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!
The description card reads, "Crazy Quilt 1883-1893 Silk, cotton, wool, and linen, pieced and embroidered with silk and cotton threads Crazy quilts, which emerged after 1850, were usually composed of small, irregular-shaped fragments of silk, wool, and other fragments pieced together. The seams were then embroidered using a variety of stitches. They acquired the name “crazy quilts” because of the strong colors and busy, confusing nature of their designs, typical of Victorian taste."
Antique Victorian CRAZY QUILT Silk Satin Velvet Embroidery 61 x 53” circa 1880s | eBay
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.
Explore Anne Nicolas-Whitney's 109 photos on Flickr!
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.
One of the crazy quilt lists I belong to has had a small discussion on black on black crazy quilts. I have been working on one for awhile, I think a couple of years now. It turned into a class for my students and in August we will be done with it! It consists of four 16 inch blocks and is surrounded by a 5 inch crazy quilt border. ( If you click on the picture you can enlarge it to see more of the detail!) I found this crazy quilt to be a bit of a challenge because I am a perfectionist and like all my stitches to be perfect! Many of you know that I LOVE to use templates of any kind to help me, so marking it was a challenge but I figured it out. I have really enjoyed doing this quilt and of course, it is no surprise that I did all my stitches in various colors of pink. It would also be no surprise that I did a Pink Bunny on it! Hope you enjoyed my adventure that I had with black on black! Talk to you later,
While shopping at the antique mall, one of the things I’ve been noticing re-surge more and more are Victorian Crazy Quilts and all of their lovely styles and forms. Since I cannot begin to to…
I am participating in a Round Robin with the Southern Cross Crazies an online Yahoo group. This month I had Florence's block to work on. ...
After a small break, I am back in my studio again, working on another ring bearer's pillow: The colors, threads and laces are the same as on the previous pillow I made, but this time I took my chances with piecing a fan block. I was a bit nervous about the curved piecing, but I think it turned out beautifully. The seam treatments still have to be finished and the laces embellished with beads... I have several ideas for how to treat the "boomerang" patch, will have to decide on that by Tuesday so I can hopefully finish the pillow next weekend. Until then, have a great time this weekend, Everyone!
Blog of Susan Elliott where she shares her life through her needlework and photography.
If you are one of those people that creates things with your hands, you really are very lucky. Apart from the calming effect that handwork has, using your hands to do meaningful tasks benefits both your physical and mental health. I know that it benefits me, curbs depression and boredom, gives me purpose. It definitely calms me and as I mellow with age it tends to make me so laid back that I am almost horizontal. Nothing wrong with that and I feel real sympathy for those that have not discovered the joy of handwork. We all know them – those that say that life is boring (how can you ever be bored I ask, with tears in my eyes), those that look for their kicks at the bottom of a bottle or those that spend their time mall-cruising munching on medication. Sad, really. For those of us that have discovered handwork and, in particular, those of us that discovered it early in life, the chances are we’ve tried the lot. I have. From watercolours to miniatures, dressmaking to felting. And everything in between. The only thing I have never tried is pottery. The idea didn’t grab me, bit messy. But needlework, done with my hands, no machine involved? What can I say? In reality, I have devoted all of my spare time and much of my life to it. I think it would not be unfair to say that most hand-stitchers have tried all of the different arts associated with their passion. Quilting, beadwork, lace making, embroidery, patchwork. They’ve probably also enjoyed crochet, knitting and tatting. But seldom do they combine these different arts. Some years ago I started building a doll’s house. One twelfth scale, everything made with my own hands and a few simple tools. It gave me the opportunity to use every craft that I had ever learnt. From wood carving to gilding, stitching to moulding with polymer clay. I was in my element and, particularly because I was forced to be innovative. I was so pleased with myself when I worked out how to make a wooden floor that looked like the real thing, using a roll of oak strip that kitchen-builders use down the sides of cupboard doors and a carton of wood filler. In my mind, crazy patchwork is the needlework equivalent of that doll’s house. It is an opportunity to use every kind of needle art that you have ever learnt. When I stitch, I spend some of the time thinking up what I am going to do in the future. A few years ago I had this thought that I would like to embellish crazy patch in such a way that not one thing is bought and stitched on, nothing should come out of a stash and, definitely, nothing that decorates it should be a machine-made applique or strip of lace. Everything that forms the embellishment should be made with nothing more than a needle, a thread, some beads and my own imagination. I tucked the idea behind one of my ears for future consideration. It was still sitting neatly behind my left ear when my fabulous publisher and I were sharing far too much French Red in Paris a few years ago. She asked me if I could write a book for quilters. I said no, I’m not an expert on quilting. Then suddenly, fuelled by Bordeaux and Beaujolais, this crazy patch thing came screaming out from behind said ear. And that was it. Or rather, this is it. Two of the projects in the book include crazy patchwork panels that have been put together with a sewing machine but, other than that, everything has been made by hand with a needle. What you might call ‘crazy patch from scratch’. That necessarily means that there are a lot of techniques’ galleries in the first half of the book. These include embroidery, bead embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, beadwork, tatting, needle weaving and needle lace techniques’ galleries. That’s for the embellishment. There is a techniques’ gallery for crazy patching and also simple quilting techniques for finishing off. We decided to count the number of techniques the other day and it came to something in the region of 160, depending on how you count it. For that reason alone, we are hoping that the book will be of interest to all sorts of needle artists from quilters to embroiderers. Even if the actual projects are not necessarily something they would want to do. However. I had such fun working up the projects. I was barely restricted by lines, I could use every technique that I had ever played with and I could invent different ways to use them. Gussy Up This is the first project in the book and is truly ‘crazy patch from scratch’. I drew a circle with a large soup plate, ruled some lines to resemble crazy patchwork and then had fun. I filled the blocks with either needle weaving or otherwise, crewel embroidery stitches that created a background that loosely resembled fabric. And then I embellished. No applique, but daisies embroidered with thread. No buttons, but three-dimensional flowers made one bead at a time with beautiful Miyuki beads and beading thread. No machine made lace, but needle lace techniques stitched through the fabric to resemble insertion lace, then threaded with Di van Niekerk’s hand painted silk ribbon. Silk ribbon roses, bead embroidery, tatting and even some simple beading techniques that are generally used to make necklaces or bracelets, rethought to resemble braid. Of all the designs in the book, I had the most fun with this one. Nightshade The embroidery in the middle, although resembling crewel work is largely done with needle weaving, needle lace and bead embroidery, with a few crewel stitches pulling the whole thing together. The outside border is, as with the previous project, crazy patch from scratch. Every block is a needle weaving technique and where the two parts of the design meet, the intersection is worked with a beadwork jewellery technique. My friend Pat van Wyk took my line drawing, enlarged it and (being a hand quilter at heart) recreated it with applique and traditional crazy patch techniques. A photograph of the exquisite cushion that she made it into appears in the book. Waiting For Santa The cuff of this Christmas stocking is, like the previous two projects, worked from scratch. Just lines on the fabric to resemble crazy patch, then lots of fun filling in with once again, a selection of all of the techniques – embroidery, silk ribbon embroidery, beadwork, needle lace, needle weaving, tatting…….and the pattern to make up the stocking is in the book. Rambling Vine If you thought that I might have forgotten my readers who are embroiderers pure and simple, then the Rambling Vine design would put your mind at rest. It is a wall hanging (or whatever you would like to make it) that comprises an ornate Jacobean-style embroidered branch lying adjacent to a panel of traditionally-worked crazy patch, machine stitched with 15 different fabrics onto a natural-coloured linen/cotton blend base. And madly embellished, in line with the general style of this book. There are of course, needle artists out there who don’t want to embroider and to show them that they don’t have to, my friend Margie Breetzke has worked the Jacobean panel using a combination of applique techniques, bead embroidery and simple embroidery stitches. A photograph of the stunning result is in the book. Savannah Winter The day before I started this project, I had driven back from Johannesburg through the dry Highveld, as we call it in South Africa. A long, straight, flat, rather boring drive, it was mid-winter and everything at first glance appeared to be dead, dry and frigid with frost. I was, however, in the right frame of mind, not ever having really noticed how splendid the colours were on previous drives at the same time of year. For the better part of six hours I watched the road through my windscreen, all the time marvelling at the colours that were there. The gold and khaki of the dry grass, the grey-blue of the winter sky, the purple of the mountains in the distance, the green of the few evergreen trees, the crystal of the frost on the ground and some pink. When I got to Harrismith, decided it was time for a break and took off my sunglasses, I realised there was no pink in the landscape. It was my rose-tinted spectacles. But, what the heck, it’s a nice addition to the palette and so it was included. This project is machine-pieced crazy patchwork, the embellishment is of course, all hand worked using the same variety of techniques and I have made it into a lid for a covered basket. So…. Once again, Liezl Maree, Metz Press’s amazing book designer has taken my ramblings and turned them into a masterpiece. Between us all we think that we’ve caught all the errors and typos in the interminable proof reading process (if we haven't, please forgive us - with the best will in the world, it's an impossible task) and it goes off to print this week. The publishers, the printers, the ship that brings it to us from Malaysia, the warehouses, the distributors and any other players that I may not have mentioned, are working to a schedule that will mean that it is available from the 15th of March 2016. And where to get it? If you want to pre-order you can do so at: Amazon; The Book Depository; or Search Press. If you’re in South Africa, or indeed anywhere on the African continent, it’s not up there yet but you will be able to get if from: this website; or Takealot, who have taken over Kalahari.net and really do deliver. I know. I order from them all the time. With this book I set out to show readers and needle artists that they can combine the needle arts. All it takes is imagination and many enjoyable, calming hours. I hope that my intention will be achieved.
These simple words speak tons. A touch... a life... a change... a difference. You make a difference. You touch lives.
This was the first time I mentioned my Cream on Cream crazy quilt blocks. I think that I have completed twenty blocks now. When I posted these photos, I had used a lot of gold metal charms which I am now gradually changing to gold embroidered motifs. There is no way that I can ever clean the charms if they tarnish without ruining the cream fabrics so they are all coming off to be replaced by various gold threads. Wednesday 27th July 2005 Cream on cream crazy quilt blocks. I have been working on culling my stash in the nicest possible way. I had a large box of white, ivory, cream and antique cream coloured fabrics and another large box of antique lace pieces which have been gleaned from old garments, antique shops, eBay purchases and some that have been given to me. It seemed a shame to have them all squashed up together in a box so I am going to make a quilt for our queen size bed. My husband measured out the blocks and decided that I need to have twelve rows of eight blocks - that's ninety-six?? so far, I've completed ten! I should mention that any fabric pieces which appear to be a greyish colour or have what appear to be black threads running through them are in fact cream and threads are metallic gold. I will also do a tiny bit of gold metallic embroidery to liven up some of the blocks. At the moment, I'm not doing any embellishment or embroidery but I'm collecting cream coloured threads including two wooden reels of 1920s Pearsall's rayon embroidery thread. Here are the first four blocks using my favourite pieces of antique lace. Tuesday 31st Dec 2013 Here are photos of some of the cream blocks. Please ignore the metal charms as they are not staying there. I am amazed at just how many shades of cream there are - ranging from ivory to deeper shades of milky coffee colour. Block 1 Block 2 Block 3 Block 4 Block 5 Block 6 Block 7 Block 8 Block 9 Block 10
The section around M3's dragon on my Dragon Vest chloesplace.blogspot.com/2007/05/dragon-vest-continues.html
These are my Parasols for the March Victorian Symbolism Challenge for CQI but it is also Block 12 for the Cream on Cream Crazy Quilt. I hav...
Blog of Susan Elliott where she shares her life through her needlework and photography.
Crazy quilts are my favorite quilts of all. I love them because you can use up all your favorite fabric scraps and you don’t need much of any one single fabric, as there usually are not alot…
Thearica over at Pigtales and Quilts is having a crazy quilt party and contest. The purpose is to raise awareness of the ART of crazy quilting. Crazy quilts are all too often snubbed at shows and competitions because some people do not consider them to be real quilts. Well, they may not be machine stitched to within an inch of their lives, LOL, but the layers are there. Crazy quilts are pieced on a foundation fabric and then backed to form a “quilt sandwich”. Various assembly techniques are used, including attaching front to back with ties, buttons, beads, hand or some machine stitch-in-the-ditch (or any combination of those). We also make use of false backs (the quilting is done to a stabilizing layer that is enclosed within and covered by a pretty backing fabric). All in all, crazy quilts require the same skill set as regular pieced quilts - PLUS embroidery, beading, ribbon work, and any number of other embellishment techniques that the artist chooses to incorporate. But, it’s time for me to step down from my soapbox, and show you some of the crazy quilting I have done over the last 12 years. I have been blessed to have taken classes from Betty Pillsbury, Carole Samples, Judith Montano, Sharon Boggon, Helen Gibb, Candace Kling, Allison Aller, Martha Green, and many others. To the skills I have learned from them I have added my own spin. Here are some of my pieces, in rough chronological order from 2000 - 2011. My first piece was a vest; this is a portion of one side. I entered this block in the first Quilting Arts Calendar contest, and won! This block was featured in the 2002 Calendar as the November block (under my former married name of Cathy Flox). Pansy Block: “Thoughts of You" In 2003, I wanted to try a wool quilt. Got it all pieced, but never finished it. It was fun, though! A ribbon motif from my first round robin in Crazy Quilting International: Roses (2007) An autumn pillow. Mr. Squirrel’s tail is mink. One of several purses entered over the years in the CQI contests. It is up for sale now in my Etsy shop, even though it is one of my very favorites! “Images of Africa" “I Love Paris” purse, Side B “I Love Paris” purse, Side A A round robin block from a couple years ago My stitching contribution on a Hears and Flowers block A Flower Fairy themed block Another Flower Fairy themed block A Teatime wallhanging I donated to CQI. It was auctioned off on Ebay, with proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (2011) Another round robin block This block was for a Birds round robin Another block for the Birds round robin Well, I hope you have enjoyed the show. Take some time to visit Pigtales and Quilts and the other crazy quilters who have exhibited their work there. Hugs,
Lots of photos following, so brace yourself. I decided to do a CQ block - in pink, monochromatic (mostly) - using all of the stitches I have learned in TAST so far plus a couple of extras. This is the resulting block. Notice I did not use one single bead! You have no idea how hard that was for me to avoid the temptation. Really! This is the naked block I started out with. Close-up of the center floral motif. First, let me point out I added some sheer floral printed fabric over a couple of the shiny sections. This one is gathered slightly. I left some of the satin show along the seam. This is a little darker area from the sheer and is over a darker pink. Again, the satin shows along the buttonhole stitch area. I will list the stitches from top to bottom rows on each of the following close-ups. Cretan, French knot, knotted Cretan, buttonhole wheel (1/2), chain, French knot, lazy daisy/detached chain: French knot, Herringbone (both light pink and dark pink rows), Algerian Eyelet, fern leaf: This is kind of mixed up, but there are SRE petal stitch flowers, lazy daisy flowers, French knots, bullion rose and stitch, stem stitch rose and stem stitch, spider web rose: Web is straight stitch with couched connections; spider is whipped wheel with a little satin stitching over body and straight stitch for extending legs: Basque, scroll stitch, butterfly chain, French knots and lazy daisy (detached chains), straight stitch, up and down buttonhole: (From left to right in pie-shaped section) - French knot, buttonhole wheel (1/4), lazy daisy, straight stitch, French knot, running stitch, crossed buttonhole, bonnet: (butterfly) satin stitch, chain stitch, Fly 'Y' stitch; (below butterfly and in no particular order) French knots, wheat ear, straight, lazy daisy, feather stitch (bottom): Wheat ear, back stitch: (lace is added) Barred chain, half chevron, oyster, chain, buttonhole: Chain (3 rows), zig zag chain, Palestrina, cable chain, Chevron: There! I think that should be at least 35 unless I left out a seam somewhere. I you don't get close to the same count, let me know. This was so much fun and I will likely do it again, using my tags for reference.
CQ details is a series of articles which aims to illustrate hand embroidered seams on my crazy quilt to give you ideas on how to embellish your own projects
Hello and thank you for visiting me! Today I would like to share with you the progress I have made learning how to construct a crazy quilt block. I am following the Basic Crazy Quilt Course which is organised and run by Kathy Shaw. Last time, I had learned how to choose a balanced combination of fabrics, how to piece a basic crazy quilt block and then how to hoop it up correctly following Kathy's brilliant instructions. Since then, I have learned all about various beads, charms and trims. It is incredible the number of different types available and their uses for embellishing crazy quilts. It has been extremely interesting and I am really enjoying extending my knowledge. In the last couple of days I have learned how to plan the embellishment of my block and, how to use a template to mark the seams ready to embroider. I had never really thought about doing this before but, I can now see how important it is to plan your crazy quilt block embellishments in advance. It enables you to make sure the block is balanced and, avoids any clashes of embellishment on the seams. This is going to help me tremendously when I start embellishing my February CQJP Challenge block. I have now completed the first stage of the embroidery on the seams and I am very pleased with how the block is looking. I can't wait to move on to the next stage!
Exhibition of Wall Quilts, ArtsPost Galleries, Hamilton While we stich, life is not elsewhere. In a world that is increasingly connected with non-stop news, quiltmaking does not happen in soli…
A birthday card for my mum. To see the inside, which is also embroidered, go to Aug 06 archives www.nzjo.blogspot.com
I am just getting settled home from working at the lake for the season and going to a weekend meeting in Saskatoon. At last I can see things having an opportunity to get back to normal! So, I thought I would start out by posting photos of the blocks I received back in the Fools Gold Round Robin from Crazy Quilting International. This was a DYB (Do Your Block) Round Robin where each participant makes 6 blocks, 6 inches square each, and everyone in the round robin fully embellishes one of each other person's blocks. In the end you receive the six blocks you pieced back with five embellished fully and one left for you to complete. Clear as mud? lol Anyway, this is the lovely block which Barbara Warner stitched on for me. I love this beautiful fan she did and the lovely floral spray! I pieced all my blocks from wedding dress fabrics and my request from the others was pretty vague - that I would like something romantic. Barbara hit the nail on the head as far as I am concerned. Thank you Barbara!!
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Наконец доделала "Февраль". Напоминаю, что участвую в совместном отшиве текстильного календаря в стиле "крейзи квилт" у Златы. Я конечно же плетусь в конце, но не теряю надежду догнать :)). Февраль. Цвета месяца - оттенки белого, кроме белоснежного, темно-серый, серо-зеленый. В определенный момент нужно сказать себе "стоп" иначе расшивать этот блок можно до бесконечности ... :)). Все фрагменты поближе: Снега в феврале было очень много, поэтому белый цвет у меня царствует, но согласно условиям задания, он не белоснежный - есть сероватый, зеленоватый и бежевый. В этом фрагменте я пыталась вспомнить про 23 февраля, изобразила что-то вроде защитной камуфляжной военной сетки и конечно сундук подарков нашим любимым мужчинам. Обещанное дерево, снега на нем совсем немного, да и под ним он осел как-то, прибился к земле. Сугробы... Дальше все понятно без объяснений...:)) Работать в этой технике очень увлекательно. Здесь можно посмотреть работы всех участниц. Пока у меня только два месяца: Продолжение следует....
Blog of Susan Elliott where she shares her life through her needlework and photography.
This exquisite pillow by French crazy-quilter Evy gives me double joy. As always, I’m captivated by the luxurious detail of seam treatments that incorporate beading and silk ribbon embroidery…
Join me to read of an exciting on-line embroidery class together with an exclusive offer for readers to Whitewood and Linen's craft blog...
Наконец доделала "Февраль". Напоминаю, что участвую в совместном отшиве текстильного календаря в стиле "крейзи квилт" у Златы. Я конечно же плетусь в конце, но не теряю надежду догнать :)). Февраль. Цвета месяца - оттенки белого, кроме белоснежного, темно-серый, серо-зеленый. В определенный момент нужно сказать себе "стоп" иначе расшивать этот блок можно до бесконечности ... :)). Все фрагменты поближе: Снега в феврале было очень много, поэтому белый цвет у меня царствует, но согласно условиям задания, он не белоснежный - есть сероватый, зеленоватый и бежевый. В этом фрагменте я пыталась вспомнить про 23 февраля, изобразила что-то вроде защитной камуфляжной военной сетки и конечно сундук подарков нашим любимым мужчинам. Обещанное дерево, снега на нем совсем немного, да и под ним он осел как-то, прибился к земле. Сугробы... Дальше все понятно без объяснений...:)) Работать в этой технике очень увлекательно. Здесь можно посмотреть работы всех участниц. Пока у меня только два месяца: Продолжение следует....
Here is one to all the gardeners out there! We are about a month away from being able to work the soil and plant here. I am looking forward to it this year.
Speechless. An almost unbearably beautiful all-white block by Kathy S of Alabama, USA. Go to the Crazy-Quilt Journal Project post for an image you can click to enlarge.
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Cross Stitch Patterns by designer Pamela Kellogg
