Crazy Quilt Block

Crazy Quilt Block: Just for practice. During the month of July, I have taken a break from more serious projects to explore some possibilities using hand stitches. I decided that the best way to put my newly acquired skills into practice was to make a typical crazy quilt block. Using several books for a tutorial, I carefully chose some of the more simple stitches. I also used beads and stamps.

By changing my color photo to black and white, it helps me to evaluate my dark to light balance. This is not too bad, but I can see that a little more lights would improve the balance and I have too much medium tones. But, since this is new territory for me, I gave myself a C+ on value study.

My Crazy Quilt ideas are more like collage work, maybe a little more contemporary than traditional. Lace and beads seemed to add interest for me.

This crow stamp is a favorite of mine. I used Staz On ink and was pleased that it did not migrate on this silk fabric. I made him a little beaded collar, just so he would appear more friendly. I went pretty crazy on the adjacent strip with all the beads. But it is a Crazy Quilt, after all.

One thing that became clear to me is, that I used a printed fabric that conflicts with all the embellishments. Some of my embroidery is lost on the surface of the print. So, I will not make that mistake again. I will give more consideration to contrast next time. Pattern is as important as color when you have such a busy background.

And so, I have not only learned a few embroidery stitches that can be used in other projects, I have learned a lot about color and contrast when I use heavy embellishment. I also learned that hand stitching, like beading, takes a lot of time. One little block takes many days to accomplish. Best done on tiny projects.