About

I think I had a magical childhood. At the very least it was fantastic. Being the oldest of four girls, I thought I was always in charge. Three of my cousins lived next door (okay, a mile down the gravel road). And I got to see the other seven on a regular basis. We had horses and dogs and barn cats. We even had mean roosters that would peck at my ankles when I went out the back door. We packed peanut butter sandwiches and disappeared into the woods behind our house for the day. We swam in the pond, skinny-dipped in stock tanks, ran through sprinklers, camped out in the back yard, and rode our horses bareback. We wore hand-me-downs (I put garage sale finds in this category too) and hand-made clothes. My mother passed along a love of sewing, crafting, painting and any other creative outlet you can think of and the family business run by my grandparents, parents and uncles just happened to be a furniture and floor covering store.  I spent hours in the store poring over fabric samples and imagining which fabric I would put on "this sofa or this chair." I learned quite a bit about how quality furniture is made and I've always loved the transformation of something that needs a little love into something really great.  A couple of years ago I took an upholstery class and everything just clicked into place.  I've been slowly teaching myself new things as I "practice" on furniture pieces for friends and family.  It feels like the time is right to start growing this little hobby into a bit more of a business.  
As I was trying to decide on a business name I recalled my aunt teaching my cousins and I "The Antisdel Song" (Antisdel being my maiden name). We sang it with gusto and believed every word. It goes like this: "I'm a hayseed. My hair is seaweed. My ears are made of leather and they flop in windy weather.  
Gosh O'Hemlock,  I'm tough as a pine knot. I'm an Antisdel can't you see!" It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized it was just an old camp song that she had substituted a few words in. It made no difference though. As children we were important enough to have our own family song!  The name "Gosh O'Hemlock" summarizes for me all the things from my childhood that made who I am today and so it is.