Welcome to the Neighborhood!...The 43rd Street Festival



The 19th annual 43rd Street Festival of the Arts was Saturday.  It is the best thing that happens in Forest Hill...1/2 block from my house.  It is a fine arts and craft show featuring 65 to 70 or the regions finest artisans, music all day, and food and neighbors and friends...not to mention lots of fun stuff to buy.  The event benefits Freedom House, a local organization that helps the homeless in so many ways.  The Festival is..and has been...organized by Robin Cage, potter and gallery owner.

Our first stop is always the raffle booth.  The artists donate a piece for the raffle and the proceeds benefit Freedom House.  This year my 24 tickets ($20) won me a metal sculpture..interesting.  Second stop is the usually the t-shirt booth...BC likes to have the festival t-shirt every year.  And the last few years...the third stop is the Forest Hill Neighborhood Assn. booth...where I pay my annual dues..its how I remember to do it.

Charles Farrar, woodturner from Charlotte, was back this year.  He used to live in my parents' South Hill, VA neighborhood.  My dad was very fond of him.  Charles recently had a piece commissioned by the White House.

Neighbor, Steven Glass' booth was in front of his house.

A present for BC!  The artist is Eli Thompson.  BC has been stalking his booth every year.  He does photographs of ballparks...this is the first year he has had a Cleveland photo.



More fun stuff!!!

 



Sewing Project-Part III

Bunting!

This project was somewhat time consuming..but sort of fun nonetheless.  It involved downloading a font to make a pattern for the letters, cutting the letters from felt, making a cardboard circle pattern, cutting the cloth circles, and sewing the letters on.  You use aluminum foil to iron the fabric around the circle pattern and then sew felt on the back while sewing the ribbon between the fabric and the felt.  I will let it hang on this wall in the guest room/craft room until something better comes along.

Sewing Projects-Part II

I am moving very slowly on my projects in the Home Ec online class.

I finished the drawstring gift bag.  I like it.

And I finished the shopping bag.  I don't love it.  It is made from an old pillow case which is good but I still haven't gotten the tension right on my machine.  Maybe I will buy that new one sooner rather than later.  It has been determined that it is not worth getting this one repaired.

Favorite Things-Part I

The Bottle Tree

Several years ago BC ran over a yellow jacket hole while mowing the grass.  Needless to say, the yellow jackets were quite angry...and of course, they took it all out on BC...swarming, stinging, and stinging some more.  By the time he got inside he was stung on every uncovered part of his body.  No Benadryl in the house.  I offered to go to CVS...less than 1/2 mile away...but he insisted that he could handle it.  It wasn't long before I received a call from the pharmacist.  BC had passed out in CVS, an ambulance had been called, and they were taking him to the hospital as a precaution.  Long story short, we were out of the emergency room in record time (getting there by ambulance sure makes a difference), BC is allergic to bee stings, and we needed to kill the yellow jackets.  We poured gasoline down the yellow jacket hole, killed the tree, and made the best bottle tree ever.