Monday, September 24, 2012

Autumn at Sweet Pea's Garden

 
Saturday was the first day of Autumn, and Sweet Pea's Garden is ready with new items for this beautiful season, including the Halloween and Thanksgiving holidays.  This season always reminds us of cool, crisp air, warm apple cider, and warm, sunny days spent with family and friends.

At this time of year, we find it difficult to accomplish as much as we would like.  There are so many things to make for so many different occasions, but not enough time!  While in the midst of making our popular nativity sets (including handmade stable -- see picture below), we're also trying to fit in making turkeys, witches, and snowmen.  Too many ideas and not enough time!!

 
 
If you like to keep up with what we're working on, we'll give you a rundown of projects in progress (and in some cases, completed but not yet posted to our Etsy shop):
  • turkey placemats
  • pumpkin placemats
  • autumn table runner (made of the same fabrics as the large quilt at the beginning of this post)
  • California Girl table runner (think seaglass green, coral pink, and sunny yellow)
  • whale print lap quilt
  • stuffed snowmen
  • Halloween table runner
  • little stuffed turkeys
  • paper clay sculpted witches
  • mini wooden witches
  • Christmas table runners in a variety of sizes
  • mini tree skirts with trees and gingerbread men
  • snowman tree skirt
  • and of course, the nativity sets!
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Thursday, April 5, 2012

Welcome! Introduction to Sweet Pea's Garden



With our first post, we hope to introduce you to ourselves and to Sweet Pea's Garden, your source for handmade quilts, kitchen/table items, bags, holiday decorations, jewelry, paper crafts, embroidery, cross stitch, and more.

We are a mother-daughter team, and we make and sell items exclusively through our Etsy shop: http://www.sweetpeasgarden.etsy.com/

We sew, quilt, embroider, cross stitch, paint, embellish, decoupage, glitter, and design. We enjoy working with a variety of materials and techniques, and creating a wide range of items. We feel blessed to have such a wonderful relationship with each other and to have the opportunity to share our creations with the world through our online shop.

Let us introduce ourselves:

Karen: The mother of the team. Karen was taught to sew at a young age by her mother. She made clothes for her dolls then, and later in life, made clothes for her daughter, Heather. She had always been interested in art, and sewing allowed her a practical application for her artistic impulses. A friend introduced her to quilting over 20 years ago and she's loved it ever since. Karen's family lovingly refers to her collection of fabric and craft supplies as "the store." Trying to find something she doesn't have is a challenge!

Heather: The daughter of the team. Now would be a great time to introduce myself, Heather, as the writer of this blog and the handler of all things internet-related for Sweet Pea's Garden. My mom taught me to sew when I was a girl, and it led to my pursuit of my Bachelor of Science in Textiles, Fashion Merchandising and Design. Ironically, while I was finishing my last semester of my B.S. in Textiles, I changed course and got a Master of Science in Accounting. Sewing was put on hold while I studied for (and passed) the CPA exam. Not long after passing the exam, I met the man I would later marry. While planning our wedding, my love of crafts was reawakened, and my mom and I relished every opportunity to create and embellish all possible aspects of the wedding (future blog posts to include ideas and photos!).

After the wedding, we discovered that we both needed a creative outlet. A family member suggested Etsy, and in September 2008, http://www.sweetpeasgarden.etsy.com/ was launched. We have learned a lot in the past 3.5 years since opening our shop, and are always trying to learn more. We hope to expand our Etsy circle and to meet and learn more about you, our customers.

Thank you for taking the time to meet us (even if only digitally), and we look forward to sharing with you what's new in the world of Sweet Pea's Garden!