Monday 25 June 2012

crazy

Yesterday afternoon I finally took the plunge and had a go at crazy patchwork.
I have admired what I have seen on SF and bought two books to help but still I ventured in with great intrepidition, following instructions I find a struggle, I am much better watching someone, however I did not let this put me off and gathered some old bits of fabric that I had coloured in one way or another over the years. I do not think I put the pieces on correctly as I kept having to cut bits off and am now left with lots of scrappy bits too small to do much with. Being a good girl I pressed each piece after attaching. I then scanned it into the computer and saved it. For the life of me I cannot understand why I did not take a photo but never mind will post the scan on here.

This morning I got out my DMC rayon threads which I never use and added some stitching, feather,blanket,breton,chain and fly stitch. I also used some ribbon, attached the orange with herringbone and the lilac I gathered up and attached with stab stitch. I can see I will have to buy some lace etc and some charms but have looked in shops and on the internet and so far have not found  a supplier, there are some very flimsy ones about suitable for card making but have not seen anything for patchwork. I do have some, once again from years ago so will just keep my eyes and ears open. The next step is to do some stitching I suppose on the actual pieces of fabric but the brain has clocked off for now so that will have to wait.
Advice and constructive criticism will be greatly received.

sorry the photo has not come out too well. I replaced one piece of fabric, bottom left hand corner as on the first piece I had put in on wrong side out!

6 comments:

Annet said...

Pretty! I learned this in Sharon's encrusted class, which I enjoyed very much.

Pippas quilts said...

The nice thing about crazy patchwork is that it does not matter if your fabric is upside down as sometimes it is a better colour for the piece. Well done for getting this far.

Suztats said...

I think you've made a great start! I like what you've done so far.
If you're not adding motifs to your pieces, you might think about adding more to your seam treatments, such as combination stitches for a wider effect, adding beads or ribbons. I'm sorry I don't know of any lace suppliers in England.
You can make fabric flowers, or crochet some to add, too. Tatting and gimp can be used.
I find having a theme for my block helps me to decide 'what next'.
Keep going!

Pippas quilts said...

Just a thought I was at a car boot sale the other day and picked up a bag of trinkets, odd buttons and strips of lace Sharon has a whole series of crazy quilt squares using buttons. (I dropped a button box I think it is called) hope that gives you a few more ideas Pippa

JennyPennyPoppy said...

Your crazy patchwork piece looks very nice Margaret! I like the fabric colours and how you laid them out so nicely. Your stitching looks so neat and I bet it was fun to make and work on :)

Queeniepatch said...

You have made a fine start. The wonderful thing about Crazy Quilting is that it is - well, CRAZY! There are no rules and no limits. A famous Japanese CQ quilter only uses the most straight, crisp and sharp seams and her blocks are perfectly geometrical. Others let needle and thread run wild and their blocks get 'overgrown'.
Follow your heart, Margaret, add buttons instead of charms, use a small piece of Hardanger instead of one of the foundation pieces, roll a lenght of thread up into a ball and couch that down as a decoration. Have fun!