Crazy Quilt Block 71 on the I Dropped the Button Box Millennium Quilt

Block 71 is a bright awkward colour scheme that looks OK in life but does not photograph well.

With this Block 71 I think the challenge was to use ugly cheap stuff. There are two pieces of metallic fabric on the block and in the bottom right hand corner the lace is elastic as it really is meant to be used on under wear. As you can see I use everything – or just about in my crazy quilt blocks! Someone told me I could not do it – so I tried. This block is the result. It is a “there are no rules in crazy quilting” type response but after finishing it I must admit to going through my fabric scraps and tossing a lot of stuff that I knew would pose more of a challenge to use!  Anyway  I hope readers will enjoy reading about it.

Fabrics and Items used on this block 

This quilt was part of a Y2K millennium crazy quilt challenge. The idea was to use 2001 unique pieces of fabric, lace, braids, charms, buttons or ribbons. You can read about the I Dropped the Button Box a Millennium Quilt here. In this series, I have an ongoing item count. At the time of writing listing them helped me keep track!

• Piece 1: Metallic after 5 wear fabric
• Piece 2: Synthetic
• Piece 3: Poly Cotton curtaining
• Piece 4: Metallic after 5 wear fabric
• Piece 5: Synthetic covered in nylon lace
• Piece 6: Synthetic covered in elastic lace
• Piece 7: Synthetic

Item Count: 

The on going item count below is a list of the items written about in this series of articles to date.

• Fabric: 7
• Lace, braid and ribbon: 3
• Buttons and charms: 7
• Total items on this block: 17
• Total tally of items on the quilt so far: 1364

If you want to see the set of this quilt there is a photograph of the full quilt on the CQ details FAQ page.

How I embellished Crazy Quilt Block 71

The seam between patches 1 and 2 was decorated with Quarter Buttonhole Wheels worked in an alternating manner along the seam. I used a hand dyed rayon ribbon floss. At the base of each fan I added a bead.

A hand dyed vintage ribbon which covers the seam alongside of patch 6. I secured the ribbon with embroidery. Using rayon embroidery thread I worked 3 Detached Chain stitches that are arranged in a fan pattern. At the base of each group I further decorated the seam with beads.

The seam that secures patch 4 is covered with a ribbon which is couched down using Chevron stitch. I used a perle #5 cotton thread to work the foundation line and then laced it with a knitting yarn that is like a fine ribbon.

Feather stitch worked in perle #5 cotton thread covers the seam between patch 2 and 3. After working the stitch I added a blue bead to the end of each of the arms.

Under this spray of buttons is a piece of lace which I hand dyed and then secured it to the block with lots of French knots. The buttons are all modern and there is a coffee cup and pot as it was over coffee that a friend challenged me to use ugly cheap stuff on a block. It felt appropriate to use them there. In the end it was a fun block to work. I hope you have enjoyed reading about it.

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!