I went in with my yellow ticket, ready to do some bidding at my first-ever auction. I was immediately overwhelmed by the large crowd of people and the auctioneer talking so friggin' fast I had no idea what he was saying. I stood to the side for a while, thinking, "How do they know they want that particular quilt? How can he see the whole room at once? How do people know how much they are actually bidding?"
Finally, we found a seat and it was much more civil then. One quilt went up, and I thought, "That would go really well in my room." All of a sudden, my left hand with yellow ticket spontaneously went up. The auctioneer saw me! He confirmed my bid! Someone immediately out bid and he looked my way again. My hand went up again! He nodded subtly at me, then went higher. Someone else outbid me, so I did it again! What was I doing?? All of a sudden, he's looking at me and says, "Sold! for $100!" (In case you are wondering, this is a steal.) I just bought a hand-made quilt. What possessed me to do this? Whatever it was, it possessed me three more times because I bought three more quilts. One was only a baby quilt and I was able to justify this because, although I make quilts myself, this one went for such a low sum that I couldn't even buy the fabric for that much, let alone spend all the time to make it. The next one was just a quilt top that I will have to finish, but after that one, I decided to put my ticket away! I was finished! So I sat with my friends as they continued to bid and purchase beautiful, amazing quilts.
I was getting ready to leave after hours of this (literally) and went to the bathroom ( of course) and as I was waiting, I saw THE one! The quilt that I must have was waiting to be auctioned. I looked at the book of quilts, all listed in order, to see if I had time to go to the bathroom before it came up. I took a chance and waited in the bathroom line... and then returned to my seat and waited, and waited, waited... and just as I was ready to leave, Catherine said, "Wait! They just took it off the rack! It's moving to the table." It moved along the table in order, closer to the auctioneer. I took my yellow card out again and sat patiently. Up went the quilt... up went my hand. I fought it out a little with some other quilt lover, but in the end, I got this lovely, hand embroidered, hand quilted quilt for $95!!
Now you might be wondering, why do I need all these quilts? You may be saying to yourself, "That seems silly." You may even be thinking, "Wait, didn't she say in a previous post that she has too much stuff and is having trouble organizing it all?" The truth is, I don't, it is and I do. But I just got so caught up in the excitement of it all and the sheer joy of a bargain. It's a weakness, what can I say? (please don't tell my mom!)
8 comments:
Okay, I can't believe that you got that amazing HAND QUILTED!!! blanket for $95! You can't get something like that machine made from a third-world sweatshop that cheap! Good auction skills there!
I have so many obsternations and questions about this and the previous post:
1. How did this trip come about - i.e. how did you end up staying with a Mennonite family??
2. Re: the goose "statue" - not only have you been living in the city, but it's been winter. Totally understandable. If it had been a homeless guy peeing off the bridge, you would have gotten it immediately.
3. I'm SO SO SO SO jealous about your quilt deals! That is ridiculous!! You got some seriously fantastic deals. You are the master auction shopper.
4. That quilt you put on your bed looks great. It's really beautiful. I still can't believe they are hand quilted for that price. Jealous.
5. Those pictures are beautiful.
6. I deduct from the auction set-up that Mennonites are okay with electricity? Do they have TV's? Was Seinfeld on when you got there?
Summary: Excellent blog post.
I'm telling mom...maybe I won't, she would be so jealous.
I AM telling Mom. She would have made the same one for you for Christmas, easy.
Plus did you go to a WaWa and get some Turkey Hill Ice Cream, like I told you too? I would have suggested you get some Turkey Hill Iced Tea, b/c it's supposedly the best thing in the world, but I don't know that for certain. Did the whole place smell like cow poo? That's what I remember Lancaster smelling like.
I keep thinking of that line from the Simpsons "Not like those shifty Menanites"....
I was even thinking the one quilt for $100 was a bargain! I know that materials for most of my quilts end up being over $100, that's without the time and work. Not to mention that Amish quilts are notorious for being very intricate, etc. Congratulations....
I think. :)
Amazing! YOu rock! I should have sent money with you! The quilts are beautiful and the blue and white one is so you! It looks gorgeous on your bed!
klem
In answer to Estee's questions...
1. They actually run a B&B, so my friend did a good ole' internet search and found them. Originally, they rented rooms in their 19th century farm house, but then built a house and the whole basement is set up for paying guests. (not as charming as the farm house, I'm sure, but quite nice anyway.)
6. Mennonites are pretty old-fashioned, but not as much as the Amish, although I think some of their religious beliefs are similar. Some of them dress like old fashioned Mennonites (white bonnet, home-made clothes, etc.) but they go to church with people that dress like the rest of us, too. They don't have restrictions against electricity or cars, or shopping on Sunday, which we found when we stopped at Wal-Mart on the way out of town. So, yes, they had TVs but we didn't watch. (this picture was taken in the firehouse, so yes, electricity was allowed.)
If my memory serves, the movie "Jesus Camp" is about Mennonites, but I could be wrong about that. But they do homeschool their kids and try to convert people,like the congregation in "Jesus Camp."
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