photo by Matthey J. Lee from the Boston Globe

A very wise customer suggested we share some of the reasons why a variety of the folks that have pledged to back our Kickstarter campaign made that choice. As if it wasn't enough to get all weepy each time someone new makes a contribution, the answers we've received today to our request have been kind and thoughtful just like each of you. Today we feature Tim Kardatzke who is also a small business owner, his company East Cambridge Handyman Services has come to our rescue a couple of times.

In the summer of 2014 Virginia and Noah spent many long hours working on the feature film, Black Mass. The film premiered in September of 2015 and we couldn't be more proud of our work.

Our very good friend, Christine Tobin , was the film's food stylist and we asked her to share the Christmas cookie recipe. Christine baked dozens of cookies for the film's (brief) Bulger Family Christmas dinner set in the early '80's. We actually filmed that scene on a rainy, humid June day in Savin Hill. We hope you enjoy these cookies and thank you for making 2015 a truly wonderful year.

As 2014 was winding down we looked back at the last couple of years and assessed how we were meeting our mission. One of the founding ideas behind gather here has been "share all the knowledge" and with a class schedule that we think is stellar we think we've done a fine job at sharing our craft within Greater Boston. But we wanted to do even more. Combining our background in film/television and our love of craft, we decided the next step for gather here would be the launch of video tutorials. We compiled a list of the techniques we are most often asked about in the store, via email, and in our classes and mapped out a plan to launch a new tutorial each month.

After a week of serious carpentry a bunch of real nice people came over and helped us paint every square inch of the space.  I can't believe how different things look after a couple coats of Mythic eggshell latex paint in Parrafin.  Seriously, it's gorgeous.

The Ikea tables for the sewing machines and small people chairs for our "little stitchers classes" got built and stained. I love the bright colors but also still being able to see the wood grain.  I think it's a lot more fun than a world of pine furniture.  And the cabinets for the bathroom and general "hang out" area were put together - they are having their counter tops installed today while I do important things like blog and order books.

So you know that we're a bunch of theatre and film peeps.  We're roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-it-done types with DIY pulsing through our veins.  And we're lucky to have worked in a local industry that fosters a strong community so we have lots of people volunteering and providing their services for a song (none of us are great singers so this is a steal!).

On Sunday we unloaded folding chairs, tools, an ironing board and iron, a steamer, ten gallons of Mythic paint and a ton of snacks into the recently emptied space.  I'm a big believer in frequent snack breaks, without a handful of nuts every few hours I get wicked cranky.  Can you believe that only 48 hours earlier the shop had still been filled with antiques, collectibles and fine Thai silk-wares?