Creative Fiber Fabrications

It's the first Creative Fiber Fabrications post. Now I have a chance to share with you an absolute favorite of mine - crazy patch quilting. All I have to say is that I love it. I love it because I don't have to settle for just one fabric, nor one fabric type. I don't have to settle for one color nor one color thread. I don't have to settle for one type of thread nor one thread type. It's a perfect way to combine that which you have into a creative piece of art.

If you aren't familiar with this art form, click here or here. I found both these websites had plenty of information on the technique.

Now I'll share with you how I got started with crazy quilting. Coming from Europe, we didn't have Victorian ladies sitting around cutting up curtains for dresses much less for crazy quilting. We didn't even have Victorian ladies. Sometime while my children were young, I can't remember which program it was, I saw a program on PBS on crazy quilting and from that moment on I was addicted. Was Judith Baker Montano on the show? I have no clue. But her book, A Crazy Quilt Oddyssy was. So I went out on a mission to buy that book. Back then there was no Amazon.com, no Barnes and Noble, no Ebay. Luckily I went into a small handwork store here in Lubbock called Pocket Full of Stitches. They had the book! And I bought thread and needles and beads and buttons. And I was hooked.

One would think this story ends there. No. It's funny how life takes it's winding turns and around each corner is a new landscape. I was still working for a major sewing machine company and we had our very own retreat in LaVeta, Colorado at Ricky Tims studio. We are all sitting there working and a very beautiful woman comes into the studio. I was so engrossed in making "trees of life" pieces that I wasn't paying attention. Finally one of my colleagues asks if I knew who it was and I looked up and there was Judith Baker Montano in the flesh. I thought I had died and gone to heaven right there on the spot. She invited all us to her home that evening. Oh geez. Now I knew I had died and gone to heaven. And we went and we saw and we took pictures. It was one of those lasting moments in my life.
What I'm sharing with you today is a very simple wall piece. It's a perfect way to display your art work without being pretentious. I purchased a wooden plaque at a craft store. Created my crazy piece to cover the plaque, backing it with batting as I stitched. I drilled 3 holes in the plaque so that I could insert antique door knobs into the finished piece. Used a staple gun to adhere the piece to the back, inserted the door knobs, fastened the door knobs, and attached picture hangers to the back.Isn't this hand dyed lace exquisite? This piece comes from a friend of mine, Jenny Haskins, a well known fiber artist. She is the embroidery queen, in my opinion.
A close up of some of the stitching. Strong contrasting colors and thicker thread create the best affect.A couple of machine embroidered leaves (stitch on water-soluble stabilizer) adorn an antique button from my mother.The finished piece hanging up, adorned by some jewelry and pins. If you have time, check out here and here for some extraordinary "stitch recipes" created by a super talented lady who also used to be a colleague of mine.

Be Creative and thanks for visiting...