T-Shirts Quilt for Luz

If you have a bunch of t-shirts and want your own keepsake too, give me a call 

or send me an email, I'll be happy to design one for you.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas, and many blessings to all of you in 2014!     Guess what? I did it! I finished this quilt before the end of the year!  With lots of love to my dear friend Luz who I admire for being a great mom and a very disciplined athlete.  This quilt is a keepsake made of t-shirts from all her triathlon and marathon races.     The first photo shows the entire quilt and the next two show my... 

The Eye of the Quilter: Flora and Fauna. Houston International Quilt Festival 2013.

This October/November the International Quilt Festival in Houston had again the juried exhibit called "Eye of the Quilter". The exhibit is about photos that inspire us as quilters.  This year's theme was "Flora and Fauna" and three of my photographs were accepted! The exhibit is going to be displayed again in Chicago in June 2014.

"Pink and Yellow"

"Translucent"

Here are my three photos and the photos of the exhibit that Sarah Entsminger just sent to me, thank you Sarah!

"Patience"

                                                      

Award Winning Quilt

I'm just recovering from the shock of excitement. I'm so happy to share with you the good news I got last Friday: My quilt called " In the day of the death: La Catrina de Jose Guadalupe Posada" won 3rd place at the International Expo Patchwork & Quilt Puebla 2013, in their contest themed "Mexican Traditional Holidays".

The quilt show was held at the Universidad Iberoamericana in Puebla, Mexico, on September 26th to the 29th. Out of the 14 finalist quilts, mine received 3rd place and I won a Janome 7700 sewing machine! (Such a great coincidence because Suzzie's Quilt Shop in Manassas, where I am a formal quilting instructor, is a Janome distributor).

The top three quilts will be traveling to the International Quilt and Craft Festival in Ireland this coming June... isn't that great?     As I mentioned, the quilt show took place in Mexico...

My Love, My Accomplice And My Everything...

Quilt Portrait 13.5" x 12.5"

       How much does somebody’s life change after love is found? Mine changed A LOT! A new language, a new country, a whole new culture and a new religion! I feel that I still struggle with all these changes a little bit every day. 
But it is worth it.      Here’s a quilt of the love of my life. I meant to have it ready as an anniversary gift last August but, well, mine is a crazy busy life, you know…
I hand painted it after I printed on fabric (see more about the process in the next picture). 
The words I added in the bottom are a verse of Mario Bennedetti’s poem: “my love, my accomplice and my everything… “and that’s exactly what Michael is for me. Thanks Sweetheart for being part of my life. I love you.   Marisela.    

Two Baby Quilts.

My friends Ana and Miriam

Hope all of you had a great summer! I did - a long visit to Mexico seeing family and then a long visit by my sister and niece with us here in VA. Did I do a lot of quilting? Nope! but I did some.

Here the picture of two baby quilts that I was able to finish and deliver this summer. These quilts were for my friends Ana and Miriam, they are sisters and were pregnant at the same time.

The quilts were easy and really fun to make and you know how much I love to make baby quilts! I wrote the name of the babies entirely with free motion, I like it! Looks like embroidery don’t you think? I used the “Double Slice...

At Suzzie's Quilt Shop...

Today I was the featured speaker for the quilting club at Suzzie's Quilt Shop in Manassas, VA. I had a lot of fun! Thank you to the 37 ladies and the gentleman that came to hear me talk about Free Motion Quilting, Brain Hemispheres and my passion for quilts. It was great meeting all of you. I hope to see you again soon at the shop or at one of my classes. Thank you Susy for inviting me!

Quilters Unlimited Quilt Show 2013

Last weekend I went to the Quilters Unlimited Quilt Show 2013 in Chantilly, VA, and I really enjoyed it. There was a display of great quilts to feed my hungry eyes and lots of vendors (now I’m broke)!

The guild was founded 40 years ago. Annandale was the first chapter. This year I was able to volunteer at the annual quilt show as a “white-glove lady”. White Glove Ladies are the only people entrusted and allowed to actually touch the quilts during a show (in case someone asks to see the back of a quilt or wants to examine quilt’s details close up). This gave me the opportunity to see all the quilts closer, touch them, and talk about them with people who came to see the show. It was great!
 
And guess what? I was interviewed by The Voice of America (VOA) – multimedia US government broadcaster that broadcasts news and information about America to other countries in 43 languages. They asked me about how my quilting hobby has been transformed into a passion and I also showed my “Chocolate and Cherries” quilt which was displayed in the show as part of the “Whisper Quilts Challenge” from the Arlington chapter.
 
It really was a great show, so mark your calendar for next year May 30th - June 1st. For more information go to: www.quiltersunlimited.org

In Good and Bad...

Machine Pieced, Free Motion Quilting.  65"X 65"    Quilts by Marisela original design.

It took me a long time (almost two years, wow!) to finish this quilt.  It is for my dear friend Larissa who was here visiting in 2011.  She selected the fabrics and gave some ideas about the design. At the beginning it was going to be a set of placemats but when, just for fun, I put the pieces together on the floor, I saw how great they were for a lap quilt.  I love the fabric from the big busy border and to go according with it I made heavy fancy free motion in the red and brown inner borders -click on the detail picture.            So, this quilt is for a friend who is more like a sister, who has always been...

BIG BAGS

As we do every Friday, our EMA IS QUILTING group got together today. We were all tired of not having an easy way to carry our quilting stuff here and there, especially rulers, cutting mats and ironing stations that are hard to handle. In order to help us with this not so minor problem, Debbie taught us today how to make a big bag. And when I say a big bag, I really mean A BIG BAG, at least mine was the biggest!! We had tons of fun and all of us were actually able to finish our bags today!  You can see all the pictures on my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/quiltsbymarisela  

Don't forget to click the LIKE button ok?

PS. Everybody is welcome to join us every Friday morning at Barcroft Bible Church, 9401 Little River Turnpike, Annandale. Just stop by and join us for lots of Spanish, quilting, sewing and fun!

... They are so great that I couldn't resist and I made another BIG BAG over the weekend. I repurposed some jeans and added a pocket in the front... Do you like it?

"FRIDA MARIA"
Machine Pieced, Machine applique and my Trapunto Technique. All the quilting is Free Motion and the border was not marked! 52"x45"    Idea from the book "Cool Girls Quilt", That Patchwork Place 2007.  Author Linda Lum DeBono.  Page 67.

Frida Maria is a beautiful baby girl who was born on November 20th, 2011.  With a Mexican mom and a Canadian dad she has awesome expressive eyes.
I enjoyed making her quilt so much, and hopefully she will treasure it until she becomes an adult.  Can't wait to see her again; maybe this summer. She, my two boys, my niece and my nephew will have a playdate together in Mexico.

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"A FLOWER FOR YOU"
Machine Pieced, Machine Applique, Trapunto, Free Motion Quilting.  60"X 60"
Quilts by Marisela original design.
 
 With lots of love to my aunt Maru and my uncle Tim.

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"MY FIRST PINCUSHION"
 Not bad for my first pincushion, eh?  Do you like it?

 

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A wall hanging for the baby's room. She is such a cute baby! 

Quilts by Marisela Original Design. 

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Here's a nice present for my Mom. 

Quilts by Marisela with Artsi2 Quilt Boards. 

No sew quilt wall hanging. Foam Backing. 8"x12".  

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"Free Motion Quilting Workshop with Quilters Unlimited Annandale Chapter"

Just want to say Thank You to Anne and Nancy who invited me to give the class to the members of the QU Annandale Chapter  (http://www.quiltersunlimited.org). Thank you to all the attendees, too.
Joyce, Tory, Nancy, Dian, Marion, Nancy, Diane, Anne, Audrey, Elaine and Carolyn are the newest free motion quilters! I enjoyed the afternoon a lot and even learned some new things from you all, too. See you next meeting.