Great job Mae: At least you have gotten started. I need a kick in the pants to get going and I don't have one excuse....I loved your work. Janie

THANKS JANIE : FOUND A BOOK FOR THE RIBBON EMBRODERY SO AN STICHING UP A STORM. I HAVE UNTIL JUNE WHEN THE GUILD IS MEETING FOR A RETREAT TO PUT THE BLOCKS TOGETHER, I THINK IT WILL PROBABLY TAKE THAT LONG TO FILL IN ALL THE LINES. LOL. I DON'T THINK I'LL EVER MAKE A BED SIZE QUILT. ( WON'T LIVE THAT LONG HA!)

Mae, be of good cheer, everyone that does a crazy quilt says that but Judith Montano and Marsha Micheler have finished dozens....maybe they didn't have spouses, kids or pets, who knows. Please post your blocks as you finish each one. We all need a little fresh inspiration from time to time and you just may be mine....Janie

http://www.qorsite.com/styles/crazy/crzayqlt.htm

This might be of some interest

You certainly encourage me to keep going. these three blocks are my lates that I added to. I think they are probably done mostly done but everytime i go back and look at them I think they need more.

I suspect you just need to study my quilt blocks Patrice. You can tell I ain't too friendly with a color wheel.

Step 1.) Drum into your head... "It's my quilt and I don't care if you don't like the colors."
Step 2.) Never ask anyone... "Do these go together?" They might actually know.
Step 3.) I like that Stack and Whack concept. Because you are so LB'ed, put all your dissimilar colors in the stack and rotate through them Mathematically. You get no choice as to what goes with what that way after you have set up the stack. Make more than one stack at a time with different fabrics. Halfway through, pull half the fabric squares off one stack (mathematically) and replace them with the fabric squares from the other stack. Keep cutting.
Step 5.) If it seems right... "Don't use that combination."

There is no step 4.

tim in san jose

you had me until you said "math". why you wanna cuss at me like that?

:shock:

:mrgreen:

I took a crazy quilt class using 12 inch squares from muslin. Then
sewed different fabrics onto it. I used the feather stitch and changed
thread(embroidery) colors. Its fun to do, makes a great quilt.

I am not really a "quilter" as most people describe them, but I have made a few and my mother made many in her lifetime. I remember one crazy quilt she made that seemed to follow the old fashioned method of stitching blocks to a piece of newspaper to be sure they were on the square. :? I watched, but never did one myself, but this seems to be something that would fit that.

The lady who did it folded a sheet of newspaper into a triangle (once) and measured both sides to be sure they were 12 and 1/2 inches each. The extra 1/2 inch was the seam allowance. and then she cut the piece on the other two sides to make her square. She said that newspaper was alwyas on the square and there was no fear of "warped" pieces that way.

The next step was to lay a piece of fabric on the corner and add another random piece to it. She called it strip piecing, but it was a far cry from what the books call strip piecing. Her pieces eventually made a few strips, but mostly they were like the ones you show in your photograph.

The advantage I saw to her method was that the piecing went faster and the seams were very secure. She put each new piece onto the next one by laying it upside down where she wanted them to join. She stitched across to make a seam and then flipped the new piece down over the seam and pressed it. Then she was ready for another new strip or piece. She did not do the hand embroidery, but she did lap quilt each square before she put the whole quilt together. It really did look nice.

BTW, this is my first time posting, so forgive my mistakes on what/how to do it. I am a grandmother (GramMER) to 15 and need to get the show on the road if I am to make each of them a quilt before my time comes. :roll:

GramMER

I love the paper pieced blue bird and the oragami flower. They are beautiful. Just work on them till your heart says done, you'll know when to quit...