Children's Quilts - Each Tells a Story

By Sharon Camp

Observe a playground of 3 year olds playing for a few minutes. They are the busiest little independent group of individuals. Each can make you smile, cause you sleepless nights, and give you the most love and joy you have ever experienced in your life. As a quilter, designing a children's quilt is much like these little ones on the playground. Each of the unique children's quilts stand alone in a sea of other unique handmade baby quilts, yet all belong to the collection entitled, "Children's Quilts." The quilter smiles and sews, thinking of the child, who will cuddle under the quilt each night. Yet, those late nights spent making sure the children's quilt meets with the high expectation of its maker, if not, long hours will be spent until the problem is resolved. But as the quilter adds the last stitches to the finished project, she knows that unique handmade quilt, will become another keepsake to her growing collection of the children's quilts.

How does the story of each unique quilt begin? As a quilter commences her initial design work, thoughts grow and develop from the design board to the sewing machine. Each of her children's quilts tells its own story, as the pieces are cut from carefully chosen fabrics, sewn carefully into patterns. The story's is illustrated through color, design, and texture. Whether the quilter has a special child in mind, as she sews and quilts, or if the quilter is designing and quilting for the love of her art, either way, the children's quilts come to life step by step. For example, the soft baby flannel that may be used in the piecing of a clown's hat may evoke memories of a toy that the quilter's son once played with in the nursery. The soft pink cotton that once was the out grown nightgown of a clumsy toddler is now the ballerina's skirt in a children's quilt of a graceful little girl, who grew up and now loves to show her Mommy how much she loves to dance, instead of crawling around the house. Or the blue jean train on the newly finished children's quilt which was once a little boy's first pair of dungarees. Tonight, when he goes to bed, and hugs his handmade children's quilt, the story can be told again about the little train on that special children's quilt, a keepsake for years to come, with a story to tell.
Take time to quilt.

Come and choose one our handmade children's quilts, a lasting keepsake, a unique birthday gift, or Christening gift, for that special "little one."

Visit my website: http://www.uniquebabyquiltboutique.com and chose of one unique handmade children's quilt from my collection for your child's birthday or other special event.

Sharon Camp has been quilting for over 30 years.

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For more resources on Quilting Crafts, see www.myguidetocrafts.com.

Crafts Are Good For Crafty People

By Adam Florence

In the quest for finding the right hobby some folks realize that crafts are what brings out the best in them. In the simplest terms, we can describe a craft as a practical form of art. It is not only mentally involving, but physically as well.

There is something magical about turning trash into treasure or working an idea by using locally available material. Sometimes it takes planning and work but in the end the final product is worth all the praise. The only thing you need to have is the natural ability to see the sculpture in the marble; otherwise you will not be able to create anything.

Crafts were more famous in the days of our forefathers. Back then they were taking a more professional side since most of the crafts made would be sold. In the present time, there are classes that help you hone your craftsmanship skills and become good at it.

The studio crafts as they are better known include pottery, wood working and glass blowing. The training is only to offer a better foundation for the natural skill that you have. It gives you a kind of growing place where the skill gets to develop.

Most people due to economic reasons have turned their crafts into businesses so that they can realize a little extra at the end of their time. These are the folk that spend some of their free time doing crafts instead of going shopping or spending all day in bed. Usually things like woodwork come in handy in replacing all the purchasing of cabinets and other wooden stuff since they can be made personally.

When it comes to selling of these crafts, there are a couple of factors that you need to take into consideration. The first thing is always marketing. You may be too good at what you do, to simply let all your work simply lie in the garage. Open up a make-shift selling booth where you can showcase all your work.

You can also display your work in a garage sale. Both of these methods are for crafts that are unique and hard to find anywhere else. If your crafts work is more common, you could participate in the galleries organized by studio crafts to showcase your work.

The third option is to organize a craft fair where many people get to participate. You would be amazed at just how much you can make from this especially if your creativity boundaries are huge and your work exquisite. Not so many give up their job to become craftsmen, but the money the may make from this is not exactly ignorable.

Looking for the right craft for you is not too hard, a list of your favorite crafts can help you narrow down to what you enjoy doing the most. You can always go to the internet to search for new ideas since most if not all the kinds of crafts are often listed. That way you can get a place to start.

Adam Florence enjoys quilting and for the best quilting fabrics go to http://www.Sew-Materialistic.com.

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See more on arts and crafts at www.myguidetocrafts.com.