Essex Spring Craft and Fine Art Show

My days are busy getting ready for the Essex Spring Fine Art and Craft Show, a juried show sponsored by Vermont Craft Workers, coming up Saturday, May 3rd and Sunday, May 4th. A local tradition, it is held at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction, Vermont.

This is the largest show I've participated in, so I'm trying to judge how much inventory I'll need, and my scissors and sewing machine are buzzing...I've had new fabric coming in for the past few weeks, some favorites of my customers last year, and some irresistible new designs. One of my favorites in this version of Denyse Schmidt's "Flea Market Fancy", this in pinks and orange.

One Fabric, Two New Unmet Friends

I'm something of a francophile when searching out new fabrics, and last summer I picked up a small bit of fabric with French names of soaps and illustrations on it. I loved it, and it has brought me two new friends.

Carrie/Gigi is an artisan of soap and other delights from Maryland. We met through the community on Cottage Living. Carrie bought a pillow I'd made in this fabric, and, lucky me, I was the recipient of her swap package this spring in the Cottage Living community. Among the many great and useful gifts were a number of her products which she presents under the name of "Under the Willow Gifts". Her website is http://www.underthewillowgifts.com/, and you will want to check it out if you are jealous of my new crocheted face cloth, lavendar linen spray, chocolate lip balm, Maryland Crab Soap (I can't wait to try that!), and soap in Willow Spice. Carrie blogs at http://underthewillowgifts.blogspot.com/.

Sylvie is the moderator of the message board in our new Vermont Etsy Street Team. Sylvie creates natural skincare and body products and lives in a jewel of Vermont, the Lake Champlain Islands. I've been commissioned to make aprons for Sylvie and her husband Bob to wear at their local farmer's market, and as luck would have it, I was able to search out and find a few more yards of that French soap fabric. Ironically, it turns out Sylvie is from Montreal! Her original products are marketed at http://sylviel.etsy.com/.