Indie Craft Parade

Last weekend, the Indie Craft Parade showed up in my town.  This is it's third year.  It gets better every year, from what I hear, though this was my first year checking it out.

  

It was pretty awesome, I have to say.  Lots of vendors set up tables to sell their handmade wares.  There was a lot of variety, which was nice.  It was held in a neat setting.  Some downtown lofts that are part of the Peace Center.

 

And it was crowded.  We went on Sunday afternoon near the time everyone would be closing up shop and it was packed.  They must have had a great turnout over the weekend.

 

There were all sorts of artists. Potters, painters, knitters, felters, screen printers, jewelry makers, spinners, sewists, soap makers, chocolatiers... (is that the right word for a chocolate maker?)

 

I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I enjoyed seeing others who have a passion for making things and have turned it in to a business, whether full time or on the side.

 

I was quite taken with these funny little creatures by Finkelstein's Center.  I walked by several times before I finally stopped and decided to take one home.

 

I like to think of it as a reminder of my dream job.  What!?  I haven't told you about my dream job?  That's where I make softies and clothing inspired by kid's drawings.  And I get to quit my day job and do it full time because I make billions of dollars in the process.  A girl can dream.

 

Quite frankly, I just really liked this pig.  He's going to live on top of my bookshelf at school next to my lion.

 

Thanks for bringing all the awesomeness to town, Indie Craft Parade!

Artisphere

 

Artisphere was this past weekend in my little city.     

 

It takes place downtown in the West End.   There is a beautiful park there, right on the Reedy River. 

 

There are opportunities for all sorts of artsy experiences all weekend- performing arts, concerts, culinary arts and of course, artist's row.  More than a hundred artists come from all over the country to set up shop and peddle their wares.  J and I headed down on Saturday to check it all out.  The art was reeeaaallly good this year.

 

Thought you might enjoy this one.  Lisa Norris creates pattern collages inspired by vintage dresses and yes, that is actual pattern tissue in the collage. 

 

Found object sculpture by John Petrey.

 

Falls Park has a crazy suspension pedestrian bridge over the river.  You can feel it move if you stand still on it.

 

Reedy River.

I should have more pictures of the festival, but it was either put down my mojito and take photos or just enjoy the day and take it all in.  I chose the latter.

 

I did play with the camera at the end-of-the-night concert at the outdoor amphitheater.  Our camera takes awesome night photos.  No tripod with me so I laid it in my lap for these photos.

 

I love this photo of J.

 

And I saved the strangest photo for last.  I was trying to get a picture of the moon but my camera needed something to focus on to take the photo.  I stuck my hand in front of the lens just to get it to focus and then moved it as I took the picture.  How crazy is that?  That's our friend B in the middle.  It looks like a giant celestial hand is either going to scoop him up or judo chop him in the head.

Artisphere was mucho fun.  Just another reason I love my town.

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On another note,  I changed up the blog layout and colors so I can post bigger photos.  If you are wondering why it looks different.  Is is too gray and boring?  I was going for clean and simple.  One day I'll have a fancy header.

Greenville on Design*Sponge

How fun to see my hometown pop up in my reader! Greenville is a fabulous place. I feel so fortunate to live here. Check out Design*Sponge, a fun and inspiring blog. Click on the picture for the link to the city guide.

Open Studios

I enjoy reading when my fellow sewing bloggers write about where they live so I thought I'd post about my city. My husband and I went downtown today with camera in hand for the Open Studios event that the Metropolitan Arts Council organizes. Local artists all over Greenville open their doors to the public. It was fabulous! I saw some amazing studio spaces and a lot of very inspiring artwork. I had a great time taking pictures and it was nice to see a lot of people out taking advantage of these artists' hospitality. We saw so many incredible spaces that when I looked back through my pictures I realized I couldn't label all of them. I noted what I could remember. Thanks for looking!

Dabney Mahanes

in the Flat Iron Building

Knack

at ArtBomb

Joseph Bradley