Crazy for Quilting

Our special this month is mainly crazy quilting and that is exactly how I feel about my life right now.  The weather has finally, this week, become somewhat normal and we are seeing the sun each day.  Of course, that makes me want to work in the yard but I have to sneak in a little time each day, between work and all the other things that go on in everyone's life.

Besides the Crazy Quilts and Hearts, we have put our most popular pattern, the Dahlia Magic, on special along with our Mini Quilts.  Laura has been doing live sew-along shows on Tik Tok most mornings to show how simple these are to make. And, every one of them (with the exception of the Dahlia) are perfect for scraps!  In fact, that is how Crazy Quilts came to be.  Fabric has always been a precious commodity and way back in history, making utility quilts was pretty much a constant in most homes, especially the rural homes and farms.  When enough scraps were had, they would start sewing them together, all crazy, until there were enough blocks to sew together into a quilt.  I remember sleeping under one such quilt at my grandmother's house in the winter.  She had used fabrics left over from making her dresses and aprons and clothes she had made for our dolls and sewed them together into blocks and then into a quilt.  She used a worn wool blanket for the batting and some pieced flannel for the backing and tied the layers together with yarn. It was such a cuddly quilt on those cold, cold nights with no heat other than from the wood stove out in the living room.  Sometimes, if a quilter had time, she would add an artistic touch with threads and do some fancy stitching on her crazy quilt.  Some day, I hope to find the time to make an "artistic" scrap quilt and teach myself the beautiful stitching to make it something to keep forever. There are some beautiful books for learning those techniques, and I have several so there really isn't any excuse!  I thought the quilt in the picture below would be perfect for embellishing with some of those beautiful stitches but it didn't happen.  Its still a pretty quilt!

And the Minis.  I never had a desire to make a mini quilt.  However, I was asked so often at quilt shows if I had any miniature quilts that I decided I needed to design something.  I think my first mini quilt was the Miniature Heart Quilt.

I think these blocks finish at one and a half inches square.  I absolutely loved making them!  I found the secret to making these blocks was to not cut the fabric pieces too small.  Pressing is so important when making the mini quilts.  Every seam needs to be as flat as possible.  I use the lowest steam setting on my iron to get the seams super-flat but you need enough fabric to hold on to while you get the iron to it.  I keep scraps for mini quilts separate from the rest of my stash and I don't keep anything that is smaller than about an inch and a half square.  And this package comes with enough blocks to make two of these little quilts!

Don't forget to type in the code MINICRAZY10 to get your discount at checkout.

I have stories to tell about some customers who have become friends and their mini quilt escapades that I will share along the way this month.  Seeing what others do with these is always inspiring and leaves me with the question, "Why didn't I think of that?"

HAPPY QUILTING!