I'm Finished With Crazy Cravings!

Crazy Cravings

50 x 62

It's definitely not your grandma's crazy quilt.

The 12 inch blocks were all hand pieced, embroidered, embellished. 

Then sewn together by machine. 

Then the seams were embellished.

I think normally crazy quilts are tied; however, I added batting and backing and then kind of free form hand quilted it with #10 crochet thread. 

I do love chocolate. 

And now I can cover myself in chocolate. 

This was fun to work on. I think it's been in the works for a couple of years. 

I like handwork and embroidery so a crazy quilt is a great way to mix the two...

...and end up with something yummy! 

The back. 

Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop?

Finish it Up Friday. 

Soon I'll Be Covered in Chocolate

I've finished all of the "quilting" on my Crazy Cravings lap quilt. 

So today I hope to add the binding and finish this up.

Normally I think crazy quilts are tied. And I don't think they have batting.  But I actually quilted this with a running stitch here and there throughout the quilt. 

I've tried to make the running stitch part of the quilt by stitching around cupcakes and donuts which makes them stand out and puff up a little. 

Sometimes I stitched in the ditch under the seam treatment or I added a row of running stitch to the embroidery, or I stitched around a cupcake or I stitched on top of embroidery that was already there. 

I wish I could show the texture the stitching adds to the quilt. 

This is all hand pieced, embroidered and quilted.  In fact, the only time I've used the sewing machine for this is to sew the blocks together.   And I'll use the machine today to add the binding to the front but I'll hand stitch it to the back. 

And soon I will cover myself in chocolate. 

Join us today for Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts

if you are working on something by hand.

Chickens and Chocolates

Yes, I'm hand quilting hotpads. 

I thought it would actually be easier than quilting on my DSM and look better if I did so.  The backing fabric is jewel toned chickens on black.  I'll probably add binding I will hand stitch down later today and get these finished off for Christmas gifts.

I made 7 -10 x 10.5 chicken blocks based on a pattern at Sew Inspired.

I've always loved the story of the Little Red Hen and I thought this block in different red fabrics might make a cute baby quilt to go along with a Little Red Hen book.   (Now on my to-do list). 

I've also stamped a few more dishtowels for embroidery.  These will go along with the chicken hotpads and a crochet dishcloth as Christmas gift sets.   

I was digging around in some boxes of fabric and was surprised to find I had so many chicken themed fabrics. I might have enough to make a couple of fabric grocery bags to add to the gift sets. 

And since last week I've hand quilted another section of my Crazy Cravings quilt.  I've been trying to make the big stitching with Fudge Brown #10 crochet thread blend in here and there throughout the quilt. 

I figure sewing on chocolate is better than sewing while eating chocolate. 

I'm going to take a short break again from hand quilting on this until I finish all my Christmas gifts. 

But I am anxious to get it finished up. 

Are you hand stitching today?

Join us for Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts. 

Crazy Cravings Update

I'm working on quilting my Crazy Cravings crazy quilt. 

I think most of the time crazy quilts are tied. 

Mine, I guess, could be defined more as an actual quilt - front, batting, backing, quilting. 

The problem is trying to figure out how to actually quilt it.  I am using #10 crochet cotton. Fudge brown seemed an appropriate choice. And I'm using a #5 embroidery needle.   I just look at each patch and add some big stitching where it seems appropriate. 

I big stitch around candies, around patches, along seam lines, around cups...

 ...around more cups, more patches, more seams, more candies...

...around more cups, around cupcakes, around circles, along more seam lines...

 ...and all of the big stitching keeps the layers together plus kind of disappears into the backing. 

I'm slow stitching today. Are you? 

If so join us at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday. 

Crazy Cravings Again

I finally finished up the embroidery stitches along all the connecting seams on my Crazy Cravings quilt. 

I took off the pink gingham border. I originally wanted to do some chicken scratch in the gingham but the squares were too tiny for me to even do chicken scratch you could see but also because the pink was too pink and also because I just plain didn't like it so it kept me from working on it. 

 Now that I've embellished all the connecting seams...

...and now that I've got it sandwiched with some pieced leftover batting and some pink and brown sale fabric that says chocolate all over it (forgot pic...will show next time)  I'm ready for quilting.   Not quite sure how I'm going to do that or even what thread or threads I will use but this is no longer a stalled project. 

Hopefully today I'll be joining others with some 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts. 

By Hand

I've finished up 6 of the 7 days of the week and hope to finish the last tonight.  I'm somehow going to use them in my Tea Towel Challenge quilt. 

I've finished up 6 more butterflies for the quilt I'm making like the one I inherited from grandma.  I need to count how many more I need. I'll prep some more today to applique and stitch during the week after work. 

And if I get bored I can always work on embellishing some of the seams where blocks join on my Crazy Cravings lap quilt. 

And, also today I hope to pin baste a Double Wedding Ring quilt I'm making for my granddaughter's hope chest. I'm going to try my hand at some old fashioned quilting.  Maybe you will see something on that next Sunday. 

Join in with other hand stitchers for Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts. 

Slow Stitching Sunday

Today, and for a few minutes each evening this week after work, I'll be working on embellishing the seams where the blocks connect...

...on my Crazy Cravings lap quilt.  

I'll also be working on some of these butterflies. They are hand appliqued then blanket stitched and then finally the outlines and antennae are back-stitched.  I have finished 30 and thought I needed 48. But actually  a I need 54 of them in order to make... 

...a quilt like this one that I inherited from my grandmother which is falling apart. Somewhere along the line I think my aunt tried to repair by zigzag stitching around the butterflies. You can kind of see where the batting is falling apart also.   If I'm successful in completing my quilt I might attempt to do proper repairs to grandma's quilt. 

Are you doing some hand stitching today? If so link up to Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's Quilts. And, if not, then why not start a project after you view all the inspiration. 

Slow Sunday Stitching

In crazy quilt news...I've finished block 2 of Crazy Farm - my Crazy Quilt Journal Project for 2014. 

Every crazy farm needs a scarecrow.  (Note to self: doesn't look like I finished scarecrow pocket) And growing next to him is some crazy colored wheat (wheatear stitches). 

On the seam above the pigs I just did straight stitches thinking they might look like a fence.  You can see a poor lone strawberry. When I was thinking about seam treatments I was originally going to wind the strawberry runners up on the seam above it with some additional little strawberries but when I actually got around to the seam I forgot and instead added some bullion rosebuds because of the peach roses in that scrap of blue fabric.   One good thing about crazy quilting is there is no right or wrong way to do things, no pattern to follow...you can just go with the flow. 

Every crazy farm has tomatoes.  (On my real "farm" I grow Celebrity and a different heirloom each year and some cherry tomatoes.)  Seam above is fly stitch and lazy daisy and seam below is three rows of chain stitch. 

I crocheted some little flowers and gave them some french knot centers to imitate the daisies in the fabric.  I have lots of odds and ends of crochet cotton I've picked up from thrift stores so this is a good way to use those bits and pieces. 

This seam just has herringbone stitch that I did twice. First pass was in the lime green and second pass was in the darker green.  And I also added some french knots. 

Blocks 1 and 2 together. 

In other crazy quilt news I've got the rick rack stitched in the border on 2 sides. 

In embroidery news... I've got another fruit embroidered - Thursday pears.   Somehow I'm going to use all these embroidered days of the weeks fruits in my Tea Towel Challenge Quilt.  I think I have 3 fruits left to embroider. 

 Finally, in applique/embroidery news...Last week I had 10 butterflies appliqued. This week I've finished the blanket stitch around all 10 and now I need to ...

...finish up the other stitching.   After these I think I will have 32 butterflies and I think I need 48 in order to make a quilt like I inherited from grandma.  After I make my quilt I am going to try to repair hers. 

So that's it for my Slow Sunday Stitching projects.  Kathy's Quilts is host to the Slow Sunday Stitching linky party.  There's a lot of beautiful projects being worked on. You will miss out on them if you don't visit. 

A New Year of Slow Sunday Stitching

As I posted previously my Crazy Cravings lap quilt is a top now but it is far from finished. First I need to somehow embellish all the connecting seams.  Some people leave them as is but I like to have some kind of stitching on all seams and don't like to be able to tell where one block starts and ends. 

When I'm finished with that I need to add some rick rack to the brown border and I was going to do some chicken scratch embroidery on the gingham border but I'm finding the 1/8 inch squares don't show it off so well so will probably either crochet some trim or do some herringbone stitching on the gingham.  Ahhh...the best laid plans....

 And this year's Crazy Quilt Journal Project is a Crazy Farm lap quilt.  This is my second block to work on. I'm going to try very hard to do two 12 inch blocks per month.

I'm also embroidering Days of the Week fruits for another project I have in the works but have not yet revealed. 

Good thing I take pictures of my projects every once in a while. Looks like I forgot to stitch the cherry blossoms.   I have 3 out of the 4 days finished.

I finished the applique on 10 more 30s Butterflies and now they are waiting for some blanket stitches and backstitches.  These are for a quilt that I'm making like the one I inherited from my grandmother that is falling apart. 

I took the two days off after New Year's Day so got a lot of hand stitching done. Normally I try to work on my hand stitching projects at least 15 minutes each evening after work and on Sunday.  Friday night and Saturday I work on my sewing machine.

For some inspirational projects being worked on by hand visit Kathy's Quilts Slow Stitching Sunday.