My Etsy Store!

      I've just started listing items in my Etsy Store.  They are my new quilt Block of the Month Booklets.  Each booklet is a stand-alone block of the month pattern.  My newest pattern is now available in my Etsy Store!  It is called "Quilt Away The Blues".  I hope you like it.
      I'll also be opening a store on the newest website called "Craftsy".  I will be able to sell my pattern designs.  I'm very excited!
      I'll let you know when my newest project will be available on Etsy.  They are called "Finish 'Em" and are pre-embroidered quilt blocks along with a pattern so that you can create your own quilt with embroidered designs on them.

Mini Blocks

      I've had a quiet day working on my "Dear Jane" blocks.  This is a popular quilt that has inspired many quilters to dive into the miniature side of quilting.  There are 225 patterns!  The blocks for the body of the quilt (inside the border) each measure 4 1/2" square.  I think I've made 20 blocks so far.  
      The link to the "Dear Jane" website is www.dearjane.com.  The original quilt maker/designer did an amazing job creating this historical piece.  Why it was made and how long it may have taken her is   special.
      I know a couple of gals who are also attempting to make this quilt.  Some make the blocks by sewing machine, some by paper piecing, and others, like myself, make each block by hand.  I find the process of hand quilting to be very calming, and a great nightly project to do while watching a good movie.
      Since I love Civil War reproduction fabrics this is a great way to feed my collection!  I only need to buy about 1/8 yd., or a fat 1/8th, of the fabrics I choose.  Otherwise, it's fun to buy more and share with fellow "Dear Jane" stitchers!
      I hope you check out the link and enjoy the story behind this exceptional quilt.  

Comments

    You are welcome to click on the small words "no comments" below one of my posts if you want to talk back to me!  I believe you have to have a google account to do that.  I'm not entirely sure since I can't comment back to myself to try it out!  Please don't stop following my blog though even if you don't have a google account.  Maybe you can drop me a line on my store email to let me know and then I will consider still doing a gift drawing!    

New Photos

      Good Afternoon!  How time flies.  We wrapped up mom's "stuff" sale and boxed a lot of it back up.  Now we're packing up her other "stuff" that will get sent to her through the post office - more clothes, some of her dearest knick-knacks, some crafts that she can do by hand, and more of her miniature doll making items.  It'll be like Christmas for her for a few days!  I also sent along the bed quilt and pillow shams that I had made her for Christmas a few years ago.  She seems to be happy with my brother and his wife in California.  And we talk often.
      I told you I'd pop in a photo of the wall hanging "Sedona" by Thimbleberries when I got it done.  Here it is!

      It took me a while to actually sit down and do it.  Once I got started I was inspired to finish!  I would have quilted it by hand, though, if I had really thought it through.  I started machine quilting around all the stars and began wondering "what was I thinking?".  It was a pain in the neck.  And the back of the quilt looks awful.  Good thing it's hanging on the wall!
      I added new photos to the blog here.  But, I got thinking, I'd love to add some of your quilts!  Send your photo(s) to my business email: barb@gardenpathquilts.com.   I'll put them on the front of the blog!  How fun would that be!?  

One More Boo-Boo!

      Apparently September is National Sewing Month!  I had no idea.  I spotted in on my Garden Path Quilts Facebook page.  I've certainly been quilting the past few days.  It feels good.  I finished my "Sedona" wall hanging and will post a photo when I get my rear in gear.

     I'm also just finishing up on a Kansas Trouble's wall hanging called "Pinwheels in My Garden".  Fitting, eh?  Except I did a boo-boo yesterday.  I had the top centered on my backing at one point, then took it off to put the batting down, and thought I had recentered in to avoid the cut-out on the backing.  I trimmed the whole unit to a couple of inches beyond the top and discovered I hadn't centered the top after all.  See my mistake?  My friend, Jane, stopped by and I showed her my dilema.  She quickly piped up, "that's a good place for a label!".  What a smartie!  So I went on to pin the top down and began quilting it.  I am now putting all the applique in place.  I'll pop up another photo once I have the whole thing done.

     Happy quilting!  

 



I'll Admit It.

       I'm taking a breather from the sale we're having of mom's craft room.  Hope nobody looked at the dust!  My yard and our gardens are a shambles since I was unable to work in them this past year.  Ah well, there's next year!
       Here's a picture of one of the dolls I was lamenting about in yesterday's post.  The link is:  www.gailwilsondesigns.com. 
 

     I love Gail Wilson's doll designs.  They are so beautiful.  You can see the artist's touch in them.    

     And then here's the moment I have to share.  I was quilting one afternoon at my old quilt store in town.  I was being very studious and was very intent on my project.  It was lunch time, but I was positive I could get my project done in a short bit, so I grabbed my sandwich and continued on at the sewing machine.  I was stitching two long 2 1/2" strips together.  Concentrating on the machine, I pulled the straight pins out jamming them into the pincushion just as fast as the sewing machine came upon them and was so proud that I had put them together in a flash  Then  I looked over to grab my sandwich and found out it was making do as a new pincushion!.        

Sewing . . .

      Okay, I've been sewing since Home-Ec class in high school.  We made an apron and a tote bag. That's all I remember.  The strange thing is - I didn't like sewing.  I even used to work at "Northwest Fabrics" when it was out on 29th St. in Wyoming.  I loved looking at the fabric, feeling it, and helping customers pick out colors, yet I still didn't really like sewing.  I would make our children shorts in the summer, and our daughter cute summer dresses, but didn't really enjoy it.  
      Then I discovered quilts.  I made my first one when our son was a toddler.  It was a Log Cabin design from an Eleanor Burn's "Quilt in a Day" book.  I was hooked!  I've decided that quilting and sewing are two different animals.  I don't "sew".  :)
     My mom has moved to California to live with my brother and his wife who is a wonderful nurse.  Mom used to make wonderful, old-fashioned, sometimes primitive-looking dolls that were designed by Gail Wilson.  I love, love, love these dolls!  For every birthday and Christmas mom made me one of the dolls.  When she moved there were still lots of doll patterns and kits to be made yet.  She can't do them anymore.  I still want, want, want them.  But I don't want to make, make, make them!  
     Mom could delicately paint the faces on these dolls.  Articulate the fingers, make noses, and create the hair with mohair fiber.  I've been staring at the box of these patterns and kits for a month.  I have no idea how to even start the process of making these dolls.  I know that if I want the completed doll to set on a shelf that I'm going to have to make them.  The kits come with beautiful photos of each doll that Gail Wilson designed.  Hmmm, maybe I'll just hang the photos on a wall!
     Back to my quilting!