Sweet Magnolias Farm .. Sew Sew Honored to be Published "Somerset Home" Volume 7

It's been a whirlwind of a last 2 weeks ..between lots of work ..and a few field trips for Abbey and I to some far off destinations .... We came home last week to an exciting treat in our mailbox ...

The New Volume 7 Somerset Home Magazine ...

And we are so Honored to have been chosen to be part of it.

We had been counting down the weeks and days ..thrilled to see the Beautiful Pictures and Layout that Somerset Home had taken of our Sweet Magnolias Farm Original "Burlap Runners and Placemats." in print in our very own hands... 

There's nothing like seeing the work of your hands layed out in beautiful images by professional photographers. By No means could I ever picture our runners or placemats as beautifully as they have captured them with the lens of their camera and with the layout of the designer.

Above is the front Cover of the New Volume 7 Somerset Home Mag. you can grab your copy HERE  Or get your copy at your local Barnes and Noble or Hobby Shop on Shelves August 1st ...

And Below is the opening 2 pages of the article on my inspiration on creating and designing our Runners and Placemats... There are another 4 pages that you can check out in the magazine ...

And of course beyond our meager portion ..are an amazingly large handful of Lovely Artisans who have also had their creations and design published too ...

In Fact our Sweet Rita Reade of Mammabellarte has had 3 of her designs published in this magazine as well ... and you can check out her post on them HERE  ....

 Rita even shares about how getting published is not about Fame .. it's all about sharing your work .. Many women who design and create product in this big world of ours are so blessed to have the oppurtunity to create for themselves their family and their friends .. For Rita... Like Myself and Abbey .. our designing and Creating is our Love but it is our way we make our living .. So Being published helps us share not only our Love but it helps us share with others that they can have a piece of what we do because it's our business too ..

And Yes no matter rather you are a stay at home Mommy .. Grandma to 1 or 20 ... A young Single gal .... Or even you Men .. Rather your design for the Love of it or for Business ..you too can submit to have your works of the heart published too by just turning to page 142 in the Somerset Home Mag... and as Rita Say's it gives you detailed instructions "So get your stuff together and try it " ... LOL !!!

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Abbey and I would Like to Thank Beth Livesay for choosing our runners and placemats .. and to the Stampington art team who made such a beautiful Layout and took such beautiful photography ! Once again we are So thrilled and So Very Honored

P.S. Thanks to Rita for the photos above ..without her scanning them and sending them to me ..this post just wouldn't have happened quite yet ...

Wishing you all a Beautiful August ... It's just about Fall Y'all ...

And coming up this week ..we'll be sharing out Theme for the upcoming September Vintage Marketplace ... Let's just say we hope you Love the Great Outdoors....

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P.S. .... I know alot of you have sent me e-mails saying you are unable to leave comments ... Today Debra of Common Ground gave me the advice to remove my word verification option for leaving a comment to see if that would work ..so girls if you've tried before and been unsuccessful ..Please feel free to try again and see if this happens to clear up the issue .. If not ..I think i'll be looking into hiring someone to try and work out the kinks ..

Downs and Ups .. Ups and Downs ..

Life is full of them ....

That is Ups and Downs...

This summer has been boasting ups and downs here at Sweet Magnolias Farm... and I am finally feeling up to sharing a little about them with my sweet followers here in blogland ..

First of all one of my Ups this week ...... I was (1) of many talented artisans featured in the new August Issue of Somerset Home. My Farmhouse Dreams Lamp was accepted and featured for this issue ...and I am so thrilled to see it in print. Once again the Gals at Stampington have outdone themselves ..and I'm honored to be part of this magazine.

There are page fulls of inspiration in this issue ...so if you haven't got one be sure to go grab yours before they are gone from the shelves ..I know barnes and noble carries them as well as Joanns .. and of course you can order them directly from stampington.

This year we have been featured in 3 different stampington magazines ..and I cannot tell you how exciting it has been to share the work of our hands ( that is Gods work) with strangers and friends near and far away. Through it we have gained new friends which has been such an amazing blessing. And a Great "Upside" to our year ...

Since our last show in June .. alot has happened .. We have been re-working our home and putting it in order.

Approx. 5 years ago we moved into our home (a rental) which was supposed to be temporary.. our estimate was a year. Well long story short .. we had some unforseen medical issues arise in the family that stretched a long span and that kept us grounded here. With the quickness that these medical issues arose after moving in .. well we never really got our house turned into much of a home and the work side of the home was given an attempt of organization ..but never the full treatment ..so after several years of a slightly but not very organized life .. we decided it was time to get organized. We started on what we refer to as our work room ..which is where all the creative supplies are kept ..and there's alot of them !!! We spent a little over 2 weeks tearing every last item from that room rather it be in a drawer a box or whatever and casting out the yardsale or trash items and beginning with a new palette to begin organizing ... and little by little day by day each item was sorted into categories and a specific drawer or box was assigned to said item. What started out as we'll have this done in a week turned into alot of we'll have it done tomorrow's ..LOL !!!

Well it is now complete and it's actually quite freeing to walk in that room and know what drawer holds what item and the ability to actually be able to put it back where it came from.

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After that long arduous job ..we rested a week ..well sort of ..there's always some kind of work to do ...and that led to Washing our 2 sweet Doggies one afternoon. Scout our sweet 16 yr. old golden Retriever and Maggie our 14 yr old Golden Retriever.

While I was washing My sweet Maggie ..I decided to check how her teeth were looking as this last year she had been losing quite a few teeth which we contributed to her age. Upon checking her teeth I noticed there was a large tumor growing inside her mouth in the top of her gums in front and wrapping around several of her front top teeth. Let's say it was large enough that my concern grew immediately and I called the Vet instantly. I took her the following day for her checkup ...and they said she needed surgery to remove it and it was possible it was cancerous. We opted not to have the tumor tissue checked upon the reasoning that she was 14 yrs of age and if it was cancerous that there wouldn't be alot that could be done for her. A week later she had her surgery and all was good ....or at least we thought so! As I gaver her, her medicine and mouth wash the days following her surgery ..I noticed about the 5th day after the Tumor was returning and at a rapid rate. Again we headed back to the Vet ..where they informed me she had cancer and I might have 2 to 4 months left with her...




(My Sweet Maggie)

3 weeks ago today ..we began Maggie on her medication and a good healthy cancer diet for dogs ..and she's still doing well as of today. She had a few bad days when I thought it was time ...but the following days she rebounded. She's still eating ..still wagging her tail ..but the effects of cancer are showing as she has had a fair amount of muscle loss. It's been the one big down for us this summer. I've cried and cried some days and other's I'm just fine. I have been so blessed to have my Maggie for 14 years. She's been my undying companion day and night all these years .. she is the love of my life...she has been my child. The days and weeks ahead are sure to test my emotions but I know Gods Grace is upon me and that through this heartache each day I am learning compassion to a greater length and depth than I have ever known it before.

Sincer her diagnosis .. we have continued work here at our home .. re-organizing, cleaning and desiging our back yard and patio .. and this week we started on the downstairs work area of our home.

It definitely hasn't been a dull summer in the least ..every day has been chock full of work, or caring for our Maggie.

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On another note ... I had promised many of our Marketplace Customers in June we would have our Farmhouse Flour Sack Towels available in our Etsy shop within a few weeks after the show ..and with all that has taken place ..I wasn't able to get them made available until just a few weeks ago. So far they have been a great success ..we have sold a bundle of them and Below is a peek at the designs we have available in the shop right now. We also will have 5 new designs that we will be offering very soon . My hope is within the next few weeks.

Sweet Magnolias Farm Originals
Farmhouse Flour Sack Towels

Click HERE ..to visit our Etsy shop

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And Last of all ...we'll be starting on lots of new offerings for the upcoming "Vintage Marketplace at the Oaks" on September 9th and 10th . Be sure to mark your calenders and come out and see us, We are so looking forward to seeing all of our friends, clients and meeting new faces and friends !!!

In the meantime ..we'll be working and enjoying each and every day that passes with our sweet Magpie !

And We wish you all a Beautiful Summer full of Sunshine Dreams and Lazy Daze !

Farmhouse Blessings to All !!!