I was pleased that the two lily pads made from the shimmery glass do shimmer in the right light, although they don't show much in the pictures.  There's a bit in the bottom leaf on the top photo:

Before.  I debated what to do about the fish.

After.  Still stylized but more identifiable.

The instructor and I discussed how to shape the other piece, which has fantastic translucency and I thought would make a nice tea light holder.

Yes, there is some lovely iridescence in the opaque pieces.

The piece will be heated and slump over the
cup underneath.  We'll see how it works.  If
it's not a tea light holder, it's a small dish.

The other students did some interesting pieces, including a plant stake with daisies and experiments with flowers and leaves between pieces of glass, and abstract pieces:

This student found a piece of glass to use as a starting point.

I also purchased some llama-shaped earrings that I will convert from hooks and wear next weekend.  My niece has our schedule planned - a few hours to meet friends and check out as many vendors as possible (just looking for her; mostly browsing the smaller dyers for show colourways for me), then we spend the rest of the time looking at the animals.  She's especially interested in sheepdog trials.

Over the past week, on my walks I've documented some of the surprises in my garden.  Last year a neighbor was giving away some iris sets.  Of the four I received, two did nothing; one seems to have a stalk that broke off early; and one has survived to offer several flowers:

  

  

  

I also have a tiny red rose bush that seems to have popped out of nowhere, and which is going strong:

  

I've tried to plant some ground cover under my two trees, and I think I need to water them a bit more:

The backyard has two kinds of mint and some Creeping Jenny.

 

I cannot remember what I planted in the front, other than that they are good spreaders with pretty flowers.

I thought the plants I added last year died off
during a winter free, but it came back.

Tour Eiffel Shawl update:  I am almost back to where I was when I frogged it last weekend, after some struggles on the eyelet rows and more frogging, but just a few of them.  I think it's less pattern error than knitter error as the way that row works is different from the others, and I don't quite have it memorized properly.  The good news is that this means I might be on the second hank by this weekend: