Crazy Quilt Academy

The winner of the first monthly drawing for $20 of crazy quilt supplies is Dorothy Carroll of Virginia.

Here is Dotty’s reply when she received her squishie full of CQ goodies:

Hankies, just gotta love ‘em.

            Time to take a trip down memory lane.  Do you remember the days when everyone carried a cloth hankie?  I spent many an hour ironing my father’s handkerchiefs when I was a child, but I do not recall my mother using them.

            When my grandmother-in-law passed away and we were going through her things, her daughter, my mother-in-law brought a large handful of grandma’s handkerchiefs to me.  Her thought was, “they’re pretty and they are fabric.  You must be able to use them somehow.”  I wasn’t so sure, but I took them home with me to remind me of Grandma.

            It wasn’t till I began crazy quilting that I learned just how to use a tiny work of art like a woman’s hankie.  I met a teacher named Cindy Brick who wrote a wonderful book called, “Hankie Pankey Crazy Quilts”.  Cindy makes the most “exquisite crazy quilts” using bits and pieces of cut-up hankies.  Check out her book on Amazon.com. 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=Cindy+Brick++Hankey+Pankie+Crazy+Quilts&x=7&y=21 

For more info about Cindy, here’s her website.  http://cindybrick.com/

            Anyway, one of Grandma’s hankies looked a bit unusual; it was obviously very, very old.  It even said “turkey red” on the side of it which I believe was a very old form of red dye.

            Cindy told me it was made before the turn of the century and at auction, could bring more than thirty dollars.  I know that “finding value” in such trivial things as an “old snot rag” depends on the person looking at the object in question, but what I’m saying is, “don’t turn your nose up at a bunch of old hankies” at the next auction or estate sale you attend.  You might find something of great value.  The value of some old hankies is nothing to “sneeze at”.  The beauty of some of these tiny pieces of art for your nose might “bring you to tears”.  (okay…okay…I’m done.  GGGrin!) 

     Buttons.  Buttons.  Buttons.  For some, that word just means you can keep your pants up or stop your shirt from gaping open, but to a select group of people, the word – button — means so much more.  It makes them feel good, causes goose bumps on their forearms and a giddy feeling in the pit of their stomach.  They revel in the pleasure buttons give to them.  Well, at least that happens for my friend, Jennie. 

     A few days ago, Jennie shared her button collection with me.  I knew it was big, but oh MY gosh!  In my previous posting, I shared a photograph where she displayed her “good” buttons on the kitchen table.

     She laid the buttons in groupings for me to admire.  Mother of Pearl, metal, jet (black glass), Bakelite (an early and creative form of plastic buttons), military/fire department/and police buttons, ceramic, and many more.  I had to laugh as she pointed to each set of buttons in turn and said, “These are my FAVORITE buttons.”  She just loves them all.

     I’ll share a few more photos as we go and a bit of the history of buttons over the next few “button blog blurbs”.

     Did you know that Muscatine, Iowa is considered to be the Button Capital of the World?  A button maker from Europe arrived in Muscatine in 1887 and by 1905, that small town in Iowa was out-producing many established button businesses in Europe, making over 1.5 billion buttons a year.  Just thought I’d share that little tidbit.  I didn’t know it either, till Jennie shared her love of buttons.

     (My personal favorites are the carved mother of pearl buttons.  I’ll be sharing more photos of those in later posts) 

Please leave your button stories here.  I never hear enough about buttons.  I LOVe buttons too.

• Grovenore posted on June 30, 2011
  Comment regarding the button collection of your friend. My sister collects buttons. Awhile back she showed me his…

I just had to share a quick photo of “what NOT to do with your buttons”.  You should NEver EVer embarrass your buttons in any way . . . see attached photo.

In my previous blog post, I showed what you can do with a piece of lace to enhance a shank button and make it hang properly without tilting when it is used on a wall hanging.

In my search for the right button to show off the lace, I found a face button and laid it in the middle of the rosette.  What do you think?  She looks a wee bit annoyed, eh?  (insert sounds of chuckling here)

• FairyKateH posted on May 24, 2011
  Welllllllllll....OKaaaaaaaay. I just HAD to share, but dang...it makes HER look silly, doesn't it? GGGrin!
• Laurie Brown posted on May 23, 2011
  She is not just annoyed, she is *rolling her eyes* about you!!! Please give that poor girl the setting she…

Do you remember the dream I told you about in the “previously published” blog post, “Spaghetti and Buttons”.   Well, I finally had time to actually make the lace motif I mentioned in that post and thought I’d share a few photos of it.

 My dream worked perfectly. I used 8 inches of one inch wide lace.  The finished product was a 2-inch rosette made of lace. For a more delicate-looking and smaller motif, I would suggest 6 to 8 inches of ½ inch lace.

If you wish to use very tiny shank buttons as a centerpiece in the lace rosette, you might be able to use ¼ inch lace, but that would be subject to “trial and error” to see whether  you would drive yourself crazy trying to baste such a tiny motif.

 I used a piece of one inch wide lace – – 8 inches long. For the wider lace, it is imperative to use this much or the lace rosette will not be full enough to support the edges of your shank button. When using narrower lace, you can experiment with the length to see what you need.

 Put the right sides of the lace together. Starting at the scalloped end of the lace, slide the needle with matching thread through near the end. Tie the thread together and cut off the end of the thread so there is just a small tail left. Whip stitch the lace together, hiding the small tail of thread in the stitches. That way, the knot will not come undone.

Then, baste around the flat edge of the lace being “very, VERY careful not to shove the sharp end of the needle” under your cuticle. (Can you tell there was an “incident” during the making of this lace rosette?) Who knew having a blog could be dangerous to my health and cuticles?

 Pull the thread up tight. The lace will draw up into a small circle. Make sure to leave a small opening so the shank of the button will fit inside. Anchor the thread and enjoy your handiwork.

(If you are bleeding like I was by the time I finished this piece, NOW is a GOOD time to staunch the flow of blood before you mess up your pretty white lace.)

 Lay the shank button on your handiwork and admire. Use as desired to embellish your CQ.

• FairyKateH posted on May 31, 2011
  LOL! Cynthia...maybe we'd better get you some protective gear to do CQ with. (mental note: Cynthia dressed…
• Cynthia Green posted on May 29, 2011
  My husband still teases me about all the times I've stabbed myself with needle or scissors and only been worried…

 

I’ve never seen such an interesting version of the wagon wheel stitch.

 

For those of you who do not know how to make such perfect circles on a CQ block, this is how “I” do it.  I’m sure everyone has their own way of making circles on CQ and as long as it works for you, go for it.

 

I trace around a quarter to help make my circles the same size.  I’ve also used the cap to pill bottles for larger circles and on occassion, small cups for even larger circles.

 

I use a #2 pencil if the fabric is light enough, or a sharp white dressmaker’s pencil if the fabric is dark.  Keep the white pencil fairly sharp as when it gets dull, the markings become larger and harder to hide.

 

You can always wipe away the white markings, but some fancy fabrics are very delicate and the less pressure you have to use on them, the better.

 

Andrea used a chain stitch around the outside of the motif.  She made some larger spokes and filled in smaller stitches between the longer ones with a different colored and smaller size of thread. 

 

What a work of art!  Enjoy.

 

 

Embroidery Stitch -- Detached Wagon Wheel

Andrea Campbell of California used a very unusual stitch variation on her crazy quilt block which she has donated for a fundraiser.

• FairyKateH posted on May 29, 2011
  I'm sorry to hear Andrea moved from your stitching group, but am glad she's still around so we can admire…
• LouAnne Sassone posted on May 27, 2011
  Andrea Campbell is no longer in California. We (the Delta Crazy Stitchers" lost her when she moved to Colorado.…
• Laurie Brown posted on May 15, 2011
  I really like that, and usually wagon wheels don't do much for me! And thank you…