Icing flowers and Embroidery Wool

I recently heard that one of my specialty stores, Sweet Celebrations recently went out of business. I nearly cried. In a previous incarnation and based in Minneapolis area, it was called Maid of Scandinavia. They sold supplies for making candy, cakes and desserts and rose water for flavoring lemonade. Now where will I get the red waxed paper squares for my Christmas caramels? It was a double hit because a wonderful embroidery store closed here in Boise where I could find silk and wool threads and linen fabrics. It feels like loss of culture.

I came to love handmade things as a young girl. My grandmother knitted, embroidered and smocked for me and my cousins.  My mother and father are both very artful and our home was filled with the evidence of their handmade adventures.  We lived the Arts and Crafts movement or rather the 60’s and 70’s revival of it. 

The cradle of my artistic sense as I remember it was when we moved back to Ann Arbor, Michigan while my father resumed his Doctoral studies in romance linguistics,  I was about 7 years old and this time period was filled with some of the most happy recollections of my life.  My mother was always taking my brother and I on adventures. Window shopping in downtown Ann Arbor, trips to the U of M Natural History Museum, farmer’s market trips where we bought produce and armfuls of flowers wrapped in newspaper. I can only begin to name the lovely little specialty stores we haunted.

One of my favorite places was a paper goods store that sold Hallmark items located in an old home.  What a fun place.  You may remember when they made coordinated party goods in all sorts of lovely patterns.  The table centerpieces were often contrived of accordion paper ornaments which opened out from a flattened shape in a packet and clipped together to stay open.  I always dreamed of which one I might get to have for my next birthday.

I also remember a lovely little yarn shop in an old arcade in the middle of town square. My mother bought one of my first wool embroidery projects which had a scene of kittens playing with yarn. It was the start of a life long love of crewel embroidery. It seems now to be out of favor as a pass-time, but I still love separating hanks of yarn by color and perusing the various stitches I’ll be using.

Another favorite store was a party store which sold everything from wines and gourmet delights to table wares and party goods.  I think this is where I was introduced to candied violets. They are magical. Real violets are dipped in fine, shimmering, purple sugar.  Very expensive due to time-intensiveness, they are used to top special desserts. Even the most mundane custard can be elevated to royal status with a few violets perched upon it.

There was a bakery up the road from my grade school in Toledo, Ohio which sold pre-made hand painted icing flowers. Though they aren’t very tasty, they are a beautiful thing to behold. Yellow and purple pansies were my favorite of course, but all of the flowers were enchanting. When this store went out of business in the early 70’s in my economically depressed hometown, I felt so sad.

The loss of my favorite stores because of internet marketing or economic pressures is so devastating. I feel frustrated trying to find what I want in dumb-downed big box stores because the service is poor or non-existent. The only advantage to buying on the internet is that you can do it in your PJs and bunny slippers. It is too hard trying to discern color, hand (the feel of it), taste, and texture via a modem.

So my soap-stand for today is support your local merchants. They might be a bit more expensive, but its way worth the quality products, chit-chat, and knowing you are helping them make a living by selling concrete rabbits, buttons, zebra wood planks or whatever. And while you are at it, put away you poison pen and give a compliment in person or note. They will be happy to accommodate your needs if it helps them stay in business.