Last weekend was damn near perfect, freezing temperatures and limited outdoor time notwithstanding. After several days cooped up in our house thanks to the cold weather, we ventured out on Friday night for the opening of D.O.P.E. (Dreaming of Patterns Everyday) at Revelry Boutique Gallery. I’ve been doing pop ups there with my shop on occasion since August, and I am a huge fan of both the support they give to local artists and the actual art they feature in the shop and gallery. There are some truly outstanding artists in Louisville and surrounding areas, and D.O.P.E. featured the artwork of one of my very favorites: Ashley Stewart. I fell in love with her adorable spiral ceramic mugs the first time I went to Revelry; the unicorn-horn mugs caught my eye immediately and I have been coveting one ever since. I am also a huge fan of her boob-bedecked spiral pieces (she also has planters, spoons, and she just started selling necklaces).

When I heard she was going to have a show featuring her work I couldn’t wait to see it,  and it’s even better than I imagined. I thought it’d be a show of her ceramic work, and there are plenty of those fantastic pieces to eyeball, but she also surprised me with giant wall hangings of her patterned creations. These bigger framed pieces are all done BY HAND with no printing whatsoever. The amount of patience that must have taken is overwhelming to me – I can barely summon enough to thread a needle. The show features glitter, patterns, and glow-in-the-dark surprises…so make sure when you go to flip the lights off (with permission…) and see the work in all its neon and sparkly glory. This was P’s second art opening at Revelry…she’s very cultured, folks.

On Saturday and Sunday we spent most of our time working on projects. Javier recently tore the carpet out of the basement where the dogs sleep and began turning that small space into a wood shop. He decided to cast the power tools aside in favor of hand tools and is currently working on building a workbench. P and I opted for quieter afternoons spent in the dining room with my knitting and a new fiber art project I’m working on…we’ll see how it turns out. I saw something similar on pinterest about 2 years ago and then again recently on instagram and I finally decided to give it a try…if I like how it turns out I’ll make it available in my shop.

So yeah, I’ll take more weekends like this please. Art, good people, fun projects, quiet mornings and long afternoons…here’s hoping for a repeat this weekend.