Hall's Harbour Quilts - Handcrafted Quilts, Antique & Vintage Textiles, and Nova Scotia Folk Art in Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada

Hall's Harbour Quilts
Hall's Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada

Home About My Quilts Antique & Vintage Textiles Links of Interest Contact Information Welcome to the website of Hall's Harbour Handcrafts, located close to the ruggedly beautiful Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia, on Canada's East coast. My quilt studio is in my 1820's heritage home, surrounded by trees and wild gardens. Enjoy the peace and serenity which inspires my work. Visit the nearby fishing village of Hall's Harbour where you can observe the action of the world's highest tides. Visit artists' studios, hunt for antiques and sample seafood and lobster. If you wish to stay a while, there are several bed and breakfasts in the village and lots of other things to do and see nearby. If you cannot visit my studio in person, rest assured that my custom quilts are made in the traditional way - entirely by hand every step of the way. They are made of the finest available 100% cotton materials in a smoke-free home, and are truly one-of-a-kind.	Wednesday, January 02, 2008 A CHANGE IN PACE Most of my life I have been a terrible packrat and collector and I have come to the realization that I need to start weeding out my collections - have made a New Year's resolution to do that and it may be easier than the second one to get fitter and lose some weight. I need to concentrate specially my collections of vintage quilt kits, both cross stitched (Paragon and Tobin)and applique and Doublestencil Smithsonian whole cloth and wholecloths embellished with needleturn applique. In addition I have a huge supply of fabrics, mostly 19th century reproduction, amish-style solids and 1930's both repro and genuine feedsack. As well I have a fair supply of 1970's and 80's tiny flowered calicos. Time to get sewing on my own planned projects so I will only rarely now be accepting commissions to hand quilt others' quilt tops and now and then will accept a quilt restoration if I am intrigued enough. I am hoping my new commission clients may be interested in letting me surprise them after choosing colours and type of quilt - my creative juices are currently becoming frustrated! I have many antique and vintage quilt tops to be finished too. As well, I have collected and dealt in Nova Scotian Folk Art for at least 30 years and am planning on keeping only a few sentimental pieces such as the fine Elmer Killen carving of a man and team plowing, which was left to me in my mother's estate. I also have smalls of all sorts to go. Basically I'd suggest you contact me with your wish list and we'll see what we can find - once the snow is gone and the tourists are here again I will be open 7 days a week and expect my collections to move fast, so perhaps checking out my inventory now is a good idea! I am reaching the point in life where I want to do more of my own design projects and am also embarking on teaching online as my main occupation, so it makes sense to downsize. As well I am looking at some fairly extensive maintainance for my almost 200 year old home so reducing the stuff that will need to be pushed around from place to place makes a lot of sense to me!!!. Labels: amish quilts, antique quilt tops, applique, calico, fabric for quilting, hand quilting, Nova Scotian Folk Art. Elmer Killen, quilt restoration, smalls, teaching quilting, vintage quilt kit, wholecloth 3:29 PM (0) comments Sunday, December 09, 2007 DOUBLESTENCIL AMERICAN HERITAGE FLORAL APPLIQUE QUILT KIT Another wonderful find!! I've been really lucky lately. This one is a rare queen sized kit, 88x114 in excellent condition. In addition I also have the kit for the wallhanging shown above the bed in the picture. The small quilt is 40x40 so it can also be used as a crib quilt. Again, I would love to make up one or both of these kits for you - the quilts will be entirely hand appliqued and hand quilted - guaranteed to become a family treasure. In addition to this blog on my quilt studio website, I blog at http://www.quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com and will be posting a picture there this evening of my most recent completed commission - an art quilt inspired by a painting of geese by Canadian First Nations artist Benjamin Chee Chee. Labels: applique, art quilts, baltimore album kit, Benjamin Chee Chee, collectibles, custom ordered quilts, quiltmaking, vintage quilt kit 8:29 PM (0) comments Friday, November 30, 2007 VINTAGE PARAGON QUILT KITS This lovely 90x108 kit is my most recent acquisition. Dating to the American Bicentennial in 1976, the kit is based on a quilt held in the Smithsonian Institution collection. The American Bicentennial celebration began a resurgence in the popularity of quiltmaking that continues to this day, and saw many marvellous kits designed and marketed. I also have in my collection a "Tree of Life" applique kit by Tobin and in addition, many cross stitch Paragon quilt kits from the same vintage period. All kits are of 100% cotton and usually the thread kits for the cross stitch quilts are much more colourfast than todays threads. If interested in purchasing anything in my inventory, please contact me at mailto:janet@novascotiaquilts.com. Labels: applique, cross stitch quilt kits, paragon, quilt kits, vintage 1:37 PM (0) comments Tuesday, September 04, 2007 MY NEW BLOG - Quilting with Janet I recently began a new blog and would like to make sure you have a look. It's called "Quilting with Janet" and is a more personal diary in which I would like to receive comments and questions and attempt to answer them. You can find this log at http://www.quiltingwithjanet.blogspot.com/ if this doesn't get you to the site, email and let me know and I will correct this post! I haven't had my morning coffee yet so anything is possible! The picture to the left is the label from a wonderful Doublestencil kit I acquired recently - queen sized. At the same time I also acquired a crib or wallhanging size of the same design. I am ready to complete either one for you using my applique and handquilting skills. Labels: applique, blogs about quilting., crib or wallhanging size, doublestencil, handquilting, queen sized quilt 10:45 AM (1) comments Saturday, September 01, 2007 MY BEST QUILT YET!! I just finished this top today and since it is a lovely early fall day I took it outside and photographed it. I will have to wait until I have quilted it and have it professionally photographed to show you the whole quilt, I am just not set up to display a quilt of this size here at my studio. However, it will finish to about 86x106 inches when done and will be heavily handquilted in very traditional quilting patterns. This quilt is without a doubt the best quilt I will ever do and the person who commissions its completion will have a one of a kind, original design that is informed by the tradition of the baltimore album quilt but goes well beyond that concept. Of course it is entirely hand-appliqued and will be hand quilted. I am planning on submitting this quilt to our provincial government's Art Purchase Programme providing the cut off dates are good, but am displaying it here in case there is someone out there who is thinking of buying it for their private collection. I did have interest in it expressed by a couple of visitors from British Columbia, so will give hem the opportunity of first refusal. Labels: applique, best yet, original design, queen sized quilt 3:22 PM (0) comments	Recent Posts: WWW.SIMPLEQUILTMAKING.COM Will Spring Come This Year? A TRADITIONAL FLYING GEESE QUILT VINTAGE IDEAL ABC YOYO BOUDOIR CUSHION COVER A CHANGE IN PACE HAPPY NEW YEAR and HAPPY SNOW DAY MY BIG QUILT PROJECT FOR 2008 DOUBLESTENCIL AMERICAN HERITAGE FLORAL APPLIQUE QU... VINTAGE PARAGON QUILT KITS AN UPDATE ON MY FOLK ART INVENTORY Archived Posts: July 2005 August 2005 October 2005 December 2005 June 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 March 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008