"Pretty Crazy Green 9 Patch"...Top Finished

I wanted to get this little project done in time for the class I am teaching at the Northwest Quilters Expo on this coming Thursday, based on my Pretty Crazy pattern.  My goal is to show what versatile results the pattern can give, from basic cotton quiltwork to elaborate looking crazy quilting....and almost all of it by machine.

I've just added a bit of beadwork, some three dimensional embellishment to the center block, and what I call a "faux binding" around the perimeter of the top.

As you can see, it is just a hint of beadwork, in the center of the ombre ribbon flowers, along the black velvet ribbon, and that little bugle beaded flower in the upper right.  It is just enough to add to the visual complexity of the piece, without taking very long at all.

I painted some pre-made ribbon flowers and tacked them on with a bead in the center of each one, couched down the stems of the readymade craft leaves, and stem and buttonhole stitched around the green velvet butterfly (from M & S Schmalberg, shown on the bottom row, second from right if you click on the link.)  The butterfly needed some extra definition after everything was on the block, so I went over it with some Neocolor Watersoluble Wax Pastels and then painted it wet with water to blend the colors.

The flower stems are large fibers that have been simply couched down.  That little cloisonne frog was the final touch for my central embellishment "tableau".

I've been using trim a lot lately to function as a visual binding, or narrow outer border.  It is so easy to apply--I just attached it with a clear thread in a zig zag stitch, folding and mitering the corners as I got to them.

This picture actually shows the place where the trim starts and stops, in the corner.
Here is that corner from the back:

No big deal!
I am leaving the backing off this sample so I can prove to students how little handwork was involved overall.  I am really trying to demonstrate how much interest you can get with quick machine work.
When it IS time to finish this, I will just take backing fabric, iron the edges under to exactly fit the size of the top, and zigzag stitch it to the outer edge of the trim, around the perimeter.

Of course, a lot more handstitching and beading could be added, and it would be fun...but this is an exercise in getting the maximum visual impact for the least amount of handwork.  I want sane quilters to see that crazy quilting is actually quite doable....!

"Pretty Crazy Green 9 Patch"

I had such a great time demo-ing my "Pretty Crazy" pattern at Fabric Depot last Saturday!  Lots of really nice people came by, and it was so easy to show them how the pattern works.  Response was good!

Marge, one of the ladies who works there, liked the block I was using to demonstrate with, all in green.  It got me thinking after I got home that I really should make another one of these while I'm in the mood, especially after I sent off the Renaissance 9 Patch and miss it!

And just to show how fast this can come together, I will honestly state that I did the fabric lay-out in one 4 hour session, and the trim/pinning in a 6 hour session.  Fast and furiously fun....the sewing will be another 3 hours or so, finishing maybe 1 1/2, so the whole thing should come in at 15 hours.  Not bad...  ;-)

Yes, I used the old blogger's trick of standing on a step stool to get this overhead shot.  It's a nice sturdy stool.

The fun part of this process is that the whole thing is laid out at once, so you can keep the composition balanced as you go.  The fabric pieces are just laying on top of the foundation muslin squares at this point. So much for phase one...

When it was time to add the trim, I found that once in awhile I had to iron under the edge of the patch before laying the trim over it--this was when I was using lace, or the trim was really narrow.

I wanted those edges to stay flat once I pressed them, so I painted them first with a little starch/water solution.  It worked wonders.

Here is one of the 9 blocks, all pinned up.  There are lots of different manufacturers represented here, including Simplicity's ombre flower trim, and Mokuba's ready made black passementerie.

And another block....

Little bits from here and there in my stash all came out to play, including some old printed quilter's cottons that I've had for well over a decade...

The overall view is now at this stage...

I might have to tweak it so there is one more largish pink shape in the upper right (reduced views make problem areas pop right out).  Click on it to see it better....and come on back next week when it will be done!