Some people look at an empty wine bottle and see something ready for the recycling bin.
Mary Nelson sees a blank canvas.
A cardinal.
A vineyard.
A light.
A wind chime.
Maybe even the perfect finishing touch for a table.
At
My Favorite Things, Mary Nelson at The Windmill Farm & Craft Market, empty wine bottles aren't simply discarded. They are reclaimed, reimagined, hand-painted, cut, sanded, baked, and transformed into something entirely new.
And here in the heart of Finger Lakes wine country, where an empty wine bottle is certainly not hard to find, it seems especially fitting.
But Mary's story is about much more than bottles.
It's about creativity.
It's about local roots.
It's about a husband-and-wife team named Mary and Carl.
And it's about the simple satisfaction of taking an idea that exists only in your imagination and bringing it to life on glass.
From Wood to Glass
Mary Nelson has been drawing for as long as she can remember.
Creating has simply always been part of who she is.
Before wine bottles became her canvas, she worked with wood, painting and creating her designs on a more traditional surface. Before Mary and Carl began at The Windmill in 2020, something about being right here in the Finger Lakes sparked a new idea.
She looked around at a region filled with wineries, vineyards, tasting rooms—and, naturally, plenty of wine bottles—and realized those bottles could become her next artistic palette.
Or perhaps, more accurately, her next canvas.
And just like that, Mary made the leap from wood to glass.
"I decided wine bottles would make a great palette and began repurposing the wine bottles," Mary explains.
It was an idea perfectly suited to this area. Instead of seeing an empty bottle as something to be thrown away, Mary saw possibilities.
And once Mary has an idea in her head, there's something especially rewarding about watching it become real.
"There is something satisfying about creating from an idea in my head and seeing it come to life on glass."
That, perhaps more than anything, is the heart of My Favorite Things.
Meet Mary...and Carl
While the artistic designs are entirely Mary's, bringing those creations to life is truly a team effort.
And the other half of that team is Mary's husband, Carl.
Carl handles the glasswork—the cutting and sanding required to transform each bottle safely and prepare it for its new purpose. Mary does the artistic work, from the base painting to drawing and painting each individual design.
The pieces are then baked, and afterward, they're back in Carl's hands as he adds the finishing elements, whether that's the lights that will make a painted bottle glow or the components that will turn it into a wind chime.
It's a creative partnership that seems to work beautifully.
Carl cuts.
Carl sands.
Mary paints.
Mary draws.
The pieces are baked.
Then Carl adds the lights, chimes, or other finishing touches.
And somewhere along the way, an empty wine bottle becomes something completely different.
Something beautiful.
Something useful.
Something whimsical.
Something that gets to have a second life.
Roots That Run Deep
The Nelsons' connection to this area goes far beyond their booth at The Windmill.
Carl was born and raised right here in Penn Yan.
He later joined the Army, and it was during his military service that he met Mary.
Eventually, they returned to the area where Carl's own roots ran deep, making their home here and raising their two sons.
And now, 54 years later, Mary and Carl work side by side, transforming wine bottles from local wineries, friends, neighbors, and visitors into handcrafted pieces that carry a little bit of Finger Lakes personality with them.
There's something rather perfect about that.
A local man leaves Penn Yan, serves in the Army, meets Mary, brings her home to the Finger Lakes, and together they build a life, raise a family, and eventually find themselves creating art from the wine bottles of the very region where their roots have grown.
Sometimes the best stories really do come full circle.
Where Do All Those Bottles Come From?
Of course, when wine bottles are your artistic canvas, you need a steady supply.
Fortunately, Mary and Carl live in the right place.
Some bottles come directly from local wineries. Others come from people who have saved them and pass them along to Mary.
In other words, this has become a bit of a community effort.
People drink the wine.
They save the bottle.
Mary and Carl give it another life.
And I have to admit, I love that.
There's something wonderfully Keuka about the idea of a bottle beginning its journey at a Finger Lakes winery, perhaps sitting on a table overlooking vineyards or the lake, and eventually finding its way to Mary's hands.
From there, who knows what it might become?
A glowing wine bottle light.
A wind chime dancing in the summer breeze.
A table topper.
One bottle.
Two lives.
And sometimes, an entirely new story.
The Creative Process
Anyone who creates by hand knows the finished product is only the final chapter.
Before the bottle glows, chimes, or flickers as a candle, there is an idea.
And for Mary, that's where the magic begins.
Sometimes she does extensive base painting, creating the foundation for the design that will follow. Then comes the drawing and artistic work—and that part is all Mary.
Every line.
Every image.
Every detail.
She has been drawing her entire life, and today those years of creativity find their way onto one of the most distinctive canvases imaginable: reclaimed glass bottles.
No two bottles are exactly alike.
Some are tall and slender.
Others are short and wide.
Some are green.
Some are clear.
Some are deep shades of brown or blue.
Each bottle offers different possibilities, and Mary's imagination does the rest.
She sees not what the bottle was, but what it could become.
And Then There Are the Cardinals...
Ask what sells best at My Favorite Things, and one answer quickly rises to the top.
Anything with a cardinal.
And really, is anyone surprised?
There is something about the sight of a bright red cardinal that captures people's hearts. For some, cardinals are simply beautiful birds that bring a burst of color to a winter landscape or a backyard feeder.
For others, they hold a deeper meaning—a reminder of someone loved and missed, a symbol of hope, or a small moment that seems to arrive exactly when it's needed.
Whatever the reason, Mary's hand-drawn cardinals have become customer favorites.
Perhaps that's part of what makes handmade art so meaningful.
You're not simply buying an object.
You're choosing something that speaks to you.
Something that reminds you of a place, a memory, a person, or a feeling.
And sometimes, that something happens to be a bright red cardinal painted by hand on a reclaimed Finger Lakes wine bottle.
Why My Favorite Things?
Even the name of Mary's shop feels perfectly suited to the treasures found inside.
My Favorite Things.
It's a name that makes you curious before you even begin looking around.
Maybe it's about Mary's favorite things to create.
Maybe it's about the things that inspire her.
Or perhaps the real magic of the name is that once you begin browsing, you just might discover one of your favorite things, too.
Maybe it's a cardinal.
A wine bottle light perfect for your porch.
A wind chime to catch the summer breeze.
Or a unique gift for someone who seems impossible to shop for.
At The Windmill, half the fun is never knowing what treasure might be waiting around the next corner.
And My Favorite Things, Mary's Shop fits beautifully into that experience.
A Perfect Fit for Finger Lakes Wine Country
There may be no better place for reclaimed wine bottle art than right here in the Finger Lakes.
Wine is woven into the story of our region.
Vineyards stretch across hillsides.
Winery signs dot our winding country roads.
Tasting rooms welcome visitors from around the world.
Bottles are opened for anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, vacations, girls' weekends, dinners with friends, and quiet evenings spent overlooking the lake.
Every bottle has the potential to hold a memory.
And when the last glass is poured, that doesn't necessarily have to be the end of its story.
Not if Mary and Carl get their hands on it.
In their workshop, a bottle can be cut, sanded, painted, baked, fitted with lights, transformed into a wind chime, or reinvented in a way its original maker probably never imagined.
It is creativity.
It is repurposing.
It is craftsmanship.
And it is a husband and wife working together to turn something ordinary into something worth keeping.
One of My Favorite Things About The Windmill
One of my favorite things about The Windmill Farm & Craft Market is that you can arrive thinking you're simply going for a Saturday stroll and leave having discovered a person, a story, or a treasure you never expected to find.
Behind so many of those booths is a maker.
A baker.
A grower.
An artist.
A dreamer.
Someone who looked at an ordinary object and imagined something more.
Mary Nelson is one of those people.
She looked at an empty wine bottle and didn't see trash.
She saw a canvas.
Carl saw how to cut it, sand it, and help transform it.
And together, they created something that feels wonderfully at home here in the Finger Lakes.
So the next time you're wandering through The Windmill Farm & Craft Market, stop by My Favorite Things and see what Mary and Carl have been creating.
You may find a wine bottle glowing as a light.
Dancing in the breeze as a wind chime.
Or decorated with one of Mary's beloved cardinals.
And who knows?
You just might find your new favorite thing.
Stay Rooted. Stay Keuka.™
Where to Find My Favorite Things
You can find
My Favorite Things, Mary Nelson, in Building 1 at The Windmill Farm & Craft Market, where her colorful, creative pieces made from repurposed wine bottles are waiting to be discovered.
And if you’re wandering through downtown Penn Yan, you can also find Mary’s creations at
The Nest Egg.
Two wonderful places to find something unique, locally made, and created with a little imagination, a little ingenuity, and a whole lot of heart.
