Mennonite Country Auction 2019

At sewing on Thursday, we organized everything that needed to go to the Ritzville sale:

This included the comforters and school kit supplies that get transported to the sorting facility at Zion Mennonite, south of Portland. Our denominational conference secretary and her husband were going to be at the sale, and they take care of getting those items from Ritzville back to Portland. We also had some items to be donated to the craft sale at the auction. Holly, who runs the sausage/bacon/ham sale with her husband, took the quilts to deliver them to the auction coordinator on Friday so they could be labeled and hung up.

I left here early on Friday morning. My appointment at the BMW dealer wasn’t until 1 p.m. and I gain an hour going over, but I had a few stops to make in Spokane. It was cold and foggy going over the pass, but thankfully, no snow. We’re at that time of year again where traveling means carrying a set of boots, hat, gloves, and a wool coat in the car, even if I won’t need them where I am going.

Besides doing the alignment, the dealer also did a recall inspection. My car is part of the group that is being recalled because of a problem with the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) system. In order to make diesel engines cleaner, the diesel engine soot gets burned—vaporized, essentially—at very high temperatures. There was a similar system on my 2007 Dodge MegaCab truck and it was plagued with problems. BMW wants to fix this because it potentially could lead to an engine fire. The service tech said that my car will need the recall work. They need to replace an O-ring and some hoses, and one of the hoses—which doesn’t carry liquid and isn’t under pressure—had a crack in it, so they taped it up. He assured me that the car is safe to drive, although the check engine light may come on. Unfortunately, the parts are backordered until some time in November. The dealer will call me when the parts come in and I’ll have to take the car back over for them to do the fix.

This problem doesn’t seem to have affected engine performance—I got 40.7 mpg on this trip.

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It rained in Spokane overnight, but Saturday morning dawned sunny and clear. I headed out to the sale grounds at Menno Mennonite Church, which is about an hour west of Spokane, and got there in time to do some visiting and see the quilts on display:

There were fewer quilts for sale this year than in past years. I am not sure why that was. The quilt sale coordinator was very grateful for the ones we sent. Besides the blue and white one that Pat and I made, we also donated a double wedding ring quilt that our sewing group quilted (from a box of vintage tops that had been donated to us) and a black and white one that I had made and machine quilted. There were a few others that I had also made and machine quilted, but they were put in the craft sale. I noticed that they all sold within about an hour of being put out.

I had a lovely chat with Katherine, our denominational conference minister, who had come over from Portland. She’s also a quilter and she has a burgeoning collection of vintage sewing machines, so we always have lots to talk about besides church stuff. And I met up with Bob, who transferred the MCC donations from my car to his van so he could take them back to Portland.

The ladies who monitor the quilt display always have a quilt to work on:

At 10 a.m., I was at my cash register and ready for the meat sale to begin. It’s fast-paced and it requires a lot of focus, but it’s also a lot of fun. We sold out in a little over an hour. The slab bacon is very popular. One guy wanted to buy four boxes but we had a limit of one box per person. The German apple sausage—which is a special offering at this sale—is also very popular. I bought three boxes for us, because we’ve eaten through all of our own sausage and I like to have it on hand for quick meals.

When we were done, I went and did some shopping. I bought another wind chime to add to my collection. I’ll take a picture when I put it up. I didn’t buy anything in the quilting rummage sale; I have so much fabric that I really don’t need to be buying anything else. I had an “ultimate grilled cheese sandwich” for lunch, which was Havarti with pesto and artichokes on homemade bread. (I can get away with eating wheat in limited quantities if it’s a special occasion, and this qualified.) By then, it was noon and I needed to head for home. I would have liked to have stayed for the quilt auction, but I have to play at church this morning.

I know you’re all dying to know how much the quilt sold for. I had asked John, one of the guys from our church, to text me and let me know. I was about halfway back to Montana when my phone beeped. The blue and white quilt went for $1200. He said that was the highest bid on a quilt so far except for one that Holly and her husband donated—they buy quilts at an Amish auction here in Montana and then donate them to the Ritzville sale. I’m happy with that result. I didn’t want the quilt to go for less than $1000, but that’s the thing about auctions. You never know who’s going to be buying and what they are willing to pay. I did think the crowd was a bit smaller than in past years.

I’ll have to think about what to do for next year’s sale. I don’t think it’s going to be another king-sized quilt. That was a big project. I’ve been looking at Pinterest, though, and I have some ideas.

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I am hoping to knock out the last batch of tomato sauce this week. I need to be done with that. We’ve been having salads with lettuce from the garden, though, and that’s been wonderful. Now it’s time to focus on winter projects and getting that BSKD website done.