Needle Arts Corner
By Madonna A. Terlizzi
Needle Arts Corner – Spring 2012 Issue!
We have been having a great winter here at the Studio, the Mystery quilt days have been a ball! We have made some beautiful quilt tops that now are ready to be quilted!!! Some gals like to quilt their own, either by hand or machine. Me, I like to send mine out for that nice long arm quilting effect!! All looks are beautiful and creative!!!! I do have one more full day Mystery Quilt class left in March that anyone can attend. Contact me as soon as possible to get the fabric requirements and cutting information. Don’t be left out!!!!
I have also had the opportunity to present a couple trunk shows and workshops to various quilting guilds in New England! My topic is Victorian Crazy Quilting. It is a pleasure to meet everyone at these events and show them my hand made pieces, antiques and tricks of the trade. Crazy quilting trade that is…. I just finished a couple of projects that have been under construction over the last few months. One is an undersea project that I applied sparkling tulle, under-stitching, fibers, beads and seashells to a printed fabric. I must say it is very interesting! The other project is from a one day workshop that I held here at the Studio, back in October of 2011. It features a Victorian Halloween printed motif that I showcased with crazy quilting piecing, embroidery work, fibers, buttons, beads and anything else I could get my hands on!! They are wonderful pieces that I hope to show off to you sometime! My trunk show can be brought to libraries, senior centers, schools and of course guild meetings.
I have a new fixation, it is the bullion stitch!! I hadn’t done it in years and was thumbing through some books at the Fabric Stash the other day and ran across it in a William Morris appliqué book that she has. I am happy to show any who will listen and has a needle and floss handy, just ask!!!! I am also mesmerized by Tile quilts and hope to pick up this technique too. It is a type of appliqué that was very popular in the late 1800’s. Some say that Victorian Crazy Quilting is an off shoot of this technique, others think that it came later. What ever the sequence is, I hope to bring it to light now! We will probably have a workshop here in the upcoming months, so stay tuned or send me and email and I shall include you in the memo.
What else is new? The gals have been making custom tote bags on Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings. I hope to have a photo gallery of these one of a kind totes on my website soon. We need another couple weeks to get them finished and on-line! Baby quilts have also been the rage here. Jane has made at least 3 and Chris always has one in the mix. Meg made a set for some twins that a co-worker produced! As a Guild, we like to keep the charity quilts coming too! Just gave a couple lap quilts to Monique to bring to the hospital last week. I have tons of squares cut if anyone living and breathing would like to participate! It is a great way to get rid of some of the bulging stash and help out others at the same time!
I have been doing some classes over in Upton at A Touch of Common Sense, 62 Main St. Stop by the store as she has some great local artisans there with their wares for sale. She is also featuring various classes, mine called “ Know your sewing machine” is among them.
I have a day trip planned to NYC with one of my favorite friends. It is a yearly venture where we visit bead shops, a cute quilt shop and at least one museum. We also sneak in a yummy lunch and a little cocktail! I will post all the fun stuff that we acquire!! I still actually need to make some the projects that we got over the last couple of years! Oh, well, it gets me out of bed in the morning. Speaking of beads, we have been frequenting our local bead shop in town called Chevere, Pat DeVries has taught us how to make jewelry and how to construct beaded spiders! We have had such fun, our next project is dragonflies!!! She also has a great array of charms, beads and baubles for crazy quilt projects, check her out! Her store is located in the Hanneford Plaza here in good old Uxbridge, MA or she can be contacted at: theplacetobead@gmail.
We have also been carrying on our Charm quilt square swap. We are swapping 3” squares at this time. I have a bin of them if you want to join in the fun, plus you can bring some of your own squares to trade. Don’t be shy, I have a couple quilts that I have constructed with these cute charms if you are not sure what it will look like in the end! It is also a great way to cut down your scrap pile, in a constructive way.
For such a small place, it is a really busy one!! All are welcome to attend classes, just contact me and I will get you started! Happy Spring!
Peace,
Madonna
508-294-5721
