i realize crazies are usually tied and handworked, but with todays EZ pattern ideas, i would like to know if any of you have MQ any crazy quilts w/embellishments? Can you/ and how do you handle the embellishments? [ Lace, ribbon,etc] Do you work around them or not at all? OR is this where hand quilting comes in? i am considering some ribbon/lace/handwork on some blocks but would like to know ahead of time if there is a good chance a longarmer will refuse to do this for fear of a mess.....or jamming a machine??? what say you?

I don't stitch around anything hard. It can jam the machine, break a needle, ruin the item, etc. I just remove attachments before quilting. If it's a soft attachment, i.e lace, I deal with that individually.

i have made a crazy quilt and long- arm machine quilted it, it was definitly a custom quilting job, i used good batting which allowed up to 10" apart so could quilt around and inbetween so that helped. stopped and looked at each block before starting it so i knew where any charms, buttons, ect were before starting the block...it turned out GREAT!

Traditional crazy quilts made with a variety of fabrics and tons of embellishments aren't usually quilted. Traditional crazy quilts don't usually have batting either. They're foundation pieced on to muslin and after the blocks are put together a backing is added and it's tied from the back just thru the backing and muslin.

Of course that doesn't mean it can't be done any other way. I've also seen a sort of quilt as you go crazy quilt with the seams embellished with machine embroidery. I saw one that the person used an embroidery machine and did little motifs and then crazy patched them together and then quilted it in the ditch after it was put together.

I had a longarm for a while and it would be a huge pain to try and go around a lot of embellishments. It would also raise your cost in to the "custom" or even "heirloom" price range.

interesting thread