Brown County Treasures

On the way to Brown County we always stop at two places... a bookstore, and Gray Brother's cafeteria (in Mooresville). Gray Brother's has yummy food and home made pies.

At the bookstore I bought two sewing books. I was actually looking for a book by Amy Barickman called Vintage Notions, but I cannot find it. I did buy

and here is a sneak peek of some of the projects inside.

A fabric book to hold your crochet hooks, scissors, needles, etc.

patchwork potholders,

coin purse (because in the 1930's there was no such thing as spare change. Every penny counted)

and cafe' curtains . There are several more projects, but also interesting about this book is the history of sewing through the decades, and the featured seamstresses.
I also bought this book, mainly because the last time I took one of my nieces shopping at the bookstore she was begging me to get it. I didn't at that time, but I have it now. I'm hoping to make a few Christmas presents this year.

Wouldn't it be cute to make this pillow but kind of tailor the applique' to look like the child you are giving it to.

topsy-turvy dolls

A cute little dachshund necklace.

OK - so we get to Nashville and took a little break from shopping....

They have two wine tasting rooms in Nashville, and one of them, Chateau Thomas, has a patio that you can sit on and enjoy a glass of wine. The other winery is Brown County winery, and they have inexpensive, yet flavorful wines. We enjoyed wine from both places and bought some to bring home.

We stopped at a few garage sales and it seems they all had doilies,

(this is a big round tablecloth that would look nice on that big table that my Shug felt like we didn't need)

linens, (Dixie feels like he needs to be in every picture. Taking these without him was a challenge)

and hankies. Vintage linens are a weakness of mine.

Could this be a Girl Scout hankie, or napkin?

Old flour sack material

Does anyone know what this would have been used for? English biscuits maybe?

An aloe vera plant which is great for burns. Yup, I got it at a garage sale for two dollars.

And this lamp shade, that looks good on one of our old pole lamps.

Now these items were bought in the stores of Nashville. We went into a store that sold stuff made by artists. Not necessarily artists in that area but still hand made. I thought this metal bat was so cool. It was made by a metal artist in Arizona. We are going to have a screened in porch when we move, and I want to put him out there.

My nieces like my potholder loom, but it's hard to find the metal ones like I have. There is a weaving studio in Nashville, and she sells the metal looms. I bought another one so they can both make potholders at the same time.

She had the loops on sale for a dollar a bag. I had to stock up for that price.

They have two scrap-booking stores in Nashville. I only bought one lovely piece of paper. I usually come out of there with much more, but I haven't scrapped in a long while. We had fun just walking around the town. They have several studios in Nashville, but they also have studios in the hills of Brown County. And in October you can visit several of the off-road studios. We didn't have time to do that this year, but we have in the past and it's a lot of fun. We spent more time just relaxing and the weather was perfect for hiking in the state park, so we hiked a bit. I'll show you those pics next....

Cindy