Journey Four is Finished!!

 

Yippee!!! I'm doing a dance of J.O.Y. because Journey Four is completely

finished!!  Each Journey is jam-packed with so much information that I feel like

I've written a dissertation, and now I'm out for summer vacation!

 

I know loads of Prairie Women all over the world have been waiting for

Journey Four to be ready....and ready it is!!

 

 

I had the best time choosing the subjects for the six historic stories.   So fun!

My, the good people who lived on the prairie in the 1800's sure had a life full of

lots of work.  I can't imagine they had much down time.  Hhmmm....seems we

can say that now as well....except whether we have enough to eat during the

snowy winter doesn't depend on what we do now during harvest time!

We have it much easier!! 

 

The front cover shows the one throw sized quilt in the collection, and the

back cover shows the remaining five do-able, affordable smaller projects.

There are two bonus projects in Journey Four as well.

 

The Prairie Women's Sewing Circle is available only through participating

quilt shops!  Email me if you'd like a list of participating shops in your state,

or a referral to a shop offering membership-by-mail! 

 

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Forget Me Not Sewalong 

 

In my last post, I gave you the last two blocks in the sewalong, and asked for comments

about which blocks were your favs, and which ones were not.  A lot of you really

liked blocks 7 & 8.  I happen to like them all and don't really have a favorite. 

I just love a sampler quilt for that reason. 

 

The winner of the contest is......

 

Grannie Smith...who wrote....I have loved loved loved making all the blocks. I can't pick a favorite but I love the fact that block 12 will be my label AND it will be on the front...I won't have to make a separate label for the back. Laurie in Utah

 

Laurie...please email your snail mail address and choose a Heartspun Quilts pattern prize!

 

You know...the Forget Me Not sewalong isn't over yet!!  There are still

two parts coming.  This Friday, you'll receive the piecing instructions for the setting,

with the BIG REVEAL of the finished quilt coming Friday, Sept 28th!!

 

Many of you have emailed me to ask if I will have another sewalong....and the answer is....

 

Yes!

 

It will be a couple of months yet....so stay tuned!

 

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The Heirloom scissors are now back in stock, and a limited number of

Fat Quarter and Fat Eighth bundles of my Heart of the Prairie fabric collection

should be back in stock next week. 

 

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I want to start sharing bits and pieces of 1800's trivia with you.  I adore

early American history, and while I'm researching stories for the

Prairie Women's Sewing Circle club, I often find tid-bits that are

fun, and I thought you'd enjoy them too!

 

My friend and fellow Prairie woman, Cheryl B, brought a bit of  personal nostalgia 

to a recent PWSC meeting.  Her mother collected thimbles, and kept index cards

with notes about the thimbles she had, what family member they belonged to, and some thimble history.  I asked her if I could share the information with all of you, and she was happy to share.

 

Cheryl's mother, Winifred, wrote....

 

Once upon a time every little girl was given a thimble for children were taught to sew and stitch a sampler at a very early age.  Most of these thimbles when found are in good condition as little fingers outgrew the thimble.  Also, girls on confirmation received as a gift a thimble -

so that she might get started on her hope chest. 

 

I have a "pudding" thimble.  It was put into a Christmas pudding in England,

and the person who got it was supposed to have the best luck all year.

 

Thimbles, or thumb-bells (originally they were worn on the thumb) date back to antiquity.  No one knows for sure who invented the first one, but it was probably someone who sewed and said "Ouch".

 

Thimbles come in all mediums: aluminum,bone, china, brass, copper, cut glass, gold, horn, ivory-scrimshaw, leather, pewter, plastic, porcelain, steel, sterling, stone, etc.

 

They are: carved, embossed, enameled, engraved, filigree, filleting (bands), gadroon(a series of raised decorative curves as adornments), hand painted, jeweled, moulded, stamped, and two-toned.

 

There are thimbles with jeweled tops, magnetic tops, open tops, razor on the side for cutting thread, needle threaders on the side and looped.

 

Wow...who knew so much could be done to something so tiny?

 

Until next time.....

 

Pam