Baking pies with my mom

I still get my hair cut by Deborah at Salon Excellence in Waltham, been going there almost ten years, she's so great! It's me and a bunch of little old ladies getting their curlers set. I love it. Anyway, it's not far from where my folks live so I went to see them today and have some lunch. After lunch, mom baked pies for Christmas.

Here are three videos I made, turn the volume up, press the "play" arrow and join us in the pie making experience!

She makes her crusts from scratch:


I cut up all the Granny Smith apples, mom's mom was my Granny Smith, and my MIL is also a Granny Smith! (But my husband and I are only related by our marriage, we checked ;)


Wheat sheaf, the Farr family pie crest:


That pie is for the grandkids (all in their twenties now!) Mom and I don't eat sugar or wheat so she also makes these lovely open face pies on nut crusts, like big tarts, blueberry and apple, mmmm. We can have as much whipped cream as we like, we just have to whip it. Whip it real good. We used to do it with the manual beater and lots of elbow grease, but I'm bringing the electric mixer tomorrow, I'm not foolin' around.

We are just glad to be able to spend time together for whatever reason. Grateful is what we are.

Peace to you all!

Last show of the season!

My show season is over, I did it! Well, I did it with a lot of help :) I made bunches of cute goodies and Dell helped me at my show. And Candace helped me by carrying things down to my car and making a sign to post on my studio door during the Open Studios I had to miss this past weekend. And everyone else helped me by wishing me good luck, which totally worked, thank you!

This was my first big holiday show season since I came back to doing shows. I was totally freaked out by the huge table money ($400!!) I paid for shows I'd never even been to, never mind set up at. But it turned out to be worth the risk, even in this lousy recession. If this was a slower year, as some people have told me, then I can't wait for boom times :)


Actually, the pace was perfect for me, steady sales but not overwhelming. For this last one, the SOWA Holiday Market in Boston's South End, we set up Friday night for a Lola Magazine preview party.

Dell
figured out the exact location (thanks again Google Street View!) which was just up the street from the Open Market they run all summer.


We found a spot for my little Focus in line amongst the other double parked crafters rapidly unloading in the frigid weather. The party wasn't a huge selling event, but it was great to be set up and ready to go for Saturday and I did make a few sales, so certainly not time wasted. Plus I got to schmooze with my neighbors; Marie from GALVIN-ized Headwear and Harmony Jusseaume.

I also got to meet the absolutely adorable Tomoko who is the artist behind TADworks, the cutest shop on Etsy!



Seriously, have you SEEN THIS?? *faints from the cuteness* And so it was no surprise that Tomoko is a delightful person. I love the Po cards I got, thank you!

So Saturday was great! Non-stop crowds and lots of sales. My pincushions were a HUGE hit!


But so were the felt nests, flower pins and earrings.


And everyone just had to squeeze my felty balls :)


I always sell a little of everything at shows, it feels great. I love when the right item connects with the right person. Just makes me want to go make more!


I had put the kielbasa soup in the slow cooker that morning so we were greeted by a wonderful aroma and a hot dinner when we got home exhausted that night. We gave Chester credit for cooking us a nice meal. We're goofy like that.

Sunday had a different vibe. Slower to arrive, the shoppers were more cautious. But we still had good consistent sales, if not up to Saturday's mark. All the vendors had gone home Saturday night and made more goods, I somehow managed to make 6 more pincushions. I heard someone say they'd gone to sleep as soon as they got home from the show, then set their alarm for 1 AM and gotten up to make more items, I could never do that!

So now my show season is over, but many things that I postponed to prep for these events are still waiting to be completed. And I can't wait to get back in the studio to make more of what was popular at my shows. My Etsy shop will be full of new goodies in the coming year!

Festival of Crafts Recap

Despite someone describing one of my cute new wool pincushions as a "voodoo cupcake", I think Worcester gets me. I had a fantastic show at the Worcester Center for Crafts Festival of Crafts last weekend!

It was my first really huge show, I was playing in the big leagues now, and I wasn't sure how they would like me. After all, I don't work with fire ie: ceramics, glass, metal, like so many of the higher-end artisans do. I work with brightly-colored, fluffy wool and polymer clay which some still see as just a children's toys. But I put my wares out and they were well received!

I had a fantastic spot, right off the entrance,

good lighting and excellent neighbors. The people running the center and the show could not have been nicer, more encouraging or more helpful. What a fantastic positive vibe in there! I know I'm gushing, but wow.

I made consistent sales and was only overwhelmed with people waiting in line to buy a few times.

The pace was overall very manageable. I did equal parts cash and credit, then a few more sales in checks. People seemed to be buying for themselves as well as for gifts.

The first day was all about cupcake ornaments and pincushions, the second day seemed all about nest pins,

though I generally sell at least a little of everything at each show I do. Each night I went home and while exhausted, made more items to keep my table looking full.

The husband was a huge help, driving me there and back, bagging orders, holding my rolly cart steady while I ran the knuckle buster for credit cards, going for coffee, and generally being a witness to the day and sharing the experience with me.

The vendor we sat next to was the delightful Molly Shattuck Thomas who also works in polymer clay. She has a fantastic eye for color and excels at combining her fascinating patterns into gorgeous necklaces, bracelets, earrings, hair pins and cuff links.

Her craftsmanship is excellent and I really fell for this pair of earrings in my favorite colors with elegant handcrafted ear wires:

A vendor situated in another room of the building sought me out for a trade and I couldn't be more pleased! Ji Hwang is sweet, smart AND talented! Her elegant display used tree branches to complement the natural forms of her precious metal jewelry. These stunning silver pod earrings feature a faceted coral bead in the perfect shade of fiery orange. Love!



I also had the pleasure of meeting the completely sweet Liz of Looka Jewelry. Check out her Etsy shop, her work is so carefully crafted and precious! This bunny just gets to me :) I also met Anna of Ham Crafted who was helping Liz out. Aren't her fabric creations fun?

I am still on cloud nine from the whole experience, I feel like I used up ten years' worth of luck. But even if that was the best of the season, I am satisfied!

Meanwhile the season does push forward. Tonight is the opening reception for the Winter Lights show at the Loading Dock Gallery. It's from 6-9, and you are invited! 10 artisans from Western Avenue Studios have banded together to make a lovely group show specifically to help you with your holiday shopping, yeah, we're thoughtful like that :)

Maybe we'll see you there :0)

Put Your Pencils Down...

...and turn in your blue books. That's what it feels like now that I am "forced" to stop making inventory and take a day off to enjoy Thanksgiving with family. (Although, I did pack some felting materials in case there is down time, hee hee, didn't think I would really stop, didja? :)

This morning I packed the car and drove 45 minutes southwest to Worcester. I've made a new table layout with new display pieces so I wasn't sure how to pack everything and how it would fit in the car but I worked it out. I even boxed Petunia, the mannequin and brought her along at TIG's insistence. I don't fight it anymore, I just do what the Candace tells me because she's ALWAYS right! Good thing she's cute or it would be super annoying :)


I found the Worcester Center for Crafts which is a COOL PLACE! Never been there before. It smells really good, like art school. I have an AMAZING space, seriously. I am so lucky and grateful.

I set up my tables, didn't quite unpack everything yet. But I'm really glad I went to early set-up so I could see how it will all go before Friday. I did have to change my game plan a tad when I saw the actual space. Plus I met some really nice people. Now I am calm and relaxed. Well, as relaxed as you'll ever see me, I'm a little intense. ;)

I even had time this evening to cook some cranberry sauce for tomorrow's feast at mom's! She knows how to make a pie that we can all eat though we do Atkins for life, my mom is the BEST!

Status Of Felting Agreement

My glassy eyed smile speaks volumes! I am very pleased at what I have been able to create, but there is always more that can be done.


I have gotten to a point where I feel I can set up at a craft show with a lovely display. Now I want to fill in a bit of backstock in case people actually buy my things!

You can see above a quick mock-up of the new table arrangement I will use for my two big shows, Worcester and South Boston. I even sewed a table skirt out of a flat sheet! It's all coming together :)

Charette-ing

I sort of wandered aimlessly for the month of October, or so it feels now. Now that I have ONE WEEK to prepare for the biggest show of my career, the Worcester Center for Crafts's Festival of Crafts on November 28, 29 and 30. It seems a monumental task to prepare enough items in case the show is as big a success as I hope.

And what makes it harder is that I was stuck in new product development mode for a month when I really should have been cranking out the tried and true. But look at this cupcake ornament I made, isn't it sweet?


How can I deny the ideas in my head that want to become manifest when they are so adorable?? Now I must make a dozen of these for the show. I mean I can't NOT have them for the holidays. Not now that I know they exist.

I will just march forward until time is up and there I am in Worcester behind my table, greeting holiday shoppers, smiling, my husband backing me up.

Kielbasa Soup

I love Trader Joe's (except when they randomly stop selling my fave snacks). Anyway, I love that place, but I can't always come up with enough parts of a meal to make a whole dinner. Mostly because I live a low-carb lifestyle and though they carry excellent chicken and nitrate-free sausages, I have never had too much luck with their veggies. There have been, let's say, freshness issues coupled with the difficulty of buying for two when everything seems to come in bags of eight or more. Eight or more vegetables on the verge of compost.

So, having said all that, here is the soup recipe I came up with that uses mostly Trader Joe's ingredients: (oh, and apologies if you are a vegetarian, probably wanna skip this one)

2 boxes organic free range chicken broth
1 1 lb package nitrate-free kielbasa
1 small onion (I like to use the sweet ones), chopped
1 or 2 organic carrots, coined
1 or 2 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 bag Trader Joe's 17 bean and barley mix
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
pat of butter (because in my world fat isn't evil!)
Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute
pepper


Now If I was making this in a stock pot on the stove, I would soak the beans ahead of time, brown the onion and celery in butter and olive oil, then brown the kielbasa before adding all the other ingredients. But I have been making this in my crockpot lately and that really just involves throwing everything in the pot, putting it on low at 10 am and eating it piping hot and well cooked at 6 pm, yeah! (Thanks to Rosie and Geoff for the ability to time shift dinner cooking!!) This also allows me to come home and give Chester credit for cooking me dinner. Yes I talk to my cat. Yes I ask him if he made us dinner.

Be sure to rinse your beans, but no need to soak ahead!


Chop chop choppity chop


Here's the trick my mom showed me for getting the box of broth to pour easily, stab it at the other end to release the air! (This is only a good idea, of course, if you are using the whole box.)






Put it all together in the crock pot, set to low and cover!

This feeds us both for two days and sometimes one lunch! I like to toast low-carb bread and slather it with butter and garlic for the side, mmm...