Journey to Crazy Quilting

I have been doing needle arts for over 18 years, counted cross-stitch, quilting and embroidery to find one place where I could incorporate all the things I loved to do was a miracle. So I set out first piecing my 25, 12x12 blocks, with no knowledge of any rules, prints with prints, cotton’s with silks, working with just floss, and stitching just the seams. Then came the ribbon embroidery and going out side just the seams. Of course I then discovered I could embroider and appliqué. Next came the beads, oh my the beads.
I have seen a progression from my first blocks to the very last one I am currently working on. I have been tempted to go back to some of the first ones and add to them but I have stopped myself. This quilt shows so much of me in it and why would you change anything that has helped you become who you are today.

This is my first block, seems kind of empty…..

This block was for my grandma, she loved her birds and tea.

This block had some of my favorite fabrics and I did in honor of my wedding day. The appliquéd hand is holding and envelope (you can open) with my wedding date on it. When the quilt is done I will sew in the envelope the six pence I had in my shoe the day I got married, till its time for my daughter to use it. I even beaded a gold band on my hand.

I love the embroidered blue bird with appliquéd ribbon and bullion flowers.
The birdhouse fabric was left over from a dress my mom made my daughter when she was little.

I get a lot of inspiration from old textiles that I pick up here and there. I had found a fingertip towels with this pattern of flowers and copied the style and colors. I made 8 of my blocks in the fan style. The center will be four of these blocks making a circle and a fan block at each corner.
More to come as I start to piece it all together…

I have to tell you this blogging is not easy, just trying to get the photos on here has been its own journey... But I will try to do better next time.

Greetings from Podunk

I thought it was time to give this blogging thing a try. I have been viewing some crazy quilt blogs for sometime now and have gotten so many inspiring ideas and up lifting wisdom. For 18 years I have been stitching in one form or another. Cross-stitch, quilting, embroidery and then about 5 years ago I came across an old crazy quilt in an antique shop (oh ya, I love junk hunting too!) for almost nothing. So I picked it up and started doing some research because the stitching just made me want to know more. Well that's all it took, when I realized I could combine everything I love into one project, that's history and five years later I'm still in love with crazy quilting.

I had this pansy fabric forever and just could never find the right quilting project for it. A friend had picked up the pansy embroidery pattern and gave it to me to do, when I got it done I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my saved pansy fabric. So this small wall hanging was created and hung in the office where I work for a few months until a new project took its place. A girl I worked with had recently lost her grandma/best friend and the pansies reminded her of her grandma, so one morning she found it wrapped up on her desk. Sometimes you create things and you don't know why till fate rings that little bell.

Now, I need projects for the other million pieces of saved fabric. Any one else out there ever buy fabric that they are so in love with that they cant cut it? Sometimes I think I'm crazy. But then I remember, I am! For others that love crazy quilting you might like to check out http://cqmagonline.com, I have gotten many ideas from these very inspiring and talented ladies.