Success!

It's over - and all that bagging and tagging, untangling and de-snarling? Totally worth it! The ping-pong table worth of stuff was reduced to this - barely enough to cover the trunk of my little car. The weather cooperated with gentle breezes and temps in the 70's (unlike today, with hurricane-force winds and major fires* throughout the area) and the site was gorgeous, with full-grown oak trees providing shade for most of the area. We were so busy that I didn't have a chance to take photos until afternoon, when the crowds had thinned out. We had a flood of shoppers right when we opened at 10:00 and it continued steady until about 1:30 when we closed the raffle and silent auction. We still had customers as we started packing up at 3:00. I didn't get a chance to sit down until about 1:30, and the crochet project I'd planned to work on never made it out of the car. Poor Marie 'volunteered' to lend a hand, helping me unload and set up at 6:30, then manning the cash register until noon. Her assistance (on 3 hours sleep) made a big difference!

I'm estimating we had several hundred shoppers throughout the day and they all seemed anxious to buy. All the vendors I talked to said they sold more than expected; one doubled her estimate and another made more than 3x's what she'd planned. Major success! And the best news of all? They all want to come back again next year, provided we have it at the same location.

Guild members gave demos and answered questions about spinning, weaving, bobbin lace (gorgeous! but way too detail-oriented for me), knitting, crochet and more. We had a host of inquiries about joining the guild and actually acquired four new members.

Granny's Attic was a definite winner. It was a lot of work to prepare - this was where all the bagged yarn ended up - but it sold like hotcakes. We also sold items that guild members wanted to part with, with 10% of the sales price going to the guild.
Bottom line? We have a few bills to pay but it looks like we'll clear - as profit - over $2100. Whoohoo! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. (And Dick is getting pretty tired of hearing about it. [grin] )

*Fire Day

This is the view from my front yard about 2:30 today - and looking across the street. There's a fire a few miles away, in Santa Rosa Valley, but I can't find much info on it - the newsies are all talking about the fire in Malibu. Most of the smoke around here is from the Castaic/Piru fire. Poor Piru; seems like they burn every year. Sure hope the winds calm down soon so the firefighters can get a handle on these blazes.