One of the ladies at my church invited me to go with her this week to Bessemer, which is a small town and part of Birmingham, to a place called United Textiles. I had seen their ads many times and wanted to visit, so it was fun to see it in person.
They are known for their large collection of rugs and they do have plenty.
Lamps and accessories are also in abundance.
I really liked this oil painting and at $179 was quite a good price for a large painting.
This bookcase with sort of a rattan inlay was $250 and very pretty too.
Upstairs held lots of lampshades at really great prices and lots and lots of fabric. I did find some bamboo Roman shades for my bathroom at a really good price.
Remnant tables held a lot of fabric for $4.49 a yard, quite a steal if you could find what you wanted.
And the regular prices of fabrics weren’t bad either. These were fun prints.
They had quite a collection of toile in many different colors. I grew up shopping at fabric stores with my mom. I didn’t appreciate it back then as much, but I sure do enjoy browsing fabrics now. All those pretty fabrics, waiting for something to be made….they sure can beautify your home.
Lunch was a real treat! I have been hearing about The Bright Star restaurant for awhile now and finally got to eat there. It is the neatest place…so old South.
You can see they’ve been around for a long time.
I justed loved the feel of the place. When you walk in, it just has a very old-South, genteel feel, like an upscale Southern restaurant from the 50’s. The walls were all wood paneled with a beautiful hand-painted mural that someone from Europe painted years ago. The waitress was an older lady and said she has been working there for 18 years. It’s truly a landmark in this area and many people love it. I can certainly see why.
Lunch was $8.95 for shrimp and 3 sides. You cannot beat that deal! I’ll definitely be taking my hubby back here, since we’ve been wanting to try it. And everything was as good as it looks.
Chocolate almond pie was the perfect finishing touch. With a homemade crust, it was to die for!
We wandered down the street to look at a couple of furniture stores in the old downtown of Bessemer. I loved this old storefront door.
We both thought this island was a really unique piece. It had a top that flipped over to make a table, but was a great sized island for a large kitchen. At $400 it was a pretty good deal too.
Downtown Bessemer.
On the way back we stopped by another place I have heard about, King Cotton, a wonderful fabric store.
They only have fabric samples hung on the walls and you have to order from them, but they really have quite a gorgeous collection of designer fabrics. They were sumptious!
The problem with going in fabric stores is that I see all these yummy fabrics I’d love to take home and who can afford to redo everything?! Not me….
Aren’t these gorgeous?
I loved all these green and brown colors together. Such a nice combo.
They had some samples of drapery panels on the walls. I thought this top treatment was unique.
And of course, lots of fringe.Thanks for going with us! Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Fabric shopping is always fun to me. Now my creative side is trying to figure out where I can make a few little changes with fabric.
I’ll be at the Deeper Still conference in Atlanta this weekend. Looking forward to being spiritually renewed. I’m using “scheduled” posts for the first time on Sunday and then I’ll see you soon with an update!
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Here’s a little pet peeve of mine that I’d like to throw out there for y’all to think about. As far as comment moderation where you have to type in the letters and wait for the pages to load before the comment is saved, it takes SO much extra time for this feature, I would love to see less of that out there in blogland. I would be much more inclined to visit a blog if I don’t have to wade through the comment moderation with all the extra waiting time. This drives me crazy! Not only the wait time, but trying to read and get the letters right. That doesn’t always work the first time. It takes SO much longer to visit people when so many blogs have this in place.
Please think about removing that feature from your blog if you do have it. The BIG blogs out there do not use this feature at all, so I really don’t see any reason to have it. I’ve never had it on my blog and have had very few problems with unwanted comments showing up. So, just something I thought I’d throw out there and hopefully some of you might agree with me & take it off of your blog. Thanks for listening!
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I love to go in fabric stores. I see so many that I would like, but don’t have any place to use them!
I love that black island – but again, no place to use something like that.
Maybe I need to move and start all over again!
What a sweet roadtrip! I loved those lamps but most of all the fringe… ahhh. Love it. you always find the neatest places to take us. Would love to go there someday. Hope you have a blessed weekend and enjoy your retreat. Take care, Susie H~
What a neat place or places. We will be in B’ham in August and may just have to check them out. We have a ton of family in B’ham and are having our family reunion of sorts in August.
Blessings,
Trixi
The window treatment looks like a Pate Meadows pattern. I actually have that exact pattern, it is called the cuff top panels pattern. Pate Meadows is actually the two women’s names put together. They are from Bessemer. The patterns have been used to make a lot of the Southern Living showcase home curtains.
Have a great time in Atlanta. You do know about Forsyth fabrics and the Ballards there??? They are close to one another if you have time. Take photos if you go so I can see if I need to rush and get in my car. I have been wanting to make a trip there.
Rhoda,I’m back again. I was born in Fort Payne, Alabama, and know exactly where you’re talking about. When we go back to visit relatives, I love to go to those fabric outlets. Oh, I’m so sad I just can’t pop into the car and go along too! I sew and just love fabric! Seems you had a great time and lunch looked so good. Hadn’t even had breakfast yet! Be a sweetie, Shelia 😉
Loved the lamp in the first photo.
Loved looking at all that fabric.
Yummy looking shrimp ours here in the NE I have to say is soooooo good !!
Have a great time.
Kathy 😉
ps I so agree with the comment moderation, but also understand the need !!
Enjoyed your blog today as usual…Sending wishes your way for a safe and enjoyable trip to Atlanta. 🙂 Brown-Eyes
Love the fabric store pics…I could spend all day in there. Looks like a fun trip!
I am drooling over these luscious fabrics. I want to go fabric hunting soon. I am a long time reader of your blog. Just thought I would say hello.
I SO need to move south! Ya’ll (hee hee) have such great thrift/salvage/fabric/etc. stores down there.
Not really computer saavy, but I think I know what you are talking about with the slanted letters you have to copy (right?). I don’t know if I can change that option on my own or why it is even there, but if I can get hubby to do it, I will! I will support your cause! LOL.
Thank you, thank you! For bringing up the issue about blog comment sections! I have such a pet peeve with this. I’m menopausal and grumpy enough. But I can’t get those little letters in there right half the time. I waste SO much time trying to get it straight. And something else, those who use Blogger, please give commenters the option besides signing into Google. Please! I’m sorry for ranting. I had so much to say about this lovely post. Now it’s going to be too long. Anyway, that’s some down-home cookin’. Love the toile. And oddly enough, I just posted about fabric myself!
xoxo, Brenda
Love those fabrics!
I never had any type of comment moderation on my blog UNTIL yesterday! I got 5 or 6 comments right in a row that didn’t need to be there! It seemed like they all came from another country also. It was really weird, so I just turned on the letter verification thingy! I will keep it on at least until I am done with taking entries for the book give-away!
Great looking fabrics. Looks like you had a great time. The meal looks delicious.
I had just the letters for a short time, after receiving several “robot” comments. I don’t like typing in the little letters, but understand why they’re there, I guess. I took mine off after about a week.
However…I utilize comment moderation in the form of the approval by moderator. I didn’t think I would stay with it long. It’s been active a few months. The reason I started using it, was a message filled with terrible language. I was lucky to be home, instead of the lake, when I received the comment. That isn’t always the case. We plan to be at the lake more often, now. Internet access is just around the corner. We just voted on it and the company is making the neccessary changes. When that comes online, I will remove the approval option or discontinue it, since I plan to have a computer in one form or other at our lake place. I just am not comfortable leaving home without that approval thing activated. I’ve received other comments, since activation, I would rather not have on my blog for several days.
I feel I am at the mercy of not very nice folks when I’m unable to delete comments that are less than nice or downright nasty, right away. How many times can the F word and others, be used in a paragraph!
I hope my readers will stay with me, until I can get set up at the lake.
Have a wonderful time this weekend, Rhoda. Travel safe.
Pat
I enjoyed your road trip.
On the comment thing. I am a new blogger and set mine with the letter verification thing and the moderate messages thing. I just did not know what I would get if I didn’t and was afraid not too. Of course I don’t get very much traffic on my blog anyway since it is mainly for letting our family and friends know what we are up to with our mission trips.
I too really hate those letter things. Some of them are hard to read and sometimes I have to try 3 times to get them right. Anyway, at your recommendation I have removed the letter verification from my blog. I’ll see how it goes.
BTW I love your blog.
Such great places to shop for wonderful decorating items.
Enjoy your time away.
How funny! When I was growing up my cousins lived in an old mill house neighborhood and they had a little hamburger joint nearby called The Bright Star. It was the kind where you could dine in the very small diner with red vinyl seats or you could dine in your car with curbside service. They had the best burgers with chili and slaw and great fries. And the cherry Sundrop was soooo good. It’s only been in the last year or two that they finally closed the doors.
Loved seeing your pictures, especially all of that beautiful toile!
We have a “King Cotton” up here also! I like going in there and looking at all the fabric. It does get a little overwhelming for me though, all the choices.
I don’t have the word verification, but I do have it where I moderate the comments. Only because I had gotten a few that I really didn’t want out there on my blog.
Some of my favorite spots!
I have left plenty of $$ at United Textiles~ and left happy with a convertible full of rugs!
I have a “thang” for fabric. I just can’t get enough “gawkin” at it. =)
Oh and HEAR, HEAR to no more letter verifications on blogs! I do not like having to jump through hoops to give someone comment love.
Your shopping trip looks fun. Did you see the big old Train depot in back? BEUTIFUL! I also love Bright Star.
I am so high fiving you on the comment moderation thing. I had the numbers and letters thing on there and got so sick of other blogs with them, I removed mine. MONTHS ago-I have yet to have a “robot” visit.
SAVE ALOT of time.
SO glad you put that you there.