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!