CQ details is a series of articles which gave away the free the block patterns for each of the blocks on my crazy quilt I dropped the button box.
Each block is a 6 inch block.
I piece all blocks by machine using the sew and flip method and then add the hand embroidery.I include the lace and braids in the piecing but if for some reason while hand stitching I think I want to add a bit of lace or braid I just unpick a few of the stitches and tuck the lace in the seam and secure them with a few hand stitches.
This quilt is a Y2K quilt which means I Dropped the Button Box contains 2001 unique pieces of fabric, lace, braids, charms, buttons or ribbons. All are different. It was a way of using a sample of all the bits I had been hoarding! In the articles that introduce each block the on going item count represents the items on the quilt that I have documented to date.
Each block featured in this series has been introduced alongside an illustration of the block, a layout plan and a free piecing pattern.
Links to the free crazy quilt block patterns in the series so far:
Block 1, Block 2, Block 3, Block 4, Block 5,
Block 6, Block 7, Block 8, Block 9, Block 10,
Block 11, Block 12, Block 13, Block 14, Block 15,
Block 16, Block 17, Block 18, Block 19, Block 20,
Block 21, Block 22, Block 23, Block 24, Block 25,
Block 26, Block 27, Block 28, Block 29, Block 30,
Block 31, Block 32, Block 33, Block 34, Block 35,
Block 36, Block 37, Block 38, Block 39, Block 40,
Block 41, Block 42, Block 43, Block 44, Block 45,
Block 46, Block 47, Block 48, Block 49, Block 50,
Block 51, Block 52, Block 53, Block 54, Block 55,
Block 56, Block 57, Block 58, Block 59, Block 60,
Block 61, Block 62, Block 63, Block 64, Block 65,
Block 66, Block 67 Block 68, Block 69, Block 70,
Block 71, Block 72 , Block 73, Block 74, Block 75,
Block 76, Block 77, Block 78, Block 79, Block 80,
Block 81, Block 82, Block 83, Block 84, Block 85,
Block 86, Block 87, Block 88, Block 89, Block 90,
Block 91, Block 92, Block 93, Block 94, Block 95,
Block 96, Block 97, Block 98, Block 99, Block 100
Have you seen my book?
My book The Visual Guide to Crazy Quilting Design: Simple Stitches, Stunning Results
Have you seen my 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.
Visit the Pintangle shop to purchase them. To see what they look like, find out about the free ebook of patterns that come with them visit the product information pages in the shop.
Copyright
I have released the block patterns and stitch ideas for non commercial use. However, you must attribute the work to me, and link back to this blog. You may NOT take whole articles from this series and reprint them online, as that is not in the spirit of sharing.
Dear Sharon, I am now retired and hoping I can now do some crazy quilting that I have been longing to do for a long time. I had seen a while back you had offered a discount if purchasing both of your templates. Or you still offering this. I love the beauty of your designs. Thanks for all of your beauty. Bonnie
Sorry I have only once discounted the templates (it was about 2013- 2014) simply because the mark up is not not huge. I do offer free postage on purchases over $100
Hi Sharon, just love you crazy quilt patterns just don’t know where to start please help. Thank you.x
Hi Linda poke around there are lots of resources on the site and of course my book. It does not matter where start as there are no real rules in crazy quilting except to have fun
I am so excited that I have just discovered your page. My husband’s grandmother taught me how to sew 27 years ago. She passed away a few months ago at 98 years old. Since I am the only one in the family who sews I inherited all of her material and trims. My husband’s aunt has all of the buttons and after she selectes the ones she wants she will send the rest of them to me. My plan is to make a crazy quilt using a small piece of each fabric. There are fabrics dating back to the 1960s. Cotton, silk, satin, wool… the list goes on! I truly feel that your quilt blocks will be the perfect way to showcase the material that Gram loved.
Have fun here – dont forget to check out the stitch dictionary too – it will give you a lot of ideas
Hello Sharon,
I’m just starting to plan my crazy quilt now! It is for a international quilter’s exchange which is part of The Quilt Show.com. I have already decided on the choice of fabric which is silk and velvet and even perhaps some silk rayon too. I have just done a test embroidery patch which I think has turned out okay. I’m no expert when it comes to embroidery but I think I can get away with the basic’s. I also plan to make crocheted lace pieces to add and use buttons and ribbons to some degree as they are not to exceed a quarter inch above the quilt top! I am very pleased to say I have subscribed to your site here at pintangle and have purchased your book on amazon.com.au as a ekindle download. So I heading to bed to have a good read. I will over the next coming week have a proper read of your pintangle 2020 crazy quilt blog. Looking forward to find new ideas and inspiration to use in my quilt. Many thanks Sharon. Happy quilting Julie
have fun Julie!
I Love this Quilt Sharon and the Name I think I have 2020 bits for the Challenge just in Buttons I’m a Button Addict Cheers
Button addict too, Kylie.
I cant find how to print these cute block patterns. When I click on each one I don’t find anywhere to print just the block pattern. If I click on the Print button on your page, the entire page prints out. Help?? Kay
Kay right click on the image save them to your computer and print them from there
Sharon, I am having the same problem. I right click and still get the same. Were you able to figure out how to copy the pattern block?
Paula its a standard link – simply click on the links and each one takes you to the pattern to download from there
Sharon, I’ve been following you for a few years, took an online class and have your first set of templates. One thing I’m unsure how to tackle is sandwiching my embellished crazy quilt. How do you attach all of the layers? I’m thinking of tacking the layers together at the block intersections, maybe with buttons on the back, but would love to know how you “finish” your crazy quilts. Thank you!
Gini I have a series of articles that covers this question – they are listed int he tutorials – under the tutorial tab- or the first one in the series of 5 is here https://pintangle.com/2009/08/25/work-in-progress-wednesday-assembling-the-diamond-crazy-quilt-part-1/
Hi Sharon,
Found you on interest site. Have a question about your crazy quilt 6″ x 6″ blocks. How do you copy the pattern so that you will get the right size to cut your fabrics?
Lana – print them out – and cut them out add a seam allowance and you have the pattern
Thank you so much Sharon. Your work is absolutely beautiful and brilliant. Will continue following your quilt.
I tried printing them but they are only 4 3/4″. How do I print them at 6″.
Shandra -on my printer they print so all I can suggest is that you scale them to size in a graphics program- every printer and system is different. Is there someone in your family that can show you how to do it?
J’ai vraiment apprécié votre . J’ai pu avoir une
réponse à ce que je cherchais.
Merci encore .
Hi Sharon, Help please. I need a basic tutorial on how to mark muslin for the foundation and flip and sew for a block. If I use a sharpie, it shows through lighter fabrics. If I use pencil or water soluble then when I flip to back of block to add new fabric, I cannot see the marks at all to turn it and sew the seam.
A big TIA
Shirl I wrote you an email but basically I eyeball it as there is not need for precise measurements in crazy quilting. Or if you find that really difficult use a pencil
I have been looking at this quilt and love the looks of it. Can you tell me how much fabric it would take to make this quilt.
thanks
Tammy
Hi Tammy since every piece of fabric on that quilt is different I always say it took a laundry basket of scraps with each pieces not being no larger than a 6×6 inch square.
Thanks so much for sharing!!! You made a great work, I have just met your page but I’m going to look through it carefully. I love Crazy quilting and I see I’m going to learn a lot with you.
Greetings from Spain
Hi! These are some great blocks. I was wondering if you have a file of all the block layouts you could send me? My daughter has asked for a Crazy Quilt for graduation so I need to get busy on this! I think paper piecing them will make things go a bit faster.
Thanks!
Carrie
Sorry Carrie – each block is linked – the links are on this page. If I did the work of putting them together as a pdf file I could sell them as book
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I’ve just started crazy quilting and have been following your website TAST and I dropped the button box. You are so talented I get stuck so often as what to do. How do you keep your button especially the ones with a shank in place? Do you glue them?
Michelle I stitch them on I never use glue at all!
The flat buttons that are stitched next them are often under them and that props them up.Or I make a little buttonhole and poke the shank through the fabric and then on side of the buttonhole I stitch a piece of a ribbon to the back of the block, I thread the ribbon through the shank of the button and then stitch the ribbon down to keep them in place.
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Hi Sharon, I have just finished reading the archived posts from your early days, and so glad I did. I love your history telling of crazy quilts, and I hope to embrace just a little of your passion for this technique. I tentatively pieced block 1, 2 & 3 of your ” I dropped the button box” quilt patterns yesterday, and will continue to piece the 100 blocks. It is addictive, fossicking through the horded scraps of lace, glitzy fabrics and silks that could not be used in my patchwork quilts. I love the freedom of the piecing, which flies in the face of all I have learnt for my regular patchwork. No matching of points!! I wanted to ask if you include the laces, braids etc in the seam allowance as you sew, or do you add them after the block is pieced? I don’t have a web site, but I would love to send photos occasionally of my progress. Not sure where to send. Thank you so much for your generously given information and encouragement. Can’t wait to start using my new stencils and working the embroidery stitches. Claire.
Hi Clair- thanks for the compliments- yes I do included the lace and braids in the piecing but if for some
reason while hand stitching I think I want to add a bit of lace I just unpick a few of the stitches and tuck the lace in
You might be interested in an internet group that shares their crazy quilting adventures- people post photos share tips swap blocks all
sorts of fun stuff- Its free
the link is
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/crazyquiltinginternational/info
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I have enjoyed learning from these block details.
Hi, I was wondering if you will ever post 68-100 Crazy Quilt Blocks please. Thanks!!
Hi Lana – I post a bit each week in the cq detail series as I explain on the CQ FAQ page I am posting a bit more each week
so its in process
thank you so much for your reply. I really appreciate it!
I”m so inspired by you & your work! I know it’s a Crazy Quilt and that’s why you and everyone keeps talking about “quilting”, but what I find so intriguing is both your imaginative assemblage (choice of placement to achieve the overall effect) AND your incredibly beautiful (& accomplished) EMBROIDERY. The handwork is so gorgeous that each individual square (even sections of each block) could stand alone as a small work of art (either as a framed “sampler” or featured on something – a pillow, a jacket, a box lid insert, etc). Thank you, thank you, thank you for your generous sharing of your work in the first place! Words can’t adequately express the appreciation I have for you doing a SECOND time by re-posting all of the information & photos after the original links broke with your blog move — a gargantuan task! Thank you for your generous soul. Again you are an inspiration!
Thankyou Mimi for such a lovely comment I am pleased you enjoy the site
Sharon, I just wanted to tell you that your crazy quilt has inspired me to make one (or more) of my life. As I looked at 63 different blocks and was reading about all of them. I thought to myself that writers write their history, painters paint stuff about themselves, and I’m neither, so I will quilt my life story in a quilt. I was reading the other day about the American Civil War Quilts and how some depicted events, so the combination of that and your crazy quilt I am inspired to leave my story in a quilt (or two, three, or four – I just may need to have one per decade). Thank you so much for sharing. I love your quilt and all that you do to share with others!
scarlet thanks for your comment it means a lot to hear how somethings are received.
and i like the black and grey corners too
i like how you’ve put buttons on some of the corners too – it breaks up the rigid geometry, but not too many and not symetrical 🙂
ps and of course anything that graduates across warm to cool or vice vera dials my number – subtly done 🙂
I’ve been enjoying following seeing the individual blocks but this is the first time I’d seen the whole. It’s funny isn’t it, sometimes the individual blocks can seem a little bit overloaded, tho all very pretty. But seen in the whole like this it really is very tasteful. I love the way you’ve used the details to work as highlights or shadows for the colours so that the shades then set each other off. And the pale ones bring out the tones in the deeper colours and the embellishments do the same. And the graduations. I like the subtlety of the colours so that even though there are all the colours of the rainbow in it you’ve resisted letting look anything rainbow like cos of the muted tones and contrasts in some places and mellows in others. This is really lovely.
Thanks for all the compliments. It occurs to me that since you have enjoyed seeing this quilt whole you will probably enjoy seeing the diamond block quilt. You may have not yet discovered it. The link is
https://pintangle.com/category/projects/diamond-block-crazy-quilt/
Just found your site tonight. love the crazy patterns and all. cant wit to see all of them. they have inspired me to get back to my passion of quilting. starting on block one tomorrow!
Hi Sharon,
Just had to share with you how important it was for me to take that Journal as workhorse class. I am in the process of making a hockey quilt for my grandson and used my journal to sketch it out and think it thru. I am using machine embroidery instead of hand embroidery. Goes faster. One of these days I would like to send you my journal pages and a picture of the quilt but! Thinking the whole quilt thru on my journal pages was the way to go.
Thanks Virginia I am thrilled to hear how useful a journal has been for you. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know.
Thank you for your amazing patterns. I have been looking for inspiration and ideas and you have so many. Thank you for sharing also….. I know I am going to enjoy making this so much..
wow just started doing this and have discovered you. wonderful site and thanks for sharing. xoxoxo
Hello! I am so enjoying our quilt and all that you are willing to share with us! You are so gifted and have such an amazing imagination!!! Ate you able to update the links for Blocks 1-9, as they don’t appear to work. Thanks Sharon!
I recently (last month) moved the blog and since it has nearly 4,000 posts all with photos that had to be reinserted and most posts have links that have to be updated I am still doing the older ones. As I get to it I do it. Sorry its the best pace I can work at.
Im sorry to be a pain but have done my TAST and dont know where to put the pic so Im putting it everywhere. 🙂
Nicola if you read the TAST FAQ page (tabs along the top of the site) there is a link to the TAST challenge stitch page each week – follow the link and leave a comment there. It is unfortunate if you leave it here because most people visit links left on the weekly page. I mention this as I see you are going to a lot of trouble and getting the reward of visitors. It is ultimately up to you but it’s a lot more fun if people can visit you see what you have done and leave a comment.
Sharon,
Your quilt is gorgeous, thank you for all you do and share with us.
Thanks Sharon. I will patiently wait. Meanwhile I have been having fun with my Workhorse Journal.
Ginny
Hi Sharon,
I still can’t figure out how I can access all the blocks. I see them all listed but nowhere how I can download them all–not just one. It says Links to the blocks but when I hit each block nothing happens.
Ginny in Tucson
Ginny I am still updating those pages. With the blog move all the links broke not just on this page but over the blog on all pages, and there are 3,800 pages to update (that is not a typo) So wait a few weeks and they will all be there again but it will take time.