Simple Pleasures

Simple pleasures are amazing! Bobby and I were talking this week (like senior citizens do) about how his Granddaddy loved raisin bread. From there we went to "how far I had to walk to school", etc. Growing up in the South we had many simple pleasures and unbelievable treats. Remember Nehi Grape Sodas? Or 6oz Coca Colas? Or Orange Crush? And when Pepsi was the new big rival? Remember a small bag of salted peanuts, and you poured them into your cola for a fun treat? My Granddaddy called those Cokes "a dope" because the original formula was thought to have an opiate in it. Simple pleasures: local women processing foods together like canning beans and tomatoes or preserving peaches and blackberries that had been picked on the side of the creek or the road. Women making fruit cakes in the fall and early winter so that they could "cure" until holiday time - never cut the fruit cake the day you make it! Those were gatherings to make chores more bearable. Women visiting over a quilting frame set up in the dinning room or spare bedroom (if you had one) made more pleasurable a time which could have been very solitary without the benefit of TV or iPods. That's when they shared happy times and sad times and became a community. People helped people and became neighbors and friends. Simple pleasures.

We can get some of that "community" again by trusting our "neighbors" and by becoming participants in guilds and bees and other organizations of those with common interests and goals. Do you know your neighbors? Have you found a "community of similar interests" with whom you can share ideas and situations? That is part of what Heirlooms & Comforts offers you with our classes and the Free Sew Days that are scheduled for the shop. Do you know the saying "Joy shared is doubled; sorrow shared is halved"? Try it.
Sara

H&C Feature of the Week: Batiks
At Heirlooms & Comforts this week we will feature double punches on the Fabric Club Cards for the purchase of Batik fabrics with a ½ yd minimum cut. We have recently received a number of great batik fabrics from several companies. The batiks are brilliant - gorgeous! This week get double punches for the purchase of batiks!

Save and Save...
Right now at Heirlooms & Comforts you can save $600 off the price of a new Designer Topaz 30 or a Designer Topaz 20 AND get a free 5D Embroidery suite. Wow and Wow! The number of units available at this special is limited; so don't wait too long to make your move. Also, there is one only Designer Ruby remaining that qualifies for the big savings of $1250 off and then get a rebate of $250 from Husqvarna Viking. These are super prices and the offer holds only until September 30. At these prices you can get high end machines for prices near what is being paid for machines of lesser value. Come in now! Time flies.

Remembering, Again!

Why is it that sometimes you just get "flashbacks" of former times and the ease of living then? That happened to me in the process of thinking about what I would write this week.

When my brother and I were kids, not a hundred years ago, we had such freedom to be curious about what lies beyond the rise in the hillside. We lived "downtown" Clemson with undisturbed woodlands in our backyard where our Uncle Paul took us squirrel and rabbit hunting sometimes. Mom grew a garden there and had flowers blooming all around the house. We played with the six other kids in the neighborhood making towns and houses by sweeping up the pine needles into walls for our structures. Chairs were rocks; sticks created other structures. We played barefoot and had to extract stickers and briars, etc. Life was good and fun. And to top off summer there was the Clemson A&M College Farm and Home Week on Bowman Field. Oh, my! There was a huge tent on the edge of Hwy 93 in front of the Holtzendorf YMCA building (which held Clemson's only swimming pool). The field was littered with tractors and other big farming equipment. Families came from all over the state to see what innovations were available to make farming and farm living more efficient and easier for the family or business operation. We were allowed to walk from home through town to the field to see all the exhibits not totally unlike a state fair. There were animals in pens that were being fed by new methods of presenting the food; chickens being hatched by new kinds of incubators (I can almost smell the fuzzy baby chicks and feel their softness now); new canning and freezing information for the homemaker; newly developed varieties of okra seeds that produced pods without spiny barbs! We collected brochures and samples and balloons and went home and had a "show" of our own in the "pine needle village" in the backyard.

Oh, my. One of the things that has triggered these memories is a web site www.tigerpregameshow.blogspot.com which includes historic photographs of old Clemson. It is fun to go to that site and look at the sidebar on the right of the screen. You can look at a series of pictures each day with regard to former times in Clemson. Granted, many of them have to do with sports, but there are some really fun photos of the town as it was long ago.

Thanks for indulging my reminiscence!

Sara

H&C Feature of the Week: Books
At Heirlooms & Comforts this week we will feature 25% off books. Whoa! That is a great savings for you, our special customers. Choose your favorites or the ones that you have been watching for a while. The discount is on in-stock books only and does not apply to special orders. For this week, get 25% off your choice of books, no limit to number that you can buy.

Pre-Owned Machines
At Heirlooms and Comforts we have several previously owned and well-loved machines available for purchase. There is the Topaz 30 which have all the Exclusive Sensor System features that one hopes for and is a sewing and embroidery machine. We can sell this machine for less than $2000.00. That is a great buy for a machine that is less than a year old with few sewing hours logged. Check this out for a primary or second machine for someone who loves ease in sewing!

Giant Step

Many times we have talked about the stages that we go through in life. Once again there seems to be one developing down the street from my home now. The two-an-one-half year old, curly-headed boy is beginning to show an interest in the adult size bed in his room. Do you remember that stage of your children's development? That is a giant step forward in life, when you get your own "big bed". That is when my mother would produce (or find an appropriate one in the closet) a big-boy quilt as a reward for the giant step. There were "Farmer boy quilts", lavender flower quilts, Ohio Star quilts and even Tiger Paw quilts. Now this is going to test Grandma's speed and creativity to see if again I can live up to the standard set by Mema. Cross your fingers for me!

Sara

H&C Feature of the Week: Fat Quarters
At Heirlooms & Comforts this week we will feature pre-cut fat quarters at a special price: $2.75 each; 6 for $12; 12 for $22; 18 for $32; or 50 for $75. After this week fat quarters will be priced at $2.95 each. Any custom-cut fat quarters this week will be $2.95 each. Plan now for a scrap quilt or one that is built around fat-quarter increments. Do it early in the week so you can get the best selection from the fat-quarter bin!




Highlight

At Heirlooms & Comforts we want to highlight several models of Husqvarna Viking machines. The Tribute 140M and 140C are 140th Anniversary models which are very distinctive in appearance with the Red cover features. They each have great features: the 140M has needle-up selection capability which is unusual for a mechanical machine and the 140C has the extra length in the throat and has the Exclusive Sensor System feature similar to models up the line. At H&C these are Value Priced for your benefit. A bonus Sewing Bag of accessories (a $250 value) goes with the 140C as well. Check them out soon.

Topaz 20 machines are sale priced now, too. The price on these machines is so low we are not allowed to advertise it; you have to come in to find out what it is, This is a sewing and embroidery machine with the extra length in the sewing arm to accommodate the larger hoops, and it is equipped with the Exclusive Sensor System as well. You have to see it to believe it.

What a Day!!

What a glorious day Easter Sunday is on April 8, 2012! I certainly hope to hear everyone who comes into the shop on Monday and Tuesday say that they experienced this beautiful day of celebration as wonderfully as the Ballentine family has. We were early risers and the grandsons were hunting eggs in their pajamas very early this morning. The bunny at their house was out at the cracking of dawn to hide those eggs. "Curly", his brother and his cousin were dressed so nicely in their rosy colored pants and blue shirts and were off to church in the "Grandma Bus" (alias on Sunday mornings for the Red Expedition car) with Grandpa riding in the way, way back with Jackson for half the trip and Wyatt for the return trip. The most painful part of the day so far for the youngsters was the time when thy had to stand still and look as though they were happy to pose for forty (more or less) snapshots of them on Easter. Yuk!! (their response). Grandma is loving the yard today, especially since there was radical surgery yesterday on the over-grown shrubs near the terrace. Now one can SEE the terrace with its beautiful slate and the space for a flower garden. Mema once had a bed of rose bushes there, but the wonderful, big, tall oaks and maples have shaded out the roses. What to put there now? We may need professional help to decide what should happen in that bed. It is not going to decide and plant itself; some one will have to become the decision maker and "foreman" for the job. Could be Grandma because she is in love with the newly trimmed space!

Sara

H&C Feature of the Week: 60" Fabrics
At Heirlooms & Comforts this week we will feature 60" Fabrics, mostly from Amy Butler and Valorie Wells, at 40% off. There is one beautiful bolt of Grey Melton Wool, and one bolt of Imperial Broadcloth in the group, too. There are three rolls of laminated fabrics from Westminster Fabrics as well. All of these 60" fabrics and the laminated fabrics are 40% off this week. Better come soon for the pieces you want!

Get Prepared
At Heirlooms & Comforts we believe that summer and very hot weather are not far behind the spring vacation from school. So we are suggesting that you be prepared to spend time indoors with your sewing/embroidery machine. Another suggestion is to look at the Husqvarna Viking models to find the one best suited to your needs and interest. With that in mind we remind you that we have two Designer Topaz 30 models that are previously owned and are offered at a great price of $1999.00. That is a considerable savings over the MSRP of a new model. We also have the Tribute 140M and the Tribute 140C models that are new and are the 140th Anniversary models that celebrate the history of Husqvarna Viking sewing machines. Come in soon to test sew on these so that you are set up and ready to sew indoors in the summer!

How Irish Are You?

Just how Irish are you? I have become a little more Irish than I was before after more than a week in Ireland last summer. What a beautiful country that is with people who are friendly and steeped in history. A visit to Ireland helps you to realize how history shapes the people. They are tough and fascinating. They are "chuckle" happy and hardy. Their language is fascinating and their music is enchanting. To sit in a traditional pub with the thatched roof over your head listening to the foot-stomping music about their lives is a joy. Their food is really good and full of potatoes, would you believe! Now we will celebrate with them the day of the Patron Saint Patrick at the end of this week. Join in the joyous parade of happy folks singing and being jovial. Wear the green!

Sara

Luck o' the Irish!
At Heirlooms & Comforts this week we will feature a bit of the "Luck of the Irish" by offering 25% off any green fabric in one-yard minimum cuts. You choose all the green fabrics you wish to have in one yard cuts and we will discount it at the check-out. How about an all green and white Double or Triple Irish Chain quilt for next St. Patrick's Day? That would be fun. I dare you to do it!

Free Embroidery Software
At Heirlooms & Comforts we are currently able to offer you a great sale price on the Designer Topaz 20 sewing and embroidery machine - so good you will need to come to see us to hear what it is. Not only that, we can offer you 5D Embroidery Software FREE with the purchase of the Topaz 20. This is quite a big deal because the software saving in itself is $399. That plus the sale price on the Topaz 20 is really outstanding. There are a limited number of these machines and software available, so don't wait too long to come.