What's in a Quilt - The Green Man - Part 8: Crazy Quilting

I love embroidery! I love quilting! So it is not surprising that my favourite form of quilting and patchwork is crazy quilting. A crazy quilt block just had to be added to the Green Man!

Before we look at him, let's talk about how to make a cq block.

Step one is to collect fabric, trims, ribbon, beads, buttons and whatever you want to include. As you can see, you don't need cotton fabric made especially for patchwork and quilting. No, the fabric can be 'fancy', remnants from ball gowns, an old tie, upholstery, a corner a handkerchief with initials, a bit of velvet, something lacy ... anything goes! What you DO need is a foundation fabric, here it is a piece of white cotton onto which I have drawn the placement for the fancy fabric.

Start in the middle of the foundation fabric.

I placed a bit of the tie (1) in the centre. 

On top of it, right sides together I then added the grey silk (2), stitched it along the right-hand edge, then turned it open, hiding the raw edges underneath. 

(3) is a light blue synthetic, once the lining of a jacket. I wanted a curved line so turned under the raw edges as I hand-stitched it in place.

(4) was attached in the same way as (2) i.e. stack, stitch, flip open.

A short piece of odd braid (5) was hand-stitched in place along the light blue edge.

(6) is actually a piece of patchwork cotton, that is so long it stretches across the entire side of the block.

The ball gown fabric (7) is also long, and the ribbon on top (8) is longer still.

Every raw edge has been covered.

Now the block is ready to be DECORATED. Pour on the embroidery stitches, the beads, buttons...

At this stage, it might be time to stop and call the block finished.

I think this book by Sharon Boggon is one of the best to learn crazy quilting.

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The Green Man you find in churches is not flashy, but rather shy, or sly, hiding in the greenery, or maybe lurking to jump out at you? 

Whatever, he is not covered in sequins, metallic thread or complex stitch combinations. Instead, I wanted my crazy quilt Green Man to be simpler than the quilt block above. The pieces of fabric have odd shapes, though, and the seams are covered with embroidery. I selected buttons with groves in them, perfect for the eyes and mouth.

To be continued.