Crazy Quilt Block 96 Pattern and Hand Embroidery Details

Crazy quilt block 96 is one of my favourites as I enjoyed the colour scheme. As I have said in previous articles these blocks were all created from fabrics and embellishments drawn from my stash. Sometimes when you have to pull from your stash you end up doing something different and selecting a colour scheme you would not normally work. That is what happened with this block.

The laces I used on the block are hand dyed and many of the threads too! As usual you can click on the photo to see a larger version.

Crazy Quilt Block 96 Fabric content:

Piece 1: Silk
Piece 2: After 5 wear fabric
Piece 3: Rayon
Piece 4: Cotton covered with nylon lace
Piece 5: Rayon
Piece 6: Velvet
Piece 7: Is not actually a fabric but a wide vintage braid with an interesting texture

Item Count: 

When I made this quilt I challenged myself to use 2001 unique pieces of fabric, lace, braids, charms, buttons or ribbons as it is a Y2K quilt. This on going item count below represents the items documented to date in this series of articles.

Fabric: 7
Lace, braid and ribbon: 3
Buttons and charms: 5
Total items on this block: 15

Total tally of items on the quilt so far: 1833

Crazy Quilt Block 96 free Pattern

How I hand embroidered the seams on Crazy Quilt Block 96

Piece 4 is a patch that is nylon lace that is backed with a teal cotton fabric. The seam along the edge is decorated with feather stitch worked in hand dyed silk thread. I added blue beads to the arms of the stitch which gave it extra zest.

This patch is covered with some small flowers that are worked in Detached chain stitch worked in a hand dyed cotton and fly stitch worked in rayon thread. I sprinkled French knots around the patch

On this seam I worked a line of Tied Herringbone Stitch then using rayon ribbon floss I added the black straight stitches in the valleys of the row. Seed beads were added last.

The lace was added to the seam on this block as I pieced it. I added beads.

This is rayon lace was hand dyed with procion dyes.

I worked a line of Chevron Stitch in cotton perle #5 before tucking small floral motifs in the valleys of the chevrons stitches. I made the flowers from Cast on Stitch, straight stitches for the stem and Detached Chain Stitches for the leaves.

Here a close up of the button cluster on Block 96.

If you are a new reader to this site the I Dropped the Button Box Quilt is set with blocks that are arranged by colour in diagonal lines.   My challenge was to have all the crazy quilt blocks reading properly while also  pulling everything on the quilt from my stash!

This article is part of a series that offers a free block patterns from my crazy quilt called I dropped the button box while also documenting each block which are listed on the CQ details FAQ page. You can read more about the quilt there.

 

Have you seen my book?

 

My book The Visual Guide to Crazy Quilting Design: Simple Stitches, Stunning Results  shares detailed practical methods on how to design and make a crazy quilt. Topics such as fabric choice, tricky challenges like balancing colour, texture and pattern, and how to create movement to direct your viewers eye around the block are covered in detail. I also explain how to stitch and build decorative seam treatments in interesting and creative ways. My book is profusely illustrated as my aim is to be practical and inspiring.

 

Stitchers Templates

As someone who loves crazy quilting and embroidery, I designed these templates with other stitchers in mind. With my templates, you can create hundreds of different patterns to apply to your stitching and crazy quilting projects. They are easy to use, totally clear so you can position them easily and they are compact in your sewing box.

To see what they look like, find out about the free ebook of patterns that come with them visit the information pages. Or go directly to the Pintangle shop to purchase them.