I want to go to Hawaii, and I’d like you to join me.

Dear Skaneateles:

I want to go to Hawaii, and I’d like you to join me.

I’ve been participating in an online contest called THE CUTEST DOG COMPETITION, and I’m writing to ask for your help.

The competition is a series of 12 consecutive internet elections. The 12 winners compete in a semi final round, and the grand prize winner will be awarded $1,000,000.

The pups I’ve been voting for daily, “Huckleberry and Doodle” are from Central New York, and for the past 3 elections, they have placed in the top 30 for 3 consecutive weeks, last week #7, out of over 50,000 other canine contestants.

The owner of the dogs, George Rossi, has publicly declared that if we win this thing, he will sell the annuity and spend every last dime on throwing a victory party for the top voters and recruiters of their candidacy…on the Island of Hawaii.

Ridiculous you say? Nuts? Crazy? Impossible? Those who know George personally also know that he’s am wholly capable of blowing a million dollars on his friends and walking away with nothing but a memory. It’s never been about the money for him…but to blow a million bucks in a legendary Elvis- like, one fell swoop of generosity?

He’s all about going down in a ball of flaming infamy; In fact, it’s what he’s known best for!

I know this sounds silly. It is! But we’ve all been having so much fun joining in on this internet highwire-without-a-net act, I wanted to personally invite you to the party.

Please visit www.huckanddoo.com. This site will walk you through the voting process, with tips on how to get proactive, links to photos and blogs, and a guest book to share this experience together, as a community. Trust me, it’s a real hoot once you get into the swing of things.

Best, Huck and Doo

Chris was born and raised on a farm, and is a former teacher with a Master’s degree in Education. Shown here with Koby, an animal star of the On The Farm video series, Chris has a great love for all animals. 
Chris has spoken and presented workshops internationally, and may be available for your upcoming event.

Together with their three children and employees, Chris and Rick operate a 1,200 acre dairy farm. Crops include; corn, wheat, oats, alfalfa, and soy beans. 350 Holstein cows are milked twice daily.
       
The Fesko farm is located 11 miles down the East side of Skaneateles Lake, just South of the Hamlet of Borodino. Nearby, Chris has a Discovery Center, which is an educational facility located in a restored barn.

Open house events are scheduled at the Discovery Center throughout the summer months for individuals to visit. Field trips and group visits may be arranged by appointment. For directions to the Discovery Center, please select this link.

If you would like to be added to the mailing list for upcoming news, please write Chris at:

 Chris Fesko Enterprises
 1181 Woodworth Road
 Skaneateles, NY 13152

Text and photo from: http://www.fesko.com/chris.html

Patchwork Plus Quilt & Yarn Shop in Marcellus is a featured shop in the Spring 2009 issue of Quilt Sampler, which goes on sale May 12, 2009. The magazine, published by Better Homes and Gardens, profiles 10 shops across the United States and Canada in each of its semi-annual issues.

“We were incredibly thrilled to learn of our selection,” says Judi West, co-owner, with her husband, Tom, of Patchwork Plus. A crew from the magazine visited the shop for two days in mid-October—taking photos, conducting interviews, and experiencing the shop’s ambiance.

To be considered for the honor, quilt shops submit an application with details on their history, business promotions, charitable work, teaching schedules and design philosophies. The selection is made by a panel of quilt experts led by Jennifer Keltner, group editor of American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.

“Quilt makers from all over the world eagerly await these issues,” says Keltner. “Once the magazine is in their hands, quilters turn every page to see the newest fabrics and patterns from each shop.”

The multi-page profiles include photos of each featured shop and its staff; details on what makes it unique; photos of, and a full-sized pattern for, an original quilt designed for the magazine; and a listing of area hot spots.

The quilt submitted by Patchwork Plus, “Lady of the Lake Baskets,” was designed by Skaneateles Falls resident Judy Sheridan and Skaneateles resident Patty Elkovitch. A fabric kit will be sold on the Patchwork Plus website, http://www.patchworkplusquiltshop.com, this spring.

Inclusion in the magazine proves a boon for business: According to Better Homes and Gardens, chosen shops are inundated with visitors and with requests for the shop’s quilt patterns and fabrics. Quilters are known to try to visit all 10 shops in each issue, getting the signature of each shop owner in their copy of the magazine.

Patchwork Plus, established in 1987, is the result of two friends’ genuine love for quilting and the dream to bring a better selection of affordable fabrics to their quilting friends. “Our wonderful customers, who come from all over the world, have made us into the store we are today,” says Judi West. “I can’t thank them enough.”

The shop’s 5,000-square-foot facility, on Cherry Valley Turnpike (Route 20), has more than 7,500 bolts of fabric, two large classrooms and a fireplace, and is bathed in natural light. Patchwork Plus also is a Gold Standard dealer of Bernina sewing machines and offers instructional classes year-round.

A magazine signing party is planned for the spring.

Snake Oil Glassworks, Inc. is a privately owned hot glass studio that produces handcrafted art glass, using traditional off-hand glassblowing techniques. Our store and gallery, with its observation window, is open to the public Thursday through Sunday every week.
We offer a wide selection of vases, bowls, paperweights, and other pieces both decorative and functional. We may also be engaged for commission work by architects and designers for a variety of custom projects. Browse through our gallery here for a sampling of the pieces we make.
Our studio is located two miles north of the village of Skaneateles in the scenic Finger Lakes region of New York State. We invite you to visit if you are in the area.
Open Thursday and Friday 12pm-6pm  Saturday 10am-5pm  Sunday 11am-4pm
SNAKE-OIL GLASSWORKS
4251 Jordan Road
Skaneateles, NY 13152

Studio: (315) 685-5091

Snake Oil Glassworks began 10 years ago in the Fall of 1998 when we lit our furnace for the first time in a 350 sq ft space in the basement of a garage in Skaneateles, NY. Back then all of our work was sold either on the road at Art Festivals or through galleries. We would occasionally hold an open house in the garage above.

Today we are enjoying our fourth year in our new studio which was erected in 2004. It houses our Hot Shop, Coldworking Shop, Offices, and has a Retail Store and Gallery where you may see and purchase our glasswork.

Snake Oil Glassworks is the creation of Phil Austin and his wife, Peg. Phil is a Glass Artist and Assistant Professor of Art. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree from the Glass Program at the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology. He describes himself as the head glassblower, equipment builder, maintenance supervisor, and janitor. All the furnaces, ovens, and most of the other pieces of equipment were designed and built by Phil.

Peg is in charge of public relations, managing the store, and show schedule. She’s our financial department and head task master, being one of the few on earth that Phil’s afraid of.

In addition to producing the work that we sell in our store and gallery, we also work on commissions from architects and designers. Phil has also occasionally built equipment for other glass shops.

Besides making and selling glass Snake Oil Glassworks supports local art initiatives such as the Skaneateles Arts Council. We also give demonstrations to educational groups. We are a member of the First Friday events that have just begun in Skaneateles. For this event we will be giving public demonstrations in the evening every First Friday of the month from 6-9 pm. See the news and events page for more information.

Holly Knott is a Finger Lakes, NY artist who could never call just one medium her own. In 2004, she “retired at a young age” from a 17-year career as an interactive systems designer and usability testing specialist in Princeton, NJ, and moved from beautiful Bucks County, PA, to equally beautiful upstate NY so that she could devote 100% of her time to her fine art. She spends her free time working in a wide variety of media, including contemporary art quilts, photography, watercolors, hand-painted furniture, and web/graphic design. She is also co-author of the book “Quilted Garden Delights,” to be released by C&T Publishing in February, 2008. See her “Our book” page for more information.

Inspiration for her work comes from her surroundings, including her love of local colonial and Victorian architecture, cityscapes, rural landscapes, historical sites, cottage gardens, nature, and the enchantment of nearby riverside and lakeside towns.

Holly’s photographs and art quilts have won awards, and her art quilts are exhibited in juried art shows, quilt shows and galleries nationwide. Her work has appeared in several publications, including on the cover of Quilting Arts magazine (June 2005), in Life in the Finger Lakes magazine (Summer 2005), in the new C&T book, “Innovative Fabric Imagery for Quilts,” the International Quilt Festival’s 2004 Chicago show brochure, and on the cover of 2004 St. John’s University alumni brochure, Conversatio (see images and links below for more information on all of these). She also wrote an article for Quilting Arts magazine, and her art quilts have been included in several slide presentations given by other fiber artists in the U.S. The Alliance for American Quilts included Holly in their “Quilters’ – Save Our Stories” interviews. You can read her interview here.

She holds an A.A.S. in Advertising Design from Mercer County Community College, NJ, where she received scholarships and awards for artistic excellence. She is a member of IQA, Studio Art Quilt Associates, and the Art Quilters Alliance of New York.

Contact Holly at hollyknott@hollyknott.com.
http://www.hollyknott.com/index.htm