Sundays are for Maker's Market
Sundays are for slow starts. For exploring. Finding new things to do. My Sunday all that and more.
It started off at a cafe with a latte and knitting. Then continued to the local farm market for fresh produce, cheese, and a quiche (pumpkin and pesto. In the oven baking as we speak. YUM!). Then we headed to the Maker's Market held at the Barn on Hubbard. Kris and Shawn from The Farmhouse Project, along with The Family Tie Project, put together an event to showcase local and regional artists. This was it's second year. I wasn't able to attend last year but I had it on my radar this year. And I was not disappointed!
If you're not familiar with the Farmhouse Project, you totally need to check them out. Their aesthetic is divine and it showed in everything at the Maker's Market. When you first walk in there is someone there to greet you (and hand you one of those cute reusable bags for free if you're one of the first 100 people. Imagine my surprise! I had no idea that this was a thing!). There are a few vendors set up outside the barn as well as music and food vendors. There's also a cute little beverage truck. It was very close to noon when we got there so we started with an adult beverage. A beer for my friend and a wine for me. I knew there were a few vendors that I needed to see--I'll introduce you to them in a few. So we scoped the situation out--walk around the outside to see all the vendors and then head inside. Food as needed! One of the first vendors was the fellas from the Farmhouse Project. I've met them once before and long been a fan of theirs, so I wanted to reintroduce myself and see their goods. I have one of their "Catskills" pennants and started a pennant wall in the living room. One of the first vendors we ran across was selling...pennants! Yes! I didn't buy any but oh boy! You should have seen the collection. Full size pennants. Small pennants. Teeny tiny pennants! I should have gone back and looked around some more but, alas, I forgot. Our pennant wall includes pennants that are from places that are important to us so right now we only have the Catskills and Cornell. Cornell isn't important to use per se, but it's from somewhere we've been before.
Our next stop was to see the lovely Melanie. Melanie and I go way back. I've only met her one other time IRL (I was driving by and she was outside her house so I stopped. Weird? Probably, but hey! What are you going to do?). Melanie is such a lovely person. She is so supportive. In fact, when I was in her booth she was telling me how lovely she thought I was! Anyway, the picture above with the starfish is from her booth. She has style and great taste. She's renovating her house which used to be an old post office (and maybe general store?). It's always nice to see people that you've 'known' or followed along on their adventures!
We also saw Buckbrook Alpacas. They always, always bring some alpacas with them. Who can resist those faces!??! We also met some new makers. Some of my favorites include: The Barn Lab. Clint taught himself to make soap as a wedding favor for his wedding guests! I was totally blown away. Who decides to learn to make soap as party favors? Clint does! And not only that but he also weaves those beautiful dishtowels pictured above. Another favorite, and very, very nice artisan was Eighth Belle. Totally forgot to introduce myself by name but we spent some time chatting. She takes old sails and turns them into gorgeous bags! We also discussed shoes (Aurora Shoe Company and Birkenstocks to be exact. Which ones are better. How expensive they are but how they last. I've had my eye on Aurora shoes for quite some time now.). It was fun!
We also discovered a new-to-us jewelry designer. Again, forgot to introduce myself by name (I got so excited by all the really great products and everyone was SO nice that we just started talking about things and forgot to do introductions). Anyway, the jewelry designer is Sara Golden. I have my eye on a couple of pieces (this one and this one), but I highly recommend you check her out.
One of the main reasons I went to the Maker's Market (other than how fantastic it was in and of itself) was to meet some instafriends in real life. I have known Alyssa via instagram for a very long time, and even though we live near each other, we've never met. But Sunday was the day. It was sooo nice meeting her. She is just lovely. She is very enthusiastic. We chatted for a while about things, how we came to 'know' each other (see this post for how I discovered Alyssa). We talked pies and baking (she gave me some good tips on some of her recipes and on pies in general. Maybe we should have her do a guest blog post!). Anyway, it was nice. I left feeling good and with plans to see each other again. Go check out her website and all the fun things she's up to.
We ended our journey with Brush & Ink. I love cards and prints. I love artists who can come up with these great pictures and put them on paper in such a way. I was looking at the 8x10 prints and found the one above. I think you can see why I needed that one. But you should take a look at all the other lovely prints and cards she has.
Actually, our journey technically ended with lunch. I had veggie quinoa and then we moved on to cake. Because who doesn't love cake? I had the goat cheese, fig, and honey cake (YUM!) and my friend had the carrot cake. I had never heard of Cait's Cakes before and when I checked out her page I see she is a self taught baker! Fantastic! It was a good way to end our day. I will also tell you that I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I should have. And we missed a few vendors. I see their info on the Maker's Market website but I just don't recall seeing them. And that's a bummer. But at least I have the info so I can to their site and take a look. But gosh, you guys. It was such a nice day. It was so nice to be around other makers and see what they are doing. It was so nice seeing old friends, meeting new ones, and also meeting some people IRL. I feel motivated to get back at it and see where my little business takes me. Until then....go check out these makers!