Dreams really DO come true.........

I have been so busy, I am late in announcing that my Baltimore Album quilt, 'History's Humble Servant' has been jurried into the International Quilt Association's fall show in Houston as a finalist! I am more than honored, and just cannot even begin to express how excited I am, and humbled at the same time. I made my first quilt as a very early teen, and have always looked in awe at the quilts that were included in the big International Quilt Festival down in Houston each fall....I never thought that anything I would ever make, would be even remotely good enough to have its face shown together with such outstanding company. The show is Nov 4-7, 2010, at the George Brown Convention center in downtown Houston, Texas. I am not positive yet, as to which days I will be in attendance, but I will be there, so please do stop by and see me, and all the beautiful quilts and vendors! ( I will post my days as soon as I have confirmed them). You can read about the IQA and the show here http://www.quilts.org/

This year is extra special for all of us Baltimore Album Quilt lovers, as there will also be a special exhibit of 40 modern Baltimore Albums, 12 of which are Elly Sienkiewicz's friendship albums. There will be much to do and to see~ hope to see you there~ Ill be the overwhelmed one, standing by my quilt, with a smile from ear to ear :)

Speaking of busy, the bees have also been busy! They are doing so well, we have added a second super, and they have already started capping off combs of honey for the winter. We have lots of clover around, so it is nearly clear as water, and sooooo wonderful...but RICH! Jayson gave me a taste, and it was so sweet I just couldn't nearly stand it. He is really enjoying them, and to keep them busy, has a honey super on order, to add to the hive, making it 3 stories tall now.

And! As you can see, the fundraising goal for this year has been met! OHH my gracious, I can not thank everyone enough, I was in dire need of archival materials and storage supplies....you have no idea of the stress that can be accumulated, by knowing that such important artifacts are under your own responsibility and care, to remain for future generations. I have had sleepless nights, worrying that the precious bits of history that I care for, are being treated, and kept in a way that will add to their longevity on this Earth, vise detracting from it. It is a responsibility that I take very seriously, and hope to blog about in the near future. Until then, there is the happy business of the fundraiser giveaway to deal with! I am swamped right now (when lately does it seem that I am not?), so have set the date of Aug. 1st, to have the drawing and announce the winner~ this years premium, is a custom made dollye of the winners choice~ Good luck to all that entered, I hope you are as excited as I am!

My deepest Heartfelt Thanks

I have gotten so many wonderful emails about my dolls, I just wanted to say thankyou all so very much. It means the world to me, to be able to share my love of dollys, and things of olde, with others that are touched by them, the same way I am. We are all kindred spirits~

I would also like to apologize for all the different steps one must go thru, just to leave a comment~ sometimes it seems no matter how many screens one goes thru, the comment just wont stick on there. The obscene and insensitive spammers have made it harder for all of us~ I wanted to share some emails that I have received just recently, that touched my heart especially~

From Trevette H~

"Dear Rachael, Your Halloween offerings are stunning, breathtaking, magical!!! You're a superb artist who always creates divine enchantments! Oh, I can't say enough, I just love your exquisite beauties.....Oh, meant to say tho i loved everything to night, my favorites are the calendar and the amazing wee birdcage. It must be fun being you, creating unique and fantastic works of art! "

and from Janie P~

"I just had to write you this month to say "WOW". You have outdone yourself with this first item, the display piece. It is stunning and so well thought out. I'll never be able to own a piece of your work, but I appreciate all the time, thought and talent you have put into your work. I am in awe.

The second piece, the lady with the baby is also wonderful. I can remember when I first started seeing this type of dolls, and I didn't understand or appreciate them. But I have learned, and enjoy seeing your particular style, resembling pumpkins, as some of the best.

Thank you so much for sharing your talent with the world. You are "Simply the Best"! "

and from Rick L~

"Lydia arrived safe & sound yesterday. Wow, she's a real stunner...!!!
I bought her for my girlfriend as a gift. She has a pretty impressive collection of antique dolls, animals, and other stuff, and was so impressed with Lydia she is now seated right at the front with her most valued dolls. Her details and quality are really impressive. She's way nicer in person that any photo could convey....You are one heck of a fine artist...!!!
Thanks so much for the fast shipping and little goodies accompanying her. "

Thankyou, Dear Friends!

Join us at the Witch's Bazaar....Wed, July 14th, 2010.....7pm CST

Bring the kiddies....Sitting will be provided by Ladye WoodHaus, free of charge~ Its Hallowe'en in July! Hope to see you there!

Diamond K Folk Art Hallowe'en in July~ July 14th, 2010




I hope you will please to join us July 14th, 2010, for my Hallowe'en in July update~ I have some really awesome Halloweenies this year....

Including "The Hallowe'en House".........

Over 5 months work has gone into this original Lit Showcase piece~ that will most definitely be the center of any Hallowe'en Collection

Other spooks, ghoulies and ghofsties will be there too~ hope you will stop by and say hello~

"Rustic Amusement", a c 1785 Child's Printed Handkerchief

I have several early children's handkerchiefs, but this one is by far my favorite. These earlier ones, 18th c up to the 1820, were larger, and oft printed with some sort of instructional verse, so that while the precious one was riding in the wagon to school...sitting in church or the like, they could reach in their pocket and pass the time 'learning' a life lesson, or reading their Sunday prayers. This one measures 19x18"

My views of early handkerchiefs, is that they were most likely used to 'pat' ones face, wipe away a tear maybe, used to wipe the fingers upon....certainly not to blow ones nose upon! Plain linens would have been used for that, and in a private, not a public place. I am sure there was an element of 'showiness' involved too~ who could have the latest beautifully engraved kerchief....

These medallion types were very popular in the last quarter of the 18th c, and were printed on fine linen and cotton with very intricately engraved copper rollers, just one color printing~ brown, indigo and red the most common colors.

This handkerchief is very fascinating if studied closely~ not only does is show wonderful late 18th c fashions, it gives a little glimpse of what the average person did in their free time....what they did to amuse themselves... the largest central medallion shows older teens sitting under a tree, the boy leaning on his dog, one girl holding a lamb, and the other a bird

This one, titled "innocence', shows a sweet young girl feeding a curly haired sheep and apple

The medallion directly above center is titled 'Going to School', and shows a dapper clad boy on his way, with his books in tow & lunch sack over his shoulder. The initials "J * L" are cross stitched at top center. The medallion directly below center, is titled "Returning from school", also showing a boy. This handkerchief would have been meant for a boy, as all but 2 of the pictures depict boys , and the 2 with girls show them from a gentleman's point of view~ this design most likely had a sister, one meant for girls, that depicted them doing various ladylike endeavours. This is also reinforced by the social standard of the time, that girls were, if at all, educated in the home, and not sent out to school

'the disappointed boy'...looks as tho he has tripped and fallen, perhaps in front of a girl, and caused himself great embarrassment

This has been cut from a larger panel of 6, hand hemmed on 3 sides, with one salvage remaining~ you can see it is printed around the edge with stitch marks even, so one has to look very closely to tell a raw edge from a hemmed one.

What a Honor, & a SALE!!!

I am absolutely thrilled to be chosen again this year for Early American Life's Directory of Top 200 Early American Craftsmen~ Thank you to all the judges, and to Early American Life Magazine for bringing such a wonderful directory together. The 25th anniversary issue is on newsstands now, and can also be viewed online~

To celebrate, from today until the end of June, I am having one of my wonderful "MAKE ME AN OFFER " sales! I LOVE running these sales~ its a great time to try a piece of Diamond K Folk Art if you haven't already~ it all helps support the Museum~ so if you have had your eye on something, in any of my website pages, and even in my ETSY store, just drop me an email or a comment, and make me an offer! (No need to be registered at ETSY ~ well work it out).

Remember, sale ENDS June 30!

A VERY Successful Hunting Trip!!!

Our property here in southern Colorado lies directly on the olde Santa Fe Trail, in fact, the gallery lies on the exact spot the Olde Madrid Commissary stood in the 1860s. I have very much enjoyed, over the years, looking around the yard for little treasures~ I have found Indian head pennies, clay marbles, and heads and bits from early china and bisque dollys. One of my favorite pastimes tho, each spring, is to go up to the top of the property and look for arrowheads, as it was a known Indian settlement.

While I was feeding Luke his bottle on Saturday, Tressa came over and says 'Hey Mom~ is THAT what I think it is???' as she bent over and picked up a little pink quartz arrowhead......I said~ yep, sure is! To that she squealed with delight and insisted that we go a hunting on Sunday.... and WHAT a hunt it was!

We walked around a little, I remembered the shovel, in case we came across any rattlers, but forgot my glasses, so I couldn't see a thing. I found a nice chunk of moss agate, that was most likely a piece of one, as that would have been a stone the Indians traded for....most of the natural rock around here is sandstone. Anyways, she had ambled off, so I called for her and once she was within yelling distance, I told her to come down a little draw, and you guessed it, I herd the same..."Could this be?????" and what sounded like a stampede coming at me, and just look at the wonderful spear point she found! We have a whole little jar of arrowheads we have found here, but this is the first spear point, so we both were elated!

As we walked home, my son Josh appeared at the top of the hill behind the house, and this is where it got really interesting. As you can see, we have very rocky terrain here, perfect for rattlesnakes, so I do not let the children just mosey about up on the hill...but it was morning, and he was sitting up on the big rock there, where the arrow is, enjoying the view~ so I told him he could sit a while, then come back home. You can see the top of the garden shed at the bottom of the picture~ its just right behind the house.......well, by the time my olde decrepit self got back and sat down in my chair, both he and Tressa came zooming in the house like aliens had finally landed.....screaming and yelling so back up the hill I raced with them...cause Josh looked down where he was sitting, and low & behold!!!!

Look at what was carved into the rock! Can you believe it? We have walked by this rock the entire 10 years we have lived here! There is even a solar light my husband put in the little cave to light the whole big thing up at night....and we never saw the man standing there.

The carving is olde, there are lichens growing within the lines...He has spiky hair (feathers perhaps), what looks to be a shawl ties around his shoulders, and you can see one arm there. Just absolutely fascinating! There were Kiowa, Arapaho, Comanche & Cheyenne Indians in our area, so I will be taking this picture to the archeology museum in town, to see what they think when I get caught up.

See how close this is to the house? Its amazing what you can see, if you just slow down and take a peek!