TRURO - In less than half the time it took an American to make a record-breaking 55 wreaths, Bible Hill's Carolann Naugle had already surpassed that.
The 52-year-old made a total of 70 wreaths - including the final one blindfolded - from 4 p.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Douglas Street Recreation Centre.
At 1:27 a.m., Naugle finished the 56th wreath, and took a break until about 5 a.m.
"It feels pretty good," said Naugle, while taking a break late Saturday afternoon. "I was happy at 60. That was my initial goal. I was scared I would run out of brush before my goal, but it was about 63 when I ran out of brush."
The Valley native had a friend bring her some brush at about 10:30 Saturday morning, but Naugle ran out a second time.
Despite carpel tunnel in her hands, Naugle was able to tough the 24 hours out.
"My hands aren't good. I can still do stuff though," she said.
Throughout the challenge, Naugle said the hardest part wasn't the pain in her hands, but staying awake.
"I was getting pretty groggy, but I have some good friends that kept coming by. Two of them decorated their heads and danced around. They kept me in stitches," she said.
At the end of the 24-hour period, Naugle was planning on selling the wreaths for $20. Half of that price was to cover the costs of materials and the other half, as well as any donations that came in from visitors, will go to the Children's Wish Foundation.
"One of the guys I work with, his nephew had been diagnosed with bone cancer and is going to have his leg amputated at the age of 10," Naugle explained as her reason for choosing the foundation.
She also knows another family who just had their two-year-old daughter diagnosed with leukemia, and while she was attempting to break the world record, a family had rented out the gym at the school and one of the children was a wish child.
"So that will be $700 for the Wish Foundation from today," she said.
Once Naugle sends her paperwork and proof in to the Guinness World Records, it will take between four and six weeks for her to know if she has officially beaten the record.
Naugle already holds the world record for the largest wreath that was made - a feat she captured in 2008 with a wreath measuring more than 76 metres in diameter.
"I just like making them," she said when she was an hour-and-a-half into the 24-hour record attempt.
While she's been making wreaths competitively since 1994, Naugle also helps those in the community create them.
She will be at South Colchester Academy this Thursday morning to make wreaths with the special education students.
rtetanish@trurodaily.com
