polkadotbug

Success… I think.

The big Quaker Art Fest is over.  Phew.  That was tiring.  We had so much fun though, right Shannon?  :)  On Saturday we roasted in the sun and on Sunday we froze in the cool mist.  Welcome to Buffalo.  It was all worth it though.  I think we learned a lot from this festival, seeing that we're both newbies to the "show" world.  We received tons of compliments which was very flattering and even had a few requests for home parties.  Fun! 

I am gonna use the same pics that Shannon did because I didn’t take them off my camera yet.  Lazy.

You like the blue striped tent?! This is one that mom got at a garage sale for 5 bucks.  It did the trick, and more.  Maybe if we become frequent festival vendors we’ll invest in a nice one, but frankly I thought this one was cute.  We already stood out as it was because we weren’t selling anything involving pumpkins, ghosts, snowmen, or jewelry. 

I was surprised at the items that sold.  From the Indie Markets that I've done in the past, all of my bags sold and not many clothing type items.  It was completely opposite this time.  I sold only 5 or 6 bags.  What I did sell was all of my dresses, and all but one child size apron!  I guess you can't predict the crowd and what they'll be interested in. 

Molly had her own corner in our booth with things that she made.  Many times when I was sewing she would get out her jewelry beads and make some things to sell at the show.  She even made fabric fish out of fabric scraps with googly eyes.  She stood there with her apron on waiting for someone to be interested.  Every now and then I would secretly hand a visitor a quarter and ask them to buy one of her creations.  She would get so excited and of course our nice visitors would pull some some extra change and maker her even happier.  Thanks so much to all of you who were so nice to make her day.  "Happy Molly" (her business name) will be huge someday! I wish I had a picture of her stuff.

Here are two of the knot jumper style reversible dresses that I brought.

We have a bunch more shows lined up for the fall that I’ve listed below.  Shannon has them all listed on Baby Peas as well. 

October 12th - Buffalo Indie Market

October 18th - Sweet Home Arts Festival (I’ll be out of town, but look for Baby Peas)

November 1/2 - Clarence Arts Society Festival

November 15th - Lancaster Opera House

November 28/29th - St. Gregory the Great Art Festival

December 6/7 - Williamsville PTA Festival

I’d also like to say “thanks” to Mr. Baby Peas and Mr. Polkadotbug for all their help. Mr. Baby Peas is very crafty himself and made a bunch of things to better our booth.  Mr. Polkadotbug did a fantastic job keeping the kids occupied all weekend and doing a lot of setting up and taking down.  I don’t think he knew what he was getting signed up for when I started this crafty adventure.

Buried Alive!

Here I am!  Yep, that’s me behind my piles of stuff.  I have been staying up late and getting up early to try and get a good heap going for the Art Fest next weekend. 

I’ve gotten a nice little stock of bags/purses , bonnets, bibs, reversible dresses, aprons, tutus, etc.  I have to give a little thanks to Ellie who came over one night to help with some tutus, and to my mom-in-law who has been here the last few days cutting and tying tutus for me (and keeping the kids occupied while I work).  Lets just hope all (or at least most) of this stuff sells!  I am still trying to decide if it’s all worth it!  Just kidding, I really am enjoying myself.  It’s almost like the more I make, the more I want to keep going.  At the same time, I really enjoy trying new things and I can’t do that now. I have to stick strictly to my list and not spend time fiddling around. 

I guess I could’ve had more done by now if I didn’t spend last Saturday doing other things.  Take a look at my dear husbands blog to see how we spent the day.  It was very worth the time spent! 

What a boring post eh?  Sorry, I have to get back to work!

Look Out Elementary School

Well, there’s the big girl standing in front of her school this morning.  She did so well.  It seems like it wasn’t that long ago that I was pregnant with her and now she’s already in school!  I only cried a little bit, so I was proud of myself too.

Besides preparing to send Molly off to school, I have been chugging away at crafting things for the Art Festival coming up.  I thought I would see how much stuff I could get out of one yard of fabric.  I think I did pretty well. 

I started with a Buffalo Bonnet and matching fleece lined bib.

 

I finished by squeezing out one pair of reversible pants and a little matching purse.  I love this Kokka print with the big bold flowers.  They look just like the flowers that Molly draws with the huge centers.  The reverse side of the pants is Anna Maria Horner, from her Garden Party collection.

Let’s hear it for the boys!  I even went out on a limb and churned out a lounge pants/bib combo that’s made for a boy.  I didn’t do so hot finding designer fabric that I thought would be great for a boy, so I went to Joann’s. I got a neat dinosaur print and this puppy/dog house print.  I thought it was cute.  It is so different than anything I am used to working with so I did feel a tad strange.  These pants are also reversible with a very comfy gray knit on the other side. 

Hope everyone got the kids off to school without a hitch!

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P.S.  If anyone out there is interested in food (who isn’t?!) and wants to take part in a little challenge, my husband won last month’s Paper Chef food blogging competition and this month’s is underway now – the ingredients and rules are here.