Happy Holidays!

I wanted to wish you all Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!
May next year be a very creative year!

Sabine

Bedroom Makeover

Hello,
I have been itching to redo our bedroom. It was done 10 years ago and long overdue. When I watched the last Sex and the City movie I noticed Carrie Bradshaw's new apartment.

I loved the wall color. I found the name online (Benjamin Moore's Electric Blue) and 10 days later our new bedroom was finished. I love it very much!

Finished Quilt

Hello,
I finally finished my Quilt. I took a beginning quilting class at Sew Now once a month and made this beautiful Quilt for us and our future baby. I am not sure now if I should hang it up on the wall or just use it as a blanket...Hard decision!

I wish you all a very nice weekend.
Sabine

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello,
I just wanted to wish you Happy Thanksgiving and show you my new sewing project. I made these 3 coaster for our Holiday show which is coming up this weekend at the Berkeley Potters Guild. The coasters go with 3 special mugs. I will take a photo when everything is setup on Friday!

Sophia Maya

Hello,
I wanted to say a couple more words about our failed match. We took a couple of days off and went on a road trip to Southern California. It was great that we did this and helped us to come over our sadness. We both (my husband and I) are doing better now. We still miss our baby girl but we are also very happy that we had her for a short time in our life. She showed us that we are ready to be parents and that it is so easy to fall in love with such a tiny, beautiful and innocent baby.

Before we had her I was very nervous about changing diapers, feeding her, rocking her back to sleep but we felt that it is not hard at all and that we loved staying up with her at night and watching her every second. Every moment was wonderful and she taught us a very special kind of love!

I wanted to share a photo of her with you and bring this to some kind of closure! Unfortunately I never got to take a photo without her hat because she had lots of black hair.

We wish her a very happy life and we know that we might never see her again but she will always be our "first child".

Heartbroken!

Hello!

We are heartbroken! I have an update on our adoption story. We got matched 2 weeks ago and on Monday (10/25) we got a call from our adoption lawyer that we should rush to the hospital because the baby had been born. A little girl! We went there as fast as we could and when we got there we were taken to the nursery to see our baby. It was a miracle and a very special moment! The baby was a healthy little girl 7.8 pounds with lots of black hair. She was beautiful! We loved her from the first moment on.
The birthmom is from Guatemala and she didn't want to see the baby at all. We took care of her and I stayed at the hospital all night long and fed her and changed her diapers. We really bonded.
We met the birthmother once and since she didn't speak English we didn't really talk a lot but we felt a strong connection to her.
The next day (Tuesday) we were released from the hospital and went home with our baby. We gave her the name Sophia Maya. Our attorney told us on the way home that we should remember that not all the paperwork is singed and we are just "babysitting". We ignored that advice completely!

Then at home we had the most wonderful 3 days with her. My husband said that it felt like Christmas every day. We were in heaven! Even not sleeping though the night and walking with her all night long through our house was a joy!

Unfortunately and that is were the broken heart comes from, we got a call on Thursday afternoon (right after we came back from our first visit to the pediatrician), that our birthmother changed her mind and we had to give the baby back. We were both in shock!
We had to drive to San Francisco and bring her back while crying all the time.
We have been crying for 2 days straight but now (Sunday) we slowly see the light at the end of the tunnel.

We know that we have to move forward and that our goal is to have a baby and become parents because that is what we learned from this experience. It was such a special feeling being a mom and dad that we will work on our dream to make it come through!!!

Brother Innov-Is 1200

Hello,
long time no see...
I have been busy with lots of teaching and working in my studio.

I treated myself to a very nice sewing machine. (I think I deserved it after teaching all summer long...) I bought the Brother Innov-Is 1200 (used). It is a sewing and embroidery machine and I love it very much. It is so much fun even sewing a straight stitch. I am working on a quilt right now and have lots of ideas in my head...maybe some ornaments for christmas...

I also started playing around with the embroidery unit and this is a photo of what I made.

The design is from Germany from a website called Huups! They have really nice embroidery files. I will start to embroider some T-Shirts and Sweatshirts...
Have a good day, Sabine

US Citizenship

Hello!
We became US Citizens on Thursday September 9, 2010. It was a very nice Oath Ceremony in San Francisco and we are very proud and happy!!!

My Cat Kevin!

Hello!
I published my first book!
"My Cat Kevin" is a story of a little cat who likes to be wild. All the illustrations in this book are made out of clay. Kevin, my cat inspired me to tell this story. If you would like to order a copy of my book, it is available at Lulu.com.

Sadly Kevin passed away 2 weeks ago and this book is dedicated to him. He was 17 years old and I brought him with me from Germany. He was a very special cat and I miss him very much!

Seconds Sale

Hello,
I am doing the Second Sale this weekend.
Come and join me for the
ACCI Gallery's Annual August Seconds
and Clearance Sale.

Thursday - Sunday, August 26 - 29, 2010
11am-6pm Thurs-Sat, 12-5pm Sunday
1652 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, CA 94709

Baby's Room

Hello!
I know you might be confused since this blog was about beads and ceramics, but my focus shifted a little these days. Since we are in the process of adopting, it is hard to stay focused on ceramics. But my goal is to start working on some new projects in August, I have some good ideas.
For now I wanted to share some photos with you from our newly finished Baby's room/ Guestroom. We got most of our items from our friends Stella and Steven.

I think it turned out nice for the beginning and I can't wait for our baby to arrive!
We also finished our adoption website: sabineandstephan.com. Go and check it out!

Pillows!

Hello,
I haven't been blogging for a while. It has been very busy here. I am teaching summer camps and that is going well and is a lot of fun.

Our Adoption Process is going well. We finished our home study and our "Dear Birthmother" letter which you can read on our Attorneys website - Adams and Romer.
I bought a stroller and some supplies and we are ready...
I also made some pillows for the baby's room and now I am working on a Quilt.

I guess my focus shifted a little from ceramics to baby related things...and sewing but I am still doing ceramics and will have a show next weekend. I will tell you more about the show next week.
Have a nice weekend. Sabine

Adoption Mugs

Hello,
I told you about some special mugs I was working on a while ago. They are finished and I am ready to tell you more about this project. We are in the process of adopting a child. To help us raise some money to pay for the adoption, I made some limited edition mugs. Even though we are not sure who he/she is yet, we can't wait to become parents. There are so many children in the world who need a loving home and so many parents who long for a child. If you would like to buy a mug follow this link to etsy. I will add and update more mugs all the time.
Tomorrow I will start my new series about the adoption process.

Thank you very much for supporting us! Sabine

Big Spring Sale

I am having a Spring Sale at the Berkeley Potters Guild, May 1 & 2 and 8 & 9.

I am looking forward seeing you there... Sabine

Special Mugs

I am working on special project. I am making mugs lots of them, my goal is to make 100 of them. So far I made 30 mugs in a week and I will tell you more about my plans with them as soon as they are ready to be sold. They are for a special fundraiser...
More later...

Have a good week, Sabine

Happy Easter!

These beautiful cupcakes were made by our friend and neighbor Ursula. They look so nice that I couldn't eat them yet...Maybe tomorrow!!!
Happy Easter, Sabine

I am back from Mexico!

I hope it is...so far it has been pretty cold and rainy here in Northern California and I miss a warm sunny spring...

El Tuito

Our trip to Puerto Vallarta is coming to an end. We met a ceramic artist (Patricia Gawle) here in town who has a gallery in PV and she offers trips to a little town inland called El Tuito. On the way we went to the Botanical Garden and that was beautiful. In El Tuito we met another potter his name is Luis with whom she is working together.

He showed us his some of his work and his kiln.


We took the bus back and I have to say it was a beautiful and interesting day.

Mexico!

Ola!
We are in Mexico for 10 days, relaxing and enjoying the sun.

Yesterday we took the bus to Sayulita. We love taking the bus and it always feels like an adventure! We are staying in Puerto Vallarta at our friends apartment. This is the view from our balcony! I wish you all a very relaxing and wonderful day, Sabine

Sewing in Pink

As I mentioned before, I am hooked on sewing. I took some classes recently and it is so hard every time to wait for my next class again. I started looking at different sewing machines and my heart was set on the Bernina aurora 440 QE which is totally out of my budget. Remember I can't really sew right now since I am a total beginner. My husband suggested to buy an old/ vintage machine that would get me all set up for now and I can start to practice. We found this beautiful machine on craigslist.
It is a 1950 Atlas machine and works great. And someday I will get my dream machine the Bernina...

Crazy about sewing

Hello,
I have discovered the sewing machine. I took a beginners workshop last week and now I am hooked. It is so much fun! I am thinking about buying myself a sewing/embroidery sewing machine sometime in the future and start combining clay and fabric.
For now I can always go to SEW NOW our local sewing studio and use the machines they have.
I also learned about all the different embroidery features the sewing machines offer. Wow!