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BLYTHEWOOD – For those students who haven’t yet stocked up on school supplies, drop by the Farmers Market in Doko Park next Wednesday.

The Blythewood Area Ministers Association (BAMA) will sponsor their annual Back to School Supplies Give-Away at the market on Wednesday, Aug. 2 from 4 – 7 p.m. The market is located in Doko Park.

Free school supplies will be given to the first 200 elementary students that visit the market, said Rhett Sanders, BAMA secretary and pastor of Blythewood Presbyterian Church that meets in Blythewood High School.

Churches participating in the event are Blythewood Presbyterian, Calvary Baptist, Cedar Creek Baptist, Covenant Worship Center, New Kirk Presbyterian, Pine View Baptist, Sandy Level Baptist and Saint Marks Lutheran.

“The mission of BAMA is to support and encourage biblical diversity and unity within the context of the association’s leadership, ministerial relationships and community ministries,” Sanders said.

“BAMA is for all pastors in the Blythewood area to come together in a fellowship of genuine Christ-Centered friendship and encouragement,” he said.

For more information, contact their  at Sanders rhett@blythewoodpres.com.

Mr. & Mrs. Brent Kerr of Jonesville, SC are pleased to announce the engagement of their daughter,

Cheyenne Leigh Kerr to James Brandon Edwards Son of Douglas M. Edwards Jr. and Helen Edwards

Of Winnsboro, SC.

Miss Kerr, 21, is a 2014 graduate of Broome High School who received her Associates Degree in early Childhood Education from Spartanburg Community College in 2017. A resident of Jonesville, Miss. Kerr is employed as a Teacher’s Assistant at the Mon-Aetna Child Enrichment Center.  She is a member of Jonesville Volunteer Fire Department and the Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department.

Mr. Edwards, 24, is a graduate of Blythewood High School and holds an Associate Degree in Fire Science Technology from Greenville Technical College.  A resident of Winnsboro, Mr. Edwards is employed as a Firefighter with Cayce Department of Public Safety.  He is also a member of Fairfield County Rescue Squad and Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department.

The wedding with be held September 9, 2017 at Winnsboro Church of the Nazarene.

WINNSBORO – Even if you have seen multiple versions of “Snow White,” the Pine Tree Playhouse’s presentation of the classic fairy tale will still give you a new experience.

For one thing, the dwarves have different names:  Gabby (who talks a lot); Snore (who likes to sleep); Ticklish (who likes to laugh). “The dwarves are a little different; as with any adaptation, you have to change some things up a little bit,” Dee Pullen, one of the directors of the play, said.

And, there are girl dwarves, cats, a fox and music.  There is still Snow White, of course, an apple, a wicked queen, a huntsman and a prince.

What you will also see is a young cast, drawn from kids and teens in the Fairfield County and Blythewood areas, excited about being on stage and learning theater craft.

This is only the second time Pullen has directed a summer children’s play, although as a teacher by training, she has lots of experience working with young children. Pullen started with playhouse six years ago and has learned as she went along. In getting a play to production, everybody in the theater just pitches in to help, she said.

“We are a really close-knit family as far as the board and the people in the theater go,” Pullen said.

The director typically choses which play to present, Pullen said, and the playhouse likes to do a musical in the summer because it draws a good crowd, and the children’s plays bring in the biggest audiences.  “We have a good group of kids that keep coming back year after year. My own kids have done the children’s plays for about six years now. For the past couple of years we have had a new influx of kids.  But kids do age out – they can audition for the children’s plays up to age 17 or 18.”

What are some of the challenges in working in community theater?

“Especially with a children’s play in the summer time, it’s a big commitment.” Pullen said. “We practice two to three days a week and two to three hours a day in the evening.  We are board members who also direct and we have full time jobs.”

It’s hard for parents to find the time to bring the children, and with different summer schedules, she said, last Monday was the first time she had her full cast together even though they have been practicing for this play since the first of May.

“It makes for a big challenge but it always pulls together,” Pullen said.

The 88-seat Pine Tree Playhouse started in 1972 and produces about five plays a year, totally with volunteer talent for all aspects of the production, from directing to costume making.  The theater is always seeking new blood and is asking anyone with an interest in community theatre to come by.  As Dee and her kids demonstrate, this can be a truly family project.  Not only are her daughters in the play but her son is in charge of sound effects.

“Snow White” is directed by Dee Pullen and Dori Brandenburg. Performances are at 8 p.m., Friday, July 21, Saturday, July 22 and at 3 p.m., Sunday 22. Tickets are $10. The theater is located at 230 S. Congress Street in Winnsboro. For information, call 635-6847.

When people come together with a collective intention, it’s a powerful thing.  Magic happens.

And it’s happening at the Blythewood Historical Society and Museum where folks in the community are learning the history, techniques and art of quilt making. They are learning not only through films and lectures made possible through grants from the Nord Family Foundation and the Richland County Conservation Commission, but they are learning from hands-on instruction, how to make quilts, the art of our grandmothers.

On a recent Thursday, magic happened when a quilt gathering at the Langford Nord house brought together residents from Blythewood and Fairfield County to learn to quilt or to pursue and share their passion of quilting as a hobby. It was the first of three such quilt gatherings or classes that will be offered this summer.

At the first of the classes, beginner, intermediate and experienced levels of quilters begin their quilts.  Each participant brought her own portable sewing machine. Quilter Donna Royson was the instructor.

Using a pattern called Whirligig from the company Quilt In A Day where Royson is a certified quilting instructor, the quilters used basic sewing machine quilting skills and consistent-sized strips of fabric to complete a whimsical yet traditional pinwheel square.

During the three-hour class, participants learned the techniques necessary to make the square and most completed as many as four squares during the session.  The final product, a lap-size quilt, will need 40 of the squares which each quilter will finish at home. Once the squares are constructed, pressed and trimmed, participants will sew the squares together into rows and then sew the rows together to make the quilt top.

Although there were the various levels of expertise in the group, participants enjoyed a commaraderie and showed a willingness to assist each other.   Friendships were formed and skills were enhanced.

Blythewood quilter Duane Walker will instruct the second class on Thursday, July 20 using a technique called paper piecing in which pieces of fabric are sewn to lines on paper to form unique patterns of squares.  Later, the paper is removed and the squares are sewn together to form a quilt top.  The beauty of this technique is that it provides accuracy of the final product by ensuring that all geometric shapes are exact and, in the end, are consistent and form a specific pattern.

The third and final class will be taught by Stephanie Alexander on Thursday, Aug. 3. During this class, quilters will sew various size strips of fabric to a foundation fabric to create a scrappy quilt top.  This method has been used for centuries and is made from scraps of fabric left over from various other quilting and sewing projects. In other words, as mom made the family’s clothes, she saved the leftover scraps and sewed them together into a quilt.

While there is not sufficient time in a three-hour class to finish a quilt, the goal is to learn the technique and retain the instruction by constructing several blocks during the class period.

“I am excited and encouraged at the amount of talent and intrest in the quilting hobby in our area,” Royson said, “and it is my hope that we will have more classes on quilt construction and completion in the future.”

To drive interest in quilts and quilting, The Langford-Nord house has hosted video parties, “show and tell” times, quilting lectures and lesson as well as a Quilt Show during the last year.  Over 60 local quilts have been photographed and documented for the Society’s Quilt Index.

“Making a quilt is fun and gratifying.  We admire them, gift them, hang them, photograh them, treasure them and warm ourselves with them,” Royson said.

Beyond all this, why are quilts and their history important?

The study of quilts reveals the diversity of the makers.  Quilting is a multi-cultural art unbound by race, class or ethnicity.  Facts about the maker, quilt design, fabric and sewing techniques were used to revise history as they told stories from a woman’s perspective not previously documented.

In the United States, quilting became popular during the Colonial Era (late 19^th century to the 1920s) as Americans were moving away from European influence.  Many quilts were made to commemorate the Centennial (1876).  However, most were made of necessity and used to keep a family warm. Although initially made for utilitarian purposes, they were no less artfully constructed.  The makers’ ingenuity, originality, frugality and artistry is evident from studying of quilts of this era.

In the 1970s the Whitney Museum in NYC held a quilt exhibit which enjoyed a large attendance and wide media coverage.  The display honored the inherent worth of quilts as “art objects with considerable visual eloquence.” The quilts strongly resembled abstract paintings through manipulation of geometric patterns, optical effects with color and form on a large scale.

Janet Catherine Berlo, Professor of Art History at the University of Rochester, wrote,  “Quilts are one of our country’s most important artifacts.  By studying quilts, we study the social like of things – we deepen our understanding of how we shape our culture through objects, and shape our understanding of objects through the various ways we interpret and value them at different points in history.”

Next time you encounter a quilt, study it and let it speak to you about its artistry, its history and its maker.  Be reverent and honored that you are looking at a vital part of history.

To register for the second of the Historical Society’s summer quilt gatherings, email bgamble@kemsmithcpa.com or call 786-5200.

A QUILT is a multi-layered textile, traditionally composed of three layers of fiber: a woven cloth top, a layer of batting, and a woven back, combined using the technique of quilting, the process of sewing the three layers together. (Wikipedia)