I recently finished my crazy quilt project Crazy for Crazy, and now want to write its story.
The second block I made was in light purple. Here is the naked block. I always add strips of white and beige scrap fabric to support the block in the hoop.
There is a bit of batik and a piece of printed fabric from a charm pack, both of them were gifts from the UK.
In the middle is some wool with structure, an aunt of my husband's who was a skilful hobby seamstress made herself an ensemble and gave me the remnants.
The geometric purple and pink cotton was dress fabric I once made a summer frock with. Before it finally fell to pieces that dress was a seasoned traveller who had been on picnics in Hyde Park, visited quilt shows in Birmingham, enjoyed a sunset cruise in the Baltic Sea, given lectures near Mt Fuji, flown over the Swiss Alps, made a stop over in Karachi, eaten raw sea urchins in Tokyo Bay... All these memories are in that little scrap of fabric...
The plain piece of silk, and a piece of lace that you can see in the pictures to follow, are from a swatch of a party dress I wore to many a weddings.
The ricrac was a gift from the UK. A Christmas present from Mum was once tied up with the silk ribbon, but the tufted braid I have shaped into arches was bought at Tokyo Dome from a wholeseller of ribbons and braids.
For the ornaments and embroidery I used the colour wheel to select an accent colour. Mint green was my choice.
The first thing I made was the 'visible mending' with mint green thread. How to do it I learned from Elizabeth Healey's book Stitch, Fabric & Thread. It was a bit more difficult than I first thought, but I still like that spot of green with the frame of Fly Stitch and edge of Stem Stitch.
On top of the visible mending I placed a knot of kumihimo braid. At the time I got so many comments about braid making and the kumihomo disc.
Once again I want to assure you that making a braid on these rubber foam discs is not difficult at all. With a few odd ends of thread you can make beautiful braid to add to a crazy quilt, for example.
Sharon Boggon of Pintangle had taught me how to hold down a ricrac with Buttonholed Fly Stitch.
I added Bullion Knots inside the arched tufted braid, made a floral spray of Feather Stitch, bugle beads and French Knots.
To echo the arches, the round of the visible mending, and the rounded petals of the lace I also fixed a circle of purple felt and edged it with ricrac.
There are piles of small beads and buttons here and there, ribbon embroidery and sequins.
So many people have made it possible to make this block.
May I show my gratitude to: Mother, Auntie, Sue, Sylvia, Jacquie, Kathleen, Maureen, Elizabeth, Sharon, Helen, and all my readers and their kind comments and constant support.
5 comments:
Truly, your description of how the block is put together is wonderful. So many memories went into one block- all with meaning to you to share with your friends and Followers. Beautifully done!
Interesting history of your quilt.
The applied lace flower is another echo of the circle of felt and the circle of visible mending. There's a lovely flow and rhythm here.
What a lot of lovely memories have gone into your blocks.
Lovely stories of your purple block!
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