By Dawn Percoski, CT State Grange Family Activities Director

Hello Spring! We are all busy getting our garden beds in shape and spending more time outdoors. I am happy to be out once again. I have a tentative date for our Crafts Clean up day for the Stage area this year. Its on a Sunday, July 23rd. We will be cleaning up the stage and then getting out last year’s inventory. We should not have to remark items as they were marked within reason and many items that were sitting around have been sold. That said, we will go through everything so we can get started on marking new items. We have several bins already. If you have been collecting items, you can bring them up that day even if you cannot stay.

If anyone wants to know if there are items they could make, we sold most of the Christmas ornaments last year so new ones would be great. Mittens were also an item that people really wanted so if you knit, those might be a great project. If you crochet, I found a great pattern and made about a dozen myself. It’s an easy pattern and they come out great. Just send an email to familyactivities@ctstategrange.org  and I will get it out to you. Cat nip fish toys are also a great item whether you sew them with material or crochet/knit them. Kitchen items like Aprons for adults and children were a hot item last year and sold very quickly. Even Cotton Crochet bags for veggies were a good seller.

I have tried to make it to several other grange meetings, Subordinate and Pomona. I am very impressed with the CFA Chairman and their reporting during the meetings, keep up the good work. Don’t forget to volunteer to do a lecturer’s program for one of the months if you have not already done so. I have one Pomona that has provided a judge for our Needlework contest. The other 2 still need to find someone. Please consider volunteering if you are able and it’s a fun afternoon with lunch provided afterward. Speaking of which, don’t forget our contests, there is plenty of time to make something from our list. Sock creatures, Snowmen, or even the teacup arrangement contests are just a few suggestions.