A book and an idea to share!

When Susie was visiting I was showing her my favorite books... and this is one... Victorian Roses by Jenny Haskins.  It isn't a crazy quilting book but everything in it could be applied to crazy quilting and the color scheme is so inspirational... She does some incredible things with lace...  There are lots of directions for projects from treasure bags to tea cozies.  I recommend this book highly for anyone who loves the Victorian romance look...

One of the bags is called a Victorian Opera Bag and notice how it is ruched around the outer edge... We started talking about how it was done and how we might apply it to our bags and how to use it in general with CQ.  

I remembered seeing fancy pillow shams with ruched inserts and sure enough on our trip to a thrift store I found one and brought it home and took it apart.  The ruching is the weight of a medium-weight silk and is on a foundation which would make it usable for all kinds of applications...  I'm thinking I am going to use this one for a binding on a CQ block and there will be enough left to use in a block to add texture..