Quilts in the Sanctuary

Toward the end of last year’s co-op sale, a group of us discussed the fact that we were running out of room for all the merchandise. That sale started in our community center up the road—which it outgrew—and moved the nearby Mennonite church fellowship hall. I suggested we display the quilts in the sanctuary, draped over the pews. That idea took a bit of time to settle, because many of us grew up viewing church sanctuaries as holy places. Our congregation actually refers to it as the “auditorium,” so I didn’t think it would be a problem.

We tried it this year and it turned out to have been a good idea. This is how all the sale quilts looked from the balcony:

At the start of the sale, I was stationed in a chair just outside the auditorium, in the Christmas section, listening to the comments as people came through that area and saw the quilts. The visual impact was dramatic.

This is such a talented group. I walked around just before the doors opened and looked at all the beautiful items for sale. The Christmas section is always full of lovely quilts and home dec pieces:

And Sarah put up a wonderful display of her dipped beeswax candles and linen tea towels. I suspect she will sell out today if she didn’t yesterday. I saw lots of people walking around with candles.

I stayed until noon. We had a lot of shoppers come through and everyone seemed happy with their purchases. I bought some of Sarah’s candles and two green linen towels for my kitchen.

I will try very hard to get my act together for next year’s sale.

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One of the topics Sarah and I discuss frequently is class prep. She understands what is involved. Teaching is only the tip of the iceberg, really. One first has to be somewhat competent in the subject matter, although I think all of us have been guilty at one time or another of being just one page ahead of the students. Marianne Fons talked about that one time in an interview and said that she and Liz Porter would come up with a topic for their quilt class, then go home and spend the week learning how to do it.

I’m trying to get these serger classes under control for 2023 but it’s frustrating. There are so many elements to balance: Choosing a topic, finding a project that illustrates the technique—either a commercial pattern or something I design—making class samples, preparing the handouts and supply lists, anticipating problems, etc. Stores want classes unique to them, and they also want to be able to sell patterns and/or fabric in conjunction with the class. And then we have to find a class time that works for everyone. Once the class development work is done, it’s done (for the most part), but class development doesn’t happen overnight.

I found a line of patterns designed for sergers and asked the store if they could order them. I bought one of the patterns from this line in Spokane in August. One of the issues I’m running into is that many of these newer serger patterns are designed for the high-end sergers. The patterns incorporate both serger and coverstitch techniques, although decorative stitches on the sewing machine can be substituted for the coverstitch chain stitches. Still, that means students have to use two machines. And I don’t want someone to come to a class and be stymied because they don’t have some specialty foot for a technique I’m teaching. I’ve also got to make sure that the recommended thread weights are available. Spools of 12wt thread are not exactly growing on trees in Kalispell, Montana. I can order sample spools of thread or thread kits from WonderFil, but I have to give them a fair bit of lead time.

I’m currently working up the serger pattern I bought. What I need is a solid week where I can do nothing but lock myself in my sewing room, sew up patterns and class samples, and put all of my class materials together. That won’t happen in the next two weeks—the calendar is already full—but I think I will put that on the schedule for the third week of October. I told the husband I might make a bunch of meals and freeze them for him so I don’t have to take time out to cook.

Maybe I am overthinking this and just need to get out of that headspace for a while. I worked on those scrappy log cabin blocks yesterday afternoon and before I knew it, an hour and a half had gone by and I had finished two more blocks. I like being in that sewing zone.

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The husband and I have Date Day today. We are heading down to Missoula to pick up the wood boiler. We also got an invitation to an open house this afternoon from one of his clients. The homeowner invited all the contractors to come and see the finished product. I suggested we combine a stop there with dinner out.

Our neighbor Smokey came by yesterday. He thanked me for inviting him to help himself to tomatoes while I was in Seattle and said that he took four big bags of them. That made me so happy. I did not want them just rotting out there. He makes sauce and salsa every fall and said that now his freezer is full of both.