Crazy Quilt Wallhanging

This is my first attempt at crazy quilting. I have been fascinated by crazy quilting for a long time.

So after several failed attempts at making a crazy quilt; that went in the trash. I came up with this one that I liked.

This was a birthday gift for my friend, Lidora.

It won a blue ribbon at the Scioto County, Ohio Fair.

The background is actually for crazy paper piecing blocks that I printed the papers for off line.

Then I embellished it with lots of beads and buttons.

I have quite a large button collection, thanks to being taught by my Grandmother Kuchenmeister to cut off and save all buttons from an piece of clothing that is going to be thrown out.

I tended to include lots of purple as it is both of our favorite colors and I threw in gold, because I love it and it goes so well with purple.

I also added in lots of lace and trims.

My friend really liked it.

I can not figure out how to get my pictures to be in any place but at the top of a post. Sorry blogger smushed them together.

This is a Snowball quilt top; that eventually was finished and sent off to charity. This was mye first quilt that had triangles in it, I believe. But I did not cut or piece triangles. I layered squares and sewed diagonally and then when I opened it triangles appeared. Same technique was used in parts of Tropical Storm at Sea for the small corner diamonds.

Tropical Storm at Sea Close-ups

This is a close-up a single block of the quilt, before it was sewn together. The quilt top had upwards of 2000 pieces in it and all o them were fussy cut for maximum effect. Often each piece was also directional, just to add to the mix.



This is a close-up of the completed quilt. Showing how the colors blended and made a wavy movement for your eyes across the surface of the quilt.

Tropical Storm at Sea

Tropical Storm at Sea

This quilt is an oversized twin quilt made in the traditional Storm at Sea pattern.
However, by fussy cutting and using the tropical colors it gives it a totally different look.

I was commissioned by a friend to make this for her oldest daughter. She said she wanted a quilt that was bright and colorful and reminded her of being at the beach. I cam up with this and she was happy with it.

The large diamonds have various undersea creatures in them, such as various species of fish.
The horizontal elongated diamonds have whales and dolphins or porpoises in them.
The vertical elongated diamonds have ocean backgrounds such as coral or seahorses in it.
The red points form a secondary star pattern.
The four elongated diamonds surrounding the large center diamond give the illusion of circle.
These same elongated diamonds form diagonal waves coursing across the quilt in both directions. The yellow is bits of sunlight piercing down into the watery depths.
The green is algae, kelp and various sea plants.

The entire quilt was quilted on a domestic machine in a mottled pattern that gives the impression of the shimmery surface on the ocean.

This patriotic Denim Cathedral Windows quilt was made for my second son, Josh. It started out as a lap sized one 12 rows by 15 rows; but every few months while I was sewing he would bring it so me and sweetly ask if I could add "just 1 more row to 1 side, please". And so I did. He had this up to almost a single / twin size throw.

He went to work in Louisiana before he enlisted in the Army and someone stole this quilt down in Louisiana.

So I am working on making him another one.

This one he wants the denim parts to be military camo; and a army fabric for the insets. I have the background circles all cut out; but came up 10 squares short for the Army fabric; and I can't find it at the local Walmarts!

I really want to make this for him, he just came home from serving a year long deployment in Iraq.

Denim Cathedral Window quilts

This is a type of Cathedral Window quilt that I got the idea for online and then sort of tweaked it into my own version. I have many of these quilts. Each different and each beautiful in a comfortable, homey way.

This one was made for a veteran and he wanted it "manly". That was his only stipulation. So the insets are a blue plaid - what could be more manly than that?

The background/back is cut from old denim most from jeans.

This one was a queen size one and it is very heavy and very warm.

Too much to do; too little time

I think that is the voice echoing in all our heads today. With Christmas only 5 days away; time is getting tight.

I got a list of things I want to get done before Christmas; some will get done, not sure about all of it.

But I am not going to harass myself because I did what I could; we can not push ourselves to do more and more 24/7/365.

I am always looking for peace but at the same time, I am making huge to do lists; I think there is a connection there. The longer the to do list the less peace there is.