Australian needle artist Gloria McKinnon has put together Glorious Embellishing for Martha Pullen’s publication company. This book is all about traditional-style crazy quilting: rich, colorful fabrics; antique images; complex embroidered seam treatments; silk-ribbon and beaded embellishments.

Project directions are a bit skimpy, assuming the reader already understands the necessary techniques. This led me to believe the book was not for beginners. But when I got to the instructions for thread, silk-ribbon, and bead embroidery, I found all the detail a beginner could wish for. So I think, as the title suggests, this book is not so much about creating crazy-quilting projects as on embellishing them.

Photographs of the projects are gorgeous. When it comes to instructions, be prepared for typical pattern-style line drawings. The pattern sheet is bound into the book–it must be permanently removed from the book for use. (You could always glue a heavy envelope to the inside back cover to keep the patterns with the book once you’ve used them.) A nice feature is the inclusion of nine antique-style images, Priscilla Ladies, that can be used to create photo transfers.

The book retails for US$24.95. ISBN 978-1-878048-64-6.

You could win a copy from CraftGossip! Go to the giveaway post.