Shop small Saturday

The quilters are hard at it the day after Thanksgiving. No pushing through crazed crowds at the box stores for us. We are finishing up the quilt for Nikki and getting ready for the bazaar on December 5, sewing in the old school house which is warm and feels delightfully civilized. The women talk about their Thanksgiving dinners, the family and friends they shared the day with.  They mention different recipes that turned out exceptionally well. They mention those funny things that can happen when people of various ages get together for an event that involves food.  “And when she turned around too quickly to hand the slice of pie to Bob, it slid off the plate and landed upside down on the tablecloth.”

There is a lot of hype to encourage people to shop local this coming Saturday.  And there are all sorts of figures that show what a difference dollars spent in your community make compared to dollars spent online or in large chain stores.  Its easy to see what a difference dollars spent at the Historical Village bazaar makes. All the money goes directly into maintaining the Village.  There isn’t a percentage to the group putting the bazaar on, no fee charged for tables. Everything in the bazaar is made by the quilters and donated. That makes for a very easy equation. One hundred percent of the price you pay for an item goes directly to helping the Village represent the history of this valley. Of course there are other bazaars happening in the Tobacco Valley on December 5 – actually seventeen if you can believe it.  All have wonderful gifts to offer you and yours.  But of course my favorite is the one at the Historical Village. Hope you can stop by.

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and its November

Alright. Its still just the beginning of November but we are already making quantum leaps towards the holidays as December is just around the corner. December 5th is the day of all the bazaars in Eureka and we want to be ready. Actually most of the women are. Cathryn has been making beautiful pine needle baskets. Joan is sewing up a storm with baby quilts. Carmen is knitting like mad. Judy is making holiday table runners and cute pin cushions shaped like birds. I admit that I am the only one who is still mulling over what to make for the bazaar. While most of these women have multiple talents besides quilting like Cathryn’s basketry or Carmen’s knitting (and did I mention Mary Louise’s utterly delicious homemade chocolate covered cherries?), I do better with other things.  I have tried sewing hats in the past and we ended up donating them to the thrift store. Or one year I tried making those small lapel wreaths that I remembered from my Girl Scout days and…well…they weren’t a hot item either.  Fortunately though the other women are very talented and we will have piles of lovely things to sell at our bazaar.  In fact we were so relaxed about it this past week that even with the bazaar approaching and two quilts set up on frames, we decided to do lunch out in Fortine where we spoiled ourselves with pies. It did seem like the ideal occasion to take a photo of the group. Unfortunately Renata leaned back just as the photo was taken and Dianne was still quilting.  But it is most of us gathered around the table at Renee’s Rolling in Dough rather then around the quilting frames. And I did so enjoy relaxing with the other women and didn’t ponder at all what I will do for the bazaar. Instead I just listened to their stories and savored the banana creme pie.