The mission of the new on-line company, Southern Appalachian Creations, Inc. (SAC) is to assist the people of the southern Appalachians in marketing the products they have made, to show the world what fine creations originated in these lovely mountains, and to preserve the traditional patterns and techniques of our culture.   The company has 2 branches.  Yet to come is SAC-s that will provide a selling platform for each person to retain, list, sell and ship their own creation.   The other branch is a calendar of upcoming events… SAC-e.  This will provide a schedule of events featuring the artisans from the southern Appalachians.  This schedule will assist the artists in locating events that will be most profitable to them, will assist the event promoters to get the word out into areas where their advertising normally does not go, and will help the whole community by bringing in tourists that are not familiar with the events in this area.   Among the events featured will be fine art, folk art, music, crafts, books and food stuffs that are made by the seller.  This will include art and crafts shows, food cookoffs, book signings and concerts. The announcement of the event and the payment will be made on-line in order to contain the costs of listing the events.  Payment may be made through PayPal, and credit and debit cards.   SAE is a non-profit company, meaning that the artisan will receive all the monies after the operating expenses are paid.   We want to ask everyone that is interested in the people of southern Appalachia to make a contribution to SAC-e in order to build the selling-site branch of SAC.  All contributions can be included in “Charitable Contributions” on the Federal Income Tax Form.  Check with the Internal Revenue Service or a tax professional if there are any questions about this.  We are a 501(c)3 company.   If you have questions or suggestions or just a comment, please contact us at SAC, 677 Old 441S, Clayton GA 30525 or you may call at 706-782 5883.  To reach the SAC Calendar of Events, https://visitsac.org.  Our eMail is sac.inc.s.e@gmail.com WE WANT THE SOUTHERN APPALACHIANS TO HAVE THE BEST.

The tradition of patchwork quilt patterns is almost as old as our country. The early settlers had very few clothes to keep them warm or fabric to make more garments bed coverings were in short supply. Because of this, the women would save any scrap left from sewing and the good part of well-worn garments to make into patchwork quilts. But, as is the nature of women, they are tired of scraps sewed together just for warmth. They discovered that by putting the scraps together in certain ways that the quilts would be beautiful–something that was in short supply in the colonial houses. Then, came pattern swapping. After church or in town while shopping, one woman would describe the new pattern she was using and then share it with the others present. These patterns were drawn out on any little piece of paper they could find. And it would happen that by the time the woman got home she had forgotten exactly how the patches went together….and also the name of the pattern. She would just ‘fix’ the pattern and assign it a name of her own choosing. This is the reason we have so many patterns, and names, that are very similar. Some of the patterns will have 20 or more ways to set the blocks together. The Log Cabin, the Gate Latch and the Drunkard’s Path are some that can be put together in many different ways. The quilt patterns were often named for something near to the woman’s life. One is the Flying Geese….just a simple triangle that can be placed in a row, one after the other, or side by side. There are many ways these little triangles can be arranged…including for the logo of Southern Appalachians Creations, Inc. The geese remind us of our beautiful mountains and the geese that fly over. Geese, I hear, can be a spirited bird… and they make good watch animals. The SAC will be spirited. We are going to share our love and appreciation for beauty and the arts with the rest of the world, as we will do with our families