Crazy Quilt Throw: Another Big Block

Here's another one!

Crazy Quilt Throw: Four Block, Block

I started making a larger block with four small blocks from my Cream Crazy Quilt Throw.  I figure if I make these larger blocks maybe it will be easier to keep working on them in larger chunks at a time.  At first I went to lay out all 48 to see how to put them together but what I saw was it doesn't really matter they are all really well randomized in the piecing so I can just throw 4 together and it will work...I'll make it work! LOL  I forgot what the size was going to be so I had to check back on my blog posts and found that I had decided on 8 blocks by 6 blocks.  So I'll need 8 blocks of 4 and then 4 blocks of 2.  I might add the blocks of 2 to some 4's to create 4 blocks of 6 which would make it overall into 8 larger sections to work on before piecing those together.  Anyway 48 single blocks just feels so overwhelming, which I believe is why it's sat for a few years with just a little work here and there.  It feels a little overwhelming to piece these all together too but I think if I can get going it will start to snowball for me.  Crossing my fingers that I can keep it up...I kinda see it as a miracle that I even have all 48 pieced in the first place!!! HAHAHA  I started in Sept. 2007 finished piecing in June 2009, and now starting to put those together in Aug. 2013 sheesh!!!

Crazy Quilt Throw: Blocks #41 - #48

#41 of 48

#42 of 48

#43 of 48

#44 of 48

#45 of 48

#46 of 48

#47 of 48

#48 of 48
Yeay I'm finished piecing now on to embellishment!

Crazy Quilt Throw: Blocks #39 - #40

#39 of 48

#40 of 48
Two more blocks done and eight left to go! Yeay!!!

Crazy Quilt Throw: Blocks #30 Heart Applique

I got the heart applique finished! It's hard to read in the photo and it is faint looking even in person but in the middle is "Love never faileth" so I'm not sure if I'm going to enhance it somehow or just leave it as is. I would like to put sweetheart roses around the edge maybe cream roses or a hint of gold roses would bring out the lettering better.

Crazy Quilt Throw: Blocks #29 - #38

Well this week I got 10 blocks pieced and basted so now I only have 10 of 48 left to go before I start embellishing!

#29 of 48

#30 of 48
On this block when I finished piecing it I felt it needed more gold so I had the idea to do a heart applique the center words say "Love never fails" while waiting during hubby's last hip appointment I basted the rest of the blocks and had time left so I started on the applique. When I embellish this one I have an idea to put sweetheart roses all around the edge, won't that be pretty!

#31 of 48
Here I started using some printed fabric motifs that came with the "Love" fabric. I thought they made nice centers!

#32 of 48

#33 of 48

#34 of 48

#35 of 48

#36 of 48

#37 of 48

#38 of 48

Crazy Quilt Throw: Blocks #26, #27, #28

#26 of 48
I used a hankie for the center and a hankie at the top in this block.

#27 of 48
This block has a piece of white velvet in the upper right.

#28 of 48
In the center is a piece of bridal gown.
Now I only have 20 blocks left to piece!!! Yeay!

CQ Bedspread Turned Throw Quilt: Blocks #17 - #25

As I've been piecing I've been thinking over my delima of the non-useableness that the bedspread would be and I started to think, what if I changed it to a throw...

There are so many bonuses to creating it throw size:
1~Less blocks to make
2~Easier to handle size
3~More practical for use and to be shown off (heehee for what is doing all this work without showing it?)
4~It would be safer from "little claws" and probably other "evils" as well! LOL
And Last but not Least...
5~It would get done sooner!
Therefore my plan is now to create a 48 block (blocks are 8") throw that will be 6 blocks wide by 8 blocks long. The measurements will be 48"Wx64"L and I think that is the perfect size!
Now onto my newest block photos!
#17 of 48
#18 of 48
#19 of 48
#20 of 48
#21 of 48
#22 of 48
#23 of 48
#24 of 48
#25 of 48
And you know what that means...I'm half way done with piecing!!!

CQ Bedspread: Blocks #14,#15,#16

Yesterday I got 3 more blocks pieced!
#14 of 120
The 'Love' stem stitched was my very first time I had gotten the stitch right on a scrap and I just saved that scrap for the right project!

#15 of 120
I love the monogram that was on a hankie given to me! And the tatted edged hankie I found in an antique shop.

#16 of 120
This one has a piece of wedding dress lace in the corner, the photo makes it look blue but it is truly white.

CQ Bedspread: Blocks #9,#10,#11,#12,#13

Well I got another 5 done yesterday and just finished hand basting them this morning, it would probably be easier to machine baste but I just like how the fabric lays better with hand basting. So now I have 13 of 120 pieced!
#9 of 120

#10 of 120

#11 of 120

#12 of 120

#13 of 120

CQ Bedspread: Blocks #6,#7,#8

It's been a long time since I worked on my cream CQ Bedspread! Over a year! I'm not sure why exactly but I got discouraged by several things and then busy and it just got put on hold. A few things have changed for example it no longer will be a washable quilt since I didn't pre-wash any of the fabrics including the foundation muslin...yeah. And our little mini schnauzer sleeps at our feet and I'm not sure if I want her claws on my work of art! HAHA

Wendy is almost finished with her princess quilt for her daugher and wow seeing it all put together is so inspiring that I thought I may as well keep working on this one even if it ends up a special quilt not used very often or hung on the wall or something like that. I think just the fact that it would be awesome done just to look at to take out and show people would be fun. So even though I stopped at #5 of 120 over a year ago here I go again! A nice surprise for me is they are so much easier to piece now, I think the additional year of experience helps! I think I was over thinking them before too, making it too hard on myself all perfectionistic. It's a crazy quilt...therefore no need to be perfect! It will turn out just right just because it's crazy...the whole point! LOL Anyway that's the lesson I've learned from watching Wendy put together the princess quilt.
My goal right now is to get the blocks pieced, I may take embellishment breaks if I get bored in the future but I'd like to have them at least pieced right now.

#6 of 120

#7 of 120

#8 of 120

CQ Bedspread Block 5

I've pieced block #5! I've used several of the fabrics Jill gave to me and a piece of the lace that Tracy gave to me!

Then I'm going to sew on these pieces of lace as a motif. The three leaves are Venice lace for dying, and the crocheted rose was made and given to me by a very sweet lady in the Hand Embroidery Yahoo Group.
OH and I've finally caught on to a good way of piecing my blocks! I'm always getting twisted around and I'm not so good at direction that's not obvious! LOL Well I finally figured out that if I start piecing in the larger area right next to a smaller area when I get around the block it's easier to overlap the larger area...otherwise I'm left at an odd spot and still need to go around to put more pieces on the larger area. I feel like it's a little bit of a "duh" moment but I had been starting at the smaller area and having trouble!

Block #4 Update

Well here it is! I think I did pretty good! Now I know I can do curves if I want to! I usually don't like to do curves in my piecing. I enjoy the straight lines radiating look, and then I usually add curved embellishments and SRE motifs. Since I won't be doing as much SRE because this is a bedspread I think this is a nice alternative. Jill shared with me where she bought the fabric and I couldn't resist but to buy a yard to add to the bedspread and maybe make a throw pillow or two. The price per yard seemed a little high at first but when I saw that it's for extra wide 118" I figured it would be worth it after all. It's like buying 2 yards in normal sizes.