Joyful Expressions: Sunday Sermon and Fabric Bargains

GOOD EVENING MY 3 FAITHFUL FOLLOWERS!

I decided to watch my second favorite preacher this morning on Jerry's big computer monitor: John Hagee. He was talking about the next BIG THING to happen -- maybe in 2012 -- maybe not. I guess the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, so the end of the world is supposed to happen this year. Hagee says the next big thing will be the RAPTURE of the church. That is certainly fine with me. Maybe we won't have to suffer through this coming election. It's torture enough watching the debates this year. I like all the candidates, and I dislike all the candidates. How on earth does one choose?

Okay. 'nuf of that.

After watching Hagee it was already after lunch. I made a sandwich with my yummy Panera Sesame bread and added the guacamole I made yesterday and some tostito chips. (Where is Dan Quayle? Is there an "e" on the end of "tostito"?) Then I decided -- like all dedicated seamstresses -- that I should go to Hancock's to see if there was anything I missed when I went 2 days ago. When I am here in Edmond at our "other home", I have the luxury of a Hancock's Fabric Store just 3 miles away. You know I've really been going through the knit fabric around here, so I decided to go look for some woven fabrics. It made sense to me at the time....

Got to Hancock's and started wandering around. I went to the back and noticed some nice linen fabric on sale for 30% off. The end of the bolt said $19.99, so I figured 30% off was better than full price. I did the usual wrinkle test on the two pieces I found that were bright enough for my taste. They both said machine wash "cold" and hang to dry. Usually, linen says Dry Clean Only. I don't like dry cleaning, so I usually walk away from that label.

Now, here's the good part...

I walked around looking for a cutting table for my two bolts of 30% off linen. I saw a young man named Daniel who offered to help me. I looked at him and said, "Do you know how to cut fabric?" He assured me he did. I plopped my two bolts up on the table and Daniel took the price gun out of its holster. He scanned bolt #1 and said, "This is $2.97 a yard." Okay -- I'm no rocket scientist, but it didn't seem to me that 30% off of $19.99 could leave $2.97.

I, being a very honest person and assuming Daniel wasn't too bright, explained that $2.97 could not possibly be right. He scanned the bolt with his gun again, and it came up $2.97 a yard. I started to buy some for me and some for Phylly too, but I didn't. I figured when I got to the cash register with the GIRL cashier that they would say I could not possibly have that fine linen fabric for $2.97 a yard.

Daniel cut my 2 1/2 yards from that bolt, and we went on to the next bolt. I'm thinking this bolt will surely come up to $14.00 a yard which would be 30% off of $19.99. Daniel pokes his gun at the end of the bolt and looks up at me with a big grin on his face. He says, "This one is $1.97 a yard!" I explain to Daniel that he must be delusional and the fabric could not possibly be that cheap. Meanwhile, I am wondering if I had been in the "Rag Department" and didn't realize this wasn't really linen at all. I'm hoping it won't disintegrate in the bag on the way home!

I got home with my new fabric that says "wash in cold and hang to dry", and I immediately threw both pieces in the washer with a little detergent and WARM water. I put a Color Catcher sheet (HOW GREAT ARE THEY!?) in the washer, and I watched. Nothing happened -- no color seeping out of anything -- and nothing falling apart. In a minute the load will be done, and I will see if this amazing bargain survived. It is going in the dryer too. I figure whatever hazard is going to happen can just go ahead and happen and I will make a blouse out of whatever is left. Here are the two linens in the washer. The water looks very clear, doesn't it.

Here is the Color Catcher sheet AFTER the clothes were washed. YIKES! Sure glad I put it in.

Here are the two linen pieces I bought today from darling Daniel AFTER they have been washed and dried:

I can't see any difference at all. I did dry them each all alone in the dryer after seeing the dryer sheet. Watch for the blouses I make out of these with my SFD Dress Kit or Shirt Kit.

I mentioned that I just went to Hancock's two days ago. I was looking for something to make jackets out of that day. I never can find anything pretty, and I like prints. I hardly ever make a solid woven. I probably wouldn't make solid knits if that wasn't the only way I could find them. Phylly likes solids. We are going to ETA in Dallas (Education of the Textile Arts by Peggy Sagers) in February. We have matching pajamas, but we didn't think we should have matching blouses too. Might be a bit much even for friends as close as we are.

LOL. Phylly has lost so much weight and she is so short, she would just get lost next to me

ANYWAY, I digress......................... I do that a lot! I couldn't find any pretty prints, and as always happens, I had to go visit the little girl's room. On my way to the the girl's room, I had to walk through the decorator fabric section, and they all happened to be 50% off that day. I thought as I walked by: Why can't they have any of these fun prints in the fabric section? As I walked back from the girl's room, I STOPPED at the decorator fabric and decided I was going to touch it and see what it felt like. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm, it felt like regular fabric. I looked at the label -- it said cotton. I looked at the cleaning suggestion: Dry Clean Only. Since it was 50% off -- and it would have to be at $29.00 a yard -- YIKES! -- before I would even consider lifting the 500 pound bolt off the equally heavy rod -- I decided to go for it.

I put three choices in my basket and rolled up to a lady that worked there that looked like she knew a lot. Daniel must not have been there that day. I asked her if I could make some jackets out of this drapery fabric, or was it against the law. She told me that a LOT of people use it to make clothes. Well, who new??? People have been walking around with drapes on all this time! (Lady Gaga)