Shopping

Sometimes I just got-ta shop. This was one of those days. It's so hot and summer's got a long way to go so I decided that even a tee-shirt is not cool enough to sleep in. I wanted a wisp of a top for sleeping and it's sale time in the department stores. So off I went to Daffy's which always has lots of racks of stuff on sale. Finding a couple of PJs quickly was easy enough.

But Daffys is a place where I have to allow myself a couple of hours because I HAVE to look through all the racks. They have tons of stuff for very young women but sometimes amid the age INappropriate tops and shoes and so on, I have, in the past found treasures for a tiny price. I have yet to meet any man who can comprehend the impulse to paw through item after item, stopping at the colors that that I like. In fact, many women also cannot bear this kind of shopping. It's a treasure hunt, really. I think it is infinitely more satisfying than, say buying an instant win lottery ticket and, in a matter of a few seconds scraping off the coating on the answer only to discover one has just wasted a dollar or five. If I don't find anything, even though I've enjoyed fingering knits, cottons, silks and synthetics and looking at a variety of styles, then I haven't wasted any money and have had both a tactile experience and the same satisfaction of the hunt that a fisherman has when he stands all day by the lake, maybe pulls in a few too small to keep and comes home empty handed, with no sense of having wasted his time.

It's something to do with my enjoyment of textiles -- I really enjoy seeing what's been done with different fabrics and patterns, perhaps other sewers can understand. So, did I find anything? Well, a $12 pale blue sweatshirt, totally classic design. Something I'll pull on over and over again in the cooler months ... that is if I don't act on thought I had on the way home. I could turn it into a quilted patchwork jacket. I had a conversation with a woman wearing such a jacket at a quilt show; she explained exactly how she cut of the ribbed cuffs and bottom , slit the front and sides and undersleeves, sewed on stripes of fabric and put it back together. I've been thinking about that ever since. Hmmm ... I suppose I'll keep on thinking about it until the weather gets cooler and I decide how much in love with this sweatshirt I am. There are possibilities ...