If I Believed in Coincidences, This Would Be Incredible!

I used to believe in coincidences when I was much younger.  I now recognize it as divine intervention. 

On Sept 1st, one of my blog readers, Gwen, who is a miniaturist, and now an online friend, forwarded me an email with a picture of a fabric called "Vintage Shabby Rose".  She had been sent the email from one of her online friends, who had passed away over a year ago.  Gwen had received hundreds of emails from this woman that she was still working her way through.  She picked Sept 1st to open and share the rose fabric with me.

Hours later that same day, I got an email from someone who had seen my furniture and wondered if I took commissions.  She was looking for a shabby chic sofa in the same style of my traditional sofas, for her Momoko doll room.  She mentioned "maybe something with a rose that has a beachy feel".   I had never done a shabby chic sofa, but I was very familiar with the style from my interior design days.  I told her I would look for a fabric and get her approval before beginning the project.  I immediately thought about the fabric that Gwen had sent me earlier, but it was about $20 a yard + shipping, just for the one piece. 

That weekend I went to my favorite home decor discount store.  I buy most of my upholstery fabrics there because the fabrics are priced right and I can usually find some really unique fabrics.  I went through the whole store and I only found two fabrics that I thought might work.  I was hoping to find more, so the buyer could have a choice.  If she didn't like either of these, I would have to go to the other upholstery stores that were a lot more expensive.

These are the two fabrics I found.  The scale was perfect for 1/6 scale. I wasn't sure how she would feel about all the yellow.  It wasn't the Vintage Shabby Rose fabric that Gwen sent to me, but there were roses.

So, my new customer loved both fabrics, but was willing to see more, if I had some.  Since I didn't, we moved forward with these two.  I told her I would update her on my progress in a few days.  This past Sunday, I emailed her to say that the sofa was 90% done and that I would finish in a couple of days.  She emailed me back and told me she was sooo excited.  She stated that she had been telling one of her online Momoko friends that she would soon be getting a shabby chic sofa for her dolls.  She emailed her friend a picture of the fabrics, and this is where the magic happens....

Her friend, who she has never met before, immediately sent her the following pictures of her real sofa in her own living room.

Can you believe it!!! It has the same fabrics that I chose for the doll sofa?  It was as though I had walked into this ladies living room and saw her furniture.  My customer and her friend were in disbelief, as am I.  I would have loved to have seen this before I made the doll sofa.  This is a great example of shabby chic. 

So let's play a little game of "What are the odds?"  What are the odds that

1) On Sept 1, Gwen would open the email with shabby chic fabric after it had sat unopened for so long, and then email it to me.  We had never really discussed fabrics before.

2) On Sept 1, I would get a commission for a shabby chic sofa.

3) I would find both these fabrics in a discount fabric store. They weren't even together in the store.  I ran across the second fabric 15 mins after finding the first.

4) She would like these fabrics, which were the first ones I showed her.

5) My customer's online friend, that she never met, or discussed her real furniture with, would have a shabby chic sofa made of this fabric.  I looked at over 100 photos of shabby chic sofas preparing for this project, and never once did I see this fabric, which tells me it is not a common fabric choice.

I immediately got goosebumps and everytime I think about this I get goosebumps all over again and a little teary eyed.  As I always say, God is in the details.  What other explanation can there be?  Of all the fabrics in the world, all the people in the world, all the days in a year, etc, we were connected with a style (shabby chic) and a couple of pieces of fabric.  I always know that God is with me every day.  I just get extra excited when things like this happen because I know that this could be a prelude to something fabulous that he is planning.  It also reminds me of his awesomeness.  Not that I need to be reminded.