A Little Crazy! IQA Donation Quilt

Some of you may know that crazy quilts are not my favorite thing to make. In fact, they are way down near the bottom of my list of favorite things to make! I like symmetry, especially radial symmetry. And I like to make things from a picture in my head; I know what it’s going to look like before I make it. But with crazy quilts, things are a little random. You add one piece, then another, then another, and it’s impossible to predict exactly how it will end up.

Soooo… I decided to make a little lace crazy patch quilt for my donation to the Celebrity Quilt Auction at Houston Quilt Festival, which benefits the IQA. Why? I had been working on a crazy patch segment for a series of articles I was writing, and I had pulled out LOTS of lace and ribbons and pretty things. I had a stack of ivory and light blue, which I used for the article. But I had a stack of ivory and burgundy, too, that I really liked, so I thought I’d make two lace crazy patch squares simultaneously, with the idea that I’d finish the burgundy one into this donation quilt. Kinda crazy!

It is 23 inches square. I don’t have any process photos, just photos of the finished project. The way I made this was to assemble and stitch the lace crazy patch block on water-soluble stabilizer, soak the stabilizer away, stitch the lace block to the base fabric, embroider the motifs in the corners, layer and quilt it, bind it, and then add beads, buttons and a little hand embroidery.

Many of the pieces are vintage. This little Swiss embroidered motif has been in my stash for perhaps 20 years. I shaped 3/8 inch insertion around it, then stitched that to a small piece of batiste and cut away the batiste from behind the lace. The paisley fabric at the top right is a piece of necktie silk.

A gorgeous French jacquard ribbon, some vintage laces, pearl buttons, and little beads.

The edging I used looks like it has tiny spider webs near the outer edge, so my crazy patch has the traditional spider webs (although no spiders!) You can also see the hand feather stitch with doubled metallic embroidery thread (ugh!) that I did in several places after the quilting was finished.

This is a wide, light peachy-colored galloon lace, to which I added a very small ivory Swiss embroidered motif, and of course beads.

More gorgeous jacquard ribbon, more necktie fabric, more beads.

This was a small crocheted doily, which, except for the very edge, is secured only with beads. I also added a few small machine embroidered free-standing lace motifs in various places.

The embroidery designs in the corners are from John Deer Adorable Designs. I added little shank pearl buttons in different colors to the designs.

The base fabric is a red/tan shot Thai silk. I tried to get a photo that showed the dimension that gives the quilting. It’s hard to show in a photo!

I used tiny ivory cotton rickrack instead of piping. The binding is less than 1/4 inch wide, and is a burgundy cotton. Quilting threads are Superior Monopoly, Kimono silk, and Bottom Line. Batting is Hobbs wool over 80/20, and the backing is cotton.

So this is my (drove me) crazy quilt! 🙂 I named it “Bits and Pieces,” because that’s what it’s made from. If you happen to be at Quilt Festival, think about bidding on this baby!