SAGUACHE – The Saguache Sagebrush Quilters held its annual Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, Dec. 7, at the Mountain Valley school gymnasium.

The gymnasium was decked out with Christmas decorations, a Christmas tree and Santa Claus sat in the middle of it all. 

There were numerous tables laid out with various vendors selling their wares – homemade crafts, jewelry, homemade soaps, spices, purses, clothing and so much more. In the corner near a large table a woman was selling many lively stickers that were adorned with holiday and Christmas pictures. There were also vendors selling paintings, and homemade painted wooden signs, with various holiday sayings on them. 

The Saguache Sagebrush Quilters is an important non-profit organization that creates quilts for ill people, and people who have lost loved ones, and they also create quilts for preschool children. The quilters had many of their quilts on display at the bazaar.

There was a silent auction for a quilt. All money that was made by the Sagebrush Quilters is used to help them make quilts for families in need. 

Cindy Archuleta of the quilters group spoke about the bazaar.

“We do this to make money to make comfort quilts for the community, people in need, people who have lost a loved one or who are sick. We do quilts for the preschoolers who are in school in Moffat or Saguache. We make and give them a quilt, and it is theirs to take home and keep forever. We do this bazaar to help raise money for the fabric, and batting and quilting materials that we need to make our comfort quilts. It’s just a great, great service that we provide for people in need,” she said. 

Archuleta explained that the quilters give comfort quilts to preschoolers in December and to others year-round, and the quilts seem to help people who have ill family members, and others who have lost loved ones.

Archuleta said that she believes the group has given out about 56 comfort quilts this year.

Overall, Archuleta said that the bazaar had a good turnout, considering there were a lot of other events all over the Valley on the same day and night. She said the quilters enjoy what they do for people, and they are always looking for new members.

“We meet every first Saturday of the month. In January, we will meet Friday and Saturday, as there will also be a workshop where we can work on quilts to donate. We just love it. We have a great group. We are a great bunch of women who have a lot of fun for a good cause,” she said.