Headlong Toward Yuletide

Now it is time to charge headlong toward the Yuletide season. We are ready at Heirlooms & Comforts to do just that. Down come the haystacks and pumpkins, and up go the Santas and Herald Angels. We will be looking for the appropriate fabrics to make those table runners and napkins and even some ornaments. Have you gotten the stockings completed? This Grandma managed to get the additional two done before leaving for a Texas Thanksgiving. Some of our holiday fabrics remain and they are the latest arrivals into the shop. They are very pretty; so if you are not done there are still some great things to work with.

And by the way, if your personal Santa has not received your wish list yet, let him know that there are some really good prices on our Husqvarna Viking sewing and embroidery machines and software. Send him in to Heirlooms & Comforts for the great help our staff can offer. We also issue Gift Certificates so that the recipient can make her own choices. Be sure to convey all this information to your Santa.

Sara

Husqvarna Viking is offering a $500 Rebate on the purchase of a Designer Diamond deLuxe from now until December 15. When you purchase or trade up to a DDDluxe, you get an opportunity to apply for a $500 rebate directly from Husqvarna Viking. What a great chance to save, but it ends on December 15, 2011. Look on the H-V website to get more information.

H&C Feature of the Week: Clean Off the Bolt
At Heirlooms & Comforts this week we will feature our Clean Off the Bolt special. If you clean off a regular price bolt of fabric you get 25% off the original price. We have a large number of skinny bolts in the regular price fabric racks. Also, if you clean off a sale priced bolt of fabric you get an additional 10% off the original price of the fabric. So, you could be getting 40%, 50% or 60% off if you take it all. Think of those Secret Sisters and others who would love a "batch" of great fabrics to add to their stashes.

Special Financing
At Heirlooms & Comforts from now until December 2, 2011, we can offer you 24 Months with no interest financing on your purchase of a Husqvarna Viking machine or Embroidery Software. Two years with no interest, now there's a deal for you. See us soon because December 2 is Friday, you know. We will help you with the application for the GEMoney Home Design Card and process the sale for you. We're ready; come on in.

Give Thanks!

Give thanks! What an open request this is. We can be thankful for so much in our generously blessed lives that it is time-consuming to try to enumerate each category, not to mention each item. Our individual faiths dictate the supreme thanks and our personal experiences dictate our inter-personal gratitudes. This season of the year gives us an opportunity to remember and to voice our feelings.

At Heirlooms & Comforts we would like to give a collective thank you to all our wonderful patrons who visit us from day to day and have become integral components of our business family. Your beautiful faces and personalities have become the joy of our daily business life. Thank you for making our days!

Sara

Thanksgiving Hours
At Heirlooms & Comforts we will observe the following hours:

• Wednesday, November 23: Close at 2:00 pm
• Thursday thru Saturday, November 24-26: Closed

Reopen for regular hours 10-5 on Monday, November 28.

Last Minute Class
Recently we pointed out a winter (holiday) print to Gail Sexton and instantly she declared that it needed a snowman. She gave it a snowman and friends in a matter of a day or so, and now the resulting wall hanging is a Last Minute Class. Gail has created a pattern for the delightful wall quilt that is about 24"-27" square and is offering it to you as a class on November 28 and December 5, Mondays, from 10:00 to 1:00. There is a $3 pattern and a $48 tuition for this class. You go home with a friendly snowman design that has your choice of cats or dogs with the jolly fellow and with your choice of hat style on the snowman. Really, this is one of the nicest designs we have seen for the winter! This promises to be a great learning experience. See it soon and register for the class.

H&C Feature of the Week: Christmas Motif
At Heirlooms and Comforts this week we will continue to offer Christmas Motif fabrics at 30% off regular price with a 1/2 yd minimum cut. Remember that we will be open only for three days this week; so get into the shop before you begin cooking for the holiday or traveling for Thanksgiving so that when you are "stuffed like a turkey" you will be ready to sew and sew.


Filling the request from the Stabilizer Event
This is sure to "stabilize" you and your center of gravity!

Mema's Pound Cake
1 lb. Creamery butter softened at room temperature
3 cups sugar
2 cups of eggs
4 cups of flour
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract (can substitute almond extract)

Cream butter and sugar in electric mixer until light in color and fluffy in appearance. Sift flour before measuring. Alternately add eggs and flour and salt, beating as little as possible to thoroughly mix. Fold in extract, blending well.

Bake in a greased and floured tube or Bundt pan at 300 degrees about 1 hour or until lightly browned and pulling away from pan. Done when testing "straw" comes clean when inserted into cake. Turn out onto cooling rack and try not to cut it before it cools (ha, ha!)

More than Fifty Years

As high school friends approach and pass fifty-year anniversaries they begin to gather for a celebration. We had such an event recently among those of us who graduated from D.W. Daniel High School with folks who completed high school from 1958 to 1963. That kind of occasion is always fun and a little bittersweet for remembering classmates who have passed away from this life. When we met on November 5, little did we know that two beloved members of that group would be in such trauma and loss within a week's time. It is with saddened heart that we offer our collective sympathy to the family and friends of Linda Webb Martin who lost her life as a result of injuries in an auto accident last week. She and Joe were married for 53 years and set such an example of love and joy for all of us in that wonderful marriage that was blessed with three great children. All have become great friends of Heirlooms & Comforts in the years we have been in business. Those of you who enjoy Cheryl's embroidery classes will remember Linda and her enthusiasm for stitching even when the awful specter of Alzheimers began to dim her capabilities for remembering how to do the next step. Such a gentle person and so appreciative of the kindnesses offered for those of you who saw her often. Heirlooms and Comforts was her haven away from home and we will miss her. Linda, my admired friend from childhood, fly freely with the angels!

Sara

H&C Feature of the Week: Christmas Motif
At Heirlooms & Comforts this week we will feature 30% off Christmas motif fabrics. There are a number of really pretty Christmas holiday fabrics in our shop just now and you can choose some really great motifs for your holiday sewing and decorating. Some of the motifs are just plain fun for the kids and those who are young at heart. Ask about the ten-minute table runner and look at the sample that Sue sewed for the holiday display. Of course, the better selections are available for the early shoppers. Don't wait too long to choose your favorites at 30% off (half-yard minimum cut, please).

Last Minute Class
Recently we pointed out a winter (holiday) print to Gail Sexton and instantly she declared that it needed a snowman. She gave it a snowman and friends in a matter of a day or so, and now the resulting wall hanging is a Last Minute Class. Gail has created a pattern for the delightful wall quilt that is about 24"-27" square and is offering it to you as a class on November 28 and December 5, Mondays, from 10:00 to 1:00. There is a $3 pattern and a $48 tuition for this class. You go home with a friendly snowman design that has your choice of cats or dogs with the jolly fellow and with your choice of hat style on the snowman. Really, this is one of the nicest designs we have seen for the winter! This promises to be a great learning experience. See it soon and register for the class.

Thanksgiving Hours
At Heirlooms and Comforts we will observe the following hours:

• Wednesday, November 23: Close at 2:00 pm
• Thursday thru Saturday, November 24-26: Closed

Reopen for regular hours 10-5 on Monday, November 28.

Stabilizer Event
At Heirlooms & Comforts we are looking forward to seeing all of those who are joining us for a special program on the use of stabilizers on Friday. We expect a great presentation from Viking Educator Gail Dodson that will be beneficial for all of us who like to appliqué and embroider.

Fallin'

Fallin'! So what does fall season do for you? Do you get a particular mood when the leaves begin to fall and the temperature begins to fall? Does your disposition begin to fall? I think that a study of personal moods in autumn would provide quite an interesting contrast of conditions. For me, there is an energizing force somewhere in all the color and the briskness and the anticipation of coming holidays and family times. I look forward to the aromas that come with the autumn season. Think of the odor of smoke curling from the chimneys as folks begin to warm themselves by a crackling fire. Think of the aroma from the kitchen as we bake apples, pumpkins and sweet potatoes. Add in those special breads and cakes and pies. (In the south you kinda just go with the flow when the turnip greens and collards are cooking. Instead, think of the cornbread to go with those greens.) Hot soup is soul food when combined with that cornbread. After a brisk walk, how about snuggling in a cozy quilt to read a book (or your e-reader) or to whip down the binding on that last quilt you just quilted (or received from the longarm quilter). Quilt making just seems to "fall" into fall. So we are looking for you in the shop soon to select your next projects!

Sara

Special Shop Hours
At Heirlooms & Comforts on Saturday, November 12, we will NOT be open at all because the Clemson home football game with Wake Forest is starting at noon. This game will mark 53 years that Bobby has been to every home game that the Tigers have played. Can't miss this one.


Thanksgiving Holiday Hours - Close at 2:00 PM Wednesday, Nov. 23; reopen Monday, Nov. 28 at 10:00 AM.


Special Event
At Heirlooms & Comforts on November 18 we are hosting a Stabilizer Event with Gail Dodson, Viking Educator from the west coast of USA. She will be demonstrating the use of machine embroidery and machine appliqué, and how stabilizers aide in making those designs great in the stitch-out. She will discuss which needles and the styles and uses of certain ones. If you have already called to sign up for this all-day session, which includes lunch that we serve, please send your tuition or call with a credit card payment to secure your seat in our limited space. Also, we want to have the count correct for lunch. All day November 18, 10:00 AM to 3:30 PM with lunch and a "goodie gift bag," related to stabilizers and embroidery (10 free designs) for a tuition $15. Yet another bargain! Complete your registration with payment to reserve your seat.


H&C Feature of the Week: One Item 25% Off
At Heirlooms and Comforts this week we will feature any one item of your choice at 25% off. The item can be anything in stock with the exception of machines, sergers, cabinets, and embroidery software. You choose; you save.



Fall Retreat
The other thing that autumn means locally is that Quilting in Toccoa - Fall 2011 is this week (formerly known as Quilters' Rescue Mission or R&R Retreat). That means that Sara has loaded the trailer again and made the shop look funny. We will be normal again after Thursday.

Quilting in Toccoa