Lowell Folk Festival

The Lowell Folk Festival, the country's largest free folk festival is this weekend! Every year during the last full weekend in July they close downtown streets and set up stages where you can listen to polka, rockabilly, bluegrass, blues and other fun musical genres. There are also lots of ethnic food tents offering amazing items like meat on a stick. Well, that's what we call the Southeast Asian beef teriyaki and chicken satay :) I wait all year to enjoy these treats!

This year I am actually participating by setting up a table with Amanda in the courtyard craft show. Candace will also be there along with Peter and Eve, Vicki, Heather, and many more, you can see a full list here .

Come by and enjoy the fun! Bring a hat, lightweight folding chair, and sunscreen.

We will be set up between Dutton and Market Streets inside the Market Mills courtyard:
Friday: 5-9 PM
Saturday: 12-7:30 PM
Sunday: 12-5

The Condo Dweller's Guide to Grilling

Step 1: Make friends with people who have yards.

Step 2: Grill.

We have been very fortunate this summer to yard hop from bar-b-que to shish-ke-bab while never having to mow a lawn or buy patio furniture. My husband and I live downtown in the city of Lowell, MA along a canal in a converted mill building from 1909. While we appreciate not having to shovel a driveway in the winter, get the house painted or tend to landscaping, it's true we sometimes miss the joys of owning a patch of dirt. We miss the smell of said dirt, the chance to garden, sitting on the back porch on a summer evening and the sound of crickets.

So we borrow these joys from our generous friends who invite us into their homes and then through their kitchens out the back door to their backyards where glowing coals await marinated meats and vegetables.

Thank you, friends! We love the char grilled meats, the savory salads, and mostly, the time spent relaxing with you in your outdoor environs, laughing, sharing stories and enjoying the summer while it lasts.

epicuranoia

ep·i·cure·a·noi·a
-noun

1. The suspicion or fear that your friends are cooking more interesting meals than you are.

ex:
I felt a stab of epicuranoia when I saw Frank and Ellen come out of the Asian grocery store.

Amanda's Flickr pictures of curried eggplant aggravated my epicuranoia.

Though we enjoyed their cooking very much, every time we ate at Sarah and Ron's house our epicuranoia was confirmed.

Boston Handmade Marketplace

Hello! Hope all is well with you :)

I don't belong to the Boston Handmade group of Etsy sellers but I was asked to participate in their Marketplace which was held in Union Square in Somerville, MA from 3-7pm June 28th. I was not sharing a space with anyone so I borrowed a tent from the most generous Liz of Lush Beads and recruited my helpful husband, D to be my right hand man.

We had cased the area a few weeks ago so we would have an idea how long it took to get there from Lowell. Also, I checked it out on Google Maps Street View, have you seen that? It's kinda creepy but so helpful! Like a virtual walk around the neighborhood, with random photos of whoever happened to be walking or driving by when the Google team took their pics.

We got to the show location right on time and D hauled my stuff from the car while I watched our stack. I could tell the show was very well organized and I was excited because I knew a lot of the other vendors already and I knew Jessica had promoted the hell out of it!

There were 25 of us and we set our tents up in a little plaza right on Somerville Ave.

I was next to Twigs and Heather:

who were super nice and who have a great looking display and gorgeous jewelry. There was a bike rack on my other side :) It was definitely all about the creative tent placement. We put up the back wall so the street wouldn't feel so close and that helped a lot.

I brought 4 card tables and ended up using them all. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do my display and it took me a little while to get my footing, but I think I am pleased with the final outcome.






We could tell early on that the show would have good attendance and it was consistent the whole time. I made nice steady sales! My mom’s cards especially were a huge hit! And my new tiny nest hairpins were popular too. It was a great crowd that appreciated handmade. Though vendors don't share numbers as a rule, I got the feeling other people did well also and that always makes me happy.


Here's the show from my perspective:

I did take a minute to run around and look at all the gorgeous booths. Here's Allison of Fraske Designs who generously gave me a photo of the place where I first set eyes on my husband. I had bought a card from her for our anniversary last year. She blew me away with her memory and generosity!


Angela of Paper Menagerie was there too, it was nice I got to do a show with her one more time before she moves far, far away, boo hoo! Bon voyage and have a great adventure, Angela!


I met the woman behind Designs By Lulubelle and she was kind enough to mention she reads this blog occasionally! That totally made my day :)


Also I finally got to meet Cozy Cottage Creations whose work I have admired for a long time now. We were actually supposed to have been paired at my second SEOM last year but it did not work out. So glad I finally got to see her cozy creations in person!


There were musicians singing nice folk/rock and a restaurant that didn't mind us using their bathroom :) Over on the right you can see the tent of talented jeweler NancyRosetta who was being helped by her equally talented illustrator sister Weller Wishes.


The day was a whirlwind and soon it was time to pack up and get out. I found myself the last woman standing as the event dissolved around me. D went and got the car and cleverly pulled up to the curb for easy loading with less schlepping. We hustled, got it all in the hatchback and were on our way home exhausted, satisfied.

See here for more pictures from Jessica's Flickr set.