A Girl in a Hardware Store

I've been trying really hard to spend some time in my weekends to do something creative and crafty. I have two projects going right now. A suede hat and jacket and swedish shades for the kitchen.

Every now and then there comes a time when the world of crafts and the world of hardware must collide. Today was one of those days. So off I went after dalrods and wooden slats, screws, hooks, and eye srews, cleets, and brass rings. The dalrods were easy. They had the exact size I needed - and even the exact length. The slats not so easy, I finally settled for an 8 foot 1x2, even though my directions called for a 1-1/2 x 3/4. After finding someone to help me muddle through the screw aisle, I discovered that I could get brass hooks, but not brass eyes....and I could get silver cleets, but not brass cleets....and that the board I was buying was indeed a 3/4x 2", but they just call it a 1", even though it is really 3/4". After all of that, he directed me to the area of the store that dealt with custom window treatments to ask for the cord pulls and brass rings. When I asked they guy there about those things, he give me a condescending look and let me know that those are the kinds of things you find at a craft store, ya know, like Michaels. So I proceeded to check out where I found out that the tag on the shelf that said (1x2x8') meant that the price was per foot - even though the price tag said how long it was....and that even though the tag said it was 8' long, it was really 9 -1/2 feet long because they want to make sure you have a little extra - but the little extra isn't free, mind you. You still get to pay for the extra footage, since you are paying by the foot.....and I'm sure this makes perfect sense to those who buy lumber on a daily basis - but not this girl in the hardware store!

So....off I go to Michaels where I feel more at home, but I soon discover that they don't carry anything for window treatments. At. All. They recommended I try a fabric store. So....off I go to JoAnn's, where I am really at home. But they only have clear plastic cleets, and white plastic rings, and white plastic drapery pulls.....which is exactly what I was looking for. NOT!

So, I came home with about 1/2 the supplies I needed...and I'm not highly motivated to go back out again.



So here is a project I finished recently out of washed, wool felt.