Another icicle doll & a rant

Here's the little icicle doll I made for Arlee for a wee giftie. She doesn't 'do' Christmas, so I can't really call it a Christmas gift! These are her colours, so I was pretty sure she'd like it.

Now for the rant part of this post. I know I've mentioned before just how lacking this area is in the ability to find supplies for art/crafting. Front page article in our local paper is that our one and only semi-decent source for anything is closing in March. Although Fabricland doesn't carry a whole lot beyond fabric and the necessary things to work with it, it will be sorely missed. The closest one is over thirty miles away.

We have over 200 members in our local quilt guild, many of whom are elderly and unable to travel any distance to get supplies. We have a very active Victoria's Quilts organization here too - where are they going to get materials to work with? Where are we going to get simple things like a decent spool of thread? Sewing machine needles?

I have never been in Fabricland but what it wasn't busy and, according to the paper, they have been doing quite well. So why would they be forced to close? According to the report, they want something bigger (and cheaper to rent) - which is impossible to find here.

We do have a tiny little fabric store downtown, but the fabric is old and moldy (well maybe not really, but it's been in the store forever so it SHOULD be moldy!). The man that runs it is a complete jerk, so not very many people darken the doorstep. His thread is the cheapest you can get and won't work in most machines.

Our town isn't THAT small and is growing but you'd certainly never know it by the services we have. There has been an ongoing battle over the possibility of getting a WalMart - it's been raging for almost ten years and still no progress. Our factories are pretty much gone. We blame the city council for most of it. They refuse to make decisions for fear of offending already existing businesses - and then they wonder why people go out of town to shop?

There are several smaller towns nearby that are doing quite well. They cater to the tourist trade and have shops that reflect that. We could have a vibrant downtown too, if there was a little thought put into it.

Fabricland closing is just another blow.