And the circuit begins...

Yesterday was the first in a string of craft shows and festivals almost every weekend that will last into December. Quilts and quillows don't sell too well in the South in summertime, so Fall and Winter are my biggest times to unload my product. It also helps that the holidays are approaching and my items make great gifts. Thus, the string of craft shows and festivals.
Yesterday was a pretty good day at the Winnsboro festival. Typically we don't sell as much at festivals because people come to have fun, relax, get freebies from all the organizations, and they end up spending all their money on the food - funnel cakes, polish dogs, butterfly chips, etc....

Craft shows are better in the sense that people come ready to shop and are looking for gifts and such.

But, I enjoy a "day off" from sewing and housework and enjoy watching and meeting people and time "alone" with my husband. It was a hot day and I have a lovely farmer's tan to prove it.

Yesterday, my hubby debuted one of his latest creations - a water bomb launcher!

Dollar General has been clearancing all their summer toys and things so we've struck it rich, finding packs of water balloon for 90% off! He's put quite an effort into the design and materials for this, so it was good to see that he sold a few. He's had great success with his marshmallow shooters, even going so far as to design his own holster for them. He designed it and I make them out of felt. I was really skeptical about them selling, but he has done well with them. He even wears his own custom holster at all the shows (his is made out of leather!) We like to think that the sale of the shooters basically pays for the booth. Yesterday he only had to sell 10 shooters to cover the cost of the booth and he sold about 12 or 13. Some shows he'll sell as many as 90!!!
It's a lot of fun to sit in the booth and watch him shoot marshmallows at the folks passing by and watching them react, wondering where that marshmallow came from! And then, when they come to the booth, intrigued by what it is, and the smiles and laughter when they see it in action is just so much fun ~ it never gets old! (he's definitely my 51-year-old child!)

He has also broadened his crafts to include folding wooden chairs.
He started with chairs for children, offering a small and large size, but so many adults saw them at the shows and asked if he made them for bigger people. This prompted him to add a third chair to his line - an adult folding wooden chair that actually rocks without the rockers.

He makes the chairs and I make the slings, and naturally, the team slings are about the only ones people choose. He only had one large chair at the show yesterday and sold it in the first hour. Right now, he has a custom order for 8 by Christmas and I'm sure he'll get plenty more before too long. Needless to say, he'll be as busy as me with craft items in addition to trying to build houses during the work week!

My mom is coming to visit today and staying for a couple days. I'm going to give her free reign in the kitchen, hoping she'll do all the cooking! The food will probably be ultra-healthy and totally salt-free, but I don't care because I have so much sewing to do and would love to be free of kitchen duty! I also plan on putting her to work making some little things for the craft shows ~ burden bear quilts, toddler hats or something like that.

I vacuumed my sewing room on Friday and it's so nice and clean, beckoning me to come and work on a few things OR I might just indulge in a Sunday afternoon nap ~ haven't decided yet....whatever you're doing, be sure to have a great rest of the weekend!