Hearts Full of Joy

1772

my artist friend, michael bedard, who commissioned this suit, a reproduction of the suit that george washington is wearing in this photo, circa 1772, has been very patient with the slow progress i've been making. that was part of our arrangement - i didn't need to feel rushed or pressured. but things suddenly changed in the middle of march, the same week as the girls' musical, which i was sewing for, and the same week that i needed to alter a wedding dress, and a hundred other things, and he suddenly and unexpectedly was leaving town and needed to take the suit with him.

this suit has been a tremendous amount of work, as all of the stitching of any type that shows has been done by hand. but it has also been a joy to work on. i sewed furiously to get it (almost) done, and it left town, and will return soon for the finishing touches.

it is all wool and linen with pewter buttons - very heavy!

The photos aren't the best - i needed more light, but wanted to take the photos before the suit left.

 

1830s/40s gown

armed with much inspiration and courage from my friend mary (one of several dear mary friends) and her 1840s sewing expertise, i have completed my first really big 1840s sewing endeavor: a gown for tashi. i cut it out and started on it in may or june, but set it aside as the summer became busier. and i questioned my fabric choice that i had originally belabored - although i loved it, it didn't really seem to match tashi and here serene personality. then a few weeks ago our artist friend michael bedard asked tashi to pose as sarah granger kimball for a painting, or series of paintings he is planning based on the beginnings of the relief society in nauvoo. sarah was well educated and cultured and married one of the wealthiest men in nauvoo - and i had the inspiration for finishing the gown that fit her (sarah's) personality. it's as authentic as i could make it without time to sew entirely by hand. it came together smoothly and was a joy to work on. serpentine stripes were the height of fashion in the 1840s. the fabrics were sophisticated and colorful, and intricately detailed then, not plain and drab as we are prone to imagine.

this was my first experience with cartridge pleating a skirt and stitching each little pleat to the waistband, stiffened with horsehair braid, by hand. the bodice is fully lined and full of boning.

these photos were taken during the practice photo shoot, there have been two more since. her ringlets weren't holding (we were copying the hairstyle from a portrait of sarah granger kimball.) we got better at managing the ringlets in subsequent shoots.

 

the photos were taken at the sarah granger kimball home. this first painting is planned to be sarah enjoying the flowers in her beautiful gardens.

etsy

etsy is so much more fun than i ever anticipated! we've been surprised to find ourselves shipping packages off to germany, australia, the netherlands, japan, and three to the UK. i feel back in touch with my antique quilt business in japan, which is a happy feeling. and i'm meeting the nicest, most interesting, incredibly creative and talented people.

one of them has me feeling very inspired.
she is expecting her eighth baby, has two fun etsy shops -

check out the adorable scripture bags on this one,
 
she also homeschools, and has a fabulous blog.
i feel honored that she is using my "squares & stripes forever" quilt kit

as a give-away prize on her blog.

a few more shops that i love:

drawingroom's shop

sweet nellie's shop

lexi is loving this:
DanaCastle's shop

look to right-hand column to see my featrued and most recent etsy shop listings.

hazards of having an older brother

we're fast discovering that little girls with big brother are much more accident and injury prone.
 
wooden swing (the one tashi is swinging on, two posts ago) in the face. it looks much worse now, 2 days later. her eye is black and swollen and her face puffy. this was right after recovering from playing with brother in the car, falling out and skinning off the right side of her face on the driveway, which was right after recovering from brother's stick sword in the face, etc. calendula ointment to the rescue.

on the topic of baby grace, i was surprised by this coloring job she did the other day, 23 months old.
she carefully colored the paint, the painted star, and the letters.
here are some doodles on my to0do list from a few months ago. she is even more precise now, thinking she is writing. she got hold of an application form the other day and carefully filled every empty line with word-like doodles, just the right size.

in progress

my replication of the national flag presented by the relief society to joseph smith at the laying of the cornerstone of the nauvoo temple, april 1841. red, off-white, and blue silk twill. hand stitched (no sewing machines in 1841). each red and white strip is 6 feet long and takes 2 1/2 to 3 hours to hand stitch with a felled seam. i love how hand stitching creates a dimpled texture and fabric. and in this silk, creates even more motion as the light refelcts on the tiny hills and valleys.

the flag is commissioned by artist and friend michael bedard, who is featured in this meridian magazine article. the third photo down shows him working on the painting that will feature this flag.

i have thouroughly enjoyed the research for this project, particulary that done at the daughters of the utah pioneers museum last month. we are striving for historical accuracy, and i love a challenge, especially if it involves history.

quilt show!

i just did something new.....put on a little quilt show for our little town. i was approached by the local museum, which is also a state park, to get a quilt show started that will hopefully grow into an annual event. i was hesitant.....could i manage it when i can barely keep up with the day to day?
i didn't want my family to suffer.
i decided to accept the challenge, and do my best, in a relaxed way (my new mantra for life - no more stressing myself and my family out). we didn't want something bigger than we could handle. and it probably turned out just right for our first time. we had 16 great submissions, and i was very excited to find that almost half of them were from kids 17 and under - and they were GOOD! so we had awards for a junior category also. our judge is a certified quilt appraiser (there are only 90 in the U.S), who grew up in our small town.
my quilt, "nauvoo: the city of joseph", is on the left, and tashi's quilt, "under the sea", is on the right. she won best design in the junior category.












i finished "gracie sue" (center) in the nick of time, but not really. i was quilting, binding, and adding a hanging sleeve, up to the last minute for the submission deadline (after quilting on it as we flew over 5 states and drove through illinois and iowa on our trip), and had to settle for less quilting than i planned. and the judge noticed that. i plan to add more quilting now (squeeze that in between the 7+ other quilt projects that i have going) it was a bit of a conflict to enter my quilts in my quilt show, but we really needed the submissions. i told the judge to ignore them. she didn't. she did give the "best hand quilting" award to my nauvoo quilt, but in turn she was more stringent and honest on my judging sheets. i am grateful for that. if i was judged, i wanted honesty. i had asked her to go easy on everyone else, because most were so nervous to enter, and afraid of what the judge would say.
we gave three awards each for the adult and junior categories, and then a museum choice, and a viewers choice. my nephew is voting for his favorite on the top photo. and the prizes have cash awards (except mine).

yesterday lexi and tashi helped my clean up the show, and bring home the 14 antique quilts that i also displayed. afterwards, we all quilted together in their room - their idea. yay! it made me happy. i LOVE to quilt with my girls. tashi worked on her flower garden quilt with miniature pieces that she is minutely hand piecing. lexi worked on a cute throw made from charm squares. i worked on the antique quilt that i am restoring - see photos at the end of this post (also see "gracie sue" in the beginning).

lexi's camera captured tashi showing her "true" feelings as she discovers that her quilt won a prize. they love these silly photos. tashi's creative little quilt was a winning quilt in the junior category at the tokyo great international quilt festival in 2005 (the largest quilt show in the world). so this was actually not her most exciting moment ever  :)

minerva

i have been a fan since i was introduced to her art at age 17, by my grandma. she took me to an exhibit of her work at the church museum of art, and i was inspired. brock bought me a book about her life for our anniversary 5 years ago, and i was inspired further. she managed to raise five children while helping her husband ranch in a remote area of wyoming. no plumbing, no electricity, no neighbors, lots of grueling labor. and she managed to paint and paint and paint. 42 murals of the book of mormon alone (that were unwanted by the church, because they had just bought arnold frieberg's art), and that is just a small part of the volumes of her work. she could rarely afford the canvas and paint, she had no studio, but painted in her small home with her children gathered round. and she managed to keep going. this inpsires me on so many levels - mostly it inspires me to be the best mother, wife, and homemaker i can be, while pursuing my artistic dreams and endeavors.   
this is minerva teichart.  i discovered, when reading about her life that she is a second cousin of brock's great grandmother. we went with brock's family to the byu museum of art on saturday to see the exhibit of minerva's art "pageants in paint". loved it. loved it. friday night we enjoyed her amazing world room murals at the manti temple. beautiful.

thank you, thank you minerva, your art fills my heart with joy. i recommend to all this article about your life, written shortly after I was introduced to your art.