California Garden

This is the big weekend for the West Coast Mennonite Central Committee sale. It is always one of my favorite weekends of the year. It's like a triple play: connecting with friends you haven't seen, well, since last year at the MCC sale, fabulous food (and by that I mean Weight Watchers can wait until Monday...), and quilts. Ah, the quilts. I heard there are 250 up for auction this year.

I usually make a donation quilt every other year. Maybe you remember the quilt without a name, the so-called 3460. The actual name of the pattern is A New Beginning. But that didn't seem to fit. Mark's cousin, Ione, did an amazing job of quilting it. So without further adieu, may I present California Garden:

I'm always nervous the first day of the sale when I have donated a quilt. Well, I'm actually nervous both days but for different reasons. There are usually eight quilts that get hung up on big rods so that you can view the entire quilt, with four facing the crowd in the gym where the quilt auction takes place. The rest are carefully folded over, um, not sure what to call them. Think giant sawhorses. (I'll take pictures tomorrow.) Anyway...to be one of the four quilts that is hung facing the crowd is like being on the cover of a magazine. My previous three quilts have each been chosen for that display, always a shock to me considering the number of quilts donated and the extreme talent of the quiltmakers. Will California Garden get the same honor? I have no idea. 250 quilts is a lot of quilts, and there are a lot of amazing quilters in this area. But it's always fun when you first walk into the gym and look around to try and find your quilt. On the rod? Or folded over the, uh....whatever they are called.

And being nervous the second day? When the time comes when your quilt is the one being auctioned off, so many thoughts run through your head. Will anyone like it enough to spend money on it? Will at least two people like it enough to get into a bidding war? Will it go for enough to at least cover my expenses? (Not that I get any of the money because it all goes to Third World relief efforts, but you kinda hope that it at least goes for the amount of money you have put into it, not even to mention all the time..)

And will I find a quilt that I simply must have? Even though I have piles of quilts at home and don't really need to buy one, but then all the money goes to such a good cause and it's a tax donation, etc. Well, you get the picture...

Tonight the auction will mostly consist of antiques. A few years ago we came home with this, which is now in my quilting room. And yes, those are baskets of fabric underneath each chair.

My own California garden? The azalea we have by our front door is about ready to burst into full bloom, which is truly spectacular. Expect a picture next week when it is at its peak.

I'll keep you posted on 3460. Oops. I mean California Garden.