Tiptoeing through the minefield: crazy quilting

She who hesitates….

This is a topic I’ve been mulling over for a long time, but have only decided to post about after being prompted by Jude’s what if post about crazy quilting. I have hesitated (Yes Jeanne – even after reading your comment on Acey’s blog) because I do not want anybody to be offended or slighted by what I say, or to think that I am belittling a technique they love. The fact is I really like and admire crazy quilting, but – like cross stitch and knitting – I don’t think it’s for me. And I don’t really think anyone would be offended by that – everybody is different after all, but perhaps some people will disagree with my reasons, or my thoughts about CQ, and I truly don’t want to be misunderstood, or start some angst ridden discussion or debate.

Gutter-mouthed trollop does the misunderstood tango

Acey and I have being doing the misunderstood tango for a couple of days now, after I left a thoughtless, yet well intentioned, comment on her blog a few days ago – we are ok now, but I don’t want to go through that again. And you probably are thinking how strange it is for me – the gutter-mouthed trollop of embroidery blogs – to be tiptoeing so delicately around causing potential offence, when I think nothing of discussing furry bottoms, poo and other things at length. I’m sure there are people who would have preferred to think of me with Barbie doll genitalia*, or perhaps even not go there at all, but well …if you have been reading my blog for a while you may have noticed that I am getting worse, as I slip into my comfort zone – I think I’ve pretty much hit rock bottom by now though, so don’t panic.

* A digression to discuss Ken’s bits

Moo got a Barbie and Ken for her birthday – and we ‘dacked’ (removed his daks/ trousers) Ken at once to see what he had –plastic flesh-coloured y-fronts – very bizarre – Barbie is afforded no such false modesty.

CQ…what CQ?

In my ‘about’ page, if anyone has ever read it, I state that crazy quilting is something I enjoy, however you may have noticed that I don’t actually do any crazy quilting. When I wrote my about page (and I guess I should update it) I had done some crazy quilting and I did like it. But I came to realise that I wasn’t doing ‘real’ CQ at all, however that isn’t why I stopped enjoying it. I know you could argue that the idea of crazy quilting is that it is crazy – anything goes, no rules, but I would humbly beg to differ – and I don’t think that the fact that there are some rules, or guidelines or trends in CQ is a bad thing, just that it isn’t perhaps as ‘free’ as it is sometimes suggested.

In which Paula exposes embarrassing secrets….

To illustrate I am going to do something I thought I never would – show you my crazy quilts. I was never going to do it mainly because I finished them before I started the blog, and I haven’t felt the urge to show anyone ‘old’ stuff, but also because I’m embarrassed by them (I’d much rather discuss furry bottoms). So here goes nothing….

These were made for Jimmy, Tom and Moo. They are made with commercial cottons, with herringbone seams in perle cotton. Every single seam is herringbone, and the edges are blanket stitched together, instead of binding. There is no embellishment or decoration. Jimmy wanted a ‘nature’ quilt and Tom wanted a bright quilt, Moo was too little to care. And they were (and are) all delighted with them, and I enjoyed making them. These were also the first quilts I ever made, and so technically aren’t particularly good (wobbly, puffy, squares don’t join properly – you all know what I’m talking about) but that didn’t, and still doesn’t, matter. However I am conscious that they probably aren’t what most people would think of when they think of a crazy quilt. But in terms of what I think quilting (crazy, sane or otherwise) is all about they hit the mark – I enjoyed selecting fabric, putting the combinations together, and hand stitching all the seams, the sense of accomplishment when they were finished; they were a labour of love in the nicest possible sense. Also the recipients liked them, don’t care about/notice the mistakes, they keep them warm at night, and they make great cubby houses with them. So a success, but…..

Neither fish nor fowl

I did like the lack of measuring and accuracy and having to match points etc, but I was less happy with the overall look. So the next step in my CQ journey was to think what if I made traditional quilt blocks but in a crazy style. I didn’t measure or worry about accuracy, but made 9 patches and Ohio stars etc, and covered the seams with embroidery (you guessed it – herringbone). So I made another quilt for Moo (I ended up having enough fabric for three quilts in total for her).

This one I was more aware of traditional CQ -I’d bought a book about CQ – notice the fans in the corners, some appliqué, and a small amount of surface embroidery. I was also becoming more aware that what I was doing was perhaps not ‘kosher’ when I took one of the blocks to a quilt shop so I could match some fabric, and the block was met with tolerant bemusement – what I had produced was neither fish nor fowl – just a bizarre hybrid of two disparate quilting styles- CQ is supposed to have lace and beads on it donchaknow.

Lashing out with the embellishment

With the remainder of the fabric I decided to get even more structured and made a rail fence (?) quilt. Again I did not measure the strips, but just basted them onto the foundation fabric and …yep..herringbone over the seams. I did ‘lash out’ with embellishments and add a lace flower at every block intersection.

Technically and visually I would say (and it’s not saying much .grin.) this is the most successful of my ‘crazy’ quilts– but less crazy than the first ones. At this point in my quilting journey I figured that perhaps I should be making normal quilts, and started hand piecing grandmother’s flower gardens, the 1000 pyramids, and a Dear Jane quilt, and doing things properly.

By George…I think she’s got it….almost

However I was still avidly admiring my CQ book (The Magic of Crazy Quilting by J Marsha Michler which I really like) and I even got some more CQ books, and I had a collection of ’suitable fabrics’ – silky stuff, shiny bits, velvets, lace. So one day when my sane quilts were driving me insane I packed them all away and made a ‘proper’ CQ patch, which I turned into a bag. Which I never use, because well – I’m just not a crazy patch shoulder bag type of person. But I had to make something out of it.

And it’s got it all, baby – fancy seams, ribbon embroidery, beads, surface embroidery …even a spiderweb. Oh… I’m cringing showing you this – please don’t tell me you like it. I don’t.

And a funny thing happened….. I enjoyed putting it together, I particularly liked embroidering the patches, I even enjoyed doing new fancy seam embroidery (learned from a book, no less J) but the finished object left me cold. Perhaps because I need more practise, perhaps because the colours aren’t ‘me’ but mainly, I think, because to me the finished product is less than the sum of its parts. It ended up being a project I am glad I did not waste any ‘precious’ fabric on. I was, and still am, very disappointed in this – and it became my first and last ‘proper’ CQ project. I sort of figured that perhaps I enjoy making quilts, and I enjoy embroidery, but that doesn’t mean they have to go together, and I started focussing on embroidery.

More than the sum of its parts…finally!

I think that my fruit book sort of constitutes crazy quilting. A mix of patchwork and embroidery and a quilt sandwich. It uses precious scraps that have meaning to me, and unlike my other attempt at ‘real CQ’ I think in this instance the finished product is more than the sum of its parts (It is the first thing I’ve made that I am truly happy with). And I haven’t worked out why yet. I think perhaps it’s because I used colours and fabrics that are more to my taste, and because I made it without thinking about it as a CQ project, so I wasn’t worried about the ‘rules’, and perhaps because the focus was on the embroidered patches, rather than the seams and the crazy construction. That is – I took the part of CQ I liked doing the most – embroidering the patches – and focussed my attention on that.

So what is CQ ….really?

But could it really be considered CQ? At what point does sane quilting turn crazy or crazy quilting go sane? Does adding embroidery to a sane quilt make it crazy? Improvisational patchwork – wonky log cabins for example – is that crazy? Or does CQ ‘have’ to be fancy fabrics, heavily embellished, beaded, lace, ribbon and elaborate embroidery? Does it ‘have to have’ a spider? grin. I guess most people(me included) would argue that it doesn’t matter and there aren’t clear definitions or lines in the sand – a lot of quilts incorporate embroidery, but aren’t classed as crazy, even though they may be pieced or appliquéd using non –traditional techniques. I am not concerned here with trying to define what CQ is, in terms of it must by x y z, but rather wondering at what point does it stop being CQ and start being something else. Are my first quilts crazy? What about the rail fence? The bag fits firmly in the realms of CQ (in that I could post a photo of that without a label and you would recognise it as {bad} CQ)…but does the book?

What if – redefining CQ

So I am wondering if I am going to be able to what if this idea at all (or if I ‘what iffed’ already years ago ) …..Perhaps, but not today.

 

Phew. If you are still reading… have you noticed how much I write when I don’t have a project to keep me occupied? I’ll start something new soon…promise!