It looked so lonely every time I drove by: the empty High Fashion Fabric store on Patterson.  When suddenly one day as if by magic what should appear?  A beautiful Christmas Store brought to our valley by Christmas magician Connie Ferguson, well-known for her craft fair expertise.

“I’d looked at this building several times before and came one night and I sat in the parking lot all alone and thought this might could be a dream come true because owning a Christmas store has always been on my bucket list,” Ferguson said. 

Customers and old friends alike appreciate the specialness of this location.

“This is kind of a nostalgic building," she continued.  "People bought their first sewing machine here and they bought their first piece of fabric here and to have this building empty kind of pulled on our heartstrings.”

She has a special relationship with long-time crafting friends like Linda, Ceola and Gwen from last week’s story and she’s constantly welcoming new friends and new exhibitors.

“Everybody has a story and those stories have brought us together and... we’re just here for each other.  We’re trying, we’re on the same path in life and... this group of people are  walking arm-in-arm.  We may end up last in line, but we’re going to come in together," said Ferguson.

It wasn’t long until her whirlwind project was already expanding.

“In two weeks we built this and in two days we rented the other half of the building which used to hold upholstery and in two days we put that together.”

As she puts it, the recent past helped her to “see” things a bit differently and looks toward the future.

“When I came into this, all I had was a dream and I couldn’t see last year with my eyes very well, but because of the support that I’ve had, I see things much more differently and much more clearly with my heart because of the people that supported me and that includes the community," she said.

Walk through their doors Monday through Saturday and you too will experience what Connie feels.

“We want to honor the reason for this season.  When you walk in the door, the first thing you see is a baby in a manger.  And that truly is the reason that we’re here. We are so blessed to live in this land and so blessed to be a free country and to make the decisions that we can do and we need to remember that and pray that it will always stay that way and this is a place that when you walk in the door, that’s what you see and as you leave, that’s what you see. And we say “Merry Christmas” here and not “Happy Holidays"."

All this happens with a bucket list and a lot of friends.    

Shabby Chic is located at 2584 Patterson Road in the old Hi Fashion Fabrics building.  It is open Monday through Saturday, 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.