Charlie's Pride and Joy

Okay, here it is! Charlie's first Tommy Toe, ready to eat! He thought he had planted all tomato plants but to his surprise he has one Tommy Toe plant and three tomato plants!! I think his new name should be Farmer Jones!

More Fabric!

I have two projects that I am working on right now. The first is window treatments for a beautiful master bedroom. My client's bay window overlooks a gorgeous golf course. She wanted privacy but not at the cost of covering the windows with shutters or blinds and completely blocking the view. The solution was either functional panels or roman shades for the windows, she chose panels. She also has two windows that flank her bed on the wall to the right of the bay window. The fabric she chose is a rich brown damask style. It is a heavy fabric so I recommended using a nice chunky rod and rings to balance the window treatments out. Choosing the right hardware is just as important as picking the right fabric for a room. When choosing hardware, always make sure your hardware compliments the window treatment.

My second project is bedding for a master bedroom. I love putting together fabrics for bedding. I love the custom look you can achieve by mixing fabrics together on bedding. If you cannot afford to splurge on fabric for all the bedding, you can add to what you have. Customize a Bed in a Bag ensemble by having a custom bed skirt, throw pillows, or euro shams to make it your own. You can also add custom window treatments to tie it all together. Back to the project-the fabrics you see below are a sampling of what my client picked out. I will be making a gathered bed skirt and (2) euro shams out of the solid chocolate brown, a king size coverlet out of the chocolate swirl and caramel fabric and an additional euro sham out of the turquoise blue fabric. I will make custom throw pillows from a combination of the remaining fabrics. Window treatments will come later!

I will post pictures of the projects one day next week!

The Finished Product

It has been quite a busy year of sewing! I have had many request to post some pictures of my work. Here are a few of the projects! I hope you are inspired by them!
Pate-Meadows Pull Up Valance mounted on decorative finials in Master Bath

Roman Shade with scalloped return in Powder Bath



Functional Roman Shades in child's bedroom

(Functional roman shades are great for privacy and design as you can see!)

Custom coverlet, bedskirt and pillows

Pate Meadows Madelyn valance on french doors

Faux finishing and design done by Connie Sandlin

Pate Meadows Marley Valance in dining room

(Panels provided by homeowner)


Pate Meadows Claudine Valance with Tied back panels for privacy


Pate Meadows Madelyn Valance in Master Bedroom



Tabbed Panels with trim in dinig room

Non-functional roman shade with valance in bathroom


Simple Pleated panels in family room



Pate Meadows Pull Up valance in kitchen

Pate Meadows Julia Valance in kitchen

Panels without pleats in Master Bath
Custom tailored coverlet, bedskirt and pillows

Grandaddy's Pink Cabin

Every summer, I think of all the wonderful memories my family made at my Grandaddy's pink cabin in Gulf Shores. My Daddy told me that Grandaddy purchased the property in the mid to late 1940's for approximately $1500! They began building in the mid 1950's, my Daddy was about Maggie's age! The building process took a long time and to be honest, I don't remember a time that Grandaddy wasn't working on it! The picture above was taken in September 1969. My sister had just turned 7 and I was almost 1. Our beach trips were very different than they are now. Then we had no TV, no air conditioning, sometimes no hot water, and always a home cooked meal by my sweet Grandmother. I can remember walking through the kitchen with my bathing suit on and her giving me pat on my behind while she was frying up chicken for dinner. Our days would start with a home cooked breakfast as well. All the grand kids would suit up and head to the beach. On the path to the beach, there was an area of sand that was a reddish orange color that I always remember thinking, "we are almost there"! We never wore sandals or flip flops, so most of the time we ran because the sand was so hot! Once there, we played in the ocean, built sand castles, hunted for seashells and sometimes go on really long walks. My Grandmother liked to go the beach early and look for seashells with us. She would usually go back in until it cooled of a little. She would emerge later in the day with her bathing suit on for an afternoon swim. Grandaddy would come to the beach fully dressed in shorts, shirt, black socks and tennis shoes just to check on all his kids and grand kids. I guess that is where my Daddy gets the black sock thing from! When I was about 3 or 4, we started bringing our dog, Prissy. She was an Eskimo Spitz and loved the beach. My cousin's dog, Coconut, was her mother. They loved swimming in the ocean and taking naps under the cabin! At night, we would play continental gin with all the cousins, Grandaddy and Grandmother. Those are the memories I will cherish forever.

Me and Cindy

When I was around 8 or 9, we went to the beach with The Reynolds (Terry, Charlotte, Emily and Jarret). They rented a condo and we decided to stay at the cabin. One night during our vacation, I asked Emily to spend the night with me. A storm was brewing in the gulf which caused some pretty bad thunderstorms and high winds. I will never forget the two of us lying in that bed and feeling the cabin sway from side to side! We were so scared! We both had the covers pulled up over our head! I don't think we slept at all that night! If you are reading this Emily, remember how you could swim and how I had to wear that styrofoam floatie around my waist?????

September 12, 1979 Hurricane Frederick struck the gulf coast with winds gusting up to 145mph and causing 2.3 billion dollars worth of damage. Our cabin was destroyed. My Grandaddy died on December 4, 1980. My Grandmother decided to sell the property for close to $100,000.00. Each year as we drive by the property where Grandaddy's pink cabin stood, I think of all that our family was able to experience because of the love he had for his family. I would love more than anything to go back just for a day and soak it all in.

Our Beach!

Mark Your Calendars for the Peach Festival!

Maggie has been invited to perform at the Peach Festival in Clanton on Friday night, June 27th! She will be singing and playing Baby Girl by Sugarland, Summertime by Bon Jovi and singing You'll think of me by Keith Urban! She will be performing with 59North. (Bryan Haskins on vocals and keyboard,Mark Dunn on guitar, and our very own George Logan on drums!) She is living her dream!

Entering His Kingdom

For those of you who have prayed for my sweet Dr. Perry, thank you. He went to be with the Lord yesterday morning after a valiant fight against the horrible disease of cancer. I ask that you would pray now for his family as they learn how to live without his wonderful presence in their lives. He was a man of God and will truly be missed by so many. You may read his obituary at http://www.al.com/ . We love you Dr. Perry!

Surprise Getaway!

A few weeks ago, Charlie told me to clear my calendar for May 1st and 2ND and to not ask any questions. So, I checked my calendar and looked forward to whatever was in store. I knew Maggie would be staying with Nanny and Poppa but that was it. I did, however, figure out we were going to Atlanta, due to the short duration of the trip. Then, I had a request to visit my favorite fabric store at some point during the trip! Surprise, Surprise!!!! He said he could work that in, no problem! We arrived in Atlanta and checked in to the Hampton Inn and Suites and I was instructed to get ready to go to dinner. We went to a wonderful restaurant call Buckhead Diner. Charlie's friend, John Smith, made the recommendation-Thanks John! Charlie had the Surf and Turf while I had Parmesan Crusted Sea Bass served on a bed of spinach! Yum, Yum! We finished off the meal by sharing a piece of Fresh Raspberry Cheesecake. Everything was wonderful. I was told that we had a few minutes to run back to the hotel before our next stop and that we would be walking to our destination. As we were walking down the streets of Atlanta, I noticed there were many people walking with us in the same direction. Soon, I realized that we were heading to Phillips Arena so I knew it was something BIG. Charlie joked around and said we were going to a Dave Ramsey conference. That would be right up Charlie's alley so to speak! As we got closer, I overheard an announcer mention how to win tickets to be onstage with Bon Jovi! Charlie was so excited that his plan fell right into place! What a sweet husband I have! Chris Daughtry was the headliner, so we were in for a great show! Once we entered Philips Arena Charlie proceeded to tell me that he didn't know if the view from our seats would be all that great. At that point, I was just ecstatic to be there! We stopped to make a purchase for Mag's and then headed to our seats. We entered at the opposite end of the stage which made me think we would be towards the back. Not the worst seats, but not the best. Charlie was in front of me leading the way. We kept walking and walking, all the way up to the 5Th row!!!!! He looked at me and said "here are our seats"! I couldn't believe it! Needless to say, we had an unimaginable time! I even let out one of those crazy fan screams when Jon Bon Jovi came on stage! Check out the pictures and you will understand why!

To my husband, thank you for such an unbelievable surprise! You have surprised me many times in the past with our trip to Cancun, my beautiful ring and now Bon Jovi! Thank you so much, we needed some time away! I love you always.

Enjoy the pictures!