Thursday Jan 22

Here is my other find at the antique store. Once again, this is only a top and needs completed. This is a crazy quilt. I could never see myself making a crazy quilt either. First of all, doing "random" piecing would drive me crazy. It would probably be a good exercize for me, but I just don't do "random" well. Second is the embroidery that is usually done on one of these quilts. I don't do embroidery, at least not by hand, by machine is another thing. This one has what I believe is called a feather stitch done around everything. I think you can see it in the close up of one of the stars. I really like star quilts, so I especially liked that the "crazy quilt" formed a star pattern. The entire thing is done by hand. The stars were crazy quilted onto a piece of foundation muslin. I took a picture of the back of a star so you could see that. I did some research and from what I can ascertain, crazy quilts were tied instead of being "quilted". Does anyone out there know anything about that? They also, traditionally, would have more exquisite fabrics in them, like silks etc. This one doesn't seem to have that. I feel like it was pieced with scraps and cut up clothes. No reason to believe that, just something I feel. I do want to finish all 3 quilt tops, but find myself hesitant to start. I want to do them and their original makers justice, so I keep hesitating. Usually I quilt by machine, but kind of feel that I should do it by hand since they did the piecing by hand. And just finding the right fabric for the backing.....lots of decisions there. If I do get brave enough and finish one I would for sure post it, but in the meantime I am happy I have them and appreciate them and can share them. I just feel that it honors the makers and gives them a bit of a legacy even if we don't know who they are or what their story was.