Two Best Words in the English Language

Every 3rd week of the month, with occasional exceptions around Christmas, the local Ben Franklin store has this sign out front. I've lived here for over 17 years, all the years when my kids were growing up. Whenever we'd pass this sign, I'd point and exclaim, "Ahh, two of the best words in the English language!" (I was brainwashing them.)

Why are there also potatoes on the sign? Interesting thing about our Ben Franklin...it is inside a local grocery. It's quite a unique little set-up. I've only seen it elsewhere in Amish country. But we are not Amish country (although quite a few are relocating here because of the availability of farmland).

But I digress.

The grocery is one of 2 that serves this little town, and this one has been here for generations, from what I've learned. When we first moved  here, a Radio Shack was also housed inside; it has since moved out. The Ben Franklin remains, and is a close-to-home fabric supplier to area quilters who prefer not to drive an hour or more to a larger metropolitan center. The girls who work there are knowlegable and helpful, and learn who their repeat customers are very quickly. One of my favorites retired last year (or has it been 2?), and this store, like most businesses, is reducing workforce to cut costs. The girls sometimes split their time between manning the Ben Franklin and cashiering on the grocery aisles.

Rumors go out every once in a while that the BF corporate office plans to close our little store. So far those have been just that - rumors. I don't buy as much there as I used to, mostly because I have truly reached a saturation point as far as my stash goes. However, I do try to make purchases whenever I can just to help them with customers counts. They carry what they call "flat folds" as very reasonable sale prices, and often one will find some of the top fabric designers on the flat fold table, so it's not inferior quality, at all. They have a very nice variety of homespuns, panels, flannels, Christmas prints, and lots more. For such a tiny part of a big grocery, they are very aware of what the quilters want and/or need.

My plan for today was to clean my sewing room. I did not. (Although the day is not over yet.) I did, however, get 4 more snowflake blocks completed, and I sewed a ton of 4-patch units to finish up the remaining 7 snowflakes yet to be made. Progress is progress, even in fits and starts.