Most mornings after walking my dog and enjoying my first cup of coffee, I play Wordle and Connections on my iPad on the New York Times Games app. I know many of you also play –you share the results on Facebook. Connections is my favorite and the one I have the lowest success rate.
To play, you have a grid of sixteen words which are to be grouped into four categories. You get four chances and after that, the answers are shown and you cannot play anymore.
This is what a completed puzzle looks like– (this is a different puzzle than above.)
I completed this one today without any goof-ups!! Yeah me.
I must admit I sometimes have to look up a word’s definition and often the slang meaning. When the words go in front of a common word–for example the words in the purple group, I struggle. I wouldn’t have completed them this time if they had not been the last four words–can’t miss on that!
Supposedly the colors indicate the level of difficulty, yellow, green, blue and purple being the most difficult. But depending on your background, it is possible to figure out blue or purple first. I have been tempted to create my own version for family and Church Class gatherings.
So here is my 2025 Quilts Etc. Sale Connections Edition—
First Category–yellow. “Physical Feelings of Quilters”. Exhaustion, 15,000 steps, Hyper, and Pumped
Second Category–green. “To Whom We Owe Thanks”. FUMC Staff, QH’s ( Quilter Husbands), Friends and Family
Third Category–blue. “Changes in 2025”. Meredith Hall, Traffic Patterns, Equipment, Advertising
Fourth Category–purple. “Emotions of Quilters”. Surprised, Grateful, Curious, Anticipation
To say our reflections after the sale are a mixed bag is an understatement, but mostly positive. We were in a new location, Meredith Hall, which presented some new challenges. We didn’t know about space and lighting and displays. But we were told over and over that Meredith looked “cozy”. The round tables in a round room encouraged repeated looking.
The stage allowed better presentations and it was safer to be on the stage for a closer look than the previous stage in the Forum.
Meredith Hall is more difficult to find and access than the location last year, but with the help of QHs at the front door, quilters in the top hall, fall garlands and the elevator and ramp out side Meredith Hall, we did not loose anyone.
We tried new hours—last year Saturday was dead and this year was sort of the last trial for a Saturday sale. Well–what do you know? Friday was really slow and Saturday was great. Can anyone explain this? Very curious!
We had new “racks” to display our smaller items—thanks to George S. who created these “chicken wire” display racks from an idea I “borrowed” from a 4-H fair I attended.
We had the most quilts, table runners, placemats, baby bibs etc than we had ever offered before. Therefore, we had this gut reaction that we did not sell as much as the previous years. Here is a little secret–we sold more! Our sale receipts are higher by a bit than last years.
We were exhausted –but maybe not as much as previous years. We had a lot of help! Members of the Seekers class who were not quilters or husbands of quilters helped set up–resulting in 3 short days. So a big thanks to Marty, Brian, George and Annette. And of course to those wonderful guys who live with quilters year around–Tom, John, Larry, and David who set at the “check out” tables for three long days, who hung Christmas lights and assembled quilt racks–we love you!
The Coffee Shop also relocated but the new location did not faze Delane, Nonie, Kathy, and Sandy. Delicious coffee and home made goodies were still available. Paulette’s new curtains were so popular they will remain in Meredith Hall for the winter.
Good publicity is a key to a successful sale. I will always remember the 3 minute video of “making” a quilt, featuring Rev. Jeff, our associate minister, and Kane, the administrative assistant, which was shown in Church to promote the Sale. Evan did the graphics and put us platforms I was unfamiliar with the “how to”. Rev. Amy promoted us on the TV broadcast. We tried participating in the Wichita First Friday Art Crawl….it wasn’t a roaring success or a dismal failure. Thanks to all those quilters, QHs and Church members who participated and we have some ideas for next year.
We won’t close the 2025 books until the first of December, so I can’t give you a money amount. Watch a blog posted the second week in December. We still have many great items that can be purchased–check out the photo galleries on this blog. We will have tables at the Church wide Thanksgiving Dinner with items for sale. Contact any quilter for information.
We had barely moved the last quilt rack back into storage before we were anticipating the 2026 Quilt Etc. Sale; discussing what we want to make this coming year. But before we start preparing for next year, we do want to express our un-measurable gratitude to our Church staff and members, friends and family for their support. We are delighted to have made new acquaintances who share our love of quilts. And we hope all of you will continue to follow the Quilters at First on their quilting adventures.
Quilts, Etc. 