2014 Holiday Show and Sale

We've done it!

Another Buttermilk Cottage Holiday Show & Sale

has come and gone.

Our SIXTH one!!!

Here are some highlights...

This year's show was a visual feast and I wish I 

were a better photographer because

my pictures do not do it justice.

It takes about 3 days to completely set this show.

Once it's over, it takes about an hour

for all the vendors to pack their

things and go!

The party's over...

All done except the clean up!

The Countdown has Begun!

Lately, I have lagged a bit with new posts. Although I love blogging, reading and posting, I seem to have been letting it slip lately. After giving it some thought, I realize why. Here at Buttermilk Cottage I'm in the midst of getting ready for my annual "Fiber Holiday Show."

A wreath from Nanniepannie

This year, the three day event will be held the weekend before Thanksgiving. We've moved the date up two weeks, hoping to make the holiday season a little more festive and less stressful for the show's participants. So, I'm knitting like a demon to complete some projects and taking care of lots of behind the scene details. With that in mind, I thought I'd share a sample of last year's show with you.

This is the sight that greeted visitors as they entered the front door. "Vendors" consists of seven of my "fiber artists/craftswomen" buddies and me. My house becomes a boutique for the weekend.

I move a small desk into the entrance, which serves as our counter. Every inch of space becomes display area for our work.

Mediums represented include basketry, felting, knitting, quilting, sewing and woodworking.

The majority of our merchandise is handmade, but we do have some fun jewelry, gift food items, and other goodies to tempt our customers!

We all knit, so we have a fantastic scarf selection. You can see a corner of the tree which displays our handmade ornaments.

Olivia and Sidney are the grand neices of my neighbor Anna. Their Christmas concert happened to be the same Saturday as our sale last year, so they came and delighted our customers with an impromptu violin concert.

This is the view from the entrance into the living room. I wish I had individual pictures to spotlight everyone's work, but alas, these pictures were taken "before" blogging...

The dining room table and window seat were both naturals for displaying work.

Although Nanniepannie doesn't consider herself a fiber artist, she wanted to be involved too. So, she put together some outstanding holiday wreaths.

The bedroom dresser with its array. Note the quilted wall haning and the small hand woven basket.

A corner of the bedroom was a great place for showing off some wearables.

Another quilted wall hanging.

Even the bathroom had its display of knitted bath mitts and soaps!

One final display to tempt visitors as they left!

So, you can see why I'm a bit preoccupied just now. I am four weeks away from this year's event, and my goal is that it be bigger and better than last year's. I'll keep you "posted."

Welcome to Buttermilk Cottage

Welcome to Buttermilk Cottage, which isn't really a cottage, but an almost 100 year old, craftsman style bungalow. But since I'm not living in a museum, I'm not letting the house's style dictate my decorating inspirations. I'm drawn to rooms that look as though they've evolved over years, rather that decorated in one bold sweep. My things have been accumulated over a life time. In the past few years I've done some serious downsizing with my principle being, "only keep the things that you truly love."

Buttermilk Cottage is also more than my decorating aesthetics for my home though. Years ago I owned a yarn shop with partners and started a wholesale tote bag business. We were having trouble finding a bag we liked to sell in the shop for knitters, so I started making some and selling them in the shop. Eventually they were picked up by yarn sales reps and I've been selling them to shops for several years under the name of Buttermilk Cottage. In the past year I've found I also need an outlet for some of my other handmade items, so my shop at Etsy was started. Besides sewing tote bags and knitting accessories, I also knit. You'll find many of my handmade items at http://buttermilkcottage.etsy.com/

With this journal I hope to keep some record of my musings of what makes my everyday life special to me. Maybe you'll come along for a visit now and then to Buttermilk Cottage. You won't find anything earth shattering here, just everyday thoughts about decorating, sewing and knitting, cooking and gardening. I do have to tell you I'm not really a gardener, but my sister Nancy shares Buttermilk Cottage with me and she's created a cottage garden to die for, which I'll be sharing here. So come on over, the front porch swing is empty, I've just made some chai iced tea and we'll spend a hour visiting...