Pies, Pies, and More Pies

Today is the last day of our church’s International Gift Festival. We haven’t held one for the past two years because of the pandemic. We knew that we might have fallen off of people’s radar screens as a result, and traffic has been lighter this year. I think a lot of us are tired, too, and not feeling the energy that we’ve had in the past. This event comes just after our pastor’s retirement at the end of October. We have had to parcel out many of the tasks he has done so well for so many years. We’re also still in the middle of processing exactly what his retirement means for us as a congregation. We have hired an interim pastor, but she doesn’t start until December 1.

I tried to remember to get some pictures at the sale. while I was working The pies are always a big hit:

We had a couple of people ask to buy whole pies, and one lady even wanted to know if she could buy rolls to take home. Oh, how I miss Margaret and Ruthie! We were reluctant to sell whole pies and especially rolls because we did not want to run out. I came home last night and made another shoo-fly and another butterscotch pie for the sale today. I also made the husband an apple pie because he did my chicken chores for me while I was baking.

[I have lots of thoughts about the way society is ordered right now, some of which are not popular. One of these days I might let them out of my head and put them in a blog post.]

Ginger, one of the women who does our visuals at church, came up with the idea for the centerpieces. She is such a gifted designer. Between the two of us, we made about 15 of these bowl cozies:

The month of November is almost half done. Next week is a bit lighter. I have two serger classes scheduled, but one I’ve taught before and the other one should be straightforward.

I’ll deliver my pies to the church this morning. I’d like to get a few sewing projects moved along today. I spent about 45 minutes organizing the quilting cotton scrap bin yesterday morning. It is high time for a scrap cutting session with the Accuquilt cutter. I also put a quilt on the table with the Q20. Seeing it there might motivate me to get it done. And I need to prep my second squash block and another chicken block to work on in the evenings.

I need to do a resupply of yarn for prayer shawls. I am on my last four skeins. I’ve been using Lion Brand Homespun, although I’m not wedded to it; they’ve cut back on the color selection and our Joanns hardly has enough of any color for one shawl. I might check Hobby Lobby and Michael’s—I think each of those stores has house labels with yarns similar to Homespun. I’ve been a bit blindsided, too, by the increase in price. I guess it has been a while since I bought yarn.

Who am I kidding. Everything has gotten more expensive.

I’m making up some shopping lists for my trip to Seattle (and not just fabric). Perhaps I will hit some good sales on my travels.