Elizabethton Woman’s Club’s annual Arts and Crafts Show set for Nov. 10-11
Published 10:03 am Monday, November 6, 2017
Barbara Hart will have a variety of quilts available for purchase during the craft show.
Diana Chesser creates baskets and corn husk angels.
Shari Millson crafts these Peyote Stitch bracelets using tiny, colorful beads to make intricate patterns.
Gordon Millson specializes in woodcarving. He will have several different items available for purchase at the Arts and Crafts show next weekend.
Star Photos/Abby Morris-Frye Barbara Hart, Diana Chesser, Shari Millson, and Gordon Millson are among the crafters and artisans that will be taking part in the Elizabethton Woman's Club's annual Arts and Crafts Show.
Members of the Elizabethton Woman’s Club are inviting folks to get a jump start on their Christmas shopping next weekend during the group’s annual Arts and Crafts Show.
This year’s show will take place on Friday, Nov. 10, and Saturday, Nov. 11, from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day at the Elizabethton Parks and Recreation Center located at 300 W. Mill Street. The show is open to the public and free to attend.
Each year the Arts and Crafts Show features 50 vendors selling a variety of homemade goods. Many of the crafters and artisans are local, but some come from other areas to participate in the show.
“It’s all arts and crafts. It must be handmade by the vendor,” said Jo Voigt, who coordinates the event. “We accept no manufactured items or handmade items made by someone other than the vendor.”
This year the sale will feature a wide variety of items available for purchase.
Barbara Hart will be selling quilts during the show. Hart has been a seamstress all her life and enjoys making the quilts she sells.
“All of them I do are different,” she said. “I rarely do two that are alike.”
In addition to doing designs of her own choosing, Hart will do special orders for customers.
Local crafter Diana Chesser will have baskets, jewelry, and corn husk angels available at her booth.
“I just think it’s relaxing,” Chesser said of why she enjoys crafting.
Chesser said she has been making baskets for more than 30 years now. For her jewelry, Chesser likes to find old items, like watches, to recycle into something new and unique.
Having an eye for detail is an important part of Shari Millson’s work crafting beaded jewelry. She uses tiny, colorful beads to create intricate patterns in her Peyote Stitch bracelets as well as her other jewelry styles.
“I like putting the colors together,” Millson said. “I used to do painting and it’s like painting with beads.”
Millson has been making jewelry for around eight years and her favorite pieces are the Peyote Stitch bracelets where the beads form beautiful patterns or pictures.
Artisan Gordon Millson finds carving wood as a way to relax while expressing his creativity.
“I’ve been wood carving for about 12 years,” Gordon Millson said.
He crafts a variety of statues, figurines, carved pencils, and other items. In addition to his wood carving, Gordon Millson also crafts items out of gourds.
One of his favorite things to carve is something he calls a “Hummerjack.” The hanging ornament looks like a hummingbird when viewed from one angle, but with a shift in perspective, the statue looks like a donkey.
