April Garden Installed

April is rapidly coming to a close.  The vegetable garden is installed or planted and the growing season has begun. We are happy to have a few greens harvested and enjoyed so far this month. As my regular readers know I am an avid gardener.  My inspiration for my jewelry designs come from nature.

 






Planted in the ground so far are lettuce, mesclun, kale, broccoli, parsnips, leeks, & snow peas.  We have seedlings waiting to be installed:  tomatoes, cilantro, peppers, celery, kale, broccoli, & lettuce.

These lovely garden pics were taken this morning between the rain showers. A beautiful spring day here in Rochester, NY,





With Mother's Day quickly approaching, I have
a few orders to finish and deliver. Jubilant customers and soon to be happy Mothers.

 PM with your special requests or use links
 
My shops:  Panda Wear Website
                   Cabochons and Beads

Facebook:  PandaWire Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems  
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April Showers Today

I should be writing about the shows I am doing this summer and fall.  I do not knew where I will be, yet.  My ACL ligament reconstruction  in December last year did not have the quick recovery I expected.  I just had a second procedure to put me back on the road to recovery. 

Soon you will see more of my one of a kind creations.  I am working more in copper this spring.  inspired by all the colors and activity outside after this past winter. 

 Toad with fish watching

Hope you enjoy some of the spring beauty from my Pond and Garden. The links below are great ways to reach me and see more of what I create.  Suggestions for blog topics are always welcome. 

May you have a sunny and flower filled day. 

 

My stores: Jewelry shop
                 Cabochons and Supplies

Facebook:  PW Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems 

Welcome Spring, My Garden Begins

Welcome to my veggie garden.  Just planted snow peas and transplanted lettuce.  Looking forward to the fresh vegetables for my meals.  I tastes so much better home grown.  Amazed I have been gardening for so long,  friends are asking my advise for their gardens. Does not seem so long ago I dug and planted my first vegetable garden in the backyard of this house.

My love of this comes from my Grandma on my dad's side. Growing up I helped her in her gardens.  I have fond memories of her yard in the spring bursting with colors.  I helped pull the weeds from around the roses.  While her children were growing up, she grew fruits and veggies.  She had plums, raspberries and blackberries still when I was growing up. These were from when her kids were in school.  I tried to transplant her raspberries a few times. My garden was too wet when I tried.  It was also very early in my gardening journey.  I know better now.  I have them from a friend who had way too many extra bushes in her garden.

Summer flowers in Grandma's garden: roses, zinnias, geraniums, peonies, pansies, petunias, snapdragons and many others.  She had a second garden at the family cottage up north of Alexandria Bay, NY in the 1000 islands.  The flowers were in whiskey type barrels at the entrance to the front porch.  She was always happy to tell me the name of any flowers we saw.  My favorite up at the cottage was the wild snapdragons which were everywhere along the privet road.  Especially fun was rock collecting at the top on the hill with my Dad and coming back down with snapdragons.Grandma always put them in a glass and on the kitchen table.

Toad in my garden

This little toad was hatched in my pond last year and apparently overwintered in my veggie garden.  My digging in the dirt seemed to make him want to be somewhere else.  More on the lovely vegetables I am growing latter in the year with photos of the plants.

My stores: Jewelry shop
                 Cabochons and Supplies

Facebook:  PW Facebook
Twitter:  Panda Wear Gems 

Spring Planting 2015

Back about 6 weeks ago we started the first of the seeds for the vegetable garden.  The tomatoes are doing fantastic....transplanted and over 10 inches tall.  I have added greens, parsnips and carrots to my seeds planted this year. 

Spring color

As the days warm up it becomes time to transition the plants from inside to outside.  A few veggies do well direct sown into the garden, radish and snow peas.  We will be planting snow peas outside next week. I am trying some new natural pots this year.  I am not a fan of peat pots and their impact on the environment.  Stay tuned to see how the new containers do.

In a bit of limbo right now with shows because of the my recovery from my new  ACL ligament knee surgery in Dec 2014.  The plan is to have a second surgery in about two weeks to remove scar tissue.  I hope to bounce back quickly and be able to do some summer shows in July or August. If you have been to or think of any great art shows/festivals, feel free to share  & recommend them to me. 

New things for the business......
On twitter
shopping cart coming to website
selling slabs  and cabs to other jewelers & designers

Shop here: Jewelry shop
                 Cabochons and Supplies

Facebook:  PW Facebook
Pinterest:  Panda Wear Art
Twitter:  Panda Wear

Winter Wonderland and 2015 Plans

Looking out my windows, it is certainly a winter wonderland.  We have about 1.5 feet of snow on the ground.  The good thing about snow cover is it helps my dormant pants survive the cold and freezing.  As you may know, I am an avid gardener.  The end of this month we will be starting our vegetable seeds for the season inside. 

As for where I am since my surgery just before Christmas.... almost took pics of my knee to show what had been done. I decided not to share the ugly part of the surgery.  I am in physical therapy weekly with a professional and daily at home.  As anyone who has had major surgery knows, it is quite exhausting. My new ACL ligament seems to be working well.  I am off crutches and walking about normal speed.  I can hardly wait to dig in my garden. 

What is going on for my jewelry business?  Well I had to take some down time during the early part of my recovery.  Now I am getting back to making new pieces and deciding what shows to do in 2015. More about what shows I plan to be in and what I am working on in future posts.   I am selling on line is several places with links below. 

Here are a few of my newly listed pieces.  Two sterling pendants and a pair of earrings. 

stay tuned


My stores: Jewelry shop
                 Cabochons and Supplies


My Facebook:  PW Facebook

My Pinterest:  Panda Wear Art

Introduction

Panda Wear is my jewelry business.  My name is Kim and I am a lapidary as well as a jewelry designer.  In this blog you will learn about my process and my inspiration.  My art pieces are in precious metals and stone.  

Below is an example of a custom set for a specific event.  

This set is Emerald Envy, an earring and pendant set.  It was a silent auction donation for a large local fundraiser at an awards party.    It was well received at the event.  The metal is Sterling silver and I hand cut and polished the stone in the pendant.  The focal point of the earrings are green crystals and Swarovski crystals on the two pair which take the piece from daytime into evening wear.  

To buy my work pandawear.etsy.com 

To contact Panda Wear  sales@pandajewels.com