Back to Auld Claes and Porritch

The title of today's blog is a saying one hears in Scotland when a big event or special occasion is drawing to a close. It means you'll go back to dressing in your old clothes and eating plainer foods, such as porridge. It's a charming phrase and so very apt.

The quilt and flower show was quite successful. We had hundreds of folks come through and over a thousand raffle tickets sold. I couldn't begin to tell you how many cakes, teas, and coffees were served or how much money we made on the whole thing. We will have a short meeting on Monday the 12th to hear the financial details.

Don joined the rest of us and two other husbands to help with the clean-up on Sunday afternoon. It took us about 2 hours to take down the quilts, move or dissassemble the floral arrangements and props, remove nails and tacks from the walls, clean up the kitchen, sweep the floor, stack all the chairs and put them in place, and move the piano from the storage room back into the hall.

On the way home, we delivered one of the floral arrangements to Doris, a member of So and Sews who doesn't get around so well and was only able to make it to the show for half a day on Friday (but she did manage a sit-down job in our sales area, selling quilting magazines, books, and quilted items). Next we went to Eleanor's to help her unload her car. Not only did she organize the show and all of us, but at 83, Eleanor was on her feet all day each of the 3 days and made soups and cakes in her "time off" as well. When we'd start to complain that our feet were aching, we'd look at Eleanor and just soldier on.

I was exhausted even yesterday but we managed to get a lot done. In the morning I had a follow-up exam with the plastic surgeon. He says everything is coming along just fine. We spent the rest of the day in Perth buying yet more supplies for the house. I'm feeling more energetic this morning and will go to Pilates in between doing loads of wash. (I brought the table cloths home from the tea tables to wash and return to St Fillans.)

Above are some representative photos from the show so you can see what a nice little hall we were in and how beautifully we filled it with quilts, flowers, props, tea tables, volunteer workers, and throngs of appreciative guests.