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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Boy that pie looks fantastic.I refuse to eat pie unless it has a homemade pastry crust! Looks like a fun day. I see you brought up something we discussed last week on the telephone, and I’m all for it. I haven’t had nearly enough time to visit all of my favorite blogs of late, and it really takes a lot more time when I have more things to type! I think we have sufficient control with comments because we can remove them, however, unless something is spammy or truly offensive, I have decided to leave them all in place so my blog is more authentic. I have even thought of allowing comments altogether to simplify things, allowing readers to contact me via email. Last note- I see that you caught my watermelon post before I could give you a heads up that I mentioned Southern Hospitality– glad you saw it!
Oops..make that “not allowing” comments……
Rhoda, you are reading my mind! Everytime I go to comment on a blog and see that word verification feature, I slump down in my seat a little. I know it’s going to take me at least 2 tries to get it right. Urrggghhh! Another pet peeve for me, though, is the e-mail feature. So many people don’t have their e-mail enabled, which would be fine, but then they’ll ask a question about something I’ve posted and I go to “reply” to their e-mail only to see “no reply blogger” or whatever. Usually AFTER I’ve typed up the whole message. Irritating. It really is.
But moving on…loved your tour thru Bessemer. Could have done without the picture of the food, though. WAY.TOO.TEMPTING. lol
Enjoy your time in Atlanta!
Kari
Oh, I love fabric, not just any fabric, but quality cotton…. and you have so many nice fabric pictures! I haven’t been to United Textiles yet, but I know the Bright Star well. My husband’s grandmother lived in Bessemer all her life and was a life-long member of the Presbyterian church nearby. We used to eat at the Bright Star when we visited. I had forgotten about United Textiles until I saw the commercials recently. I do love your blog, as it reminds me of all the wonderful places I love to visit, but always forget about.
Rhonda,
Thank pie looks so good right now!
I didn’t know you could change the letter thing when making comments. Do you know how to change it?
Brandee 🙂
Wow…what a fun day. I’ve never been to Bessemer, but it looks like my kind of place. And that food. Oh good gracious! Yum oh!
So glad you mentioned about the comment letter thingie. I hate it! I mentioned the same thing recently on my blog. It sure slows things down and I try to visit so many blogs and want to keep on moving.
Have a safe trip. Can’t wait to see you on Monday night.
Hugs!
Kat
Loved your shopping trip and your lunch!
I would just love to hop in a car and go off with you looking in all the different specialty shops and fabric stores…I tend to get lost in wallpaper stores, too. By the way I prepared a lovely Italian Chicken dinner the other night when Evil Sister and BIL were here…it was as wonderful as you promised, evidenced by the fact that not one bite was leftover for poor Mac to lunch on the next day, lol!
hugs
Sandi
Hey; thanks for the trip, I just love the fabric shops. I am a fabric nut!! I buy lots when I can, an Rod my hubby is always asking what is it for. Well I don’t know but I will have when I do. That drives him nuts. And the shrimp, wow it looked yummy. Have a great weekend.
Hugs;
Alaura
Ah, I love to look at fabric and i haven’t sewn in many, many years.
About your pet peeve…I removed mine quite a while ago and I have had only one “bad” comment. I was so tired of typing in the letters, being positive I got it right and then it would reject me and I would start all over. makes you feel like a bit of a loser, ya know!
Janet
I love coming to your site, Rhoda. It’s always beautiful and I leave with a smile on my face 🙂
That was so much fun! Thanks for taking us along. I’m with you on comment moderation. I’ve never used it, and only ever had one or two unwanted comments.
Enjoy your weekend, Rhoda!
xoxo,
Mary
I hope your retreat is refreshing! Thanks for the shopping spree, the fabrics are luscious and the lunch delicious, and the company delightful!
Hi Rhoda,
What great shopping places! United Fabrics reminds me of a place that I shop at in Raleigh.
And your lunch looks yummy! Great restaurant!
Hugs,
Donna
That was one fun shopping trip. All the best thingls: fabric, antiques, and food. Agree with you about the moderation thing. Those letters drive me crazy, but I’ll bet most people don’t know how to change it. Have a wonderful time in Atlanta.
Holley
I’m drooling, over the food and the fabric!! Thanks for the thought about the word verification–I hadn’t even thought about it, but I took mine off of my blogs! You’re right, it makes it hard to blog-hop and leave comments–who’s got all that extra time??
Loved the trip to the fabric stores…you do have a very interesting blog…
I do the verification letters in spells… when I get those weird comments I do it for a while then stop … as soon as another weirdo comes by to comment I go back to it again…right now it is on… you do what you have to do… sorry!!
OMG-osh the Black eyed peas and Macaroni and Cheese looked so good.
Tammy of Greek Grits posted recently about Bright Star. She enjoyed her meal too!
Looks like a lovely day.
Jen
Oh! And I took my word verification off a couple of weeks ago when one of my readers complained. I didn’t mind and it hasn’t affected my blog one bit.
Jen again
I really wish I could sew when I go into stores like that. The material screams for someone to be creative with it, but yells at me not to take it LOL
That island is to die for!!
I have that pet peeve too LOL
Hugs,
rue