Fall/Holiday Calendar

It's that time of year again!

There are gallery open houses, art crawls, and shows happening all over. I will have some of my Swirling Tree work at two events this fall.

I opted to limit my shows to just two so I can keep my etsy shop well stocked. I'm feeling good with my inventory levels and trying to finish up a few loose ends for my first show this coming weekend in Dassel, MN with Levandowski Pottery. Stop by if you can! It will be a good show, they are unveiling their new gallery and five guest artists (including moi) will be peddling their wares.

Next on the agenda is Peggy's at the Roseville Skating Center November 6-14. This is a fantastic show with loads of artwork. Come and fill a basket with wonderful creative goodness. I did a lot of my holiday shopping here last year...and some shopping for myself as well. It's a unique experience where all of the artwork is set up as one gallery, so you can pay once and not have to hop from booth to booth. The artisans volunteer throughout the week to help with bagging, greeting, arranging, etc. It's a fun time with live music and lots of food goodies as well.

It seems early, but with a little cold snap I think people will be able to think about Christmas shopping, really, there are only 69 days left to shop. Heck, FGH already has his Christmas outfit. Hanna has a sale going on so it was hard to resist. Thanks Gma Barb!

There are quite a few things I have not put into my shop that I will bring to the shows. I have yet to finish and photograph my latest creations, but one nice specimen is pictured at the top of this post. I have a whole line of what I'm calling "Artful Journals." This one has some unique beads made of coral, an interesting raised surface on the front cover, Nepalese Lokta papers, and coral-colored end sheets. I have high hopes, as usual, of getting all my books and cards made for this Holiday season, but it all comes down to what kind of work time I can fit into each busy day. Speaking of, I best get cutting and tearing and folding paper into rectangles.

Oktoberfest

Happy October! The Equinox passed us quickly and here we are already celebrating October. Time is passing much too quickly. I feel like every time I blink another week has been crossed off the calendar. We headed down to our future home town of New Ulm for Oktoberfest on Saturday. It was a cool but sunny day and we took in nearly every sight including a hike to the top of Hermann (the German) which was very scary - especially with FGH refusing to come back down - all three of us had a shaky few moments getting down the top of the winding staircase. I had to talk Fredrik into squeezing Peter's beard and closing his little eyes while Peter held him tightly to his chest. It was ridiculous. Still, it was a good view when we were at the top.

We took the horse-drawn trolley ride, listened to music, had some beers and brats, did some shopping, visited the Wanda Gag house (super fantastic), headed out to Flandrau where Fredrik eagerly looked for the "beach" (sand-bottom pool) and was not disappointed that the water was gone since piles and piles of sand was an awesome find. It was a good time and we all feel pretty drained today.