Victorian Christmas Strawberry Ornaments....

Christmas in July, I like the braid trim on this strawberry.

Close-up, can you see the lady bug?

 I finished these two ornaments over the weekend. It is never too soon to plan for Christmas you know. The small strawberries on the top are so cute. The leaves are felted wool. The red button is vintage reproduction. I used the pattern, Vintage Strawberry Pincushion by Crabapplehill Studio , lovely.  I added the braid hanger and the velvet ribbon hanger. These are for sale in my etsy shop, crazyvictoriana.etsy.com

Velvet brocade, velvet ribbon, felted wool leaves....

Crazy Quilt silks, taffetas, venice lace, new batch...

Pinks with Venice Lace, what delicious possibility!

Neutrals add contrast and blending.

I just ordered a new bunch of crazy quilt fabric and Venice lace for my crazy quilt sewing kit habit. I just have to have something to work on and fret over and delight in!! Not to mention embellish. I ordered from, Cathy's Crazy by Design . Cathy's shop is so fun, with high quality, unique crazy quilt supplies. I need something to start planning for as I'm half way done with my "Prairie" series sewing kits. I like to have a theme, hmmm, what next?

Crazy Quilt "Prairie" #2 sewing kit progress....

             I've added hand embroidery and beading.                   

I had time for a little work on this "Prairie" sewing kit. I check into, Sharon B's hussif challenge WIP Wednesday  to see what everybody else has got done this week so far. It's fun to see everyone's projects and inspiring.

Close-up of closed feather stitch and detached chain stitch with beads.

Art Quilt pieced Santa Clara series...

This is #4 in a series, Santa Clara art quilts, my design.

Close-up. The colors are clear and bright.

 Santa Clara, Ca is a beautiful place. It is in a valley so the light seems to come at an angle making colors seem a little more clear and bright. We lived there for several years and I had to try to catch the colors in a series of quilts. One is never enough of course. This quilt is made of two blocks, multi stripe and single stripe, 8"x 5" ea.
Most of the beautiful  fabrics come from, Shabby Fabrics .

View right side up. I just got this pieced this week.

Crazy Quilt "Prairie" sewing kit #2 progress.....

I've hand sewn lace trim here and there.

Venice lace pinned on waiting for me to get it sewn down.

 Hand sewing lace down can take a little time. I can't devote all my time to this so I plan and arrange  in my mind while I get other things done, a balancing act.
I'm looking forward to embellishing and hand embroidery next. My last "Prairie" sewing kit was a bit plain. I plan to really load this one with embellishment. As always, Sharon B's WIP is a real inspiration to get things done!

I'm "interviewing" embroidery thread colors & embellishments.

New Art Quilt blocks in Santa Clara series

I worked on these blocks over the weekend,

Closer view, I'm playing with the arrangement,

This is a design in my Santa Clara
series, #4. I've used some beautiful
fabric from Iron Orchid and an interesting batik, with some Kona solids. I will get it sewn together in the next few days. I get a lot of my fabric from, Shabby Fabrics.

Crazy quilt style sewing kit #2 progress...

"Prairie" sewing kit opened out, back side up, ties and binding sewn on.

Pocket and one of the needle keeps...

"Prairie" sewing kit half folded up.

 I made progress on this sewing kit
#2 in a series of three. I sewed in two felted wool needle keeps and the binding and the crushed velvet ties. Now the fun part of adding hand embroidery and embellishments. I made a crazy quilt with the soft "prairie" colors and then cut it into 3 pieces to make 3 sewing kits. One is finished and can be seen in my Etsy shop, Crazyvictoriana.
I'm working on these as part of Sharon B's WIP Wednesday, mini housiff challenge.

The crushed velvet ties are sewn on, beautiful 'old gold' color.

Back view, now ready for embellishing.

Crazy Quilt sewing kit #2 progress..

Adding machine quilting for stability and effect,

I use masking tape strips for a guide..

I hand sew the lace down.

 I've got a little bit more done on my "Prairie" #2 sewing kit. I hand sew the lace down and add some machine quilting and take out stay stitching. I will sew on the binding when I'm done with the basics and then begin embellishing. At this stage the top, batting and backing are quilted together. Sharon B's WIP Wednesday is very inspiring helping me to keep getting some work done on this. Some weeks I have more time but it doesn't always happen that way, that's life!

Some progress made in  basic stabilizing...

Tahoe Road Trip!

This is Stefie, my Jess Brown doll,  Jess Brown .She wanted to go for a road trip.

Here is Stefie in her travel bag ready for adventure.

 Mondays are good days for road trips. My husband thought Lake Tahoe would be a good destination, only a couple of hours away. So I asked Stefie what she thought, she was excited. So we packed up and away we went.
My husband drove, I road shotgun and Stefie took the back seat. The Great Western Migration reenactment was a surprise to see right on Hwy. 50, how amazing. Lake Tahoe was refreshing and beautiful, love the alpine air. Stefie napped in the back seat on the way home.

Here on Hwy. 50 we came across a historical reenactment,Great Western Migration

Wagons and beautiful horses and people dressed in period costumes everywhere.

We stopped for lunch at Driftwood Cafe, one of our fav. restaurants in S. Lake Tahoe.

Stefie is sitting on the table getting into the sugar!

Here we are at Dollar Pt. just north of Tahoe City, one of our fav. vantage points.