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Take It Further Challenge Unembellished CQ Block 1


Here is my first crazy quilt block ever. It was more difficult to make than I anticipated because I didn't line up the seams well. I had a really nice pattern drawn on the back of the muslin but it was not easy to follow. There are a few uncovered spots of muslin but I'm not terribly concerned about them...I know I can find something to cover them up with. I spent some time reminding myself to give me a break, this is my first block, after all. And this is a challenge!

I've used the challenge colors as my fabric choices and now I have to determine what to cover them with. I'm still contemplating trying to embroider a goat that I drew and place it in the center. I spent some time today looking in my ribbon and embroidery books but neither of them explained precisely how one transfers an embroidered design after it has been cut from the original fabric to another piece of fabric. I browsed through some of the other challenge participants' blogs to see if other embroiderers posted on this subject and found Cheryl's Chatelaine. She describes using quilting paper in this post, which I just happen to have purchased while back in Michigan. I may consider her technique for this project or an upcoming CQ block for the challenge.

Comments

Timaree said…
So, you are not only challenging yourself with a new block but with new embroidery styles. Great! I am still wondering if I can do paperdolls of my mother or if I need to change my idea; it's going pretty slowly.

Your block looks plenty nice in the picture and you are right that the muslin spots can be covered with something to enhance the whole square.
Anonymous said…
I've never done a crazy quilt block before, is that like applique?
Misty said…
Hi, freebird, thanks for the encouragement! I am challenging myself with a lot, it feels like, but I think I needed a push to actually get into crazy quilting and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I'll be looking forward to seeing how your paper dolls are coming along. Best of luck with them!
Misty said…
Hi AJ,

Thanks for leaving a comment. I think there are elements of crazy quilting that might be like applique (i.e. transferring already embroidered pieces to the crazy quilt block).

To get the fabric pieces together, you sew them to a foundation fabric, typically muslin. It is a lot like paper piecing. In general, the rest of the embroidery is done on the CQ block itself.

If you are interested in learning more about it, there are a number of web sites you can browse through. There is an online tutorial by Leslie Levison at http://www.caron-net.com/classes/classmayfiles/clasmay1.html, and another by Annie Whitsed http://www.loopylace.com/crazyquiltstudio/lessons/lesson.htm . Sharon B. also has great embroidery stitches and photographs of numerous crazy quilts on her site http://sharonb.wordpress.com/ .
Carole said…
Thank you for stopping by my little corner in cyber space. I'm looking forward to seeing the type of hand embroidery you will do on your crazy block! May I suggest that you open an e-mail account with google or yahoo so that we may reply to your comment via e-mail! It's a great way to give feedback on comments! Thanks again for stopping by!
Solstitches said…
Your CQ block is looking good so far and I shall look forward to seeing how you embellish it.
I tried to do a CQ block one time... I love embroidery and thought this was something I might just be good at but the block ended up in the bin!
I'm going to check out the links you gave and see if it makes more sense second time around.
Margaret
Solstitches said…
Just making another comment to second the suggestion Carole made re an email account.
You had asked me a question on my blog that I would have liked to answer.

Margaret
Misty said…
Hi Carole and Margaret, thanks for the suggestion about the email address. I've made it available now so that you are able to contact me by that method.

I'm excited to do more work on my CQ block and finally acquired some silk ribbon yesterday which will hopefully be cooperative when I give it a go. I'll post a progress shot soon.

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