Finding The Floor

I've been silent for so long you probably thought I was quitting my Blog - Not!

 What I've actually been doing is searching for the Floor in my Studio.   

The reason the floor was so hard to find is because it was covered with Stuff left over from my tassel and bag business...
thousands of yards of Trims, 
hundreds of pounds of Fabrics.

Stacked in bins were vast quantities of tassel parts. In every nook and cranny were tassel blanks, wooden beads, wooden spindles, small wooden animals, tiny garden tools and flower pots...on and on and on.

All this because in 1995 I designed a line of tassels that I named Lula Belle Tassels, and starting in 1996, it just exploded.  With the help of a fabulous staff, I made and shipped thousands of Tassels, which we made right here in Marietta, Georgia.  Calico Corners put them in 120 stores and it was Game On!

Then, I designed some handbags for the High Point Market one Fall, and BAM!  We were in the Handbag Business.  I started with a few Bags, and wound up with dozens of styles

-all of which required their own bolt of fabric-

and their own bolts of trim

and cases and cases of handles, bottoms, rivets, etc.

I rented more studio space, hired more seamstresses,

more tassel makers,and a manager.  I added larger bags, which we called Satchels.

I decided that we should make painted French Market Baskets lined with a removable Tote Bag...they were an instant hit, and we shipped thousands of those, too.  So many orders came in that we wound up with a commercial paint booth - big enough to paint a small car in.  
And, of course, I had to hire a painter to paint the baskets.  She was amazing.
All of this was fun, but it had gotten very, very big.

I had a wonderful woman in charge of Packing and Shipping, whose name was Julie.

She thankfully kept us all sane and on task, shooing me aside to organize the orders and direct the tassel making, bag sewers, and basket teams.

Then suddenly, Julie left and moved to North Georgia and somehow, things just weren't the same.  I had been designing Tassels and Bags for years, I had a LOT of money in the bank, 
but I wasn't excited about it anymore.

My Husband had built the Ocean Isle Fishing Center and I wanted to go on up there.  

So I closed the Atlanta studio, stored everything, and opened a fabric store in North Carolina.

It was just a couple of miles from the beach,
in one of the fastest growing "Golf Communities"
in the United States of America - Southeastern Brunswick County, NC.

The store was popular, and we had lovely clients who bought tons of fabrics, trims, and accessories.
 They ordered lots of Custom Window Treatments,
Custom Bedding,
Wesley Hall Furniture,
and came to shop frequently
for their favorite thing:
One of A Kind Pieces
that I scoured the Atlanta and High Point Markets and Antiques vendors for.

I had a lovely, lovely staff of women
that I looked forward to seeing
every single day.

Then, the Real Estate Bubble popped, 
the Financial Markets collapsed,
New Home Building stopped,
and things got Real Quiet.

I got homesick for Atlanta.
So, I sold the store and moved back here with all that Lula Belle Stuff.
Which I've been drowning in ever since.

Every time I walked into the tightly packed studio, I got depressed.  All those stored raw materials and painted baskets made me guilty, like I needed to do something with them.  it bugged me to distraction until it finally dawned on me:
Give it away! 

Yesterday, the last load of Trims, Fabrics, Tassel Parts, Baskets and tools drove off down my driveway.  Next week, four men will arrive to dismantle and move out the Skutt Kiln and the huge Slab Roller.  I have made some people very happy.
They got brand new, FREE Stuff.

And, I found my floor.
Which is delightfully bare, freshly painted, and peaceful.
So, so happy.

Sunday Afternoon - Aground in Shallotte Inlet, NC

All members of our family are acutely aware that navigating Shallotte Inlet, between Ocean Isle Beach and Holden Beach, is nothing short of tricky.  

Here's why:

In this aerial photo by Marinas.com, you can see the muddy area to the left...that is sand, even though there are waves that make it look like, well, WATER.   The deeper channel is clearly visible on the right (Holden Beach) side.

Because of the tides that rip through here, the sand shifts around like a living creature, piling up into bars and shoals that move around.  A lot.  Mainly because of this constant shifting, the Inlet isn't marked.


In April every year, all of us develop a heightened sense of alertness, with an ear tilted toward the inlet, because we know that visitors won't necessarily know to hug the Holden Beach side to avoid the hidden sandbars that lurk on the Ocean Isle side.  To run aground in the Shallotte Inlet on the wrong wind or sea, or with night approaching, can be deadly.

Soooo, when I got the call from Husband around 4:00 Sunday afternoon that he was aground in Shallotte Inlet, I jumped in the car and drove down there.  All photos from my Iphone...sorry for the quality, but you'll "get the picture"!


This is my first view when I emerged from the beach access path:

No boat.  But, the inlet beach is very long.  So, walk, walk, walk.

 

Aha!  There he is - the boat with the black bottom.  Looks like water under him, until you get closer...

The Ocean Isle Fishing Center World Cat is standing by, and a smaller boat that came to help is in the middle.  That's Husband STANDING in the inlet.  Know what I mean?  Standing in the inlet??

In the time it took me to walk around to the tip of the sandbar, the tide almost completely went out.  That fast!  You can see the waves out on the horizon, thankfully calm and a couple hundred yards away.  Those are what get you in trouble when you run aground in an inlet. 

Husband has just figured out that I am in the neighborhood, and taking his picture.  He yells out, "Little White Dove!  I'm  Running Bear!".  Stand-up comic, he is.

Nothing to do now but put the anchor out, abandon ship and wait for the tide to come in.

Walking where water was, only 15 minutes ago.

You can see from the shadows that night is fast approaching - the absolute worst time to be trying to maneuver a boat off a sandbar with the tide coming in behind you.   

The dogs are unconcerned, and wait with us for the incoming tide and son Barrett to come join the fray. 

Barrett arrives later in the evening, and deftly ushers Dad down the waterway in inky darkness.  Working together, they swiftly engineer the boat off the sandbar with the help of the incoming tide, retrieve the anchor, and head home.

Thankfully, all's well that ends well.  Lesson learned.  Hug the Holden Beach side of Shallotte Inlet.  

No harm to the boat or engines, just to my Husband's bruised ego.  As you might imagine.  But it could've been a lot worse.  Thanks again, good old Guardian Angel!

Hurricane Irene Update

Thank You, Thank You.  Thank you very, very much.

Do you see that tiny gray line between South Carolina and North Carolina?  That is us.  And that is where landfall is not going to be.  Yaaay for this!  That means we are on the Backside of the storm, and winds will be breezy, but not horrific.

So I can sleep tonight, with a full pantry of groceries for Jim Cantore, in case he decides to stop by, and Holy Moly, more wine than I can drink in a month.  How lovely is THAT?

However.  Hurricane Irene could still make landfall on the Outer Banks.  So please join hands with me and send a prayer up to the Big Guy that the steering currents take Irene on out to sea...where she belongs.

We don't want to see This Again:

Images from Steve Quayle News Alerts.

Thank you from the bottom, sides, and top of my heart for your visits and emails...it is always so very lovely and strengthening to know that we have a safety net of friends out there, no matter where on the globe they are.  We will sleep tonight.