I can finally show you my completed crazy quilt block made for our 2008-2009 guild president. She received her quilt last night. I was so pleased she chose this theme for her quilt. I really enjoy hand embroidery. It was so much fun to see all of our unique styles blended together in a quilt. This quilt is such a treasure!! Guess What? Can You Tell I'm Excited?? Yesterday I woke up to the news that I had won such a beautiful gift from Embellisher at Million Little Stitches. For her 125th post she gave away this amazing heart sampler. I have been following her blog for a long time and always enjoy seeing her creative ideas and little pieces of her life far across the oceans. Thank you so much! I will cherish your gift. My new bolts of fabrics have arrived and are ready to be dyed. Keep an eye on my blog. I plan to pass my good fortune on with a Dye Candy Fabric giveaway in a week or two (once my dye lots are finished and photographed). Have a wonderful rest of your week! Chris

I've taken a lot of pictures of vintage Crazy Quilts, but not very many modern day interpretations. I was especially happy to see 2 contemporary CQ versions at the Arizona Quilters Guild show. All Creatures Large and Small by Gerlinde Hruzek won First Place in the "Other" category. This artist used so many mediums in the making of her quilt: Needlepoint, embroidery, applique, crochet and ribbon work to name a few. The far away picture just does not give justice to how wonderful this quilt really is. The close up shots give a much better visual. Look at the imagination and variety! Someday I would really like to make a Crazy Quilt. (Maybe it's because I'm a little crazy?) These pictures bring wonderful inspiration. I could have stared for hours to visually absorb all there was to see. It almost felt a little bit like an I-Spy quilt. Do you spy 3 cats? Or a fish? Imagination made and quilted by Sheila Groman Sheila wrote "Imagination is a fanciful Crazy Quilt created with applique, standard and silk embroidery, ribbon, lace, heirloom gloves, needlepoint, crewel, beads, cross-stitch, and tatting." Whew! Yes, I'd say Imagination is a perfect title.

My friend Brigitte (from the about.com quilt forum) posted recently about a free class that was coming up to learn crazy quilt embroidery. I...

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I've taken a lot of pictures of vintage Crazy Quilts, but not very many modern day interpretations. I was especially happy to see 2 contemporary CQ versions at the Arizona Quilters Guild show. All Creatures Large and Small by Gerlinde Hruzek won First Place in the "Other" category. This artist used so many mediums in the making of her quilt: Needlepoint, embroidery, applique, crochet and ribbon work to name a few. The far away picture just does not give justice to how wonderful this quilt really is. The close up shots give a much better visual. Look at the imagination and variety! Someday I would really like to make a Crazy Quilt. (Maybe it's because I'm a little crazy?) These pictures bring wonderful inspiration. I could have stared for hours to visually absorb all there was to see. It almost felt a little bit like an I-Spy quilt. Do you spy 3 cats? Or a fish? Imagination made and quilted by Sheila Groman Sheila wrote "Imagination is a fanciful Crazy Quilt created with applique, standard and silk embroidery, ribbon, lace, heirloom gloves, needlepoint, crewel, beads, cross-stitch, and tatting." Whew! Yes, I'd say Imagination is a perfect title.

Antique Victorian CRAZY QUILT Silk Satin Velvet Embroidery 61 x 53” circa 1880s | eBay

Welcome to the second installment of Embroidery School! Are you ready to go crazy? I hope so because we're going to work through some inc...

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Welcome to the second installment of Embroidery School! Are you ready to go crazy? I hope so because we're going to work through some incredibly beautiful stitches used along fabric seams in crazy quilts. If you haven't worked the lessons from the original Embroidery School series, you can still do this one. All the stitches are explained, the "old" ones and the "new" ones. Here are some links to other useful lessons: Transferring the design to fabric Knotting and not knotting your thread You're also welcome to go back and review all the lessons of the Embroidery School series. Just click the page tab above conveniently labeled "Embroidery School". Let's Get Crazy! This series comes with a free downloadable sampler pattern to work on (click on the link in the materials list). I have provided the pattern of a patchwork crazy quilt block with the stitching drawn on so you can just follow along and make what I made - like walking in the snow and stepping where I've stepped. But I have also provided the crazy quilt block pattern without stitching drawn on, so you can go wild and practice and create your own designs. Now don't get nervous. Many crazy quilt seam embellishments are a single stitch, such as feather stitch, but those complex ones can be daunting. Guess what? They are actually combinations of very simple stitches and we'll do some of that, too. Lesson One covers seams 1 and 2. Lesson Two covers seams 3 and 4. Lesson Three covers seam 5. Lesson Four covers seam 6. Lesson Five is a surprise! Materials needed: sampler pattern template cotton or linen fabric suitable for embroidery ( a homespun calico or muslin works well) - 10" square embroidery hoop - a 9" hoop will allow you to work the whole piece while a smaller hoop can be moved as you stitch cotton stranded embroidery floss (I used DMC) embroidery needle or sewing needle with an eye large enough to thread a 4 strand length of floss scissors a method for transferring the pattern Choose you favorite colors or use the same colors I used: Seam 1: long and short blanket stitch; DMC 936 Seam 2: chain stitch, straight stitch (running stitch); DMC 3821, 825 Seam 3: feather stitch, straight stitch, french knot; DMC221, 988, 3833 Seam 4: chevron stitch; DMC 154 Seam 5: cretan stitch, lazy daisy stitch; DMC 921, 154 Seam 6: herringbone stitch, straight stitch, lazy daisy stitch, french knot; 826, 472, 3835, 988, 825 Use your favorite method to transfer the pattern to the fabric. Place the whole thing in a 9" hoop or place the area you want to work on inside a smaller hoop. Work with a 4 strand length of embroidery floss for all stitches. Seam 1: Long and Short Blanket Stitch You might see this stitch called buttonhole stitch, but don't be confused as the two are basically the same stitch. This seam is decorated by a simple blanket stitch, but here, one prong is longer and one is shorter instead of them being all the same length. Because I thought the beginning had room for one more prong, I've added it here without drawing it, as you can see in the photo. Just follow in my footsteps! Thread the needle and bring the thread from the back to the front at the left end of the seam. Insert the needle as shown making sure to wrap the floss behind the tip of the needle. Pull the needle and thread through to make the first stitch. Insert the needle at the bottom of the long prong and bring it back up at the top, with the floss wrapped to the back of the needle. You can also stab stitch (bring the needle to the back, bring the needle to the front, etc.) one step at a time. Here I have taken the needle to the back of the fabric at the bottom of the next prong and am just bringing the needle to the front at the top of the prong. The thread is still wrapped to the back of the needle. Continue stitching along the lines until the end of the seam. Tie off the thread or weave it in the stitching at the back. Seam 2: Straight stitch and Chain stitch Bring the needle to the front of the fabric at the bottom of the little fans. Take the thread to the back at the top of the line on the left. Bring it back up in the same place or a thread away from where you started. Be careful not to split the first thread with the needle as it comes through. Make the second stitch over the next line and continue making the fans in this way. To make the chains, bring the needle and thread to the front at the start of the chain on the left. Pull the thresd through to the front. Insert the needle into the starting place and bring it back out at the other end of the individual chain. Wrap the thread around the back of the needle. Pull the thread through. Insert the needle right next to where the thread is coming through to the front. Set up the next stitch in the same way, bringing the needle point back out at the other end of the little chain and wrapping the thread behind the needle. Pull the thread through. Continue to the end of the seam. Here is the seam completed. Look what you've done! You've completed two seams of your faux crazy quilt block! Well done and see you in Lesson Two.

We are sew excited to share our ultimate guide on how to make a crazy quilt! From planning to stitch type, we've got everything you'll need!

These simple words speak tons. A touch... a life... a change... a difference. You make a difference. You touch lives.

knick knacks & ric rac » Blog Archive » crazy quilt stitches

This handy laminated reference guide offers you a variety of basic embroidery stitches, variations, and combinations to be used as seam coverings for your crazy quilt. Weve also included spider and web motifs, common Victorian symbols of good luck.

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The American Crazy Quilt Exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art has sadly ended, but I (Teri) had many more pictures from my visit that I wanted to share. Kara and I are working on a crazy quilt sampler for a six-month class we are going to be teaching at our local quilt shop, and the inspiration in these quilts abounds. We hope you will be as inspired as we are. Enjoy! Crazy Quilt with Striped Ribbon Border, c. 1885; made by Annie Shakman Heller, possibly in Baltimore, MD I loved this sweet little umbrella! Crazy Quilt with Ice Cream Cone Border, c. 1885; American Close-up of ice cream cone border This silk bookmark was an English import. Crazy Quilt with Peacock Medallion, 1881-1889; attributed to Katie Mattingly Edwards in West Virginia Peacock feather detail. What wonderful combination seam stitches! Crazy Quilt with Wheel Motifs, 1887-1888; made by Roberta Lee Barnes in Baltimore, MD Printed designs, sometimes "cigarette silks," were often included in crazy quilts. Center medallion, Dresden Plate, with the maker's initials One of the fan designs A corner block Crazy Quilt with Center Star and Blue Velvet Border, 1883-1888; made by Augusta Adèle Smith, in Baltimore, MD Lazy daisy flowers Artist's palette Crazy Quilt with Initial "M," c. 1885; made by Minnie K. Minderlein in Baltimore, MD Ribbon flower with chenille stems and leaves Ribbon buds Wheat: ribbon and chenille thread Wheat: ribbon This quilt was full of beautiful botanicals. Queen Anne's lace Tiger lily Pansies Calla lilies Such stellar stitchery! To see our first post of photos from this exhibit, click here. Now I feel the urge to go do some stitching on my own crazy quilt blocks. We'll share our final mini-crazy quilt in a few weeks. Happy stitching!

The theme of Bees, Butterflies and Beetles was so popular, that a second group of stitchers formed another round robin so they could play, too! In BBBII, the talented stitchers were Margreet, Darlene, Cathy L, Ritva and Beryl - representing countries from all over the world! BERYL’S BLOCK Beryl’s Naked Block Cathy L’s work on Beryl’s block Darlene added the beetles and the Beatles! Margreet’s work for Beryl This gorgeous butterfly was stitched by Ritva More of Ritva’s work Beryl’s completed block CATHY L’S BLOCK Cathy’s Naked Block Darlene’s work for Cathy Margreet’s work Detail of Margreet’s work Ritva’s work Beryl’s work Cathy L’s completed block DARLENE’S BLOCK Darlene’s Naked Block Margreet’s lovely work Darlene was next to stitch on Ritva’s block Beryl;s work Cathy L’s work Darlene’s Completed Block MARGREET’S BLOCK Margreet’s Naked Block Ritva’s work Beryl’s work Cathy L’s work Margreet’s block after Ritva, Beryl and Cathy Darlene’s work Completed Block after Margreet finished and framed it. RITVA’S BLOCK Ritva’s Naked Block Beryl started off on Ritva’s block Cathy L added these critters More of Cathy’s work Ritva’s block after Beryl and Cathy Ritva’s block after Darlene added her stitching Finished block after Margreet’s work Ritva’s lovely block after she framed it.

The TAST FAQ explains what TAST (Take a stitch Tuesday) is, how to join, what materials and equipment you need join TAST the list of TAST stitches

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Explore ivoryblushroses' 10029 photos on Flickr!

Crazy quilting seemed to fall out of fashion for a time, with the passion for precise geometric piecing, but you'll still find many quilters of an artistic bent who love to experiment with this style of expression. Jude Hill is the guiding hand behind ... [read more]

November's block is finished! This was a more difficult block to balance out with a large pale area at the bottom, but in the end, i...

Once I got started working on Peggy’s block, it was hard to stop. My contribution is completed and here is a close-up of what I’ve done. If you follow the numbers, you’ll be able…

Only two more tasks to learn on my Crazy Quilt Beginners Class - it has been a lot of fun learning the Silk Ribbon Flowers. Here's Task #9 - pretty little blue flowers. These flowers are made by using a 2mm Silk Ribbon and making a french knot and then piercing the needle in and out along the ribbon creating a fold, until you take the needle back through the material near where you came up. The trick is not to pull the ribbon too tight or you end up with a small mess. Small Blue roses Task #10 - We completed the rose climbing vine and flowers. The leaves are made with 2mm ribbon and a japanese stab stitch. Before you stab the end of the ribbon, you create a small rise by lifting the ribbon over something, I used a crotchet hook. This makes the leave rise up and not lay flat giving more dimension to the work. The Roses are made again using 2mm ribbon and a French Knot together with three Flystitches. Climbing Rose Vine We learnt three different types of roses and each one gives a different look. Next task is to put on all the beading and charms. Block after Task #10

It is still so hot but it is already September, only four months for the New Year! Pamela Kellogg's 2016 Calendar just released, I'm looking forward to get my own copy to review it. By the way, I'm so excited for being "May page" of that lovely project. I did a special block according to project format. My friends, followers know it well that I keep some items for the special projects, I used lots of them to create my "May block".Pam sent me a lovely blue bird photo, I printed and decided to create a block mostly with blue+pink colors. I just used a dark blue color lace trim and golden color ric-rac and a beaded lace, I did all other seam treatments myself. There were some dark blue+blue+white combo little oya flowers, I put them on to pink patch, my little bird now looking them:)) The fabric of that mentioned patch specially hand dyed from our southern part. I love to use those fabrics for the quilts that I make according to paper piecing method, their performance is great, no comparison with the standard cotton fabrics. As I mostly do, I used a Chevron stitch as a base, kept stitching, added lots of beads, with some contrast colors. I especially made some long patches to create long seam treatments. I added some other stiff type oya flowers on the dark blue patch, they really popped up. I did spider rose flowers with variegated silk ribbon. It is our locally produced silk ribbon. I really like their natural color scheme. I also used same type of ribbons to create leaves and other SRE works, as well. As I told before, I used many special items. My vintage Czech buttons the most important ones. Their story is interesting for me. I was going to Ankara frequently during my daughter's college years. One day, I went to an old store that was selling elegant accessories in my youth, as being a naval family, we located in different places, one of them was Ankara, our capitol city. My mother's choice was always haute couture and she was getting real special things from that shop for her tailor made dresses. After all those years that little shop's goodies were still so exclusive. I selected lovely trims and I noticed a small button but it was on their little showcase. He told me if I've interested in with buttons he could bring me some boxes from storage. I waited a few minutes, he came back with two boxes which were full of Czech buttons. He said, these are only samples, most of them discontinued products, I bought them long time ago, nobody interested in with them, just select as you wish just pay a symbolic money. You can imagine what I felt that moment, I bought lots of wonderful buttons. But, I still blame myself, why I didn't buy those two boxes with all those buttons!!! In those days I was a Newbie, I didn't know the value of them. I tried to catch color harmony as much as I can, colors of my block are so soft, I tried to take photos in day light however, I believe that they don't justice real colors but I'm happy with outcome, I really enjoyed so much to create something for the coming year. It is a great honor to take part in that project among all those well talented&experienced Ladies:)) So, I tried my best to create a special block using special items from my stash. I hope you like my "May page" and entire calendar. Wishing you all the best....

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Short on blogging time this month... Just returned to the soggy Northwest after 8 days of visiting my Mom, family and Minnesota bead friends. Thought you might like to see a few pictures.... The picture at the top of the post is a group of hand knitted pumpkins and one gourd by Pam Ehlers Stec. Pam is a member of the Bead Journal Project (08-09) and planning on joining again in 2010. Pam, Julie (my sister-in-law), Brenda B (our BJP web mistress) and I got together at Julie's for an evening of beading and show'n'tell a week ago Thursday.... much ooooohing, talking, laughing and even a little progress beading. Then Sunday we all went to the Bead Bazaar sponsored by the Upper Midwest Bead Society. Whaaaa-hooooo! That was way fun too! More? You bet! Monday afternoon we were joined by Carmen (who we HOPE will join the BJP next year) and had a second bead-a-thon at Pam's house. Way to make it hard for me to go home, girl friends! Pam's home was filled with beautiful quilts, dolls, beadwork and other handmade art. OMG... I couldn't settle down to bead until I had looked at and fondled every piece. She's so multi-talented! Here are a few things I photographed... Above are Pam's framed BJP pieces for this year. You can see them individually by scrolling down the posts on her blog, here. This is a beautiful pieced and quilted, batik wall-hanging. I love the way these thistles look! This is a wonderful wall-quilt... warm, compelling, exciting! This is what Pam was working on... a hand-dyed wool, crazy-quilt block. I'm in love with it! She offered to take off the little papers that say "lavender, parsley, holly-hocks and queen Ann's lace." But I think they're sweet and so said she should leave them on for the photo. Here's a detail that shows her skills in thread and silk-ribbon embroidery! I hope she tells me first if she ever decides to sell this piece! Brenda B completed both years of the BJP and is signed up for another year! You can see her pieces here and here. Once again, it's clear that pictures never do justice to the work! I am so thrilled to have been able to see and touch each of her 24 pages! I was also fortunate to see and fondle the piece above, The House that Seuss Built, created by Brenda for The Beaded Book - a juried competition sponsored by Beadwork Magazine!!!! She won second place! Check out this link for professional pictures of the winning pieces, including Brenda's!!! You can also see some good pictures on Brenda's website, here. The beads on this Seussian structure are are stitched, not glued... more than 1,000 hours!!! And then, there's Carmen, who is just starting to bead, with some guidance from Pam... Here are her first four pieces. These beaded hearts are autobiographical, telling of important transitions in her life. This is Pure. This is Broken. This one is Angry. And the fourth is Content. I'm quite impressed with Carmen's work and hope she will join the 2010 BJP!!! You'd think from the above that all I did was bead, right? Nope, I spent a lot of quality time with my Mom and some with my two brothers and their families. Mom has been in an assisted living place for six years. But recently she's fallen repeatedly. The PT team says she's too weak to live on her own. So we've moved her to a nursing home. I dreaded seeing her there because of the typical stereotype of such facilities. However, this one totally exceeded my expectations and Mom seems very comfortable there, more happy than she's been for quite a while. She's almost 93! Here she is... Ferne, my sweet, wonderful Mom!!! * * * * * Happy Halloween, everyone! This is Lucy! She rules the roost at Matt's house (my brother). An exceptional Halloween kitty, wouldn't you say?!

There are so many things about CQ that I love - but one of the aspects I get the most pleasure from is teaching. I teach approximately 45 st...

We are sew excited to share our ultimate guide on how to make a crazy quilt! From planning to stitch type, we've got everything you'll need!

We are onto our last block. Apologies for the slow down in the posts - but with the Covid restrictions being lifted here in Queensland, my...

Ready to get crazy with a patchwork heart? Here’s how to embroider a crazy quilt heart two ways + a FREE appliqué pattern!

The section around M3's dragon on my Dragon Vest chloesplace.blogspot.com/2007/05/dragon-vest-continues.html

This is what I have done so far on block number six of my Victorian Fan Quilt. I have worked a spray of spider web roses and buds,with gold bead highlights and then finished the spray off with a gorgeous gold bow charm.

Crazy Quilt Block 88 is part of a series of articles that offer free crazy quilt block patterns, inspiration and ideas on how to create your own crazy quilt.

January BJP finished

Closeup of a crazy quilted block in pastel colours. Features my hand dyed threads and silk ribbon. Will be made up into a purse

Explore marcie carr's 223 photos on Flickr!

Explore marcie carr's 223 photos on Flickr!