With the 88th annual Kentucky Mountain Laurel Festival coming up, the KMLF Spotlight series highlights the different vendors and artists attending the event.

This week’s spotlight is on Southern Made by Nano. Owned and operated by Teresa Parton in Middlesboro, the “Nano” part of Southern Made by Nano is a nickname given to her grandson, Andrew.

Parton creates hand-painted door hangers, crocheted and knitted items, paracord items, quilted Christmas ornaments and she also offers door hanger painting classes.

“My hobby has been crafting since I was a little girl. I learned to crochet and knit when I was in elementary school. I’ve set up at many craft shows along with my sister, Sherrie, for years. Sherrie presented the idea to me about starting a painting class business. People had to travel to Lexington, Richmond or Knoxville to be able to go to a door hanger painting class. I researched the business and found that some classes were in customers’ homes. I’ve hosted a few classes myself and have had several in customers’ homes. I have a couple of fundraisers coming up this summer also. Also, my dad was a woodworker for most of his life and now working with wood makes me feel that I’m carrying on his craft,” said Parton.

When it comes to what emotions Parton feels when working on her craft, she stated, “I want my customers to enjoy something I have made by hand or have helped them paint and create themselves. When they attend my classes and they take home a pretty door hanger that they have painted themselves, it gives them so much satisfaction that they’ve made something so pretty.”

Parton personally cuts the door hanger designs with a jigsaw and sands them down to where they are ready to be painted.

She also feels that local handcrafted goods attract people because they represent the area they come from, and that adds a special quality to the item.

While not the first time Southern Made by Nano will be attending the KMLF, this is the first time they will be there in years.

“I love the atmosphere in Pineville at the KMLF. It’s our opportunity to share our beautiful town and county with the rest of our state,” she said.