Feeling my scraps

 I will argue here that Crazy quilts are the ultimate in scrap quilts

I might even go further and argue, Crazy quilts are the ultimate in crumb quilting

No fabric matches in any square 

is also harvested from old thrifted clothing

and is no larger than 2"-4" wide and 2"-6" long

Embroidery on a seam is no longer than half the size of the square.

In my case, I'm most comfortable with 10" squares so no seam is longer than 3" to 6"

Buttons are used with abandon, in blobs, sprays and scatters

As are beads and sequins

Embellishments are usually made from lace motifs 

Jewelry parts that are broken or have lost a mate

Every square uses no more than 3" of lace

The same for Gimp, Ribbon ends, braid and soutache

Lots of silk ribbon embroidery

Not that I'm biased 

I'll make a scrap Quilt out of anything

Applique

English paper piecing

Stuffed animals

Costumes

Quilts  

Even decorating my home with them

When life gives you scraps

Decorate

After a certain point Scrapping becomes a way of life

 relieving plainness or monotony by adding beauty of color or design or as is the usual all of them at once

Class Hexies

 I have just realized I have never shared my class hexies.

 As many of you may or may not know, I ran a crazy quilting and embroidery class at Gathering Fabrics Quilt shop in Woodinville  Washington, at least I did in the before times.

And if you didn't know already I like color.

The back

 

                                   Lots of it!

    I try to teach the intimidated to love their colors! 

     This is the little bit of CQ I use to demonstrate.

  Every Hexie is self contained and different

 

 

So here is a simple one of mostly pinks, 

which I tried to balance through out the block

Especially tamping down the impact of that bright saturated pink on the right, by making a lot of light blue strait stitch stars

And making a spray of pink vines in the lower quadrant and a big pink flower opposite

Here is another big balancing act

I used a lot of dark blue accents and spread them around to balance the dark blue patch on the right.

The flowers on the yellow patch are beaded

And the spray of leaves are silk ribbon on fly stitch

Here again, I balance the the patch 

By sewing a motif or seam opposite or tangential to the color of the main patches in the block 

Going in a clockwise direction around the block, to keep the eye moving around the block

 

So keeping the first few patches in mind 

 

I repeat this concept through out all the blocks on this quilt

 

 

 

I Teach out of Jennifer Clouston's Foolproof Crazy Quilting book

And I try to follow the patterns she shows in her book

So I can demonstrate them to my students in class 

 

I also tried to use as many readily available items on the quilts as possible to take the 

"It's too expensive" quotient out of it.

All the threads are DMC size 8 twist and the sequins are a plastic set I got at joannes

Many of the buttons are those from off coats or the extras you get with a new blouse

 

or plain ones I have in my stash

Which I glamour up with beads

Like the bug I made here in the upper green patch,

with layered buttons and beads to hold them together.

Notice also the plastic flower beads in the bottom patch, where no two are alike.

 

I have found you can do this when the pieces are of a like enough color, 

They don't have to be matchie-matchie to work together

It's also a good place to use a bunch of "Leftover" or extra beads.

 

As long as the beads are of like color or hue they all play nice together on the block

I have used a lot of my leftover bits and pieces on this quilt, 

To show you can make something beautiful no matter what you have to hand.

 

More button stacking and saturated color balancing here

 

The three big white buttons are of the same color and size but are different patterns to one another

 

The beads anchoring the big pearls at the bottom 

and the beaded butterflies at the top 

are from my "It fell on the floor" box and are all different

 

I have also used about 180 different fabrics 

230 beads, buttons, sequins, lace, 

                                  ribbon bits and doo-dahs

 And 30 different stitches in DMC and Silk ribbon embroidery

On this little quilt so far, I had been keeping a record

 but I lost track somewhere around the penguins.

I have a few more blocks, leftover from classes, that I haven't quite finished yet.

I was hoping to get back to them but got sidetracked by the plague.

hexipoluza #6

Another aspect of all this is using up your "odd bits and bobs"

I don't know  how closely you all can get on the pictures but I try to use as many odds as I can.

Many of the beads don't match in places like the bodies of the dragonflies on this block

and the butterflies on the one below


then there are the beads on the button bug on the penguin block

and the pink flowers I used at the bottom

If you noticed, none of them match

I have done this in several places throughout the block,s to show that you don't have to be matchie, matchie to have a cohesive whole.

It's very freeing when you realize this and makes for a whole lot more creative fussing.

here are my hexies so far all sewn together and spread throughout.

I see it getting much bigger as I continue to use it to demonstrate the stitches in class and use it as a teaching tool I also have a ton more blocks pieced together.
I hand them out to newbies who haven't a block to work on

Oh dear, it looks like I have run out of done blocks!  I  must finish a few more of these, darn the luck ;)

hexipoluza #5

So here is an example of a much better blending of very bold and very light contrasting colors

The dark blue looks much less out of place here than it does on the block from my last post

The reason being, I used more of that same dark blue on the other side of the block, to balance all that  dark blue across from it

Then I used more dark blue in smaller increments throughout the block, to keep your eye moving around the block, rather than being distracted by the big wad of blue along the edge

It also helped to soften the edge of that dark blue with a seam that blended it into the the rest of the block, with the other colors of that block.

This shoe block is another way of blending away the stark edge of a too dark or bright contrasting panel while still making space for it in the body of the whole.

Now you may be asking yourself "why use the dark panels at all if it causes so much distraction?"

Its a challenge to make it bend to your will
Its a creative challenge to get yourself out of a rut or just a challenge for yourself to see what you can do with it. It6 also creates some really beautiful effects in both color and texture.

In many ways I do this to myself to shake up, what is normally, routine sewing and its fun to discover for yourself what works and what doesn't.

Like the block from the previous post what i did worked but not quite enough. I chose to leave it as a good lesson in how to deal with that sort of thing.

Because it doesn't matter how seasoned a CQer you are, you will make "mistakes" like that

Especially if you are making all your blocks first and not putting them together as you go.

I find I do this a lot when I put long projects together like the CQJP or even round robins,

 where you need a certain set of blocks to finish the whole.
Its easier for me to put the blocks together first so I know at least the fabrics in them will go together, then even if halfway through the project I go haring off in some other direction, I can pull it back together in the end.

hexipoluza #4

  As I have mentioned I'm using Jennifer Clouston's book for my CQ class

I am trying to follow each of her examples so my students have a tangeble block they can go to to see, touch and study how the stitches are put together

I have used cottons in all my blocks because it is much more forgiving of mistakes than silks and satins are and much less daunting to a beginner to put together

As most of my ladies are sane quilters first, I know they have a ton of this kind of stash at home and can easily put a block together with what they have in hand

Another part of my reasoning has been, if I can make all these prints look good together, it will encourage my ladies to use more color in their pieces as well

I also try to put a few "impossible" colors together to show how you can "blend" them back into a piece to soften it's impact.
I do realize that dark blue is a really stark contrast to the rest of this block but more in that later
 

 I also want to have fun with this as well so Ive used many colors on the back as well as the front.
Life is too short and there are so many wonderful colors to play with.

Hexipoluza #3

 so my Philosophy of zen quilting is this, slow hand sewing should be a safe non-judgmental place. a place where we as women, mothers and humans should take time for ourselves to be quiet and reflective.

Take as long as you need to finish that seam or embellishment and if it's wonky, so what?

 when was the last time you gave yourself permission to make a mess?

Ask yourself

Does it always have to be perfect?

Does it always have to have a purpose?

Does it always have to be meaningful?

 I want my classes to be a place where perfection is not the goal because you are not coming to class with the skills to make it so.

You are coming to class with the desire to learn and in so doing, wil make mistakes and your seams will be wonky.

So much of sewing is muscle memory.
Like driving or cooking when you are concentrating on it you notice how far away to not hit the curb or just how much of a spice for that perfect taste

It all becomes second nature after you do it for months and years but untill then, you concentrate on just how long that stitch should be before you can just "feel" it.

So go ahead, give yourself permission to make a mess, take a few days to get that stitch.
We as women and mothers don't do that for ourselves as much as we should.
We need to realize if only at our sewing table, it's ok to take our time, to make mistakes and do it over again.

Our lives are so busy taking care of everything and everyone we forget to take care of ourselves. We forget that we need "quiet time".
SLow stitching does that for me and I like to share it.

Hexipoluza #2

 I'm going to dribble these out in batches since I'm also posting them on facebook as well.

I've tried to follow Jennifer Clouston's blocks as much as possible  as to have examples for my students they can see, touch and feel. Her book is so easy to teach out of!

(thank you!)

 Also in doing this I used all cotton prints and odds and ends from my stash, things I only have a little of or bead soup from old projects and tipping disasters.

So much of what is on these are one offs fitting in nicely with that 2020 challenge that's going around as well but I don't think I'll join as I don't have the dicipline to count all that!

The Hexi craze is enough for me and I've  had these done for a couple of years. Well past tim to show them off.

There's also my ultirior motive, I've got almost nothing else done.

It's been a slow summer for stitching. Though I got a new machine and am getting my quilt tops done but that's a post for another time.

Hexiepalooza #1 yellow and pink block

Jumping in on the Hexi craze

these first dozen blocks have been in use for a few years actually.

I Run a class out of Gathering fabrics Quilt Shop in Woodinville WA., once a month and I use Jennifer Cloustons book and several others, to teach crazy quilting and embroidery from.


I use these hexies to show color theory, stitch placement building, sre, use of materials, etc.

I try to teach my ladies how to bring out their creative side, the zen of hand sewing and how not to be afraid of color.

They are vEry colorful ;)