SO Cute!

       I have to show you this!  This gal is from Florida and crochets these little dogs!  They are about 3" tall, and she makes lots of different breeds.  She even makes a Dachshund!  What a talented gal!  I hope you check her Etsy Store out - it's very cool!
http://www.etsy.com/listing/85709370/westie-amigurumi-dog-west-highland


      Her shop name is "Amigurumi".

Mom's Dolls

      This was a no stitching day.  I cleaned carpet, washed some pots and pans that don't do well in the dishwasher (you have that problem?), worked with hubby on the last bit of the new website, worked some on my Etsy Store, and tried fixing some issues on my facebook page. 
      I took a few photos of some dolls my mom has made me over the years.  They are ALL favorites!  She loves to make miniature dolls and will be continuing to make them while she lives in California.  I hope she sends them my way!  She also loved to make dolls that were of a folk-art or primitive look.  Those were my favorites.  She never had to think too hard as to what to make me for my birthday or for Christmas each year!  I had a new doll every time. 
     This pair are best friends.  I got one doll at one celebration, and the other at a later date.  But they've always sat on their bench together. 

      Mom painted the faces, sometimes the hair, and even the shoes at times!  Each doll has fingers.  Mom would never let a doll out of her house without pantaloons and an underslip! 
      I'll be sharing mom's doll off and on in the future. 
      Here's a project that I want to start soon.  Along with all the other projects that I have good intentions of!  For some reason I'm really falling for owls.  I know they are one of the "in" things right now, and they've hooked me.  I love the quilt books from "Whimsicals".  Their book called "Buttons and Blooms" is awesome and that is where I found this pillow.  It will not go with our livingroom decor but Whooooo cares!  (Couldn't resist that!) 
         The pillow is in the lower left hand corner.  I love the table runner too!  And the quilt, and . . .


  

Realization

     Just a note - I just realized that God won't let me die, from cancer or anything else, until I get all 225 blocks of the Dear Jane quilt done.  Hmmm.  Better stitch slow!  Ha!

The New Me

       No one noticed that I had colored my hair yesterday.  Guess I wasn't bold enough!  Should have gone bright red or blonde!  At least the color covered up the gray - except those shiny spots in front of my ears.  They never go away.  I refuse to give in gracefully to the gray!
      I'm not quite done with the "Pinwheels in my Garden".  Then I go and buy another pattern while at Attice Window on Alpine.  Like I don't have enough projects to do already!  Yet the pattern I bought is so totally not me - it's outside of my comfort zone color wise, but it called to me.  I heard it and acted on it.  I always follow my heart (or my gut), rarely with my brain! :) 
      This is what I bought.

   

      I love it!  It's bright and wild!  I'm going to use 1930's reproduction fabric for it.  It's all hand applique so don't expect to see it for a long time.       

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quilting Day!

       I spent six hours at Jane's today doing some quality fabric cutting.  I didn't get any sewing done.  I have decided to cut the fabric for all of the blocks of the particular quilt top I'll be making before I begin sewing.  That way I'm not stopping and starting during my sewing binge!
       Now I know two gals who can make something out of nothing.  Jane and MaryLou.  They are both wonderful at inventing solutions to problems they run across when they are stitching - MaryLou is great at coming up with superb quilting tips, and Jane can see a quilting device or notion in a magazine and can come up with her own hand-made answer.  I love it!  Jane's most current design is not quite finished.  I'll post it in the quilting tips section of the blog when it's done.
      At this moment my husband is reviewing a different blog creating site.  I'm a little frustrated with my current blog site since people cannot comment back to me unless they sign up for a google account.  Not everyone loves that idea.  We'll see what happens.

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! 

What a day!

     I know this blog is suppose to be all about quilting, but I have to share that I saw my oncologist today and found that I'm cancer free.  I feel so blessed.  I went through a major trial in my life and don't know, and may never know, why.  But God knows.  So now I move on.
     I'm just finishing up on a Thimbleberries project.  It is called "Sedona" and is a beautiful wall hanging.  It's an old pattern.  Do you find that you go through stages of designs, colors or fabrics?  I remember that I was real big on Debbie Mumm fabric and patterns for a while, and then I moved on to Thimbleberries.  Now I'm into Kansas Trouble designs and fabric.  And I've just discovered Red Button Quilt Co.
     I guess that's why the quilt market keeps moving forward!  It's never stale! 
     I have friends who just love bright colors.  Those who love the sixties fabric.  Or batiks.  Or Civil War (I confess I still do!).  And even the 50's feedsack look.  I've wondered over the years how a new idea for fabric can even be designed.  Hasn't it all been done?  Then, sure enough, something new pops up.
     New pattern design puzzle me too!  Hasn't it all been done before there too?  Nope!  New and fun designs and techniques keep merging.  And thank goodness too!      

Moda Fabrics

     Gals used to come into my quilt store and, without blinking an eyelid, tell me "I'm a Moda Fabric snob".  I'd smile because I could understand.  Moda Fabric has a lovely, soft texture to it.  I'm not exactly sure what makes it so - but it is nice.  Yet, I've also found that Kaufman has a similar soft feel to it, and a few other lines of fabric.  Try not to limit yourself to just one name brand fabric line.
     We all love a sale on fabric!  There are a few variety stores that carry very inexpensive fabric in pre-cut pieces.  It's hard to resist. But keep in mind that even though the selvage may have the printed name of a top fabric designer or top fabric line, the printed fabric in your hands is most likely to be first run test fabric and printed on not so nice base fabric.  If the fabric feels stiff, or you can hold it up to the light and see clear across the store through it, don't buy it.  Or buy it just to make sample quilt blocks in.  It's not worth saving the money to have your well-loved finished quilt fray at the seams. 
     Yet you might find a treasure!  That piece of fabric that IS quality fabric and is simply from an old fabric line!  It doesn't hurt to look . . . and feel!   
     Here's one of my favorite treasure spots:  www.modabakeshop.com.
      

Drop Me A Line!

     Not everyone wants to follow this site by signing up fo a Google link.  No problem!  I understand - the internet can be tenuous.  You can also choose to follow this site and get an email each time I post by using the "email" offer on the left side of the front page. 
     Let me know you are following this blog by emailing me a short note, or posting a comment so I can add your name to the hat for a doorprize in October!  I hope to have enough followers to justify giving away a gift!  Thanks! 

Ouch!

     This morning I was moving a chair.  It stopped, but my knee kept going.  Ugh!  Right on the knee cap.  Why do those things always hurt so much?  My limbs seem to always find the corners of end tables, the footboard of our bed, and even the knob that sticks out on the china cabinet.  I don't even drink!
     I thought I'd share a photo of an online Block of the Month I'm working on right now.  It was last year's project for this site and I actually printed them off as the months went on, but didn't actually start on it until I was feeling better this summer.  It is so cute!  I just love the colors.  I actually went online and searched for the fabric too.  I'm doing September's block now, and can't wait to get the top done.  I'm wonder just how I'll quilt it.  I've never done an embroidery quilt before and am not sure.  Tell me what you think!  The link is www.littlemissshabby.com.
   

How to 'Follow' Me!

     I've received a couple of questions about how to actually 'Follow' me on this blog so that your names always get into my drawing for give-aways, and be able to leave comments on Posts or Prayers.
     Simply click on the light blue "Follow Me" tab on the right hand side of the page.  It will offer you three ways you can sign up to follow this blog (Google, Twitter, or Yahoo).  If you are not already signed up on of those - then just go through Google.  It's easy.
     Hope this helps!
Barb