I miss Crafty Weekends Link Party. I decided to share my crafts each week on Sunday and bringing back sort of Crafty Weekends but calling it Crafty Sundays but it will not include the link party. Today I am going to share with you Crazy Quilting: Dazzling Diamonds by Kathy Seaman Shaw.
First I am going to say it has been a long time since I made a crazy quilt and a long time since I did any ribbon embroidery. This book shares the blocks necessary to make a planned crazy quilt (thus not totally a crazy quilt). There are 15 blocks and 12 border blocks (partial diamonds). Each has the pieces planned out as well as the embellishments. The book also provides two finished samples: a spring and autumn version.
Seeing the quilt in the different fabrics shows the variety you can get with such a quilt The spring version is used in the block tutorials. I wanted to try out some of the blocks and the instructions. I of course did not read them carefully at first and made some mistakes because I thought I remembered how to crazy quilt. Oops! I however was able to use my mistake blocks. The patterns for the blocks are full sized but you do need to add a seam allowance to the "crazy" seams or the ones inside each block.
My first mistake was cutting the diamonds first in the foundation fabric. I made a couple of blocks this way.
Then I went back and read more carefully and realized I should cut rectangles in the foundation. This definitely made it easier!!
I tried to pick some blocks with different arrangements of the fabric to give the different crazy look to you. Many of the blocks have four different fabrics. A few have three and at least one has five.
I did not finish any one block. The one above is block 9 and above that is block 4. Here is the finished sample of block 4 from the book.
I got the furthest on block 13. I didn't add the beads to it yet and am not sure I will.
I discovered I need to brush up on my embroidery skills and get better thimbles. Doing these few blocks hurt my fingers! My block 13 is trimmed and has the ribbon embroidery on it. I was glad to find the silk ribbon I bought years ago for these type of projects. I definitely need to just practices some of the stitches. For example my wrapped stem stitch.
I think I have only done it once before. I also did not use the wash away foundation paper for the stitching so I was eyeballing the pattern. That was a mistake. Here is the sample of block 13 (the one I finished the most) from the book.
You can see how the beads add so much more to the blocks. This book is amazing for people who want to learn how to crazy quilt as well as learn some more embroidery stitches. Her explanations are very clear and easy to follow in both.
The details put into these blocks are beautiful. Much of it is handwork so it is perfect for summer projects. You piece the blocks and then can embellish them all by hand. The layers of embellishment is beautiful and it makes the blocks and the quilt absolutely gorgeous!
The embellishments include buttons, beads, sequins as well as the various fiber stitches. I love how this book offers very designed blocks for a quilter to follow and truly learn more of the stitches and how to crazy quilt. This block shows you how beautiful the wrapped stem stich can be.
I hope you will check out this great book. And I would love to see what crafts you have been up to. Please share photos in my comments or on my Facebook page.
