Tag: crazy quilt piecing

To Bead or Not to Bead

Dear Liza,

The Crazy Quilt’s top is almost done! It has been pieced and embroidered and just about ready for the back and batting…..

Or is it? Is there anything else I could add? I don’t much care for lace or ribbon…. But beads could work! I found some on sale a few weeks ago at I’ve Been Framed, watched a few YouTube videos, and decided to give it a try.

Mostly ignoring the advice of the videos, I used three strands of embroidery floss to attach the beads rather than a special thread. The rest of the embroidery is done with it, so it all goes together.

Beading is very fiddly and fussy. The needle is thin, extremely flexible, and sharp AT BOTH ENDS. The beads themselves are always trying to skitter away and escape. But once my fingers got used to it, it got easier.

I made a straight row of beads, which felt very heavy. A row of blanket stitches with a bead on each stitch looked better.

I finally decided to just put a bead in the middle of all the little flowers, a sprinkle, rather than a flood. I like how it looks!



So now I am ready (after five months of work) to put the quilt sandwich together. I’ll tell you about that when it happens.

Love,

Grandma Judy

Stitching Some Goblincore

Dear Liza,

Our weather has been wet, cold, and threatening to ice up, but I have been having a busy week , sewing.

Cousin Kestrel is still very into Goblincore. This is a style of art and clothes that is fairy-like, but with more of a focus on nature like mushrooms, spiders, and snakes. Kes loves walking in the woods and parks, finding tiny things, and appreciating all the processes of life.


Continuing with my idea of “using what I have”, I found this pale sparkly fabric in the Big Box in the garage and made a Crazy Quilt.


After I laid down some curvy vines in embroidery, I found pictures of mushrooms online and tried my hand at watercoloring them. Once I was confident at that, it was just a matter of paying attention to do the embroidery, which is just like watercoloring, but with thread.

I looked at pictures I had taken on our hikes in the woods to get ideas for the smaller patches. Ferns, flowers, and a spiderweb are helping create a wallhanging I am very proud of.

And there is, of course, a patch dedicated to Sir Isaac Snooten, Kestrel’s pet snake.

I added quilting and a back, edged the whole thing with bias tape, and added three loops. A branch I found at the park does nicely for a support bar.

Now, onto the next project!

Love,

Grandma Judy