Crazy Quilt Block 68 has a red-ish autumn colour scheme. On it’s own it looks a bit hum drum but since it is part of one of the darker bands that run diagonally across the quilt it works in its context. The charms on the block have a bit of a story as Jerry my husband plays the violin and we both like reading. Probably we spend far too much time with our nose in a book. In fact when we met what impressed me was not that he was a musician in band, but that he had a large collection of books almost as many as mine! We started talking about the books we read and liked and 7 days later he proposed marriage! That was 45 years ago.
Regular readers will know that the I dropped the button box quilt was constructed with the challenge to use 2001 unique pieces of fabric, lace, braids, charms, buttons or ribbons. It is a millennium Y2K quilt. It was a way of using a sample of all the bits I had been hoarding! You can see the finished quilt and read the back story in the introductory article to the series I Dropped the Button Box a Millennium Quilt. In these articles, the on going item and fabric count listed below is the count of items used up to that block in the quilt.
Fabrics used on Crazy quilt block 68
- Piece 1: Cotton
- Piece 2: Velvet
- Piece 3: Silk
- Piece 4: Synthetic Velour
- Piece 5: Synthetic
- Piece 6: Cotton
- Piece 7: Synthetic
Items used on Crazy quilt block 68
- Fabric: 7
- Lace, braid and ribbon: 4
- Buttons and charms: 9
- Total items on this block: 20
- Total tally of items on the quilt so far: 1308
For the free pattern for this block right click to save the image to your computer.
How I embellished Crazy Quilt Block 68
This seam was first covered with a commercial soft furnishing braid and added embroidery to the edge. The thread is silk and I used Detached Chain stitches and Pistil stitch.
The seam that runs along the edge of patch 5 is covered with a scrap of modern nylon lace. It is rather ugly but I felt the colour went with the block and this is a millennium quilt so I was looking for variety in all things! I threaded the lace with a hand dyed rayon ribbon floss outlining parts of pattern. I then added Oyster stitches along the bottom using the same hand dyed rayon ribbon floss. The orange Fly stitches secured with a Bullion Knot are also worked in the same rayon ribbon floss. I added the beads and buttons after the hand embroidery was done.
Patch 4 in the top left hand corner of the block has a seam that I first hand embroidered a line of Zig Zag line of Up and Down feathered Buttonhole stitch worked in perle #5 thread. I then added the apricot long vintage bugle beads.
The spray of flowers in this section of the block are made of Bullion Knots and French Knots worked in silk thread. The leaves in the spray are made from Detached Chain stitches worked in #5 cotton perle.
This series are great to learn crazy quilting techniques, give you ideas on how to embellish your blocks and what stitches to use on your Crazy quilt seams. Each block is documented alongside a free crazy quilt block pattern. With each block I explain which stitches I used to cover the seams and I link to tutorials in my Stitch Dictionary. The technical details are included such as what threads I used, on what type of fabric, dyes used and if applicable I include design notes.
If you want to learn Crazy Quilting here are the links to the free crazy quilt block patterns in the series:
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
All articles in this series can also be found in the Crazy quilting category and the Crazy quilt details category
If you enjoy this series you may be interested in a tutorial I have written. How to work decorative crazy quilt seams is a comprehensive tutorial converted to a pdf file. When I converted it I realised how comprehensive it was. At 19 pages of information it is a mini ebook and resource worth investigating!
Have you seen my Stitchers Templates?
Create your own designs with Sharon’s easy-to-use stitchers templates. Combine shapes to create hundreds of patterns and designs to embroider. It is the ultimate mix-and-match fun for stitchers of all skill levels. I created them to be as versatile as possible. I include four multi-patterned templates in each set. You will find them easy to use, totally clear to help you position them on your work, and they are nice and compact to fit in your sewing box. Each set comes with an e-book filled with patterns and designs that you can create and use as a jumping-off spot for your own designs. They are available now in our shop here!
Happy stitching!
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