On a recent trip to Oak Island, NC, my mom, Leslie, and I hit up a great little shop in neighboring Southport. Rebecca's Fabrications, on Howe Street, is a delight. First off, like many quaint Southport boutiques, Rebecca's is in a sweet little seaside cottage with lots of gingerbread and a sassy paint job. Inside, the shop is chalked full of treasures. Vintage items, china, furniture, fabrics and other notions, it's kind of like being at grandmother's house and getting permission to take home some heirlooms.

Although, I could have spent a small fortune, my keeps sake from Rebecca's was a large fabric remnant. I had hoped to find enough fabric to make a table runner, and for six dollars, came home with enough fabric to make that and four coordinating placemats for the breakfast bar plus eight napkins. Score!

Once back home in the mountains, I recruited the help of good friend Rachel Evans from Lovely.Crafty.Home. to help me get my sew on. She had a new sewing machine boxed up in the basement that she hadn't gotten the nerve up to bust out. It's funny, Rachael and I are both very skilled DIYer's but for some reason, we are both a little intimidated by sewing. Each of us learned to sew from relatives when we were younger, but most of our sewing experience came long ago and under close supervision.

With the help of some caffeine courage, we drummed up enough gusto to take out the machine. With some careful instruction manual study, and a few practice stitches, we were off to the races---sewing like pro's (sort of) and not hitting too many snags. We were even motivated enough to make a few pillows and wrap up another small sewing project. Go us! And although the stitches are not perfectly straight---and yes, great Aunt Jane, seamstress extraordinaire, would have probably made me rip some of them out and start over-I am just pleased as punch with the result. Not many things as satisfying as doing it yourself.