Autumn Treasury

We are having one of the best foliage seasons in years here in Central Vermont. I don't work much with maple tree reds, but Ereda Jewelry managed to find a Virtuous Baby Quilt of mine to include in her Etsy treasury of Vermont artists. Check out some the wonderful talent here in the Green Mountain State.

New Stores and Boutiques

HotHolders have been going out into the wider world as of late. If you are up and down the Eastern US stop by the following shops and boutiques to see their selection of sustainably handmade and mostly pin-up potholders and other fine wares. Visit them on the web, too.

The Portsmouth Fabric Company at 112 Penhallow St, in Portsmouth. NH. Get your Swiss Bernina sewing machines here and they do servicing, too. (I love my 1031. I've had it since 1992 and it just gets better every year. Is that possible?) They also have a wide selection of designer quilting fabrics. If you are at a quilt festival look for the upcycled clementine box of HotHolders at their booth.

Opening soon: The Revue Boutique and Gallery at 138 E. Gay St in downtown West Chester, PA carrying an array of "edgy, eclectic and eco-friendly products" with customer service to match. That's my record of their order pictured above. They especially love that my products are made from mostly recycled materials. Me too!

Buffalo Gal Vintage in St. Petersburg, FL. They buy, sell and trade in elegant, mint condition vintage clothing. After you select your gorgeous outfit, you can take advantage of their in house pin-up photography service. Pretty cool, huh? Their new shop just opened earlier this month at 1219 Dr. MLK Jr. St. North so go check out their classy offerings of vintage clothing, home decor, gifts and accessories. Visit their original location at 1246 Central Avenue, too.

Detail Gallery at 54 Baltimore Ave. in Rehoboth Beach, DE. "A gallery for the home." They have what want for every room in your house, plus a great pet section. Stop by and meet Mirabell, the "crazy Boston terrier," who is the shop mascot and graces cards and artwork by resident collage artist Michael Muller and also their recycled, reusable shopping bags.

Apron Power!

From Vermont's own Bread and Puppet theater in Glover. Sent in by Chris Esten of the Green Reaper, who is an amazing grower and maker of beautiful botanical art.

These women - their aprons are part of what makes you take them so seriously. The power of the maternal arch type. The apron is such a strong symbol of the domestic sphere, in all it's idyllic calm and nurturing. Worth fighting and protesting for. Don't spoil it!

What Women Want

Based on my sales at the Mad River Valley Craft Fair on Labor Day weekend, women want Full Aprons. And I mean full, with bibs to protect your clothes up top. Half aprons, which I love designing and making - so cute - are considered more of an accessory and are not nearly as practical. That is fine, for it is no hardship for me to design and make the full model, and I'm sure glad I made a lot for this fair because by the end of Saturday the rack was looking pretty thin and I took a bunch of the half models home and sewed bibs on them Saturday night. Sunday sales were great, too.

As I'm just starting year 3 in this craft business endeavor I feel as if I've finally been given a strong signal from the market about what product I should focus on. Yay! It's quite a relief, really. Also, it hit me over the head that I make a lot more money putting the effort in to going to a craft fair than I do staying home, even with my etsy shop (at this stage - ain't gonna give up on that just yet).

So the etsy shop is pretty low on aprons at the moment, but look for an adorable retro-inspired selection at the Norwich Farmers Market on these Saturdays in September: the 6th (coming right up), the 20 and the 27th.