Week of September 8, 2015

Labor Day has come and gone… and for many of us that is the dividing point between summer and fall.

 

 

I always have liked the idea of summer starting at Memorial Day and going through until Labor Day. While that is no longer the case for many, schools that start in mid-August is an example, for me that is still how I think of summer.

This year the summer has seemed very short. There was the cold, rainy beginning to it in June, followed by a pattern of no pattern… we never really settled into a reliable weather pattern, until the last week, where we were rewarded by hot summery days. While pumpkins have arrived at the farm stands, along with mums, sure signs of fall, I am not ready to embrace it!!! I say, enjoy the summer like days that we are having!!! After all, February will happen!

But, once September is on the calendar two things happen. Many people who have gardens realize there is no way to eat all of the kale and other vegetables they have planted. And, not everything stores well. A desperation to make all of the vegetable over flow disappear takes place. Neighbors start to give away as much as they can to those of us without gardens. Summer squash litter counters, bags of greens wilt, as no one can eat all the largesse one is handed as one walks by ones neighbors’ houses.

The other thing that happens is the Farmer’s Almanac comes out. Whether one believes in its predictions or not, it is a major topic of conversation. If a bad winter is predicted ( which they did for this coming winter ) people moan, converse about snow levels, cold temperatures, and compare what might be with what has been. If, on the other hand it is supposed to be a mild winter, people heave a sigh of relief, and feel there is a bit more time to get fall chores done.

Once the prediction for a bad winter is handed down all sorts of other weather forecasting is done… people talk about the size of acorns… “the larger the acorn, the harder the winter”; the wooly bear caterpillar… “the wider the brown tummy band, the worse the weather”; early blooming of golden rod… “it’s going to be an early winter”. You can see how these become major topics of conversations at the market, the post office, and the dump.

It is easy to fall into the trap of forgetting to enjoy today as we await next month… Halloween candy may be in the markets, pumpkins may be at the farm stands, but this wonderful time should be enjoyed for what it is, an extension of summer, a gift. After all, life is all about how one wants to spend one’s time, and these days, although short, are very enjoyable!

 

WEDNESDAY- September 9, 2015

It rained last night. While it did not last long, it was great to hear it on the roof. So many parts of the country have suffered from dry spells, with high temperatures, and high humidity this summer. But, here many of us don’t have air conditioning! People, animals, and plants are simply not used to dealing with long periods of high temperatures with high humidity and no rain.

There is a maple down the street that has shed a lot of leaves due to the lack of rain. And the tops of the ashes are greyed out. I am not certain that the leaf season will be very colorful, as it is partially dependent on the amount of rain the trees get going into the fall.

 

The focus of Brick House Fabrics has always been novelty fabrics. Our thought has been that one can get fabrics with stripes, plaids, and dots pretty much anywhere, so we concentrated on novelty fabrics.

Many of the fabrics we buy do not come as a collection, they don’t have co-ordinating fabrics; they were made as stand alone fabrics. But, we get an awful lot of requests for co-ordinating patterns. To that end we added the checked fabrics, stripes, and tweeds already on line.

This week we will begin adding solids. We are starting with a basket weave in over forty colors. Then we will move on to another set of solids with a corded weave. To begin with we will not be carrying these in house, they will be drop shipped from the mill. These are compatible with the basic fabrics we already have.

We will be re-organizing the Basic category section as we go, hopefully making it easy to navigate your search!

Watch the Fabric Blog entries for
updates on the progress!

 

And for those that don’t care about solids, we have about ten fabrics
that also need to be listed. There are two Indiennes, some exotic animal fabrics, as well as several of other genres!

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