Hearts Full of Joy

christmas cozies

always in search of fun projects for our hand made (or written, or second hand) christmas, i am looking for cozy pajama projects to use with this selection of flannels from my shop:

 

i love vintage, and feel blessed because that's just about all that's available in pajama patterns now. i'm considering some of these options i found on etsy for my littlest girls:

 

it would be so fun to live closer to my mom (for many reasons! including:) so that i could raid her vintage pattern stash for the perfect nightgown, like i did for easter dresses in 2008. 

i love this idea for little man,

but i'll use my own jenbei pattern i bought in japan to make summer jammies for my little japanese babes.

i love fabric

today i was completely captivated by the joy of putting fabrics together into coordinating bundles that bring out the best in each fabric for our shop. i have always loved fabric. i love to touch it. i love to create with it. and i love to photograph it.

 

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.

finally did it!

so excited! i've done something that has sounded so fun for so long. thank you to gloria who gave me the push.
i have a shop on etsy.
etsy is a magical place if you love handmade goods. all things sold must be handmade by the seller, vintage or antique, or supplies for making handmade items. that is my niche exactly.
i only have a few items listed so far, but will be adding regularly.

a few of my etsy items will be listed on the right side bar.

updated shop photo

new signs and new quilts on display  

left: bow tie circa 1890 (love the americana feel), right: flag quilt, my design (a super easy and fun project from when noah was a newborn and i needed something simple to work on)

aprons

aprons with a quilt block bib: a fun project i've designed for the shop.

churn dash block. i made this one in mother & daughter or big and little sister sizes.

trip around the world block

saw tooth star block

more patterns for the shop

a reproduction pattern for this antique wild goose chase quilt top, circa 1880s

and for this antique strippy flying geese quilt top, circa 1860s

the shops

finally some photos of our shops. i've been waiting for the signs we were promised a month and a half ago, to start snapping photos, but tired of waiting and started snapping anyway.

the blue building is a summer kitchen, imported from carthage, years ago. it is our fabric & notions shop. the "phelps" building is a prop from the movie "legacy". it houses most of our antique quilts.
inside the blue building:

tashi cutting fat quarters & fat eighths, amid vintage & antique quilts, quilt blocks, & fabrics, patterns, 1800s & 1930s reproduction fabrics, books, gifts, handmade goodies, etc.

inside the "phelps" building: antique quilts and baby clothes. brock remodeled the interior of this building before we moved in:

the pink wild goose chasequilt top above and below was made in the 1840s or 50s and  gloria's. wefound it while antiquing. love it!

the quilt below was also made in the 1840s.

if you're going to be in nauvoo, stop in and see us....

~1240 mulholland, behind the temple house art gallery~

new patterns for the shop

"playtime pals" baby quilt from the 1930s

"sue & scotty" days of the week embroidery for tea towels or quilt blocks, from the 1930s

"baby angels" days of the week embroidery for tea towels or quilt blocks, from the 1930s. (gracie's coloring in the previous post is on part of this pattern.)

i've also made a pattern for this 1880s "eveing star" baby quilt, and i'm currently working on 2 more from the 1800s, with many, many more planned.
 

our shop is moving along. we have one building open, and one close to open. photos coming soon.

pattern making

we planned to have our shop open last weekend, but hit the inevitable and unavoidable road bumps that slowed us down. our real and ultimate goal was this weekend, and we are on target for that. this week i have started something i have long planned to do: making patterns for reproducing some of the antique quilts in my collection, and reproduction quilts I have made. it is heavy brain work (at least for me) to write a pattern so it can be understood, diagram it, and make sure nothing is left out no miscalculations are made. here are  my first two patterns:

"susie's subonnets" is a vintage quilt in my collection. I love it for it's folksy quirkiness.
each block is uniquely different. the shapes and sizes of the bonnets, arms, shoes, etc all vary.

"antique baskets" is a reproduction quilt i made using antique 1800s fabrics and reproduction fabrics. most of the fabrics in teh baskets are really 1800s antiques.