Annies Crazy World

Commercial Braid stitched on with Colonial Knots…bring the thread up near the edge of the braid, form the knot and put needle back through the fabric beside the braid.

Double Feather Stitch Variation with Beads.

Fly stitch…do 2 fly stitches side by side and then join them with a third fly stitch, repeat along the seam.

Double Feather Stitch ….work a row of Double Feather stitch then working from the other end in a different colour shadow the first row with a second partial row of Double Feather Stitch.

And this is the sixth block for my mums memory quilt…it is on of my younger brothers.

As I was typing the information under the stitches for this block I realized that I had done 3 Buttonhole stitch variations on this block without noticing, that is how different stitches can be made to look.

Buttonhole stitch half circles with beads…turned up the other way they look like little fans…when I do this stitch I find it helpful to use a coin or other small object to draw the half circles on the fabric.

This is a metalic, tubular cord/braid that I have held in place with beads….I like the way it forms irregular edges, this is a good way to brake up a long straight seam.

Another Buttonhole stitch variation set off by Bugal beads…for this variation do 3 stitches on one side then cross and do 3 stitches on the other side…then repeat with a second colour weaving the thread over and under the first row (I see in the photo that I missed doing that on the middle stitch).

And another Buttonhole stitch variation…this long and short stitch variation with beads is a very simple yet very effective stitch.

And this is an Ooops….forgot to tell the photocopier to reverse the image…I decided to use it anyway because when I made these life wasn’t as simple as grabbing the digital camera, snapping off a photo, connecting it to the computer and clicking print, I would have had to make the trip back to the photocopiers and colour copies where expensive back then…and most people don’t notice it…and I like to stitch little oddities into my crazy quilts for those that do look closer to find.

This is the fifth Block for my mothers quilt…the photo is an old black and white one of mum and her brothers in front of there dads work van…

Algerian eye stitch is not a stitch that I will do often, partly because I find counted thread work hard on my eyes and partly because it needs a hoop and I don’t use a hoop for crazy quilting…but for the TAST challenge I found an orphan block that I could get a hoop onto and Sharon gave me some waste canvas so that I could do the stitch on a crazy block…

To remove the waste canvas damp it slightly which softens the fibers and breaks the bond holding the fibres together so that you can use tweezers to pull the threads out one at a time.

I had stitched a heart shape but after removing the waste canvas I thought that it looked to squared off on not well defined so I used a metalic thread to do a buttonhole stitch which I worked between the spokes of the Algerian eye stitch.

I liked the way the buttonhole worked but it still didn’t look finished to me…

I thought I would try a heart shaped bead in the middle…as it turned out I decided that a tiny red crystal finished it off nicely.

Double Feather stitch trimmed with beads.

Chevron Stitch…and yes you can barely see it, I didn’t want an obvious stitch sticking out the top of the lace so I did the seam red on red so that the seam is embroided but it doesn’t distract from the lace.

A simple but effective Buttonhole stitch variation trimmed with detached chain stitches.

And here is the 4th block in mums quilt. it is a photo of my sister as a teenager with one of the several family cats that where all named Ginger.

This is another seam on the crazy quilt that I am making for my mum.

Cretan Stitch trimmed with Fly stitch on one side and Fly stitch alternated with beads on the other side…I like trimming each side of a stitch differently.

Herringbone stitch variation. This is a good filler/blender stitch for when you want to embroider every seam but need a stitch that is not going to compete with a buzy fabric.

This is the Third Block for my mothers quilt…The Photo is my dad on the right with his brothers and sisters, my Uncles and Aunts.

This stitch is a variation of button hole stitch…work a row down one side of the seam and then mirror it on the other side of the seam.

I took a photo of the seam that I stitched today but didn’t look at it till just now only to fint that it is out of focus and the borrowed camera doesn’t do flash when in macro mode so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

For tonight I will show you another seam from the crazy quilt that I am making for my mum

Feather stitch with silk ribbon rose buds. Work the feather stitch with large spread out stitches so that the buds arn’t cramped. The Rose buds are a straight stitch of silk ribbon held in place with a fly stitch in the same thread as the feather stitch stem.

For this seam I used a stripe from a piece of quilters cotton. The Colonial Knots decorate the edge at the same time as stitching it on. Bring the needle up through the edge of the fabric, form the knot and put the needle down beside the fabric so that the knot sits beside the fabric, this is a nice and very easy way to stitch braids and ribbons onto your crazy quilts.

The last seam on this block is a double row of herringbone stitch.

And this is the finished block, with a photo of my dad.

I stitched a seam today but have been plying with the camera and have flattened the Batteries and can’t recharge them untill I borrow a german 2 plug to Australian 3 plug power cord converter….In the mean time this is another seam on the crazy quilt that I am making for my mum.

2 rows of Fly stitches with long seal off stitches that make them look like Ys.