Holy Cow! I mean, Sheep!

Last weekend I went to my first craft fair. I'm not sure how this particular fair has been in previous years, but this year, for us, it was pretty slow. Actually, it was very slow. The people were great, and it was very well-organized, but it was rainy and cold and maybe that discouraged people. It was a great learning experience for me to set up a table with my products (take a look at the photo below). I might even think about doing this again sometime.

By far the best part of the day was meeting the folks at the table next to us. Suzy Seames-Young is a primitive folk artist, and she and her husband had brought an extraordinary collection of her ornaments, dolls, and sculptures.

And did I mention the sheep?

I grew up on a little farm and have always been fond of lambs, so imagine how long I sat at my table looking at her adorable hand stitched lambs with their black wool faces and legs, and hand needle felted Coopsworth wool bodies? Yeah, this photo here is the little lamb I brought home with me. You can get your own at The Farmhouse Pantry.


I imagine if I did craft fairs I'd have to get better at not spending all of my money at other people's tables, but I've been talking about supporting other small business owners, haven't I? And I didn't want to seem like a hypocrite. If you think this was my only purchase at the craft fair, you are dead wrong. There were lots of great craftspeople there, with lots of interesting products, and I think I showed amazing restraint. Seriously.

Have any of you visited a craft fair in recent weeks? Or do you have a favorite local store you like to support? How do you help small businesses? Please let us know in the comments below!