Cutesy July round-up and other updates

As we wind down our six-show-in-a-row whirlwind tour with one show in Collingswood, NJ left to go and gear up for some much needed rest before the hectic fall and holiday season, here are a few snippets from our time on the road.

First, as mentioned in a previous post, we were at the Manayunk Fine Arts and Crafts Festival in late June. Here are some delayed pictures...

The booth


The EMS on segways


Area Chef's getting some air


One very cool customer


And the Fiber Arts Award


From Manayunk we moved on to Haddonfield, NJ where we met many wonderful people. Unfortunately, we have no photos of this show... but you just have to trust that it treated us kindly :)

The next week we made our way to Baltimore for ARTSCAPE with Wind-up Bird Studios. Three 10 hour days in a row with hundreds of thousands of people. This had to be the most exhausting show we've done but fantastic nonetheless. And we were in good company, I saw a lot of familiar fellow crafter's faces as well as met some new ones! We had the honor of sharing our tent with Chelsea of Lola Miren. She has some of the most adorable baby products I have seen! We also met some great people who attended the Mortal Plush show in DC where we have "The American Dream". What a great weekend!

Soon after getting in from Baltimore and after only a couple days of hectic stitching to restock, we headed on the road with mom to Asheville, NC for Bele Chere. Mom had never been to North Carolina, let alone West Virginia and Tennessee, both of which we had to travel through... so it would be a true adventure for all! Asheville truly is an amazing place and this festival was a great event. We had so much fun meeting people from Asheville and the surrounding areas and meeting new vendors. It was nice to be so far away from home because it meant meeting that many new people! We had a booth across from Raimbow Tree who relocated to Asheville from Alaska a few months ago. Her work is amazing and I ended up buying a skirt from her and she purchased my favorite monster, a fair trade in the end if I do say so myself! :) We also met Yvonne Miller of Atlanta who we ended up trading with for some awesome wall art, as well. Overall, the Asheville show ranks above all the rest... it had the best music, the best food, and the most amazingly appreciative and supportive vendors and customers. I think mom never wanted to leave!

We don't pump our own gas in New Jersey


Some new top-secret products?


Street performer


Day 2 exhaustion and Barley's Pizza


Another happy customer!


And that brings us to this past weekend at the Stone Harbor Arts and Crafts Festival. Despite having to wake up at 3:45am each day to drive down to the show, the drive into the sun-rise sure was a beautiful one. We had never been so close to the beach before and what an adventure for the monsters! We ran into the wonderful couple behind Clay Monster whom we first met in Manayunk. They're work is too awesome, great minds think monsters! Unfortunately, there was a huge storm on Sunday and being solo this weekend, I decided to pack up the fellas early just before the downpour and lighting showed up. The tent wasn't as lucky, as it had to be the last to go into the car. I ended up having to hold it down from the wind gusts while trying to take it down at the same time. I'm sure it wasn't a pretty site at the time, but looking back at it... it might be mildly comical. With the sopping tent finally in my car, I ran in bare feet (the shoes were too soaked to wear) to gather the rest of the goods... and the monsters and I were safely on our way home.

Everyone hiding in their tents


Stopped traffic on the drive home


And as if that's not enough to take in... we're super excited to announce that we'll be participating in this year's Crafty Bastards in October and the Luv-able and Hug-able show at Gallery Hanahou in NYC in December!

Finally, our submissions are on their way for the Plush You show at Schmancy Gallery in Seattle in October. Here are our submissions...

The Keepers of the Mountains


Summer Mountain Keeper


Winter Mountain Keeper


Spring Mountain Keeper

A little bit of history goes a long way...

This past weekend, I had the honor of participating in the Manayunk Arts Festival which has been considered the largest arts festival in the Delaware Valley. The days were long and the streets were packed, it was undoubtedly an exhausting weekend but my mom (my wonderful helper) and I came away with a few wonderful memories that we are sure to laugh and reminisce about in the months to come. Not only was I honored to participate but I was presented with an Honorable Mention Award for the Fiber Arts Category and got to display a ribbon on my booth! This is the first time I've received an award at any of these craft shows! I'm not the best at receiving awards and the picture they snapped of me probably looked more shocked and confused than anything else but it certainly was a good feeling. (More pictures to come of this later...)

Traveling to my many shows throughout the seasons I have met a lot of people and boy do they sometimes say the darnedest things. My mom and I have even discussed having a notebook where we can write down all of the things that people have said and done that made us laugh or smile throughout the days....

With that being said, despite having won an award and meeting many wonderful people, the highlight of the weekend can be summed up by one particular family. It was early Sunday morning, post award, pre-100,000th person to pass by the booth (just a guess, there were LOTS) when this family stepped into my booth. There was a mother, father, grandmother, and three daughters, one in a stroller. The whole family walked into the booth somewhat in awe, dad and the two older girls the most excited. I said hello and smiled at their excitement when the dad looked up at me and said, "Did you sew all of these BY HAND?" This is a question I've become rather accustomed to, so I said, "Yes, everything is hand-stitched and one-of-a-kind". He then proceeded to tell his daughters that I was the artist and I made every single one of them and then he turned to me and said, "You know, if YOU were around in 1776 you could have been Betsy Ross!" Slightly caught off guard at this comment I said, "Yes, yes I could have." Again, he proceeded to tell his daughters that I was the artist and I could have been Betsy Ross! Then one of the girls came over to me and looked up at me behind her big sunglasses and said, "You LOOK like Betsy Ross!!!" Not knowing what Betsy Ross really looked like, I asked her, of course.... "She had broooown eeeyes and brooowwn hair..." And it was at that moment that Dad realized my actual name. Diane Koss. "Even your name is close!!! I bet you're related!!!" And there it was, I unknowingly and unintentionally changed history in those young minds. They MET the relative of Betsy Ross on their visit to the City of Brotherly Love. As they left my booth with huge grins on their faces, I thought to myself, this is why I do this. No, I don't do it to change history in young minds (although I'll pat myself on the back for that one) but I do it because in that moment I gave that entire family a memory that they can share. So those girls might grow up to think that Betsy Ross made monsters and that Diane Koss hand-stitched the American flag, but what does all of that really matter in the end. I'd take ten minutes of pure excitement, inquisitiveness, and happiness over a minor inaccurate history fact any day!

Now onto that inaccurate history fact... I didn't put much thought into whether or not I actually looked like Betsy Ross until now... but they may have been on to something here...