Friends, Family and the Economy "we shall see"

February has come and is quickly going, going gone. Where does all the time slip off to?

This month has been a month focused on finishing up a commissioned project (Mesquite Bedroom Set) and preparing the mesquite wood for another. We are also so pleased to announce our new partnership with Patina in Marble Falls. The Gallery setting that the Stange's provide is artfully arranged with the collections both stylish and upscale. We are very proud to have them represent us in the Highland Lakes Area. We are still represented in Fredericksburg by Artisans at Rocky Hill which in case you did not know has relocated to West Main into a larger space. As always Anne Bradley keeps the space beautiful and ever changing.

A word about the economy? We hear every night on the news the dreadful, dreary outlook on the US economy. We feel so blessed that we continue to have work coming in, a roof over our heads and food on the table. Lou was in the building stages of a new business during the last recession and grew a strong and successful commercial photography business as others were faced with closing their doors. One of his theories is that in these tough times the cream rises to the top. We hope that his talent will once again be a part of that cream. He will continue to produce his designs in mesquite for as long as he can physically work the wood. The key to success is to have a passion and Lou has the passion to learn and use this interesting media known as mesquite. Each new piece he produces becomes a favorite and at times it is difficult to send them on to their new homes. Keep updated on the works of Lou Quallenberg at our website www.LouQart.com

The F in February can stand for Friends & Family as we deal with a few peaks and valleys in the lives of our friends and family. Kind of like the weather this month 80 degrees one day then 40 degrees the next. We watched Joy Quallenberg on television at the Westminster Dog Show as our dear dog friend Goldie passed on. Our concerns for Me Maw as she goes through facial reconstruction were tempered with childhood memories as Matthew pulled his first tooth. We watched as Sharon's job loss was turned into an opportunity to advance. It reminds us of the Chinese Story of the boy who got a horse and the villagers all said "That's Good" and the wise man said "we shall see" then he fell off the horse and broke his arm and the villagers all said "That's Bad" and again the wise man said "we shall see" and then the war came and he was left behind because of his broken arm......

Green Mesquite Furniture and Intentions

Well it is the end of the month and the intention to regularly blog seems to have been just that, an intention. We are busy trying to finish up a commissioned Bedroom Suite and the weather just won't cooperate. The cold and wet are really not conducive to a good environment for finishing our mesquite furniture.

With the New Year comes a renewed interest in doing our part for the environment. We are working at building our furniture as green and sustainable as possible. We try to use products that are safer for the environment, eco-friendly and therefore safer for us as we are using it. Tests are in progress and as we master the new products we will report back with our recommendations. By using mesquite that is already being removed from ranches, we are turning something that would be burned up in a brush pile, someone's fireplace or Bar-B-Q pit into a long lasting treasure. Since we prefer the curvy trunks we are not competing with the flooring industry for the super straight trees and producing huge amounts of waste because it is not perfect or flawless. We expect this mesquite furniture to be around long after we have left this great earth and we hope to leave the earth in better condition than we found it.

Obviously not great at Blogging

So obviously we are not great at this blogging thing. Our intentions are there but.... well you know all about intentions and the path they pave.

Looking back it has been a busy, growing year for us. We just delivered another one of our OVERSIZED coffee tables. The "Sister" Coffee table won "Best Texas Style Furniture" at the 9th Annual Texas Furniture Makers Show in Kerrville, Texas and was apparently centimeters away from taking Best of Show. (Well deserved congratulations go out to Phillip Sell for his amazing Bamboo Bench that took Best in Show!)

We attended the Western Design Conference again, this time in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. We were blown away when we opened the local newspaper every morning and saw our "Cody" Table in the full page ad for the Conference. It was also on the tickets for the Show!!! You just can't buy that kind of publicity. The BEST part of that show was meeting the incredible artists and being inspired by all of the amazing talent in that arena. Check out our website for links to some of our artist friends we met there. http://www.louqart.com/Western_Design_Conference.html While we did not actually sell at the Western Design Conference it looks like we will have a few commissioned pieces in the coming year.

We try to look at it all as seeds that we are planting, some will come to harvest when we least expect it. One of the biggest seeds this year was getting our website up and running properly. I won't say it is exactly how we want it but it is a working work in progress and we will continue to work on it. (As always we are open to suggestions)

We are so very thankful that we were able to spend the past year creating "art that functions as furniture" and living in the beautiful Texas Hill Country We look forward to the New Year and all of the interesting challenges and inspiration that we hope we will be fortunate enough to meet and create. We will not make promises but do hope to be blogging about mesquite at least once a month and maybe, just maybe a little more than that.

First time to blog

This is a first for Lou Quallenberg Studios so please make suggestions or give us a few pointers if you come across it and want to help us out.......

Our plan is to use this space to share information and ideas about mesquite wood and the trials and tribulations of making mesquite furniture. We are by no means experts on mesquite but Lou has decided to dedicate the rest of his life to learning to use this wood and uncovering the many mysteries we know it holds.