"Crazy Crumb" Blocks Tutorial :)

Hi Everyone, I have been trying out 'crazy quilt blocks'. When I shared some pics with other quilters, a few of them wanted to know how I did this. Well, to be honest I have seen a few pics of other Crazy Quilts online and just pretty much winged it. I have made my blocks with machine stitching rather than by hand stitch. Alot of quilters prefer hand-stitching and that's where they are comfortable. I prefer my machine ... gets my projects done quicker. :D

So here's is my first attempt at a tutorial. Hope it helps someone out there. :D

Crazy-crumb Blocks Tutorial

I gathered a bunch of scraps from my stash, ironed them flat and just left them in a pile to be selected randomly. Well, sort of randomly. 

      Then selecting the stitch on my machine. I chose the fagoting stitch, however, one could probably use a zigzag stitch or other decorative stitch that they have available to them.

Pull two pieces of fabric from your scrap pile and place one over top the other. There really is no right or wrong placement for this. I just like to build from a corner area.

Sew down the edge of the top fabric (red) attaching it to an area of the bottom fabric (floral). 

Add another scrap to the first two pieces and sew around the connecting edges of it. Again, there really is no right or wrong of the placement. It's your vision.

Continue adding scraps to your creation. Here I slid the cream floral underneath the edges of the other pieces to give it a more angular appearance.

Stitching the 'jagged' edges down to the cream floral.

Here I am just checking to see how much more space I need to fill in.
(don't mind the white spot there...it's the reflection from my light)

At this point, I have sewn together enough scraps to cut a 12 1/2 inch square.

Place your square ruler on top and cut all the way around. 

rolling, rolling, rolling ...love the rotary cutter!

and WA-LA there you have a 12 1/2" crazy-crumb block.

                          Block #2

                  Block #3

There you have it! My very first attempts at crazy quilting AND a tutorial.

These blocks are fun to create. I don't have enough blocks completed to create a top yet. I am aiming for a Full-size bed quilt.

I will join the blocks in the traditional quilt method.

Hopefully, this will be a colorful bed quilt when I get it done. :D

Gavin Thomas

Gavin Thomas arrived 4.10.13 ....it was a long ardous day for my daughter Amanda. Gavin is such a handsome lil guy though. :)

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                                                  Gavin & his proud daddy Brian

 
                                                  His Aunts Veronia & Joanna

Gavin's First Quilt

Hey Everyone, I wanted to share the first Quilt that Gavin has received (so far). This is also an entry for a Fabric Give-Away. So my daughter and son-in-law wanted a Jungle Baby theme for Gavin's nursery. I found these fun bright fabrics at Walmart of all places. :)

2013 .... Finally an update.

It seems that I am getting worse at the Blog thing. LOL  The year 2013 has been upon us for a couple of months now. Here's what's been happening......
I was part of a Big Star Block Swap ... these are the blocks that I made and mailed out. :)

 Everyone else was making bed quilts .... I had to be different and using the blocks that I received, I accented our living room. I also made a BSB quilt of my own. Here are two of the blocks made into table toppers.

 These blocks are from the swap. That one in the middle came from Malaysia and the right hand corner block from Canada.

 This one I made entirely by myself.

Pete had to have a matching blankie, so here he is on it.
                                      

This is Ella Rylee at 2-days old, she arrived into the world on March 19th. Grandbabies are wonderful.
Ella is the 4th child for my step-daughter Angie and her hubby Jim. Mya, Zoe and Jake are our other grandkids in North Carolina

Ella's first quilt is done and ready to be mailed :)

We are also awaiting the arrival of Gavin Thomas....he is due today. But babies generally don't look at calendars. His first quilt presented at the baby shower March 2nd.

As well, I made a playmat for Gavin. Will get it to his parents this weekend. Hopefully, Gavin will have decided to join us in this world. 

My youngest daughter & I went to the Sewing & Quilt Show at the IX Center in Cleveland, OH on March 23rd. Yes, I did some shopping. :D

 Found this license plate holder at the quilt show. Just love it!

Sew, of course when you get new fabrics ... you must start a new project! This is being created with 4 inch diamonds. 

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Youngest daughter (Veronica) is creating this quilt for one of her friends.

Also, this year I have added another machine. I got a great deal at my Local Quilt Shop on this (used) BabyLock Ellure ESL. It has embroidery functions .... which will be it's primary use. :)
                                                                      Meet Ellie!

Yes, all my machines have names! Max is my 18 year old Singer and Stella is my Brother SQ9050.
Pictured here are Stella and Ellie. I really need to get a picture of Max one of these days. lol

These 10 min table runners are so easy to make. The blue n yellow was for a swap. The greens are for me.

I tried my hand at paper piecing.....here's the first block. :) When I have more time and less projects on the drawing table, I will spend more time with this technique.

In the midst of Ella being born and waiting for Gavin. My other daughter Joanna is progressing nicely in her pregnancy. She and her hubby, Jeremy are due in August with a lil girl. More quilts n stuff to make...YAY!

So that's pretty much the update for now. 

Happy Sewing.

OOPS I keep forgetting this.

WOW!  I haven't been here since October??  Time really passes quickly!  There has been alot going on since then.
Let's see, I made a Winter Wallhanging for a client. (Same as the Autumn Wallhanging)

I love using the decorative stitches on my machine for attaching my bindings.  She loved this one too.

November brought some good & some bad..... we lost my Uncle Gene on November 15th....this was difficult. He was a wonderful Uncle and there just isn't enough good adjectives to describe him.

November also brought the 5th birthday of my Grandson.   He received a 'Cars' Nap-Time quilt from Grandma & Grandad, along with some movies. :)

Also, Thanksgiving!  On the Saturday after Thanksgiving Day, my brothers and all our families get together for dinner. There's 4 brothers + me and my family....we generally end up with 35-40 people for dinner. My sister-in-law makes the entire meal by herself. She's a wonderful cook and a great person all-around.

December.......  My youngest daughter (Veronica) graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania on the 15th. Am so Proud of Her!  She majored in Communications with a focus on the music industry.

Which brings us to Christmas! It took until Christmas Eve to get into the spirit. Which we also had a full house on Christmas Eve.  Was alot of fun. There was more visiting in the morning with my grandson & son-in-law....my poor daughter (Joanna) woke up with a migraine and spend the entire morning in bed sleeping it away.  She still has to come open her gifts.

and that takes us into the New Year. Hope everyone has a Wonderful 2013.

Catching Up :)

Gee, I'm not getting better at this blogging stuff. In August, I completed the John Deere Lap Quilt for my cousin.......he loved it. Here's pics.  :)

Also, after Labor Day Weekend, I was asked to make an Autumn Wallhanging. That is done & delivered. Some pics of it too. The last pic was sent to me after it was hung up in my friend's home.  She & her hubby both love it.

Hopefully, it won't take me another month before I get back to my blog.  We have alot going on right now.
Getting ready to move into a new home. One of my brother's is getting married. A couple more festivals to do.
The hardest situation that we are dealing with is that my Uncle Gene (79) had a massive stroke a week ago. He has no mobility of his right side. his speech is very, very slurred and garbled. However, I went to visit him in Pittsburgh at the Hospital on Saturday and it was a very nice visit. He was mentally aware of everything. I had taken my Nook with me because I can download all my FB pics to it, so I was able to show him recent pics of all my kids and grandkids and the quilts that I have made. He seemed to enjoy it.
We don't know how much longer that he will be with us, so I tried to make the very best of that visit for him, myself and my youngest daughter (she went with me to make sure Mom was ok on the 3 hour drive home and to thank him herself for all his support) .  
So til next time.........happy even stitches. :D

Been Awhile

Well, has been a while since I've done anything on here. Summertime is always busy around our house. The festival back in June was a bust. :(   Kinda threw a curve at my creativity motivation. However, back on track now.

Currently am working on a John Deere lap quilt for my cousin's 50th birthday. Nothing eloborate, just keeping it simple.  Will posts pics when it's done.  Also, working on the first of two Disney Princess twin size quilts for the grandaughters in North Carolina. Shhh. they don't know about it. :)

Recently, we got the news that we are expecting 2 new grandchildren next spring. :D  
Yep, more quilts to make :0)