Agnes Pool of Wilsonville has loved making one of her favorite hobbies into a local cottage business out of her home.

She has always been creative and crafty, but when she moved to her current home with a large basement, she began stocking up on supplies and created a craft room, which is how it began. Agnes makes beautiful gourmet gift baskets and has given them out to her family for years with each holiday season like birthdays, Christmas and Easter.

When she decided to turn it into a business, she did a lot of research through the library.

“I poured over books on design and starting a gift basket business,” she said.

Finally, she created a portfolio of all her designs or themes, and made business cards and brochures as many local businesses distributed these. Agnes always takes the time to send out personal “Thank you” cards to each person who orders from her.

She named her business “A Basket Full,” and goes around to local craft shows and bazaars in the county and sells them. You can also find her on her Facebook page. If you call Agnes at 670-5477, you will notice her voicemail cheerfully greeting you with “Thanks a basket full!”

Her gift baskets are special because no two are the same. She goes by her slogan “Custom made gift baskets designed with you in mind,” and she said. “If you receive a gift basket from me it was for you.”

Each one of her baskets contains a handmade item like quilted and appliquéd or knitted and crocheted seasonal potholders, handcrafted bookmarks and hand-painted Christmas ornaments. She actually won a ribbon for her appliquéd pot holder at the fair this year. Along with her handmade items, a variety of gourmet coffees, teas, meats, cheeses and crackers catered to match her different themes, and matching bows and flower ties contained in unique bowls, mugs, bread baskets, plates, boxes and buckets give them a variety of sizes and a special touch.

“This is as good as it gets,” Agnes said about how much she is enjoying doing what she loves.

Although the Christmas colors are some of her favorites, she always keeps several of her popular baskets on hand so she can make them very quickly. Some of the others include the Mending Jars with pins, needles, thread and scissors; the Feel Better Basket with daisies, chicken soup, crackers, herbal teas, mints and crossword puzzles; the Bereavement Basket with handkerchief and inspirational books; and the 50th Birthday Basket with items from the 1960s. Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and her Welcome Baby Baskets are also big hits.

Her baskets have now made it nationwide as she ships them to different states for all different occasions on a regular basis.

Kennedy Tolbert, the community columnist for Wilsonville, can be reached at kennedytolbert@bellsouth.net.