Wednesday, February 25, 2015

New Bright Patchwork style sewing kit, accessories...

Sewing kit, pincushion, scissor keeper.....
  

I got this cheerful sewing set all finished and ready to sell today.
I made a small patchwork, crazy quilt with retro fabric to cut up for smaller projects. I embellished the sewing kit with hand embroidery, ric-rac, pom-poms and buttons. The scissor keeper and pincushion are embellished with yo yos, pom-poms, ribbon and buttons on the scissor keeper.
 Fun, bright sewing accessories, they will soon be for sale in my etsy shop, crazyvictoriana.etsy.com .



Monday, February 23, 2015

Elderberry Wine Quilt plus handmade rabbit....

Elderberry Wine Quilt designed, made by me, 2012, 21.5'' x 21.5".

Close-up, hand quilting, yo yos, colorful batiks.

Hand made rabbit, with pinafore and dress.


 I pulled out my Elderberry Wine
quilt, because it reminds me of spring. It was published in Art Quilting Studio . Batiks always thrill me. Using muslin  with batiks show cases the amazing colors in the batiks.
Last week I visited my local thrift shop, repurposing is one of my hobbies . Look what I found, this little rabbit doll for .50!, I picked it up and looked closely at it and saw the french knot eyes and the hand stitching here and there, the little pinafore was too cute. The body is made of muslin, good muslin, had to buy it! So now I have my spring mascot, hand made by someone, so cool. Support your local thrift shop, one woman's junk is another's treasure.


Dress turned up to show hand stitching.

Back of pinafore, cute crossed design, clever.

Monday, February 16, 2015

Barn Raising Red and Animal Style......

Barn Raising Red, hand quilted.

In-n-Out fries, 'animal style', tasty.


Happy President's Day! We went out to In-n-Out for lunch, everyone else did too, it was crowded, but good.
This Barn Raising Red is one of my favorite quilts, I hand quilted it.
Hand quilting gives such a unique texture. I'm starting to look at it differently. I used to think it was too labor intensive. Now I am starting to see it for what it is, an art form. I noticed when my attitude about it changed, hand quilting got a lot easier and went a lot faster. Sounds like some kind of a life lesson here, hmmmmm.


Local In-n-Out, busy today.

Friday, February 13, 2015

Practicing Machine Quilting for art quilt....

Practice muslin piece, 2 layers.

Straight stitch for outlining.


Today was a work day, practicing free motion machine quilting, then machine quilting one of my batik art quilts.
There is a good article with tips on free motion quilting in Quilting Arts Magazine, the Feb. March 2015 issue.
As you can see in the pic.s I have my free motion quilt foot off and my regular foot on,which I used for outlining the blocks. The free motion foot was used for the practice muslin piece.
I don't machine quilt my large quilts on my small home machine, backbreaking. One of my friends has a big quilt machine that does wonderful work,  she and her quilting machine are the best! 
How do you get your quilting done?
Now I'm tired of work and must relax, Happy Friday to you!










Thursday, February 12, 2015

Folsom, CA quilt show last weekend, blossoms today....



 I went to the Folsom, Ca quilt show, last weekend. It's a small show but close and I had to go so I know what's going on in Folsom. The weather was rainy and dark, lighting was not so good.
However, I always enjoy the hustle, bustle and the vendors and the variety of quilts and use of color. I took just a few pictures of quilts that caught my eye, that were different from the usual.



Sun Bonnet Sue, a very happy quilt.




On my morning walk I pass by this tree full of pink blossoms and bees. It's just humming.
No rain today.
Remember to stop and enjoy something beautiful, that's how to get the creative juices flowing!

Monday, February 9, 2015

'Love in a Meadow' #2 art quilt finished!!!

'Love in a Meadow' #1 & #2


Close-up of #2, embellishing and hand embroidery details.


 I finished my deconstruct-reconstruct project, 'Love in a Meadow'. The final embellishing, embroidery and binding is done!
I like working around themes and using series, the focusing is challenging and helps define style.
Altering and layering gives movement and dynamic, creating a new statement.
Check out Jane Lafazio's blog, she has a beautiful, interesting artistic style and offers classes and mini tutorials. She is a great inspiration to me.
Have a great day and stop to enjoy something beautiful.


'Love in a Meadow' #2,  finished embellishing and binding.
This is 'Love in a Meadow' #1.


Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Lots of Small Batik Hearts for any and every reason...

Lovely batik hearts....
        
     I don't know which I like better, heart shapes or batik fabrics, so I mixed both and now I have a
double whammy! I'm going to make a few more for different projects, they measure about 3"x 3".
Valentine's Day is such a good reason to make hearts and use bright colors, isn't it?