Wedding Celebration

We celebrated today! Our dear friends, Lisa and Tim, got married in a sweet, simple ceremony. Then we all headed to a nearby park for a fun reception. We ate in the gazebo and the children (and lots of adults) played lawn games nearby.

When was the last time you saw two people look happier? Congratulations!

Jumper for my daughter

I'm so excited! I made a jumper for my three-year-old daughter. The last time I made clothing of any kind was a nursing shirt, done the day or so before she was born. The pattern was super easy; the problem, for her at least, is that she may have an entire wardrobe of jumpers by the end of the year!

4-H Day at Haven Hill Farms

We just got back from a fun day with Marlene and Steve Chavis at Haven Hill Farms. Our family has been involved with the Haven Hill Farms 4-H Horse Club for the past 2 years. My older daughter started lessons there in the winter of 2007 and my son started lessons this spring. They have learned so much from Marlene and have a really good time with her and the horses. My youngest is 3 and can hardly wait until she's old enough to learn to ride.
Here she is on Poco, with Steve keeping a close eye on things.




This is my 7 year old son, waiting his turn for an event.








And, his turn at last!















Thanks, Steve and Marlene, for a great day.

Friday with the bedesisters

Lori and I had another great day out gathering supplies and ideas. This week we headed for Columbia, SC and the Harbison area. We first went to Hancock Fabrics where they had a sale on McCall patterns-$0.88! I bought the limit, ten. We then went to Michaels craft store, always a fun trip.

Our penultimate stop was a new one for both of us, Beads etc. Beth, in the picture with Lori, showed us around. It's a great shop; if you're in the Harbison Blvd. area, check them out!


After a tough afternoon shopping, we treated ourselves to iced lattes at Books-A-Million. Mmmm, raspberry...

I didn't park there, honest.

Herding Chickens

I overheard a conversation between my husband and 7 year old son the other night. My husband asked our boy to take some leftovers to the chickens. You should know that the chickens are usually my teenage daughter's job, but she was busy elsewhere. I thought, "That's not a good idea. The gate can be hard to close." But I decided to keep out of it.

Fast forward an hour or so and my husband said to me, "Let's go for a walk." As we started out I looked toward the chicken coop and said, "Is that chicken OUT?"

My daughter, husband and I spent the next half hour herding chickens. More than half of our 24 bird flock had gotten out and were having a great time exploring. One bird lost most of its tail feathers when hubby made a grab for it. We finally cornered the last one. He crept up behind it, slowly, slowly, then-snatch! She struggled for a few seconds then gave up and he put her gently back in with the rest of the girls.

They'll be cackling about that adventure for weeks.

bedesisters go to Aiken

It was time for a field trip and the bedesisters headed to Aiken, SC. Aiken is a great place with a wonderful town center. We headed for Hayne Avenue, a crafters paradise.

I wanted to touch all the yarn at Barbara Sue Brodie Needleworks. They have a fabulous shop with yarns you won't find just anywhere. Here I am, in crochet heaven!

We then went next door to the Aiken Quilt Shoppe, where Sarah helped us find the perfect fabric for our new sign. We're going to embroider our name on it to use at shows. (I say "we" but really mean "have some else" do it for us.) Here's Lori watching as our sign-in-the-making is cut. Isn't that fabric awesome? It looks like suede.

And you'll never guess what's in the back room of the quilt shop... an absolutely stunning model train. It's a whole city back there!




















We also found the best place for beautiful ribbon, Southern Fabrics. Lots of ribbon and I like it all.

And of course, a girl's got to eat, so we stopped at the Aiken Brewing Company. Hint: try the creamy chicken salad.
I love my work!

Treasures from the Hatch Market

Who's the best customer at a craft show? Another crafter. Why? Because they are artists, too, and love to look at unique and hand crafted work. That and they sometimes get bored sitting in a booth all day and therefore spend a lot of time shopping.

I had a great time at the Hatch Market, meeting other crafters. I'm amazed at the talent.

Possibly my favorite thing is this pillow, made from an old quilt by Ronnie Gunn of Biddy Brain Workshop. It's the blue and white one. The red one I bought years ago at an antique mall. One more and I'll have a collection!

My children are thrilled with the treasures I brought back for them. I visited Felicia at Fluffy Flowers and her critters just made me smile. I got one for each of my children.


I also have been using a honey oatmeal soap that I bought from Jenni Denney of Brooksearthfarm. My skin feels great!

The earrings I bought from Andrea are beautiful. They are wire wrapped and so feminine. If I can find her web address, I'll link to it.

It was great to meet you all!

Adventures in Crafting--continued

Okay, brilliance* was promised. The bedesisters (bedesisters.etsy.com) spent the weekend at the Hatch Market in Griffin, GA, which is about 3 to 4 hours from home for us. We sold market bags, loads of pendants and a hat. A great time was had by all. The adventure was on the way home.

Do you know what happens when a tire blows out on your camper when you're headed down I-20? At 70 mph? In the dark? I do. First, the pieces of the tire tread that literally "blow out" bend the metal on the side of the camper. The noise causes you to look at your stunningly calm husband and say, "Was that US?"

He'll say, "Yep," and pull over to the side of the interstate. Did I mention that it was dark? As in 9:30 pm? At that point, he'll sit for a minute, deciding what needs to be done. Then, he'll look for a flashlight. Yay, there's one in the camper! That has no batteries. No, I don't mean the batteries are dead; I mean the flashlight is empty. So, that's okay, there's light from the oncoming cars and HUGE trucks.

"Where's the jack?" your still very calm husband says.

"Ummm...." you respond.

"I see it," he says, "but it's stuck." So he looks in the owner's manual for instructions on how to get it out. In the meantime, you will frantically call your insurance company, vaguely remebering roadside assistance you have with someone.

"No," the lady on the phone says, "If the vehicle you are using to pull it had roadside assistance, it would be covered. But it's not." Fine for her; she's in some cubicle somewhere, perfectly safe.

At this point, still calm, but somewhat sweatier husband says, "I think the roadside assistance is with the dealership's warranty on the truck." Great, but that's not the thing with the blowout.

So, with no options left, you sit in your seat and pray, really hard, that you both make it home without the aid of an ambulance or hearse.

For the record, we did make it home.

*I reserve the right to define "brilliant".

Adventures in Crafting

Welcome to the bedesisters blog! If I weren't suffering from writer's block right now, I'd post something brilliant for my first day as a blogger. Check back with me tomorrow; I'll be fascinating then.