Crazy Quilt Block Patterns

Originally created as an Online Crazy Quilt Class on Color and Composition.

9 individual block patterns on how to work with color and composition in crazy quilting. This was an online Stitch Along class that has ended now but will continue to be available to anyone who would like to learn this aspect of crazy quilting.

Following the step by step directions in these books, you can create these lovely 6 inch Crazy Quilt Blocks.

If you make all 9 of the blocks in this series, you will have enough to make a beautiful Crazy Quilt!

These are now available at Etsy:  http://www.kittyandme.etsy.com/
Also available at Magcloud:   http://www.magcloud.com/user/kitty-and-me

Crazy Quilt Bags and Other News

I just got back from a quick trip to JoAnn's for purse handles.  I didn't have anything here that worked with my Poinsettia purse.  I found a nice set with clear beads so now I have everything I need to sew it together which I plan on doing tomorrow.

And speaking of purses and bags, here are a couple of finishes.  First, my Harrison Fisher purse:

And then my Pink Cellphone Pouch:

Don't you just love all this pink?!!!  Both of these are already spoken for but I have other Crazy Quilt Bags available here.

In other news, Favequilts is offering a free ebook called, 17 Quilting Tutorials Quilting For Beginners Top Tips For How To Quilt. 

This ebook includes my tutorial for How To Clean A Non-Washable Quilt!  Do hop over and check it out.

Finally, I have a student's block to share today:

Karin did a beautiful job her Stumpwork leaf and grapes!  All the required elements are here and Karin's execution of the design is perfect!  Love the curly q's!  Thank you Karin, for sending me a photo to share with my blog readers!

And speaking of my Crazy Quilt Classes, I'm working on Lesson 9 now.  The Great Pumpkin will be ready and available in the next week or so!

Coming Soon Lesson 8

I just finished typing up Lesson 8 of my Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Course so I thought for today, I'd share a little sneak peek:

In this lesson, we'll be covering Stumpwork Embroidery with thread wrapped beads.

Jason will have this Lesson ready to order in about a week so please keep your eye on my blog.  I'll let you know when it's ready.

Crazy Quilt Class Maria's Lesson 6

I have another beautiful block to share with you today.  This block is by Maria and it's Lesson 6 of my Crazy Quilt Class:

Maria did a beautiful job!  Her strawberry is worked with French knots & beads and the top of the strawberry is worked in stumpwork!  Gorgeous!  Maria crocheted her strawberry flowers and check out those gorgeous buttons in the bottom left-hand corner!  A lovely addition!  All of the elements are here including a beautiful spider web and spider.  This block is stunning Maria!  Thank you for sharing with my readers!

Another Students Crazy Quilt Block Lesson 6

I have another students block to share with you today.  This is Kathy's Lesson 6 block:

Isn't this a pretty block?  Kathy used a photo image of strawberries and then enhanced them with some embroidery and silk ribbon work.  And then some strawberry buttons.  Which I think I've seen at Hobby Lobby.  I love the border with the detached chain flowers inside a circle.  Very original!  And check out the spider!  Ooooh, a very scary spider!  Love it!

Beautiful work Kathy!  Thank you for sending this to me to share with my readers!

Another photo that I thought I'd share today is my Crazy Quilt Cat Pillow.  Well, the stitched piece anyway.  I still have to sew it into a pillow.  The stitching is complete now:

I love this block!  I can't wait to sew it together!

I'll leave you today with a cute photo of my babies:

I got lucky and happened to see them both laying on the chair together.   On top of my stuff.  Which cats always seem to have a tendency to do!  But it looks like Wrigley and Cotton are going to be best friends!  Can you believe how much Wrigley has grown?  He was only 3 pounds when we adopted him!  Cotton is only 3 pounds now.  And I don't laugh but I measured Wrigley's tail again and that grew too!  It's over 14 inches long.  I've never had a cat with such a long tail before!

Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Classes Lesson 7

Lesson 7 of my Crazy Quilting Color and Composition Class is now available!

 

Lesson 7 - Proud As A Peacock

Lesson 7 covers:

• Transferring a design
• Mastering the Feather Stitch
• Long and Short Stitch
• Couching
• Peacock Tail in Fancy Yarn

Lesson 7 is now available at Magcloud!

Lesson 6 - Color and Composition Course

Lesson 6 of my online Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Course is now available:

Strawberry Fields covers freehand vines, spider web and spider and how to make a motif stand out.  These crazy quilt classes are available at Magcloud.

 A special thank you to my assistant and editor Jason for doing such a great job with my books and lessons!

Another Student Block

I've been down the past few days with a nasty stomach bug.  I never get anything!  But this one was bad.  Thankfully, it's done now but I don't really have any stitching to share with you.  What I do have is another student block from Lesson 5.  This block was worked by Joyce:

How creative!  All the elements are here but Joyce added an extra element.  Check out the moon!  This almost makes me think "of a night-bird singing come away, come away!"  Okay, I got a little Stevie Nicks here but the first thing I thought of was that line from the Edge Of Seventeen.

Did you notice how well Joyce repeated the "circle" symbol?  This block is wonderful, imaginative and it feels very symbolic and magical.  So pretty!  And great job done!

In other news, I have Nightmare's ashes now, which always makes it feel so final.  Of course, they're never totally gone from us are they?  They simply become part of who we are.  I very much miss his beautiful little face.  I've always adored black cats.

Wrigley keeps me on my toes.  I bought him a collar with a bell on it but he doesn't leave it on.  He's really good at getting it off but for the most part, he's a good little kitten.  He plays a lot!  He carries his little toys around and he can be quite talkative!  I'll get some more pictures of him.  He's grown some.  He's gotten longer.  He's a real pretty boy!

Lesson 4 Janes Block

My students are working on Lesson 4 of my Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Classes.  Jane R. has completed her block:

The theme for lesson 4 is Flight Of The Bumblebee.  Jane did an excellent job conveying that theme.  Notice Jane's beehive worked in beads.  And the beautiful garden in the required "curved piece"!

I'm very pleased with the work I'm seeing from my students.  I can see that all of the girls are working with their own creativity and although they find some of the techniques challenging, their skills are improving.  They're eye for color and balance is starting to come through their work!  I'm very pleased with everyone's progress!

Crazy Quilt Online Course

I finished up my crazy quilt block with the yellow rose which came from a vintage hankie.  As I mentioned the other day, I couldn't help myself, I had to add some pink!

This will be a pillow.  A gift for a friend.  I'll get it sewn up in a few days and post another photo of the finished piece.

In the meantime, for those of you who are taking my Online Crazy Quilt Course, I thought I'd show you how I make the eye move around my blocks using color.  Look closely at the pinks on the block.  Notice how the pinks flow.  Start near the bunny at the bottom and follow the pink buttons up to the large butterfly and Silk Ribbon roses at the top.  Coming down from the roses are 3 light pink butterflies.  Where does you eye end up?  At the pink flowers in the center under the yellow rose in the hankie.

That's how I use color to create my compositions.

And speaking of my Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Classes, this is Maria's block from Lesson 3:

Again, notice how Maria balanced her block with the hot pink flowers in the center.  This block is very well balanced, interesting with lots of pretty embellishments and pretty stitching.  Well done Maria!

Student Blocks

I thought I'd share of few of my students blocks with you today.  These are from my Color and Composition Class, Lesson 2:

This block was worked by Joyce:

Look closely at beading and silk ribbon work on the ribbon behind the Irish lady.  Beautiful!  Joyce did a very nice job balancing her colors.  There's plenty of purple there to compliment the greens and be sure to look for Joyce's little spider!  Ya'll know I like my spiders!

This block belongs to Kathleen.  She did a beautiful embroidered vine over purple ric rack.  I'm not sure if Kathleen is finished with this one yet or not.  Kathleen's silk ribbon spray in the top left corner is gorgeous!

And this block is by Jane.  Jane couldn't find any purple lace to put behind the Irish Lady so she improvised and used some purple ribbon.  That's exactly what I want people to do.  Work with what you can find!  Jane did a beautiful floral vine and lovely beadwork on the lace at the top.

This is Maria's block:

Maria's embroidery and silk ribbon work is stunning.  Look closely for all the little details.  Plenty of purple to enhance the green background.

This block was worked by Julie.  She used lots of sweet little embellishments and look close at that butterfly.  It's cross stitched!  Excellent creativity!

Finally, this is the block that Cris is working on.  She did a great job with the lace behind the Irish Lady.  Cris is still working on her block so I'll post updates again when there's a few more photos to see.

In my next lesson, we're going to start working on "clustering".  Yes, we're going to be piling it on.  Lesson 4 will be released on March 17th.

Crazy Quilt Classes Lesson 3

I know some of you have been eagerly awaiting Lesson 3 of my Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Classes.  Lesson 3 is titled:  Rabbit Tales!

Lesson 3 - Rabbit Tales

* The theme for Lesson 3 is Rabbit Tales.* The color scheme is Mint green, purples and pink.
* The techniques we'll be using are:  Blackwork with Waste Canvas and Gathered Lace Flowers

The publication is available at Magcloud.

More Crazy Quilt Lesson 1 Blocks

I have a few more blocks from my Color and Composition Lesson 1 to share with you today.  This is Maria's block:

Maria did an excellent job with the forget me not flowers and encouraging the eye to move around the block using blue.

And this block was worked by Joyce:

Joyce gave her block a very strong feeling of Valentines Day.  Again, an excellent use of the color blue.  I love the beads around the stitched "forget me not" piece.

Thank you Ladies, for sharing your blocks with me and allowing me to share them here on my blog.

If ya'll stop by tomorrow, you'll get to see my latest purse!

Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Classes - Lesson 2

We've released Lesson 2 of my Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Classes:

*The theme that we'll be working with for Lesson 2 is Lucky Charms
*The color scheme is green and purple.
*The techniques we'll be using are:  printed image, yo-yo, gathered lace, beadwork and filling negative space.

You can find the publication at Magcloud.

And here is a printable image of the Irish Lady that we'll be using on this block:

There is also a Flickr group that I've set up for discussing the projects and sharing photos.  Find the Crazy Quilt Color and Composition Flickr group here.