My Grandma was a Hooker

That never gets old!

I was sitting here remembering Grandma Anne.

The way her kitchen was always filled with people, Food and glass mayonaise jars full of dyes (does anyone remember that - Glass jars! , Nothing comes in glass jars anymore).

I found this great site for those who would like to try their hand at natural dying

Making Natural Dyes From Plants

and here is a great site from a fantastic gal, For Marrying or stewing wool or other fabrics NO dyes needed for this great way of  blending colors:

FOLK AND FIBER

May your home be full of joy, laughter and cool air this summer.

Last chance for 15% off

Just a friendly reminder that tonight at midnight is the end of our take 15% off savings.

dicount coupon code: happybirthdaybetsy

www.heavens-to-betsy.com

Thank you for all of your Happy Birthdays' to mom.

This is the first year she has not gone to rug hooking camp for her birthday in about 12 years!

Next year we will be at the Kentucky Shaker Village Retreat!

A few more openings for the second session are open, For anyone who would like to join us.

The atmosphere is so relaxing and fun.

Mom has been busy overdying wools ~ yup, dying on the hottest days of summer~

Grace is getting ready for her first Full Tackle football meet!

 She refuses to allow me to buy pink cleats :(



15% off any order over $30.

Take 15% off any purchase of $30. or more from now until July 20th with discount coupon code:

happybirthdaybetsy

Put code in the discount coupon section of your cart at checkout ( not the gift voucher section)

Retail orders only. Canadians welcome (please e-mail us for correct shipping totals)

Don't forget to register for the ATHA biennial!

An Oliver & S cape

I fell in love with Oliver & S book a long time ago simply for the cape on the cover of the book. I have been meaning to get around to sewing one up for quite some time. Grace LOVES it and already wants another one!  I plan to use Heather Ross's Far Far Away 3 for the next one.

The Neighbors Must think I am crazy Having my kid outside in wool in the summer!!! but it is the only time I find to get things done. Grace was a good sport about it Although it could be because I told her she could watch t.v for an hour :)

Being uploaded to the website Now

NEW WOOLS for Summer 2011 being added to the website now!

A pillow and A giveaway!

More New wools coming soon

But until then...

A sneak peak at one of my personal faves that is soon to be available. Sorry-Photos taken with my cell phone . Head over to Alice Frazier's blog A day in the life for your chance to win some of the New wools not even on our website yet!

 Wool is called Andrew Sister ( W.A.C.s) and is even more vintage and funky in person!



Yummy New Wools ~Website exclusives~ added to the website

New Wools added to the website!

These wools are not going on a mailer

heavens-to-betsy.com

Canada Post Nationwide Strike ~ We will Resreve your wool

A quick note concerning Canadian orders

As of 6/19/2011 The Canada Post will not accept any First Class Mail, Priority International Mail or Express mail international.

If you live in Canada and would like to reserve yardage of our wool we WILL reserve it for you and ship when possible.

All you have to do is e-mail your order to:

betsy@heavens-to-betsy.com

or

erica@heavens-to-betsy.com

and make the notation that you would like your yardage set aside to be mailed after the mail strike.

We will email you when we are ready to ship with the total for your order plus shipping charges and send a PAYPAL invoice to you.

My heart truly goes out to you Canadians, I can't imagine the business impact of the situation and hope that the strike will be reserved in a timely manner.

Oh For Heavens Sakes!

Can I please get through one mailer without a mistake :) 

- Read on for the best Girl Power History Lesson

Ok, So we just printed of the sample sheets for our upcomming mailer and...

I made a youngin Goof.

We have a wool Named the Andrew Sisters ( W.A.C.'s)

Well you guessed it I spelled it W.A.X.

This wool is so vintage it's retro cool! My absolute fave. I have already made a pillow out of it ( which I will share shortly) and my first reaction to it was M*A*S*H.( Which I still love watching till this day, along with the Golden Girls and Matlock, I can say this now because it is now hip to be geeky. Like my dad always says: "Just wait long enough, It will be cool")- and mom replied "The Andrew Sisters and W.A.C."

So, If you don't know what a W.A.C. is (because like me you always fell asleep during history class because your teacher wanted to be a musician but ended up a teacher)

W.A.C. or WAAC is the term for the for Women Army Corps . These were the most awsomest women ever!

Brief history in the most lamest terms:

In 1942 the U.S. Goverment said Eek we don't have enough soldiers. They sent word out and made official that women could join the army. Only expecting maybe 11,000, Imagine their shock when150,000!!!! Women showed up to get physically trained, Toughened and inauculated for disease and shipped off to war!

(I think somebody didn't want to cook and clean anymore)

Get This: The Manual these women were given Starts out: "Your Job: To Replace Men. Be Ready To Take Over."^[

^Yeah!

Well, Men through a hissy fit and said it was going to hurt the masculinity of what they were doing (mm hmm)

And that it wasn't safe. But before that, General Douglas MacArthur called the WACs "my best soldiers", adding that they worked harder, complained less, and were better disciplined than men.^[12] Many generals wanted more of them and proposed to draft women but it was realised that this "would provoke considerable public outcry and Congressional opposition" and the War Department declined to take such a drastic step.^[13] Those 150,000 women that did serve released the equivalent of 7 divisions of men for combat. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said that "their contributions in efficiency, skill, spirit, and determination are immeasurable.

And there you have it, W.A.C's in a nutshell.



It Is Official ! 2012 Shaker Village Rug Hooking Retreat

All of the T's have been crossed and the I's have been dotted

 Shaker Rug Hooking Retreat

July 14th ~ July 18th 2012

July 18th ~ July 22nd 2012

            Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill                 3501 Lexington Road Harrodsburg, KY 40330

      Betsy Reed                                                        Beverly Stewart

    betsy@heavens-to-betsy.com                              cas13ie@aol.com

Imagine 4 days of rug hooking, learning new techniques, visiting with old and new friends, having fun and relaxing at the historic, Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. To see more of this beautiful and majestic place you can visit www.shakervillageky.org. Whether you want to begin a new project or need help finishing one you have already started, you can get color-planning help and ideas from both Betsy and Bev.

There will be door prizes, demonstrations, rug hooking and braiding instruction by both Betsy and Beverly and some “surprises”!! Whether you are a “new hooker” or are experienced, this will be a camp you will truly enjoy.

Camp will begin with a “Meet and Greet” at 3pm at the West Family Wash House. We will be hooking here at the Wash House so please bring your hooking, supplies, find your “hooking spot” and meet the other campers. At 5:30pm we will all have dinner together at the Inn at Shaker Village. You can then go back and hook or retire for the evening. Class will begin the following day after a delicious hot buffet breakfast in the dinning hall (Breakfast will be served each morning) Thursday). We will hook until lunch and then we will have a “Sack Lunch” prepared by Shaker Village. Your afternoons can be spent hooking, exploring Shaker Village (tours available), antiquing or shopping in town. Dinner will be “on your own”. We will have one or two evening projects if you wish to participate. You are welcome to stay in the hooking room to hook as late as you would like. We will have 24 hour access to the hooking room.

Room accommodations ~ Guest rooms will be available at Shaker Village at a group rate. Single $75.00 per night and double rooms $85.00 per night. You will need to make reservations for your stay. Please call and speak with Anne at 1-800-734-5611 ext. 1548 and mention you are with the Rug hooking Retreat to book your reservation. Please visit the Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill website to see the rooms and amenities available. There is a refrigerator, coffee pot and microwave available in the West Family Dwelling building for all to use.

Cost for the Retreat: $350.00

This includes Meals: One dinner, 4 ~ Buffet breakfasts and 3 ~ “Sack Lunches”

Instruction with two teachers ~ Betsy Reed and Beverly Stewart.

( You will have 24 hour access to the hooking room )

Shaker Village tour pass for the week ~ $10.00

There will be plenty of as is wool, dyed wool and patterns available. We will have a Camp Store with specials goods especially made for or “camp” All of you are welcomed to bring items for sale – we want to make this a great store. Please get additional information and forms from Betsy or Beverly. A 15% fee will be withheld on anything sold to help with expenses.

RUG SHOW ~ Wednesday evening we will have a rug show. Please bring as many rugs you like ~ with each rug entered you will earn a chance at a prize.

               Please contact Betsy or Bev ( e-mails up above)

                                if you would like to attend



Important update

Please make sure you'r e-mail address to contact us is betsy@heavens-to-betsy.com  or erica@heavens-to-betsy.com  the email address reed1@mhcable  is no longer effective

 Last night we had lots of this:

And this morning this:

So we went to town and visited our favorite people at Staples and after oh about three and a half hours - mom will have a top notch computer that as long as it is not in a tornado or hurricane should last another 10 years or so.

But she will NOT have her new computer until next week ( They are going to SuperCharge that little machine for her )

So if you need us for anything you can use the store contact button or e-mail erica at erica@heavens-to-betsy.com  or call us at 518-851-2149

On A Much Better Note:

We had some visitors

Wonder what is in there? :)