When my friend Jeannie invited me to Fiber Rain, Appleton’s yarn art themed downtown extravaganza, I knew I had to go.
Jeannie and I don’t knit at all, but ever since Mrs. Rossmeissel assigned her to me in second grade, we have shared an avid interest in spinning a yarn.
We also share a love for our home town, and we celebrated both Friday night as we wandered through each lovely store.
Jeannie cracks me up. Someday, I expect her to headline the Improv. So, I definitely chuckled through the evening walk, but I also took care of some important business.
At the Blue Moon Emporium, I watched owner Cathy Stratton hand print a T-shirt I requested for my son, Charlie. I gave it to him later that night when we met up at the Fox River House for a fun little night cap.
In between those two stops, we managed to chat with an excited new painter, admire a young photographer’s work, watch an artist spin a pot, check on the progress of a stained glass window restoration, and nosh on a free ice cream bar.
We’re both looking forward to the next installation of Appleton’s Celebrate Downtown series on July 17. It’s called Chalk on the Town and I, for one, intend to do some hopskotching.
See you there.
I’d have bought one of these beautiful pieces, but I currently have nowhere to hang it.We thought this street mural captured the spirit of the event best.Made in Appleton, man. Doesn’t get any better than that.Speaking of which, I had actual business to conduct. Here is Kathy making the T-shirt I picked out for Charlie.She placed the screen print on the shirt while I helpfully sipped a glass of wine offered and accepted in honor of the event.A little bit of magic and Voila!I like it here.He loved the shirt.These girls had information about ARTiculture CSA, a cool community supported art program that works like Community Supported Agriculture. You buy a share and end up with six pieces of original art. You can see the website on the picture, but I’ll help — articulturecsa.orgThis featured artist at the Vintage Garden adds her own touch to old paintings. She was very excited to be a part of the evening and we loved her work. Sadly, I lost her business card.I’m not sure who made this little note with the available crafts, but I thought it was sweet.We checked on the progress of this stained glass restoration. The window is from the Lawrence Chapel.This is Christina and that cool picture she took is a self portrait. Look closely, in it she’s hanging off a train.What follows is a series of mirror shots because I could not help myself. Do you see my friend Jeannie?Smile!And, the super unflattering security mirror shot.The yarn art displays are still up all over downtown. Grab yourself a vintage friend and head on down.
