Last weekend, Roger and I went to my parents' house in NH for a few days. It was a jam-packed weekend full of my favorite people! We celebrated my mom's birthday, I sold at the craft fair at Alumni Hall, and I got to see all my babes!
We arrived Thursday night, and Dad had a surprise for Roger & me - a snazzy new dog bed! It's to keep at their house, for when we're visiting so I don't have to haul his grungy blue bed back and forth. The top is fleecy, and Roger loved it immediately! Plus, it's zebra-striped, and Roger is really digging animal prints this season.
Friday morning we visited my best friend Jessica and my godson, Roger's cousin, Haiden. Is he not the cutest little guy you've ever SEEN?!? He's two and a half now, I can't believe how fast the time has gone! I absolutely love watching him grow up into his own little person. Seeing a shy smile of recognition creep across his face when I arrive is the coolest thing ever. He is so great with Roger, and Roger is very careful and protective of him. I just know Haiden is going to be an amazing big brother when Jess & Shane's new bundle of joy arrives next spring.
Friday evening after Dad got home from work, he and Roger and I headed down to the Bedell Bridge State Park. There are several big open corn fields, broken up by some wetland marshy areas. This is
The Big Fun for Roger, just wide open spaces where he can run around and explore all the new smells. Poor little city dog doesn't get to do that in Burlington!
Since it is currently a hunting season
(residential water fowl maybe?) we were all decked out in our don't-hunt-me orange, and Roger was no exception - safety first! Dad got this for him last Fall, and although he wiggles around while I try to adjust the velcro straps, he wears it very nicely once it's on. Every pup and their people should have some orange garb for outings around this time of year.
Later that night we celebrated Mom's 63rd birthday with my seasonally-appropriate specialty, apple crisp a la mode! I also presented her with an Ithaca Farmer's Market tote bag, and a stack of stickers from the closing sale at Scribbles.
Saturday morning Mom & I headed to Alumni Hall for the day to sell at the crafts fair. I've been working on my inventory of birds, knobs, garden tags, switch plates, and puzzle piece brooches for the past several weeks, and came up with some great display methods. Meg even sent a supply of her bird and tree ornaments, which I just love! Unfortunately, it rained all day so the crowd was pretty thin but I managed to make several sales including a custom order of knobs!
Luckily, I had several fun visitors! Jessica stopped by after her morning class, and we took a lap around the craft fair together. Erin and Ryan, my favorite newly-engaged couple, brought baby Mason to visit and do a little shopping. Mason, who is now 8 months old, happily bounced around on my hip for a while, and tried to nom my necklace - darling! His grandpa bought one of my birds for him, which Mason promptly tasted, then dropped into his stroller for later. Yum!
While I was selling my crazy crafts for the day, the poor Little Sir was left behind, all alone! Psh, hardly all alone - he spent the day with his Grandpa! Of course he whined and cried when I left, and then somehow managed to gnaw on a marrow bone and cry at the same time - I mean, it's bordering on neglect, the way that dog is treated! Later he got to take a ride in Grandpa's big gray truck for a field trip to Patten's Sporting Goods, where he got a don't-hunt-me orange bandanna, which he looks adorable in.
Shortly after the crafts fair wrapped up at 4pm, we packed up the car and headed back to Burlington in time for the Hot Buttered Rum show, by far my favorite band. This is the 3rd time I've seen them at Higher Ground, and it was definitely lots of fun. However, they've added a drummer, and some of their new stuff has more of a rock sound. Which is great...but not what you want from your favorite bluegrass band! I did buy the new album,
Limbs Akimbo, and I love it.
I am currently searching for another small craft fair or two to sell at this fall, so please pass along any you know of in my area. Unfortunately, the big ones here in Burlington are hundreds of dollars for a table, which is way out of proportion to the cost of what I sell. If I can't find a fair to sell at, I'll post everything to my etsy account. Also, if any of you would like custom orders, let me know!
Normally I'm not big on projects that show off my less-than-delicate sewing. My seams tend to meander, and accurate measurement is no friend of mine. I've accepted it. But for this project, the extra effort was worth it. Most of my time was spent measuring, ironing, and re-measuring, trying to perfect the mitered corners and width of the cotton panel.
Originally I pictured ribbons that would tie in a bow, but then remembered the recipients were still wearing Velcro shoes. Next, I thought elastic would be easier for little hands, but (a) I couldn't figure out how to sew a button hole in the elastic and (b) it looked terrible! So, I scrapped it and moved back to ribbon.
