Oh my gosh--I also had the coins in a hanky for an emergency. Too funny. My mother worked at GC Murphy's 5 & 10 while I was growing up so I went there most days after school to ride home with her when my dad picked her up. It was a large store-3 floors and sold everything from clothes to hardware and had a soda fountain. Across the street was a Woolworth's and down the block a Grant's and Montgomery Ward. It was such a bustling town; now it's all drugstores and bars and empty buildings.
I've been doing some scrappy blocks but my scraps are not decreasing. I think I better join the Fabric Moratorium thread!