Mountain Musings

Flea-For-Y'All Christmas Barn Sale

Saturday morning dawned clear and chilly and with lots of anticipation, as I was up bright and early to head to the Flea-For-Y'All at Hickory Hollow Barn in Bridgewater, Virginia.

If you remember back in September, Granny, Hannah, and I went to the Spring Creek Barn Sale where I met two sisters who were vendors (one of my favorite booths!). They invited me to their dad's barn this weekend for a Christmas Open House hosted by their business Embellish Decorating, and I made plans to go.

Here's the scene that greeted me as I turned onto their property:  

A decorated antique Ford truck welcomed the first customers:

And as I turned in and crossed the cattle gate, I saw Hickory Hollow Barn in the distance...we're in the country, folks!

I parked and made my way to the barn, avoiding several cow patties as I walked! The sisters had done an excellent job of embellishing the old barn to make it Christmas-y and inviting:

Inside the barn...old ladders with lights and laces hanging from the rungs...very festive:

What's a Christmas Open House without refreshments? The cranberry orange bread was delicious:

A display of Scrabble tiles...I bet I could find letters that spell out Q-U-I-L-T-S!:

Lots of vintage dishes, linens, ladders, and old suitcases...and one antique quilt decorating the barn railings:

Embellish Decorating sure started their Christmas season off with a fun morning...and I brought home a couple of treasures for gifts.

Soon I headed back down the driveway to the rest of my stops for the day. I enjoyed my Saturday morning Hickory Hollow Barn excursion:

~Deb

Soap-making Class

Recently I had the opportunity to teach another class on soap-making to a new group of ladies in Virginia. Since it had been a number of years ago when I last gave a class, there was fun planning involved to distill what I've learned over the last 7 years of running a business into an afternoon beginner's lesson.

 One of the ladies taking part in the class graciously hosted us all in her home, with plenty of room to spread out and get messy.

Everyone pitched in with each step in the process, from measuring lye and oils, to stirring the mixture and pouring raw soap batter.

We completed two batches of goat's milk soap, one fragranced with a Lavender-Citrus essential oil blend, and the other customized by each participant with the scent and additives of their choice.

Working with lye and mixing up the ingredients required safety precautions such as gloves and goggles, but thankfully, we didn't have too many mishaps!

 Finishing our recipes and getting the soap divided among the molds took teamwork and quick thinking.

Below is one of the students' freshly-made soap logs, speckled with oats and swirled with lemony litsea cubeba essential oil.

Everyone enjoyed chatting together, holding babies, and coming up with some creative soap combinations.

By the end of the day, the room was filled with many lovely types of soap which the ladies could take home to use and give as gifts.

~Hannah

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Saturday Adventure ~ Meeting Quilter Pat Sloan at VA Quilt Museum

Saturday morning was a cool, drizzly November day...just perfect for spending the morning visiting the Virginia Quilt Museum located in Harrisonburg:

Quilter Pat Sloan was scheduled to be there with a display of her quilts and greeting guests. Here I am with Pat in front of her colorful quilt Tomato Trays:

She had brought so many delightful quilts to hang, and it was fun to browse her creative and crafty works of art: Here's Pat signing one of her books for other quilters who traveled a distance to meet her:

Pat told us that she had made over 600 quilts! Here's another very striking quilt:

Lastly, here's a different part of the museum showing a famous quote and perfect for the crafts displayed here: 

It was a very fun morning at the Quilt Museum!

~Deb

Previous related post: Friday Adventure ~ Lucketts Store Christmas Open House

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Friday Adventure ~ Lucketts Store Christmas Open House

I'd heard about Lucketts Store for a few years but had never gone to their Christmas Open House. This year I was loving all their enticing Instagram pictures of Christmas-y vignettes and planned a trip up to Northern Virginia.

It was a 2+ hour drive for us, and Granny, Hannah, and I left home to arrive just after their 10 a.m. opening. We had no clue the number of folks who already would be there in line! The line stretched forever and forever to get into the Design House: In fact, we decided not to stand in that hour-long line, so we didn't have the chance to venture inside the Design House after our long trip: Instead we browsed the many outside vendors and their wares. Here we are after just arriving: I spotted a Christmas barn quilt among the other treasures: I really liked these yard displays and had been looking for something like this for awhile: Here's a similar one below at our friends' house in TN that I snapped when we visited last year. I'd love to make a Welcome name sign for guests to our home, so the taller red one in the background above was my first purchase. I was thrilled that I'd finally found something appropriate for this idea: This antique quilt was a beauty: Lots of Christmas-y scenes on the grounds: Here's another little cottage full of gifts:

Photo op display: Bringing home the tree: Other stores in the area were benefiting from the Lucketts Store crowds and having their own Christmas Open Houses. We browsed another really neat antique store called The Cottage across the street from Lucketts:And what's a Christmas Open House without cider and cookies nestled in a little red wagon? : And that was our Friday adventure...an excursion to the famous Old Lucketts Store. Wish you could have been with us!:

~Deb

Next Up: Saturday Adventure ~ Meeting Pat Sloan at VA Quilt Museum

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