minute by minute

there are a few stores that i like to consider my safe harbors for private meditation and reflection. places that supply items that do nothing but please and inspire me. in corporate america those places are joann fabrics, barnes and noble and occasionally target. something about entering a familiar store that sets my soul at ease. i could be in a foreign place, personally uncharted in every way, but when i walk into these stores i've got my compass back.

of course beyond large chains there are lots of little wonderful places i have found. great balls of yarn, the year round farmers market by my house, urban thread in gainesville. then there are places like the ocean avenue bridge, the bathtub, the undeveloped plot in my neighborhood, the sea wall at the end of clematis street, the boardwalk to the beach, and my parents roof.

point is, these are my lighthouses. when i've had a rough day or am in need of a project, odds are you can find me somewhere like this.

so you can imagine my utter horror when i walked into joann fabrics yesterday, the one less than a mile from my house and the only one around for two towns, and found shelves being torn down.

it was as if ice water had been poured down the back of my neck. i literally stopped dead in my tracks, did a full scan of the disturbance in my zen and craned my vision towards the first employee i saw.

"oh my god are you closing!?"   was the first thing that flew out of my mouth.

of course the first employee i saw was nearly 10 yards away from me checking out a long line of customers. she stared at me, puzzled by my unrest. store patrons with armfuls of batting and fabric looked at me with a mixture of bewilderment and general annoyance in the 5 second delay i d created. which i supposed i understand, when you ve got a project to do every obstacle is an annoyance.

"we are renovating the store. it s getting an upgrade."  aaaand cue overwhelming relief. so much so that i blurted back, well that's wonderful news!

so i went from losing one of my comfortable places to gaining it back with a shiny new look. talk about your flip-flop of emotion.

maybe there's something silly in the material attachment i've developed for these stores. after all it's just a store, i can go somewhere else and i shouldn't need a place to make me happy.

to that i say, hush.

it's not always about the actual act that makes something special; sometimes it's what it brings out in you. if joann had closed down i would have found a new place for supplies, but i would have had to look a little harder to find a place that helped me feel inspired. i mean we are talking about the place where i bought my first mccall's pattern with my mom, where i first determined in full how to make a backpack, where i've sat and thought and paced and compared and developed myself creatively.

so on this celebratory friday, i'd like to share some wonderful ideas for inspiration.

winter flower solution. from charlotte's fancy.

 diy book clutch. from shannon eileen. miniature quilt: the vegetable patch. from purl bee. 

cover doilles in wallpaper glue, glue them to balloon, pop balloon when dry and...viola. from dos family.

 

vegetable art! from home serenity. and diy cardigan embellishments. from the sisters 4 say more is more.

enjoy, and may you all find a safe harbor of your own.