Crazy Quilt Days 21 & 22

Tentative plans for January block

I must admit, I have been excited to try a few new stitches on the January block for my quilt.  However, I have been equally nervous about making them a reality. 

Blue snowflakes on right.  Left prepped for white snowflakes.

Yesterday, I began with a seam of snowflakes.  Using DMC rayon floss #S820 (dark blue), I made 3/8th-inch spokes and added smaller straight stitches to make the decorative ends of each flake.  (The snowflakes were inspired by An Encyclopedia of Crazy Quilt Stitches and Motifs by Linda Causee.  However, I did not go back to really look at the directions.  Their snowflakes used four back-stitches for each spoke, rather than my 3/8th-inch straight stitches.  Their pattern would make it a tighter stitch, less likely to snag in the future.)  As I began the first flake, I realized the last ones were going to be my first tone-on-tone stitches.  It was a bit tricky trying to see the dark blue floss on the dark blue fabric.  However, I liked the end result.

This morning, I completed the blue snowflakes; then, I stitched the same snowflakes on the left-side of the block, using DMC rayon floss #35200 (white).

After that, I used rick rack for the very first time.  My mom was so excited about my crazy quilt project and so incredibly sweet, that she encouraged me to come over and take a look at her stash of buttons, lace, ribbon and rick rack.  I chose a dark blue rick rack with thoughts of this project.  After looking at several photos to see how others had attached rick rack to their blocks, I decided to use a metallic silver thread to make a zig-zag chain stitch to hold it down.  This created the "frame" for the center area of the block.  Eventually, I will add buttons to the corners to hide the cut edges of the rick rack.

I really should have headed to bed after that.  To be totally honest, I have been pretty grumpy all day.  My husband was incredibly understanding and supportive with my unsuccessful attempts to cheer up after he made it home from work.  Later in the evening, I finally pulled out my block to show him the day's progress and my husband began to laugh and shake his head.  One minute into crazy quilt discussions, and I was suddenly cheerful and excited.  So... I decided to stay up a bit and indulge with something I enjoy.

The stars sparkle in the light, almost like snowflakes.

My next work was inspired by work done in a Crazy Quilt International Novice Round Robin.  Linda stitched silvery parallel lines with little silver stars on a dark blue patch of Cris' block.  I loved it!  I wish my work came out nearly as straight and even as Linda's work.  However, I eyeballed a lot of this section, so I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  I used DMC cotton floss #799 (a powdery blue) for the stripes, and the silver metallic thread for the stars.  I plan to do the same pattern on the opposite corner, using white for the stripes and silver stars, so I chose a blue thread as similar to the opposite blue corner as I could find. 

January block after 2 days of stitching.

This is how it looked after 2 days of stitching.  I cannot wait until Thursday, when I will be able to work on it again! 

I wish you all a very happy 4th of July!

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