Hearts Full of Joy

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~

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....

still in stitches

a cap for gracie, another completely hand stitched project with an 1800s era shell button.

oddly enough, after taking the leap and making my first article of clothing by hand (see last post), i enjoy sewing more than ever. it has freed me somehow, and i see sewing very differently. i have been sewing since i was about 5, begging my mom for embroidery projects like hers and making my grandma an apron completely by myself when i was 7. i was a 4-H sewer through my growing up years, and then majored in clothing and textiles at BYU, where i sewed, and sewed, and sewed some more (quite tragic that the department no longer exists there). i have always felt compelled to sew and create with my hands. after over 30 years of sewing, everything is new, because of my 1800s hand sewing adventures. i feel empowered, enabled. i understand pattern making better, and i have all kinds of new construction ideas.

i'm making mia's cap by machine, because i have so many projects i want to try, that i unfortunately can't do them all by hand. hers still needs a "frill" (ruffle) and chin strap. the background quilt is circa 1860 - 1880, one of my most favorites in my collection. you can't see it well i this photo, but many of the 8-pointed star blocks are signed.

now i am working on a dress for mia, using the patterns and directions in my 1838 "workwoman's guide" just as with the pantaloons and caps. this is a fun adventure too. if you have ever sewn a sleeve, you may be as surprised as i am to see how i was instructed to make these sleeves. they are a complete circle, with a hole cut in the center for the arm band, and the underarm edge trimmed slightly. the photo below shows one sleeve as it was cut, and one sleeve gathered to the bodice.

who am i?

if you are my friend on facebook, you may have had the time and interest to read this already, or not - which i completely understand. this is a "note" which is circulating on facebook, and i enjoyed the challenge of coming up with 25 items to post.

1. I have put off making this list for a very long time.

2. I LOVE living in Nauvoo.

3. My favorite thing in the world is being married to Brock, second favorite is being a mommy to my kids.

4. I have lived in Japan 3 different times, for a total of almost 12 years, but am still not fluent in Japanese. My two oldest caucasian daughters can speak, read & write Japanese almost natively. My Japanese children can't.

5. I LOVE babies, and want to have more....will I ever stop feeling that way? 14 years of infertility can do that to a person. But I have always loved babies. My favorite job ever was working as a nurses' aid in a newborn nursery.

6. I am emotional and very passionate...about almost everything.

7. I don't get very excited about food....so you would think that I would be thinner.

8. I have been to nine countries, one territory and one protectorate, but never to Hawaii, and I have been to thirty-nine states, but never to Florida, Alaska, (or Hawaii)

9. Two of my brothers married girls named Nancy.

10. I have an addiction to chocolate, and it's not a good thing (explains number 7)

11. I love yoga

12. I love to read, but am a very picky reader...it needs to be intelligently written, great plot, believable characters, uplifting, and clean.

13. I love history, antiques, and quilting...so antique quilts are a passion.

14. I have a degree from BYU in a department that no longer exists: clothing & textiles.

15. I don't really like ice cream. really.

16. I can be very competitive, but I don't enjoy participating in or watching competitive sports.

17. I have felt a connection/fascination with Japan since I was about 5 years old, and always wanted a Japanese baby. Now I have two.

18. I have over 40 cousins on each side of my family...for a total of over 80. Second cousins are innumerable, but I am in touch with many.

19. Both of my grandmothers are on facebook.

20. I am very driven...to the point of being unhealthy (explains the need for number 11). I am learning not to be.

21. 4 of my 5 children are extremely intense.....must get it from Brock ;)
I am an oldest child, so is Brock. Alexa is obviously oldest, and after an 8 year space, Mia basically is too. Noah is an oldest boy. So, 5 people in our family have oldest personalities....yikes! It explains a lot. Gracie is just intense because she wants to be. Tashi has a big job balancing the rest of us out.

22. I prefer humid over dry climates and love a change in seasons. But I did love living in Phoenix. I have loved everywhere we have lived.

23. I am a runner, but no good at sports - I am completely pathetic at volleyball.

24. I play the piano, but can't sing.

25. My newest passion is studying and re-creating 1840s clothing.

touch-ups

we are still making changes around the house, tweaking and re-arranging, painting, hanging things on the walls, etc.
tv nook:

i am finally displaying some of my hong kong tresures - the flower shaped object is a antique silk hand embroidered baby collar, the rectangular hanging is a machine embroidered mass-produced chinese embroidery, the little red shoes on the cabinet are antique silk hand embroidered baby shoes, all found in hong kong.

we have been wanting a large plant to put behind the sofa, but didn't want to spend for a big plant. i found this at aldi for $8.99. i LOVE aldi. i am their fan on facebook. i love them that much. the framed print is an antique japanese wood block print of a kimono pattern from the mid 1800s.

living room:

another $8.99 plant from aldi. and a stack of my online photo books/scrapbooks on our antique chinese chair. i LOVE online scrapbooking.

gracie with our "new" antique piano. we got it for a steal, and love it. lexi has since polished it up and is looks even better. it took 8 grown men to get it itnot the house, and i was afraid they were going to injure themselves. it is that heavy.

another $8.99 plant, a wedding kimono (thank you gloria!) that needs to be steamed, hong kong cabinet, antique water pitcher & basin (gift from brock), and my favorite antique quilt.

noah's room:

all four walls are painted, and thanks to gloria & tracey's input, i have decided to do horizontal striping on one wall rather than vertical as planned.

mia & gracie's room:

i purchased this vinyl lettering in white before i had decided to paint the walls yellow, and hoped it would still show up. it didn't, even if you knew it was there. so i tried coloring it with a pink crayola marker, and love the water color-like results.

we downsized mia's bed (which had been the original plan) and moved her double mattress to the new guest bed that brock built. it is just her size now, and leaves more play space in the room. the cute head board was left behind by a renter who never paid any rent. one good thing came from that experience....