Hearts Full of Joy

back to school

it has been a ridiculously & somewhat embarrassingly long time since i posted. this summer has been incredibly full and amazing, and time has gotten away from me. i have neglected my blog, and everyone else's too. but school started today, and i am finding myself with just susie grace in the morning, and peace and quiet in the afternoon while she naps, so i anticipate finding some time to think, clean the house, and hopefully blog.

this morning before school.... the little ones' hair hadn't been combed yet because they leave for school much later than the bigger ones. we now have: a senior, a junior, a 3rd grader, and a kindergartner.

little man has been counting down the days until kindergarten starts ever since preschool graduation on May 8th. i love having my kids home with me, but this little one, and his sister just older need a lot more stimulation and social interaction that their older sisters did. is it just personality differences, i find myself wondering, or is it because they are different genders from each other and have a 3 year space, rather than a one year space. is it combination of these differences, or is there more to it? or less?

my kindergartner needed a pillow and blanket for rest time. i wanted to make him something that made him feel very loved and very cozy.

first i picked out some bright and lively blues and greens, but then remembered these flannels i have in my shop - woolies and shadowplay flannels from maywood. it was a delight to put this together. and now my mind is full of more possibilities for these fabrics. i made a small pillow case from the red and cream windowpane plaid print.

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)

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~

mia's little fingers....

made this!

i was commissioned to made a valentine's quilt last year, two actually, that were a copy of another quilt. i didn't care for the quilts, they weren't my style. but i had a lot of red & white strips of fabric left over, that became the inspiration for this "churn dash" quilt. which was also inspired by a quilt made from vintage quilt blocks by darlene zimmerman. i love it and use it for christmas & valentines decor, like this. i still had a lot of red & white strips left over after that project, and  asked mia if she wanted to make a "chinese coin" doll quilt with them. that was over a year ago. mia is my most difficult child to teach. it is not an intelligence issue, unless it is over-intelligence, but rather not wanting to be told what to do. so we had some rough patches, and it would sit, ignored, for long stretches. this week she decided she wanted to finish it for gracie's birthday, and because this was HER idea, she was motivated and got it done. she pieced, quilted, and bound it almost completely by herself.

she is happy, and i am impressed, and relieved.

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.

coming soon

 
scheduled to open soon.....our shop.
busy-busy with preparations!
more to come....