Ping Kate T

Hey Edna Pearl

Well I'll be darned and I was thinking of going to Lacy's later this month.

Is there one further down 59 and off on a county road. I remember in

I never found one in Fairhope, wish I had. Sounds like you are out of LQS just like I am.

I might be coming over to Alabama in the next couple weeks. I'll know more next week.

Kate T. South Mississippi

If you do find a home business in Foley, by all means let me in on the secret. I heard that the lady who had the Fairhope shop is trying to keep her group and some of her business going out of her home in Daphne. It seems that's the only way a needle arts business can beat the overhead costs these days.

Speaking of which, when I was thinking about basting with pins the other day, I was wondering where I could buy more safety pins now that our local Al's 5&10 store had closed. Al's was within bicycling distance, and was a reliable source of spool thread and Coats embroidery floss (though not DMC), basic notions, a few creative supplies like felt and crewel patterns and foam core -- as well as fish for the aquarium.

In addition, I'm used to there being a quilt shop and/or a fancy needlework shop here in town, within two miles (I live on the outskirts of town in what used to be "the country" but is now surrounded by subdivisions and a few fallow fields.) I didn't realize until Al's closed that *all* these local needlework shops are also closed, and that the closest place I can buy a darn fool safety pin is Wal-Mart, which is two miles away, and I don't do business with Wal-Mart, so I have to drive eight miles to Hobby Lobby to buy a safety pin. (Wal-Mart is the only place we can get aquarium fish without driving 30-60 miles into the city of Mobile.)

That's just wrong . . . .

Sure, I can buy safety pins over the Internet. You can probably buy a blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Cambodian donkey over the Internet. But I am surprised and rather saddened that I can't buy a simple safety pin in my own home town anymore. And there are plenty of times when it's less convenient to order over the Internet and wait a couple of days for delivery than it is to drop what I'm doing and drive to the nearest store. And it's so nice to browse a good needlework store. In fact, the Internet is probably part of the competition that makes it hard for small needlework shops to survive, along with big box stores like Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby.