Thriving and Flourishing
If you have been around here for a while you know I am a very crafty person. Mostly, I enjoy fiber crafts like sewing, quilting, embroidering, knitting, and crochet. The most common response I get when people learn this or see me engaging in one of these pursuits in public is “oh, that is a dying art.” I am here, once again, to assure you that is decidedly not true! I just came home from a long weekend quilting retreat near Fredericksburg where we learned the retreat facility is booked solid for three years into the future. I just counted 56 retreat facilities in Texas on a site that purports to have all of them listed, and saw that two nearby are missing from the list. So there is a bare minimum of 58 quilt retreats in Texas, and I would bet all of them stay similarly booked up.
I am pretty sure that not all areas of the country are as quilty or crafty as Texas, but there are pockets of it scattered all around the country and the world. I looked at my calendar this morning and noticed the European Patchwork Meeting starts next week in Val d’Argent, France—something I keep on my calendar in the off chance I find myself in France at that time of year, hah! There are also huge quilt shows in England, Japan, Korea, and Australia.
Besides quilting, there are other fiber-craft related events that are sold-out busy every year. The DFW Fiber Fest is coming up next week and the New York Sheep and Wool Festival (known as “Rhinebeck” to knitters) is a month later. People from all over the world travel to the Shetland Islands off the cost of Scotland for Shetland Wool Week at the end of September every year.
The sad news is that craftrelated shops, especially small, local shops, are dwindling. I am sure that the main reason for this is online competition. We are fortunate to have three quilt shops relatively near (Brady, Llano, and Early) and some really nice yarn shops a little farther out (one of the best I have ever visited is in Comfort). Like most crafters, I like to see and touch fabric and yarn before I buy and I really believe in supporting small, local businesses, so I buy local as much as possible. It usually costs a little more, but it is well worth it to me.
I get very philosophical about crafting and making. I think humans have an inborn drive to work and create, and if that drive is denied, we go a little (or a lot) crazy. With shorter days and cooler weather coming on soon (fingers crossed) it is the perfect time to pick up or renew one of those not-dying arts. Why spend your evenings simply sitting and watching TV, when you could watch TV and knit a pair of socks? A pair of handmade socks is a luxury you really cannot buy, and making them does so much for the knitter, too.
SpringCreekArtsGuild@gmail.com