Saturday, November 17, 2012

Fabric stores through the eyes of a child

As I sit here waiting for it to be time to head off to the Crafts Emporium, my favorite craft bazaar to go to every year with mom, I can't help but think back to a conversation I had with her last weekend. We were in the truck and headed to Barnes & Noble to get a few books and she asked if it was ok if we stopped at the Quilt Tree to just look, I said sure cause I find it fun to go look at all the fabrics. Plus it's pretty much always a given that we will go to the quilt shop if we go to book store cause the quilt shop is right behind it.

I can't remember who brought it up first but we got to talking about how when we were kids and dragged to the fabric stores we both hated it. Mom remembers being really bored as grandma would look through patterns and I agreed with her that yeah that indeed is boring to a child. There is nothing for a kid to do at fabric stores besides be bored and depending on the store swivel around on the stool and make yourself dizzy. I did that A LOT when mom would haul me to Joann's. Oh how I hated it, I would sit there and think can I be anywhere else but here please? cause I could only just sit there and wait for her to be done cause if I did anything else I would just get myself in trouble. It also seemed like the more I nagged her about being done the longer it took her. I thought for the longest time that the fabric store was my own personal hell, I would groan and pout if mom said we were going there while we were out and about.

I don't feel that way anymore, I grew up and lo and behold I actually enjoy going now. I have helped mom so many times now picking out fabrics that complement one another. I'm actually rather good at doing it too. I have an eye for colors which is amazing cause my eyes suck at everything else (besides finding a certain drink mom likes in a big bin at the store). The only time I don't like helping her is when she has a very distinct idea of a pattern in her head for the piece of fabric we are looking for. That's only till she shows me what she is kinda looking for cause she stinks at describing what it is she wants. But once I get an idea it goes better.

I think it's funny how as a kids it bored me and mom to death to go to the fabric store,but now we both enjoy it. Is it because we got dragged kicking and screaming so many times to the store that we just gave in to it? The likely reason is as we grow our brains grow and we find stuff that once bored us cause we didn't understand it, now entertains us because we do understand why our mothers found what they were doing so entertaining. It is also likely that I am more like my mother then I  tend to want to admit. She is very much into quilting, knitting, crocheting, and cross stitch as am I, well besides the crocheting (I suck at it). I remember watching her sew and finding it amazing that she could take strips of fabric and make it into a quilt, or a bag. I loved helping her while she was sewing and I still do. I know she likes when I help too cause it makes the project she is working on go a bit faster.

Thanks mom for dragging me to the fabric stores when I was younger, I know I didn't like it then but I understand now why you like to go.

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