Work in Progress: GW Jane Austen

I began working on this project between Christmas and New Years.  I bought the kit from Gail Wilson Designs in one of her sales.  The special offer was a bundle that included the doll kit, stand kit and book kit.  I always enjoy working on Gail's kits because I always learn how to do something new.  Jane's dress includes cartridge pleating to attach the sleeves and the skirt.  I gathered the skirt 4 times, and attempted to connect it 3 times before I was satisfied!  I need to use a small zig zag around the skirt edges and do the hem next.  Then the silk sash, bow and buttons, and the dress will be done.  

Today I bought thread to match the silk sash.  I'm fighting off a sore throat that wants to become a full blown cold, so that might be all I accomplish today!  I find I can do my best work when I'm not sick!

December Small Quilt of the Month

The December Quilt is Turkey Tracks, from Kathleen Tracy's book, Remembering Adelia.  It has a lot of triangles, which make it a bit more tedious for me to do, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I suppose making a dozen small quilts this year has been good for my piecing, if nothing else!  I was determined to get this one done before Christmas, so I machine quilted it.  I think it is one of my favorites from this year.

Merry Christmas, everyone!  

May God bless your celebration of His Son's Birth!

Meet Christine

The dress for the last of the three Izannah Walker dolls is finished, and so is Christine!  It seemed fitting that she'd have a nice, bright, festive dress for the Christmas season!

November Small Quilt of the Month

November's small quilt is the Amish Nine Patch Quilt.  The pattern is from Kathleen Tracy's book, American Doll Quilts.



The binding was sewn to the front on November 30th, and the quilt was finish on December 1st.  I discovered that it is really difficult to get a good photo of these bright, clear colors.  I need to work on a few places where the pencil marks for the quilt design didn't completely wash out.

I'm pretty excited about December's quilt.  I picked out the fabrics yesterday.  I hope I can finish it and share it with you this year!

Meet Betsy

I'm please to share Betsy with you.  She is my second Izannah Walker doll made during the Dixie Redmond on-line workshop.  The dress pattern is Dixie's, but I made the pattern for the pinner apron myself.  Betsy's chemise, pantelettes and petticoat are made from a linen like fabric - left over from my kitchen curtains!  I suppose that Betsy will be a thrify one!

October's Small Quilt of the Month

My October Quilt has been finished since before Hurricane Sandy, but the sun never wanted to come out for me - at least not when I was home and could take a photograph of it to share!  I enjoyed hand quilting this one - it brought back pleasant memories of making hexagon flowers while vacationing on Oak Island last summer!
October's Quilt is from Kathleen Tracy's book:  The Civil War Sewing Circle and is called "Hexagon Flower Quilt."
I saved the cardstock paper hexagons - there could be another variation of this one in my future some day!  I'd love to do it in Civil War reproduction fabrics!

September Small Quilt of the Month

For September, Kathy Tracy's SmallQuiltTalk Yahoo! group made quilts based on a single quilt block called Dove in the Window.  Once again, I was able to make the quilt using fabrics from my stach.  I picked the fabric for the large squares first, and then picked fabrics that I thought would work with it.  My husband helped me decide on the borders after I had narrowed my choices down to a handful.  I was really happy with how it turned out, so I decided to hand quilt it - nothing fancy, just 1/4" from the seam lines, like I learned to do more than 20 years ago!  I finished the quilt on a rainy weekend, so getting a photo in good outdoor light was delayed even more!  

My October hexagon flower quilt top is done - just waiting to be basted, quilted and bound!  I hope that I can finish it within a few days of the end of the month - November will be busy enough without starting it already behind!