Crafter Focus: Pillywiggins Garden

Hello crafty friends! 

Through the years, I have met a good number of awesome crafters, mostly from the craft shows I go to - both as a customer and a vendor.  I thought that this blog would also be great to feature them as well.

And for my first Crafter Focus, I'm presenting to you Pillywiggins Garden by Jason and Julie Sitzema of Central Lake, MI:

Love gourds?  It was love at first sight for me when I first saw Jason and Julie Sitzema's awesome and funky gourds at the annual Royal Craft Show in Castle Farms (Charlevoix, MI) in 2009. 

I totally remember that first encounter with their gourds, and I just wished I have all the money in the world to buy the ones that I liked.  Of course, I can only afford to buy one, so this was my first gourd from Pillywiggins Garden:

The following year, I got this one:

And on the same year in another craft show, I got my first snow man gourd.  It had a special spot in our Christmas tree that year.

During this year's Royal Craft Show, I went and visited Pillywiggins Garden again to check out their latest gourds.  Due to budget constraints, I wasn't able to add to my gourd collection but definitely there's a good bunch of them that I really liked.  I hope that they will still be available in the next craft show.  During the visit, my DSIL asked how they got the name "Pillywiggins Garden".  Because my eyes were busy looking at the gourds and taking photos, the only thing I grasped was the name came from a children's book.  I wouldn't have known.

So here are a couple pics of the gourd artists Jason and Julie and their booth at the Royal Craft Show:

 

The Royal Craft Show at Castle Farms (Charlevoix MI) is not over yet... there is still tomorrow, September 4th! So if you're from Northern Michigan, you might want to check them out.

I am looking forward to take one of Julie's gourding classes, and that's one thing I'm really excited about.
 

For the meantime, do visit the Pilliwiggins Garden's website at http://www.pillywigginsgarden.com/, and check out more of Jason and Julie's awesome gourds.  If you like the Pillywiggins Facebook Page, you'll get first hand updates about their craft shows and maybe get a chance to see their gourds in person.  Definitely a must see!

'Til next blog!