Bloomin' Earth Festival!

After a few relatively sleepless nights getting ready for the festival on Saturday, we were up and out the door by 6 a.m.  I think at around 3 a.m., I had a one-sided discussion with myself to see if there was any point in actually going to bed or if I should finish one more patchwork picnic blanket.  Sleep won. I crashed on the couch with the girls so I wouldn't wake up the husband. I'm sort of like an elephant trying to tip toe up the stairs. Plus I'll invariably whack my head, trip or knock something over.  Surprisingly, I did manage to sleep a bit before the alarm went off at 5am.

Good lord. 5 am.

I'm rarely up that early. So rare, that it felt like I was camping.

I went to shower, while Risto packed the car, fed the girls and took them for a quick walk. I could not have done this without that man.

We had an easy drive to Kitchener. One thing about my history with Kitchener -- I've only been there a handful of times and I've ALWAYS gotten lost. The first time, a friend and I were trying to find a club on King Street and spent 20 minutes driving around without realizing that we were ON King Street. Another time, that same friend was getting married in Kitchener City Hall - same place we were headed for the festival - Risto and I got lost (albeit due to construction detours) and barely made it in time for her civil ceremony. I think the last time we were in Kitchener, we ended up driving in circles and we couldn't LEAVE.

Let's just say -- I expected to get lost again.

And while we did have to double back -  we found ourselves heading out of Kitchener and into Waterloo - but Risto managed to find City Hall without too much trouble.

This is the set up for my table. Rather jumbled and crowded - but I really like having people poke around and discover treasures. Like a busy antique shop or something.

 Photo Courtesy of Jane Chung

 I was lucky enough to share the tent with another great vendor: Crystal Barnett who runs an amazing shop called Lovely Like You :: here ::

Jane (my amazing helper for the day) purchased one of her necklaces. It looked super sweet on her.

Next to my tent, I ran a craft table all day. I taught people how to make friendship bracelets with embroidery floss, how to finger knit and how to make a kumihimo cord. It was a ton of fun and I got to meet some really nice families.

One of the little girls was so excited about her first bracelet, she said she wanted to make one for "EVERYBODY!". And she gifted me her first one. I tried to talk her into keeping it for herself, but she insisted and I couldn't say no.

 A couple of product photos. These are the wool dryer balls. People seemed to like hefting and squeezing them.

These were newly made for the festival. They're 1" circle magnets made from an old stash of japanese chiyogami paper I unearthed. The magnets are ceramic magnets and a much better product from what was available five years ago. I'm very pleased with the strength of these magnets.

I also finished three patchwork picnic blankets. I really love the colour combinations. This is my favourite because of the squirrel print. With a denim backing, they're fairly heavy and I think they'd be perfect for a park or the beach!

So not only was it a beautiful day, but the vendors were amazing. Megan Goos, who organized the festival, was wonderful to work with. Her assistants and helpers were also really great.  

I loved being outside and meeting new people - as well as seeing some familiar faces! We also got to bring our girls who loved being in the middle of the action. Here they are taking a nap in the sun.

There was a bunch of extra swag left over. Every purchase for the next little while will get some of that awesome swag I posted about earlier.

Thank you to everybody who came by the table to say hi and check things out. I really appreciate everybody's comments and talking to each of you.

Happy Earth Day!