Happy Holidays!!!

Just have time for a quick note.  Things here have been running at a very fast pace now that the holidays are just a few days away.  I am STILL working on my cousins quilt.  I have just washed a new backing and I hope that this one will work better than the last one! 

I am also working on the new commission and hope to have a few pictures up of the designs of them. 

I have been reading about Christmas during the Civil War and discovered that many of the traditions that I have with my children are the same that I have read. For example, many of our decorations on the tree are hand made out of wood, paper, and clay.

Well Crafty friends, I must leave and continue on with the chores and other items that I need to finish before I may sleep.

G-d Blessings on you all and as all ways, HAPPY CRAFTING!

Let the Games begin!!

48 hrs have passed since we all consumed the yummy traditions of Thanksgiving, and 24 hrs since the insanity of Black Friday.  Now I must admit that I also took part in the insanity, albeit on a very limited bases.  And it reminded me why I DON'T do the big sales.

All of that aside, I am now getting ready for the winter holidays, and that means PURGING!!!  Yes it is that time to get rid of the old, hopelessly broken items that are just taking up space.  As I purge I am finding such treasures that I have stashed and forgotten about.  I just found 50 5x5 squares of re-produced period fabric.  The creative juices are a'flowing!!  (Not like it hasn't been flowing since I went to JoAnn's and have a bit of a buying fit with the AWESOME sale that they were having!!!!) It does feel pretty good to get rid of all that stuff!


So my crafty friends, what is on the creative agenda for you now with the winter holidays as close at hand??


Let me know, would love to see what wonderful ideas are out there!
And as always,
HAPPY CRAFTING!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Here is a little Turkey Day factoid to start things off:

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast that is acknowledged today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. For more than two centuries, days of thanksgiving were celebrated by individual colonies and states. It wasn't until 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day to be held each November. (History.com)

And with that proclamation, the Turkey Gorging, stuffing filling and football watching holiday was started!!

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year.  Yes I get to eat tons of yummy good food, but I also get to see family members that I have not seen for a long time to which we will laugh and eat and have a great time in fellowship.  This Thanksgiving is a bit more meaningful to me this year.  (And that is saying something, as I thought that last years Thanksgiving was one that couldn't be topped! )

This year I have many many many reasons to be thankful.  I have  the love and support of my family, the possibility of adding new members to my family, we are all relatively healthy and accomplishing goals that we have set for ourselves.  I have a house, car, and food for my family.  What more can I ask for?  Not too darn much I tell'ya! (well maybe instant relief from the turkey coma I will be in!)

So my crafting friends what are you thankful for?  Take a few minuets and reflect.  And then set your self a few goals.

Happy Thanksgiving  to one and all!!

And as always: Happy Crafting!!

NEXT!!

Well, I am once again SWAMPED and only have time for a small little bit of blogging.  There is lots and lots going on.  I am STILL working on the wedding quilt for my cousin and want that finished by Turkey day.  I think I can get it finished with in a few days if,  IF...i CAN BE IN ONE PLACE LONG ENOUGH TO DO IT!!  lol 

I am also making candy to sell at the Temple Bazaar on the 20th.  I am hoping that I will make some money at this.  (Yes I will be posting pictures once I get out of the event.)

I am also working on many other little projects to continue stocking of Dame Ashely's Attic.  I really am trying to figure out the whats and hows of this new venture.  I am really excited to see what cool stuff I can come up with and offer for sale!

OH GOSH!  It is time for the start of dinner!  I hope you all have a great week and as always:

HAPPY CRAFTING!

So much sewing so little time!!

I know that I have been very remiss in my blogging duties as of late and for that I offer my deepest apologies! 
So many new things are going on that I have not had the time to process it all!

First I have been researching various patterns for Haversacks, pokes, and housewives to produce and sell to living historians for the Civil War period.  I also am looking into cloth dolls as well.  I hope that these will do well and start me off on a high note.

Halloween is just around the bend and I am in the hustle and bustle  of getting three very different little girls their perfect costumes.  So for the Carmen Miranda out fit is the only that is done and that is thanks to am awesome Aunt that saw and bought it!  Next up is a Corpse Bride and Princess Lea!

But the BIG HUGE news is that I have been commissioned to another super secret quilting project!  Heehheheh  I love these!  But I am NOT going to be posting a whole lot about that on here. 

Well dear ones, it is time for dinner and all the insanity that goes with it.

Happy Crafting!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

It is my baby's 4th birthday!!  I can not believe that she is FOUR! How time flies! 

A new Project!

Well a challenge has been issued to me and I think that I will be accepting with lots of enthusiasm.  The project is turning a Daisy Scout Vest with a TON of patches into a pillow!  Sounds like fun.  So today I will be doing some research on pillows and see what patterns are out there and then do a rough draft of a pattern.

I will, of course, keep everyone posted on this new venture!


Happy Crafting All!

Pictures are here!!!

Ok I hope that this works!!

This is the Quilt on a King Sized bed.  It is basically finished, I have to add two more rows on the sides and then the boarders, backing and binding.  Looks sooo different on a bed.

This is a family heirloom quilting frame.  It was awesome to see a quilt on it again.  

Now for some stats!

Number of individual pieces: 1526 approx
Number of Metes of White Thread: 2000 approx
Number of yards of Silver thread: 500 approx
Number of sewing needles that were broken: 20 (at least!)
Number of sewing machines that were "broke" in the creation of this project:  3  1 burned out and 2 have timing issues.
Number of time my OCC made me change the pattern of the quilt: I stopped counting after 10!

I will be posting more pictures of a finished quilt.  (It is currently traveling so other family members can see it.)  Until then, I will be looking at the quilt tops that I have finished and see what I can do to finish them and get them ready for sale.  I also am going to be making more Spit Bibs to have on hand.  Pictures of them will also be added.  I am also thinking of adding Primitive Embroidery to my the mix as well. 

If anyone can think of things that might sell well, please let me know.  I am always looking for something new and exciting to try out!

Happy crafting!

THe Quilt was a HIT!

FINALLY I can talk about this last project on Facebook!  Yes the BTB (Bride-to-Be) has seen the quilt and so have many family members!

I think it was a hit and all were stunned at what I was able to do with some cast off shirts and pants.  I was able to spread it out on a King size bed and see what it looked like and was amazed at how different it looked than it did on display on a quilting rack.  I was also surprised that my math was right and I only need to add two more side panels and the boarder to make it a completed quilt top.  There is still a lot of work that needs to be finished on it, but I am now not under as much pressure as I was last week.  In fact I get a "vay-kay" from it as the quilt is hitting the road to be shown at her wedding! 

Yes, I will be posting some picture of the quilt as soon as I can figure out how to get the photos from my camera to this site. ;)

All in all I think that this was a great start to Dame Ashely's Attic.  I have a few quilt tops that are finished and all I need to do is back them and price them.  I truly do hope that I can start making this a true Cottage industry for my self. (Yes I will post pictures of those quilt s as well!)

Update!!

Well it has been more than a few days since I last posted anything.  I do apologize for that.  I have been very busy breaking or burning out sewing machines.  Yep you ready that correctly!  Seems that my timing is off on my BRAND NEW Brother sewing machine!  I have only had it since July 1st (Happy Bday gift to me from me :) )  So I have that one in  the shop.  I will not get it back for several days and that is NOT good on the deadlines that I have looming.  But like the good Girl Scout that I am I had a back up!  I used my older Brother machine that I have had for almost 10 years.  10 years of great services and lots of projects and very little difficulties decided that it was time to retire.


Lucky for me I have awesome cousins and was able to borrow a Singer Sewing machine!  So a HUGE thank you to LDV for the use of her machine!

On another technology news, it seems that I have the luck of Typhoid Mary!  I lost ALL of my photos on my phone!!  Cute kid pics lost set aside, all of my quilt pictures are now gone!  I will try to get my Camera working and take more pictures of the quilt to post here.

So now that I have brought us all up to speed, I am going to continue to sew, sew, sew!! 

Today is a day to reflect.

Today is a day to reflect on what happened 10 years ago.  All of our lives changed.  We hold our loved ones a bit closer and tell them we love them a few more times.  Say prayers for help, healing, and understanding. 

Please remember the Americans Citizens that lost their lives this day 10 years ago.  For this reason, I will not be posting any pictures in deference to the hero's of that day.

Keep them in your heart EVERYDAY not just once a year.

G-D BLESS THE USA!

Disaster strikes!!

OH NOOOOOO!!!!  Disaster has struck the Crazy Quilt!

It seems that my brandy new Brother sewing machine of only a few months is already in need of repair!  I am truly disappointed with this development.  My older Brother is still going strong and other than regular cleanings and such, I've had no issues with it.  Here I go an buy a new machine that will help me advance my sewing to a more professional level. 

Luckily, my Cousin gave me the name of a man that will repair it with in a week and THAT is the reallllly important thing, as I will be needing it to do more embellishment to this quilt.

Stay tuned folks, it is never a dull moment here!!

Crazy Quilt!!!

Here are some pictures of the Crazy Quilt that I have been commissioned to make for a bride from her family.

All the materials were donated from the Brides family members.  The challenge to this Quilt was which pattern to use?????  The fabric was from cotton to silk and everything in between!  The one idea was to do the traditional Wedding Ring pattern, but that brought up another challenge.  Where would I quilt the darn thing (My house is VERY small) !  Not to mention that I need to have this done by the end of the month!

So after thinking and a LOT of Mt. Dew and web surfing, I came upon the idea of "crazy quilting".  Ok, the truth is I found a site that was about a quilt from the ACW era (American Civil War) that was in awesome condition.  These quilts are very RARE as most of the textiles of this area were used until they couldn't be used any longer.  The pattern was that of a Crazy Quilt.  This pattern was used in the late 1800's and was very common. 

For the history and some awesome pictures of these quilts go here:

http://www.rockymountainquilts.com/files/antique_quilts_crazy.php#aquilts

After looking at these and seeing the great beauty of them and also the symbolism of this pattern, ( family is a  a crazy quilt, so many different people and personalities that make up one whole unit.) I decided to give it a go!

I made 6 templates that will make a 5 inch block once trimmed down.  Once these 5 inches are finished, I sew 4 of them together and form a large 11 inch block.  Once these blocks are finished, I will employ the "quilt as ya go" method with a few variations.  There will be no dovetailing in the back as there will be a more "traditional" backing placed.

The 11 inchers are much easier to use the Embroidery function on my machine.  Once these are all embellished, then they all get sewing together, backed and bound. 

At least that is the plan!

Here are the pictures that I have thus far on the project.

Close up of embellishment of blocks

These are the first of the 5 inch blocks just laid out.

The quilt is  starting to take shape! Possible placement of each 11 inch finished block.

Close up of an raw 11 inch block. 

 

Good Morning World!

So what is new with Dame Ashely's today? 

Currently the commisioned quilt that I am working on is almost at the end of the peicing stage.  I will be posting pictures once I figure out just how to do that! 

 Future projects for DA are currently underway.  On the list is a soldier's quilt reproduction from the Civil War.  Here is the site that I have been reading and taking notes from:

http://www.patternsfromhistory.com/civil_war/

My Very First Blog!!

WOW I finally did it! I started a blog!

I decided that I needed to really start to get things rolling for Dame Ashely's Attic. So I decided to have an "Almanac" of sorts. This Almanac will have products that I am going to sell and will also consist of current projects and ideas for future projects. (I have lots of ideas and lots of creative energy that I need to be put to good use.)


I also want this Blog to be a link between the 21st Century and our history. I truly feel that a person needs to connect with the "old" in order to appericate what wonders we have now!

If you have any ideas I am allll ears!