SHOPPERS CROWD INTO CRAFTS SHOWS

Frank Elliott borrowed the idea of a collapsible drinking cup and made it into a collapsible bread basket.

"The basket, which is constructed from one continuous piece of wood, in this case, oak, can be used as a hot pad or `trivit,' when it is collapsed," Elliott said. Folded out, it makes a an all-purpose bread basket.

Elliott and his wife, Patricia, of Carmi, Ill., were among the more than 600 arts and crafts engineers who were in Cape Girardeau this weekend for annual crafts shows at the Show Me Center, Arena Building and Holiday Inn Convention Center.

A total of 327 booths are at the 24th annual Christmas Arts and Crafts Bazaar at the Show Me Center this weekend. The event, sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts, will continue today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

About 400 booths are at the 18th annual Christmas Arts and Crafts Show, sponsored by the River Valley Crafters, and displayed at two sites -- Arena Park and the Holiday Inn Convention Center. This show, too, will be open today from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Between 12,000 and 15,000 persons were expected to get an early start on their Christmas shopping at the three sites. More than 1,000 people were waiting in line before the 10 a.m. start at the Show Me Center Saturday, and by the end of the day nearly 7,500 had passed through the turnstiles.

Among the crowd Saturday were Phyllis Kepner of Cairo, Ill., and Debbie Willis of Miller City, Ill.

"We always look forward to this event," Kepner said. "It's the girls' day out. We purchase a few Christmas presents and get some ideas of things to make."

Willis agreed.

"We're here for the day," she said. "We'll hit all three locations and have lunch in between."

"This is my first time here," said Linda Duckworth, who recently moved to Cape Girardeau from the St. Louis area. "My husband, Mark, is baby-sitting, and I'm looking for some stuff for the new house."

The Elliotts, featuring woodwork, were among the 267 exhibitors at the Show Me Center.

"These baskets are our feature attraction and biggest seller," said Elliott, a retired postal worker. "The ladies like them. They're useful and they don't take up much room once they're folded down."

Elliott said the sides of the baskets were the result of 20 feet of sawing.

The show here is one of about 35 the Elliotts attend each year.

"Now that I'm retired my previous hobby has become a new career," he said.

Among other items on display and for sale at the three sites are handmade quilts, dolls, stitchery, ceramics, stained-glass windows and ornaments, floral arrangements, fabric Santas, candles and wreaths.

One group of wreaths on display were made from Missouri wheat.

Louella Barber of Brazeau, Mo., discovered 15 years ago that the golden grain could be used in crafts.

"I was a 4-H leader at the time," Barber said. "We were always looking for new ideas, and wheat for crafts was one of them."

Barber has refined her idea and now makes wreaths, braided wreaths, swags, sheafs of wheat and other crafts.

"The tradition is that wheat is lucky," she said. "And, it certainly has been lucky for me."

Although this marks Barber's first attendance at the big holiday arts and crafts fair here, she attends a number of them each year, mostly "historic" craft fairs.

Making the crafts is only part of the work behind Barber's operation.

"We grow our own wheat," she said. "And we have to watch it carefully to select the wheat we want for crafts. It has to be cut at a certain time while it is still green and without the grain."

Once the heads start to form on the wheat in the field, Barber said she has six days to cut it before the grain forms.

"I cut it and hang it upside down until I use it," she said.

In some arrangements Barber uses a variety of wildflowers for color.