Maximum capacity

"I have about ten boxes of fabric to give away. Can your guild use it?" wrote Dolly P. in an email message addressed to the  Northern Lake County Quilters Guild .  I get the "info @" messages because I am guild president. I wrote back saying yes.  I drove to Dolly's house on Tuesday.  (I thought that I could put it on the giveaway table at Wednesday's guild meeting.)

Dolly's garage was lined with neatly-packed boxes of fabric and a couple of dozen bolts. She explained that her grandchildren are coming to live with her and her husband so she will no longer have a sewing room. She had considered selling it, but she didn't have the time.  

 We *filled* my CRV. I estimate that the load was 1500 yards!

(The picture was taken after I took the boxes out of the front seat.)

As I drove home -- carefully, because the boxes in the back of the car obscured rear vision and the boxes in the passenger seat obscured the right side mirror -- I realized that I couldn't take it to the guild meeting.  We had a speaker scheduled, and knew from experience that the fabric would distract the audience from the presentation. (That happened last fall.  We had a big giveaway and the speakers were not pleased.) I wondered where I could all this fabric until the guild schedule was more favorable.  Eureka! My buddy Irene has a large studio (see it here).  She lives en route to my house, and thank heavens she was home at 5 p.m. when I pulled into her driveway.  She took one look at the cargo and said she'd give it a good home. 

(We are going to take Dolly's fabric to the July guild meeting, which is our annual ice cream social. The program is "schoolhouse," where members give short lessons on techniques. We will sell the fabric, at $2/yd. The proceeds will go to Karen Musgrave -- who gave the program at the NLCGQ meeting this week -- for her cultural exchange project.)