The Blanco Lavender Festival

Today, as we traveled back from Austin, we stopped in Blanco. Their annual Lavender Festival was underway. The town square was full of artists and the streets were full of people! So we stopped and started by visiting our friends Jan and Jon Brieger, owners of Breiger Pottery. We have know them since way back in the 70's when they used to live in San Marcos and we all did the Texas States Arts and Crafts Show.
Some years ago, they moved to Blanco with their daughter, Tasha, and opened a pottery shop right on the street that surrounds the square. So, today, when we went to the shop, we found that they have purchased the store next door and opened a restaurant there. Very cute!



http://www.briegerpottery.com/Brieger_Pottery_site/Home.html

The restaurant is apparently a big hit. Jan was busy making cookies this morning . Jon was buy too, but I'm not sure what he was creating.

Plus we learned that their daughter, Tasha, is now the owned of Hill Country Lavender

 http://www.hillcountrylavender.com/

And we found out that Jan is the founder of this Lavender Festival and still juries the show along with another person! We walked through and met up with fellow metal artist, Bob Tomson.

http://www.naturalmetalsstudio.com/about.html

And we saw David Busch
http://www.raindancewatercolors.com/

All in all, a nice visit!

It's June Already??

Another year of the Kerrville show has come and gone. Ok, this posting could make you feel old - beware. Philip and I spent time in the truck on the way to set up for this show last week remembering all of the years we have done this show and all of the changes it (and we) have gone through. We calculated that we have been going to The State Arts and Crafts show for 30 years!! We started when our daughters were so small that we brought a playpen (yes, that's what they were called back then) to the show for Jenny to sleep in and Carla (about 4 years old then) took a nap under the long table we used as the front of the booth.
And the first year we did the show, the folks that ran it had a pioneer theme going on and asked that the exhibitors dress up in pioneer clothing. (I do have a picture somewhere but would have to go on a hunt for it that would delay this posting even more!) Philip wore overalls and the girls and I had long dresses and bonnets. That only lasted one year.
Initally, and for many years to follow, the show was held on the grounds of Shreiner College. It was held for two weekends and it was HUGE. All of the artists were very successful. Customers traveled from all over the state to attend. There was a Board of Directors made up of some pretty influential people and a board of artists that judged the applications and judged the artists for awards.
I guess I could say time has not been kind to this show. Many more arts and crafts shows occur now throughout the year which afford competition. The economy has had it ups and downs, gas is expensive. The directorship has certainly gone through changes and the location has changed to a fairgrounds area of Kerrville. Sadly, for us, many of our great friends no longer exhibit at this show and some of our fun in going has diminished.
Now, on the positive, we have made new artisit friends and still enjoy the visiting that goes on while waiting for the show to open  or waiting for customers to show up. The folks that run the show still feed the artists breakfast and one evening meal. And for us, the show is so close to where we live, it just makes sense to keep being there.
This year, there was a new and very young director. Several changes were made, including time changes. This year the show was open to customers on Friday night and not on Monday at all. For us, sales were adequate only. Certainly not like the first year, when we sold so much that we had to go home every night and work in the shop until the we hours of the morning to be ready for the next day. People would stand in a line 10 people deep waiting to buy their "bell".
On a positive note, this was probably the best weather we have ever had at the show - no rain, no heat wave, had a nice breeze. And we had great neighbors.

The art show grounds.

This was a cool community mural. ANYONE could paint on this.

This was the pavillion where music was going on all day and food, wine and beer could be enjoyed!

Fayetteville Art Walk

So, our last show was last weekend in Fayetteville, TX. This is that quiet little town over by LaGrange that is the easiest show we do. The whole show is set up on the town square, so you can just back your vehicle up right to your booth space and set up easily. It is very small so buyers don't get overwhelmed with choices or forget where your booth is and can't make it back to you when they are ready to buy.

The Fayetteville residents are super nice and everyone is happy to visit with you, talk about themselves and their town. Most of the customers are from Houston. These folks come to country to rest and relax on their farm/ranch or little house in town.

The art show folks take good care of the artists. They feed us on Saturday night. This year, there was a Friday night preview party out on a nearby ranch. They fed everyone and gave artists a chance to sell early. We didn't make it though. This, being our third show in a row, had us really low on inventory. So we were still at home in Boerne making bells and sails until about 4:00 Friday afternoon. Then we still had to load up, pack our clothes, etc before we could take off. We finaly got to Fayetteville at about 9:30 that night and we set up in the dark with our cute little head lamps on so we could see what we were doing!!

Sadly, the original hotel and restaurant that we came to know on our first trip to Fayetteville had a fire last year and this year it was gone - demolished. See the big open space..

This show gives out awards with cash prizes attaches. And two of our friends received recognitions. Both Steve Kriechbaum and Melanie Fain received awards. Here is a picture of Mel's booth.

And here is a picture of Steve's booth. In the background. Uh... with Steve outside of his booth playing his harmonica with a local bunch of musicians who sat aroung in the square playing great music the last couple of hours of the show.

A lot of visiting was done during this show. You can't help but do it. Here's Philip outside of the booth visiting - probably telling some wild tale.

And Frank Bird sitting alongside his wonderul pottery telling ANOTHER JOKE in some foreign accent. We can't see if the customer's eyes have glazed over yet, but Frank's wife, Suzy's probably have!

So, the show ended at 4:00pm on Sunday. That is perfect. More art shows should do that. Sales are usually down by that time, Customers are going to their homes and artists love to be through and packing up so they can get home easily enough.

Windsongs is off this weekend. We shipped out lots of bells for Mother's Day. We will be off next weekend but will be getting ready for the Texas Arts and Crafts show in Kerrville on Mother's Day Weekend. 

King William Show

Another San Antonio Fiesta celebration has come and gone. This is the one day show that occurs on the last weekend of Fiesta.The King William area of San Antonio is full of wonderful old homes of all sizes, shapes and colors. One of the most memorable scandals in the area occured several years ago here when author, Sandra Cisneros, painted her house purple and the neighborhood association was not pleased. It was in the news for sometime.

The house has now faded to blue and Sandra Cisneros is movng from San Antonio. A loss, but I don't think she is moving because of any house controversy.

Back to the Art Show..

We set up our booth on the usual street across from and in front of great little houses all decorated for Fiesta.

 .The booth next to us was run by the art teacher from Brackenridge High School in San Antonio. The great colorful masks were created by her students and they sold them to raise funds to support their art program. There were a huge hit and she sold all of them!!!

Too bad art programs aren't fully funded. But, on the other hand, the students that came and helped sell in the booth got a first hand look at selling art at the ground level.

This festival is also tied to a parade which celebrates "quirkiness" and honors King El Rey Feo (the ugly king). It is full of unusual floats and hosts the down to earth, neighborhood entrants.

Carla, Julien and Sascha came down to the show, visited, watched the parade. Thanks to Dave Piper for letting us hang out in the Piper Sandal booth which is always on the parade route.

All said and done, it was a good show. Fast and furious, done in one day. Seems like we had a lot of customers who were employees of HEB and USAA, a fair amount of out of town folks who were in SAT for Fiesta, and of course, some King William residents. Thanks to the wonderful Brackenridge High School football team and their coach who keeps the whole show and fair clean all day long!!

Last shots of the Show and Fiesta Color - 2012:

Woodlands Waterway Art Show

This was a huge successful and fun show. Since it was the first show of the spring season, we had spent a great deal of time at home earlier in the week making sure everything was prepared. I even used my new killer sewing machine that we purchased to be able to work on enclosures and other items for the new boat. In this case, I repaired some of velcro fastening areas on the front of the tent and on the sign. Here I am working outside on the carport with the help of at least one of the dogs!

On Friday night there was the usual preview party where there is a raffle of sorts. Art patrons pay a nice sum to then be chosen randomly to run and pick up the donated piece of art they have previously staked out. That is provided another patron hasn't beaten them to it. Prior to the actual raffle, artists, their helpers and the art patrons have had a chance to mingle, eat and drink and preview the work. Lots of fun and good food too.


Saturday was STUPENDOUS for Windsongs. It was windy and all booths were staked down to the max, but customers came to the art show in droves. Many people who bought from us were returning customers from last year. We always are amazed at how many people living in The Woodlands are from other countries and living in the Houston area because they work in the oil and gas industry. By Saturday at 6:00 pm, we had only five bells left.
Saturday night we walked one block down the riverwalk and ate with Dave Piper (Piper Sandals) at Grimaldi's.
Sunday, the highly organized folks who put on the show, gave out the weather news and their plans for preparedness. Lots more folks came to the show and many of them ordered bells to be shipped to them. The show was closed at 4:00 rather than 6:00 and we made it out before any weather actually caused a problem.
This is the view from our hotel windw of the waterway and the condos on the other side of the water.

Family Update

So many of our customers have said over the years, how much they enjoyed keeping up with our family, I'll write a quick update for you.

Carla, the oldest daughter, and her family now live in Beaumont, TX (or as Carla calls is - the mosquito capital of Texas). Son-in-law Dave is assistant track coach for Lamar University. Carla is not teaching this year. She is staying home with the almost four year old, Julien, and Sascha, who recently turned one. She, at the moment is the sole seamtress at the sister owned Etsy shop, Blue Agave Studio.

Dave and Julien

Carla and Sascha

Now Jenny and family have had many changes this year and have finally fullfilled a long held goal. This February, they moved to Morocco. This is because of son-in-law Michael's job with the U.S. State Department. So, they are now in their permanent residence, Will is in school and Jenny is awaiting their last shipment of belongings which will include their car and sewing machine. She can then take the younger boys out on local adventures during the day and she can get back to adding creations the the afore mentione Etsy shop.

Jenny's whole family - Michael, Jenny, William, Lincoln and Donovan just before they boarded the plane to Paris and then onto Rabat.

S

The Huffines Show in Richardson

The last art show of 2011 was in Richardson. This was the Huffines Show last weekend, Oct 22 & 23rd. Now this show is notorious for having notable weather. Cold fronts blowing through, rain storms surprising everyone, you name it. This weekend was no different. Sunday morning at about 1:00 a.m. a front came through complete with wind and rain. Several tents full of artists' work blew down and some artists lost a great deal of work. This is always a sad sight to see.

For Windsongs,the show was good and of course our product is made to survive all types of weather. Philip went by himself to this show. Our friend, Dave Piper was there to sell his sandals too.

So... now it's time to get ready for Christmas selling season!!