By JEFF EPSTEIN
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WINDSOR, Vt. — Homemade signs, eggs, doll dresses, spoon rings, and more were all on display Friday and Saturday at a craft fair at Mt. Ascutney Hospital and Health Care Center.
The craft fair was an opportunity for hospital employees and volunteers to show and sell their crafts in the downstairs board room. Despite limited space and another craft fair occurring at the same time in the municipal center, this fair had about 4-6 vendors were present depending on the time. A small fair, however, allows more time for browsing and perusing the crafts and talking with the crafters.
For example, one of the first tables a person saw coming into the room was “American Girl Clothing” from Helen Koehler of Plainfield. She specializes in creating dresses and pajamas for 18-inch dolls.
“I used to make sweaters and hats,” she said. But now she creates this doll clothing, using whatever materials she feels are appropriate. Bed ruffles, and even the prom dress from her daughter (a current hospital employee) found their way onto dolls.
Koehler, now retired, taught home economics for 25 years in Claremont Middle School, leaving around 2004, she said.
Nearby, Margaret Spaulding sits before a table laden with contributions from the hospital auxiliary.
“Our members make different things,” she said. “Everything here has been donated by auxiliary members.”
The hospital auxiliary will also be hosting a bake sale in a few weeks, she added.
Jeanne Smith used to be a nurse at this hospital. Now retired, she chats with other women here who seem dazzled by the assortment of home jewelry and other goods she offers.
“I repurpose things,” she said. “My mittens are made from sweaters I repurposed.”
Smith points to a display of spoon rings. “I take silverware and remake it into jewelry. The silverware rings, the silverware bracelets.”
Her amusing and fanciful assortment includes pieces made from actual typewriter keys and Scrabble tiles.
“It’s a lot of fun,” she said. It takes time to build all these items, but “it is time I enjoy.”
Lori Laplante, meanwhile, has a very different set of goods. She calls her offerings “farmhouse decor,” which she has been doing for five or six years, she said.
She points to hand-painted signs with legends such as “Faith Family Farming.”
“I’ve always been doing crafts … Every year I try to find something different to do. This year it was the signs,” she said.
Decorated baskets hold plastic eggs covered in fabric. “The egg baskets I usually pair with a ‘Fresh Eggs’ sign. They’re covered in homespun.”
Overseeing the baskets are a few painted cats. “I love doing the signs, although this year I started doing the cats. Everybody loves the cats,” she said, adding that they are cut from plywood, then sanded and painted.
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