Craft Fair at Alvadore

Early Saturday morning a few weeks, I packed up twenty wall quilts, a handful of potholders and a pile of scrappy bookmarks I'd made. I also had wares from a friend who'd made some wonderful (not too) rustic signs, crocheted tiaras and crowns, and a few additional items for sale. On dark, icy roads, I found my way to the Alvadore Fire Station.

I walked into a big building empty of most everything except bare tables. Oh! I had encouraged friends to come this distance to a show I thought would be full of wonderful handcrafted things, and it certainly didn't look like much.

As I began carrying in my treasures, I met others doing the same. I put up an old ladder, antique oak chair, old wood milk crate on and around the table assigned to me. Quilts were tucked into chair rungs, over the step ladder, draped across the table.

In an hour, the firehouse was filled with noise, color, activity. Doll clothes, birdhouses, Christmas decorations, wooden toys, handcrafted household goods, locally grown grains had changed the character of the recently empty structure to a busy, happy place.

I hoped to sell some quilts. But more importantly, I wanted to get the word out to quilters about our new business. (Can we call it a business before we actually have possession of the main piece of equipment?)

Many stopped by the booth, and several quilters engaged in conversation, asking about these little quilts made on my very simple little sewing machine. I shared with them about our future plans for quilting on an industrial machine. I had fun, I sold some items, I even made some new friends.