Nature and a Blue Ribbon

Hi everyone! Let me start out by saying we won the Blue Ribbon! The Whale and Mermaid came in first place at the Whirligig Festival! We are thrilled! Here we are in front of the Courthouse steps looking just as proud as can be, Galen and me (actually we look like we're doing an ad for Starbucks coffee) Ha!

It was a great time and a great festival. Fun with friends and family!

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So today after all the craziness of the last few days, I was able to relax for a bit in the back yard and enjoy the warm sunny weather. How do you like my new blue garden clogs (Sloggers) that I bought at the festival for only $5.00!

Nothing like nature to rest your soul.

I still have a few flowers blooming in the garden and happily enjoyed their pretty colors while sipping coffee on the lounger with Otis and Riley by my side.

Happiness flutters in the air whilst we rest among the breaths of nature.

~Kelly Scheaffer

November

It's November already! Hard to believe how fast time is moving by. The first weekend in November is always set aside for the Whirligig Festival in our town. Saturday and Sunday we will once again enjoy another fair. Galen has entered one of his whirligigs in the whirligig contest and we are hoping we will take first place. We'll see...wish us luck!

Here is the whirligig he entered ~ a short short short video.

Whale & Mermaid

Whirligig Festival

The annual fall Whirligig Festival was held in our town this past weekend. We had a beautiful day for it ~ temps in the mid 70's. Galen and I didn't have a booth this year (we just weren't quite ready for it), but we do plan on participating next year. The turn out was great!

The man in the photo below on the left is Vollis Simpson. He is the folk artist and the reason the festival got it's name. He makes whirligigs out of scrap metal, large and small. There are quite a few of his whirligigs around town.

Below was a whirligig contest where people made their own whirligigs out of anything metal.

There was art on the street.

Lots of crafts, tons of food and great entertainment.

This is the Art's Council where activities were held for the kids, and art could be viewed in the gallery.

Nearby is Hickory Grove Park. There are a few whirligigs here too!

We had a great day.

And I wanted to show you a painting I did of one of Vollis Simpson's whiligigs that stands at the library.

All the whirligigs are so colorful. That makes them so much more fun to paint!

Whirligig Festival, Wilson, NC

Well, the frenzy is over and we had a good weekend at the Whirligig Festival! My daughter and her husband brought the tent and table and we got everything set up early Saturday morning. It was a beautiful weekend, windy, but that was ok because it made all the whirligigs spin! There was a good turnout and the day was filled with music, good food, shopping and visiting. We had some of that great festival food; funnel cakes, cotton candy and those big turkey legs!

We made out very well at our booth, and the things that did not sell will probably go on ebay or my etsy shop. What a great experience and I think we'll do it again next year!

Painting

I've been painting, painting, and painting more whimsical folkart woodcrafts for the whirligig festival in November. Hubby and I are going to give it a whirl this year and have our own stand - we've never done this before, and I'm a bit nervous. Hopefully we will sell something! I just finished our banner this morning and have another bird house and a marble chaser to paint.

If we fail to sell (which I'm thinking we're either going to sell everything or nothing), there is always ebay or I might consider opening an etsy shop.

So we have a month to go and lots to do!

You can see what we've been doing ~ just visit our other site.

Flock of birds

Say hello to the flock of birds! They are waiting for the Wilson Whirligig Festival in November where they hope to find a new home and add a splash of color to any back yard or window.

These little bird houses are hand crafted and handpainted.

This is what hubby and I have been doing on our weekends!

Another bird

I finished painting another birdhouse. A blue one this time.

If you'd like to see how they are made, check out my husband's "manspace". He's been making a lot of them lately. We plan to sell them at the whirligig festival in November.

Pinwheels

Do you remember when you were young and you'd get a pinwheel and you couldn't wait to hang out the back of the car window and it would spin like crazy in the wind.

Galen is making these in his wood shop for the whirligig festival in Wilson.  They are made out of used soda cans. He cleans and nips and cuts and saws and puts them together with a stick pin. These are more a souvenir than a toy, they have the festival, date and town written on them. He puts them all together and I paint them. Ready to go, and a good way to recycle!

a Saturday in Wilson

With errands to run and things to do my husband and I started off Saturday morning at the hardware store downtown to get a few things, then decided to take some pictures of the whirligigs that are placed all over Wilson. The first whirligig was at the Wilson County Public Library, the second at the employment office, third was downtown on Nash Street where there are two of them, fourth was at the Wilson Chamber of Commerce building, and the last at the Rose Garden. While downtown we picked up a box lunch at The Sugar Plum Shoppe and headed for the rose garden to have lunch. The roses were beautiful and oh so fragrant. After we left the rose garden we headed for Starbucks. Had to have our coffee. We sat outside and enjoyed the afternoon.

Later, we took a drive out to the Wilson County Fairgrounds to see the bikers, Easy Riders. They were in town for the weekend. Every year they come to Wilson.








Home in the afternoon, Galen worked in his Man Space and I caught up on some work that needed to be done and then relaxed on the back porch.

In the evening we went to the Wilson Tobs baseball game at the Fleming Stadium. The Tobs are college players and our mascot is a tobacco worm. Wilson, as you know is known for it's tobacco. We lost the game, but we had a great time. 10:00pm Headed for home.

My cottage garden

I've been working really hard at having a cottage garden and I think it's coming along pretty well, despite the fact that Otis and Riley keep digging things up. Not only did I plant a vegetable garden this year, but I also put in lots of new flowers. It's just delightful to walk out on the screened in porch to the patio and then to the garden. There are butterflies and songbirds everywhere.

I'm painting signs now for the garden, as you can see on the photo. I will be selling these at the Whirligig Festival this Fall in Wilson. Galen cuts out the wood signs for me and I paint them and put on the wire, beads and ribbon. Another fun painting project I'll be working on from now till Nov.