Sharing A Few Links For Today

I've been working away on Part 2 of my tutorial for Broiderie Perse on Crazy Quilting. I expect to have that posted here tomorrow. 

I thought for today, I would send you off to visit a few other blogs.

*First, Mary Anne at Magpie's Mumblings had some "cross stitch gone wrong" on one of her Crazy Quilt blocks.  I thought her "fix" was brilliant!  This process can be applied to anything stitched on a crazy quilt block that just doesn't work out as planned!

*If you have been wanting to learn the elegant art of crazy quilting, do visit Kathy Shaw's blog.  Kathy just posted her 2015 Registration dates for both her Beginner's Class and her Intermediate Class.  Kathy graciously offers her classes with no charge so please hop over and sign up now.

*Mary Corbet of Needle 'N Thread has posted a nice list of Needlework News Snippets for today.  Mary offers all sorts of wonderful and inspirational links in her news brief for today!

*I was over at Lorraine's Colour Compliments blog and in honor of Valentine's Day, she posted some pink stitching!  See her example of an interwoven cross stitch worked in pink!  My signature color!  This example is for needlepoint but it can easily be adapted to crazy quilting!  Especially if you use my waste canvas technique!

*Finally for today, pay a visit to Brenda Sandusky's blog and see her gorgeous Crazy Quilt Valentine Heart!

Hanging Heart By Mom

I've been playing around a little bit with the banner for my blog.  It'll probably change again because I don't care for the lettering that I used but I'll look at it for a day or two before I play around with it some more.

For today, I just added a new Hanging Heart by Mom to my Etsy shop:

 Even though Mom doesn't really do much crazy quilting, I can see where she's picked up some embellishing habits from me!

Also, a little birdie told me that Mom is working on some St Patrick's Day Tussy Mussy's!  I usually hang out over at Mom's on Friday's so I may have them to list next week sometime.

If you like using these sweet little vintage images on your crazy quilting and other crafts, you might enjoy visiting my Vintage Images Pinterest board.  You'll find a nice selection of vintage photographs, vintage greeting cards and vintage illustrations.  Pour yourself a cup of tea and allow a good amount of time because there are over 10,000 images on that board!

Hoops, Frames or Stitching In-Hand

I thought for today, I would talk a little bit about supporting your blocks while you stitch.  Over the years, I've had some stitcher's email me to ask why their blocks pucker.  The first thing I ask them is if they use a hoop or frame or if they stitch in-hand.  I'm never surprised when I hear that the puckered blocks were stitched in-hand.

The term "in-hand" means, that no hoop, frame or other supporting object was used to hold the block while the stitching was being done. 

Quite a few years ago, I made my one and only, whole cloth crazy quilt.

A whole cloth crazy quilt means it was pieced as one large block rather than individual blocks that were then pieced together once completed.  This piece had to be stitched in-hand.  It's approx. 22 inches square. A hoop would have left marks on the fancy velvets, brocades and silks and it would have made adding beads and other embellishments almost impossible.  Of course large quilting frames are available but I don't have the space in my house for a frame of that size to be sitting around so I stitched it in-hand.

When it came time to actually finish it into a quilt, my mother and I spent hours trying to get rid of the puckering and get it straight enough to bind it.  I do so love the look of a whole cloth crazy quilt but for me, I have no patience for the finishing to begin with and dealing with a quilt that puckers just makes me, well...crazy!

When I piece my blocks, I always leave enough extra foundation fabric to fit them into a hoop or attach them to a frame.  I have hoops in every size available and then I have some custom sized frames.  I'm very fortunate to have a father and a husband who can work with wood!

You can see my hoop on this piece.  It's a 12 inch quilting hoop.  It's old.  I bought it a flea market a few years back.  The quality back in the day was better than it is now.  A 9 inch square block will fit perfectly in a 12 inch hoop.

These are custom sized frames that my dad made for me to work this project on:

To attach the blocks to the frames, I just use old fashioned thumbtacks.  A lot of them!  With each tack, I stretch the block and by the time I have it attached the frame, it's tight as a drum.

I have not put this quilt together yet.  I made the side panels a few years ago but I've been dragging my feet on assembling it.  Why you ask?

Look very closely at the embroidered peacock.  I stitched this back in the early 1980's.  It was a pre-stamped design on black satin.  I did not use a hoop because I didn't want hoop rings and yes, the embroidered piece is puckered because of it.

I know what to do, I just haven't wanted to deal with it.  But it's on my list for this year and when I get to putting it all together, I'll write up a "how to deal with it" post.

But back to hoops and frames; I strongly suggest using one of those options to support your crazy quilt blocks.  It will save you so many headaches when you go to do the finishing on your projects.  You'll find that your blocks are pretty much straight with next to nothing for puckering.

If you need a custom sized frame and you don't have a father or husband who can make one for you out of wood, Kathy Shaw offers a great tutorial on making your own frame using pvc pipe.

Look for the link to the PDF file.

A Box Of Old Lace

My husband and I are already climbing the walls with cabin fever.  Spring fever actually.  This has not been a terribly cold or snowy Winter but every year, by mid-February, we need to get out!  So, we went a flea market yesterday.  It's an indoor flea market and not one of our favorites but it was something fun to do. 

I never find much at this flea market but this time, I hit the jackpot!  Look at this box of old crocheted and tatted lace:

There are a few pieces of manufactured lace in here but most of it is handmade.

I washed it yesterday when I got home and now it's ready for pressing. 

I don't know why, but I just can't leave a box of lace like this sitting around a dirty old flea market.  I already have more than I will ever use but this is just such a treasure to me.

If you're lucky enough to find some beautiful vintage and antique lace in a flea market, garage sale or thrift store, here are the directions for washing old lace.

In this article, I recommend a product called Orvus.  I do not know if it's still available or not.  I don't have any here and have actually been using Dawn dish washing detergent.  My thoughts on that are, if it's safe to use on precious wild life, caught in oil spills, then it's safe for textiles. 

Broiderie Perse Tutorial for Crazy Quilting Part 1

This is part 1 of the Broiderie Perse Tutorial for Crazy Quilting.  Please note, since most crazy quilts are for the sake of visual art rather than utilitarian purposes, we can ease up a bit on the rules that would apply to applique on a traditional sane quilt.

Step 1:  Choose a print.  You'll need a good cotton fabric with well defined flowers, animals, fruit or insects.  In this case, I chose a print with pink peonies.

Step 2: Piece your block in whatever manner you're comfortable with.  I always use the "sew and flip" method.  If you need instructions for that, you can find my tutorial for the "sew and flip" foundation piecing process here.

Step 3:  Determine where you want to add your applique.  As you can see, there's an open area underneath the photo image.  You don't have to leave any space.  I just didn't worry about that space because I knew my flowers were going to go there.

Step 4:  You will need to use some fusible web.  I use light weight fusible web by Pellon.  It's called, Wonder Under.

The fusible web is on a paper backing.

Step 4:  Determine which motif from the cotton print that you want to use and cut around it leaving a good inch or more.  Cut a piece of the fusible web a little bit larger than the cotton fabric.

Step 5:  Look closely at your fusible web.  The paper side is smooth and fusible side has a rough feel to it.  Make sure that the wrong side of the fabric is against the fusible side of the Pellon.

Step 6:  Cut the excess fusible web away so that it is the same size as the cotton print.  If you don't do this, you'll have glue on your fabric, your iron and your ironing board.

Step 7:  Again, double check to make sure that the back side of your print is against the fusible side of the Pellon.  Line the 2 pieces up and press with your iron on a medium setting or follow the directions included with the Pellon.

This piece is now fused.  In the above photo, you're seeing the paper side of the Pellon.  The right side of the cotton print in laying against the cutting board.

Step 8: Do not pull the paper off yet.  Using a very sharp pair of scissors, carefully cut the flower motif out from the fabric.

Step 9: Once you have your flower motif cut out, you can carefully peal away the backing paper from your applique.  The glue should now be on the back of your cotton print.

Step 10: Play around a little bit to see where you want your applique.  I knew when I started where I wanted it but be sure it's positioned exactly as you please because once you iron it on, it's there to stay.

Step 11: When you're satisfied with the position of your applique, go ahead and iron it on using a medium heat on your iron or follow the manufacturers directions on your fusible web.

Now, if you find that your edges fray a twinge or if the little points of the petals don't want to stay down, you can use a teeny, tiny dab of fabric glue (just a little bit on a toothpick) to hold it in place.  It shouldn't happen if you use a good quality cotton fabric but occasionally it will and there's no need to fret over it.  A little dab of glue will take care of it.

So that's it for Part 1 of the Broiderie Perse Applique Tutorial for Crazy Quilting.  I'm sure if you've done traditional sane quilting with applique in the past, you may think this is a no brainer but I like to write my tutorials for stitchers who have never tried some of these techniques before.  I want everyone to feel comfortable in learning new things and trying these tutorials so I really try to make them as clear as possible.

Part 2 of this tutorial will be on how to go about highlighting your applique with stitching.  I'll have that tutorial ready in about a week.  In the meantime, get your blocks sewn up and your applique ready.  I'm really hoping that some of my readers will give this a try.  It's a lot of fun and a great embellishment to add your crazy quilting skills!