Quilting Arts Magazine, Feb. March 2015, Inspiration.....

Quilting Arts Magazine, Feb. March 2015 issue..

Article by Jane LaFazio,

 Jane LaFazio, a great teacher and amazing artist, was published in Quilting Arts, Feb. March 2015. Her article is about her quilt series, Poke Salad Annie. She writes about inspiration and her technique, so cool. One of my dreams is to be able to take one of her classes.
I also remembered my best quilting friend, Louise, and how she gave me this vintage treasure; Stitches with Variations, by Jacqueline Enthoven. That little handbook is the best reference book ever.
Friends are like that, they give because that is what is in their heart.

My best quilting friend ever gave me this vintage stitch handbook, a classic.

This handbook was published in 1976, by Sunset Designs.

My Small Quilt, Tropical Punch, was accepted for publication, summer....

Close-up hand embroidery.

Another close-up, tropical batiks and hand embroidery.

Tropical Punch was accepted for publication by, Art Quilting Studio
it will be in the summer issue. I'm excited about that, good magazine, lots of ideas and inspiration.
Tropical Punch was designed and hand made by me.
So my love affair with batiks and color goes on. I have another quilt in the making, Raspberry Fizz.
I can't help naming them after tropical, Tiki, drinks. The drinks themselves can easily be made non-alcoholic by adding sparkling water instead of the 'stronger spirits.'
You have to admit in this cool spring weather memories of sitting by the pool in the heat of summer, sipping an iced cold beverage, is delightful.

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 .

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.

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.

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!

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!