Sunday, May 22, 2011

May- Crazy Quilt Block



Hello!
I made this block in a class by Kelly Duke at Piece by Piece. It was so cute and fun that I wanted to try for a small quilt instead of just a pillow.




Directions:

Trim muslin to 12.5 x 12.5 inches. This will be the foundation of the block.
Choose a center fabric and cut a 6 sided polygon roughly between the size of a fist and a hand.
Pin it down near the center of the muslin and sew the shape down about 1/8" from the edge of the center piece.
Choose another fabric and cut a 3-4 sided shape to sew onto one side of your center polygon that is as long as or longer than the side you are going to sew it onto. Pin to center shape with right sides together, preview if desired by flipping it back to make sure it covers the area you want it to, and sew. Press seam open.
Continue adding pieces in this way working around your center shape. It is pretty similar to a wonky log cabin.
When you have covered all the muslin press flat and trim the cotton flush with the muslin so the block measures 12.5 x 12.5" and sew around the edges about a 1/8" in to secure everything.
If you would like to add embroidery stitches please do! I have done them near or on the seam between 2 fabrics but I have also seen lovely little motifs done within the fabric shapes. Hand and machine embroidery are both fantastic and can be mixed within the block. Feel free to use the pearl cotton thread provided or use your own if you wish. Please try to keep with the hot/punchy jewel tone (?) color theme as much as possible.

General Guidelines:

Don't worry about getting it to me by the next meeting.
Please use as much or as little of the different fabrics provided as you like. Please do not add any. If there is not enough, which is quite possible, or you would like more please let me know! I have lots of extra.
Embroidery is 100% totally and completely optional. Do as much or as little as you like. Again, please contact me if you would like pearl cotton thread because I bought a lot for this project and I know that only a few of you got any from me at the meeting. This block has been my first embroidery project and so if any of you want to experiment or play with it don't worry about perfection. It will be fabulous.
I hope to make quite a few more of these blocks so if you guys could send back any reasonably sized (larger than 2.5") scraps that would be much appreciated.


Final notes:
I made a test block using one of the left over baggies. I found it to be a little less fabric than I had in mind. Please let me know if you would like a more. It was not meant to be restrictive, a puzzle of fabric economy, or anything like that. Just e-mail me and let me know.
I took photos of the steps but have been having formatting problems. Anything unclear in words? I can e-mail photos.
Questions? Please e-mail me.


Thanks,
Teddy

2 comments:

  1. Teddy - I just found this tutorial on crazy blocks and it has lots of step by step pictures. I can't wait to get started on your block, it looks pretty fun and a great way to use up scraps. I won't be able to attend the meeting next week so I'll get you the block in July!

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  2. http://comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/comfortstitching/2011/04/crazy-scrappy-block-tutorial-and-a-maybe-quilt-a-long.html

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