Crazy Quilted Glasses Case

The back of the case (the part I stitched first).

Front of the case - personalized with beads.

In my last post, I mentioned that I stumbled upon photos of some absolutely lovely crazy quilted glasses cases that inspired me to try to make a glasses case, myself.  I was actually looking up the beautiful work done on a "snowball" crazy quilted circle that a member of Crazy Quilting International made for another member, when I discovered her pretty cases.  If you are not familiar with the blog, Humming Needles, I encourage you to click on the link here and take a peek at some wonderful eye candy. 

I must admit, the glasses case I made is not nearly as romantic as the ones I found on Humming Needles.  However, I hoped it would be perfect for my sister - a huge Oregon State University fan. 

Like the last case I made, I mostly followed the instructions found at Skip to My Lou.  However, for the outside panels, I cut overly large rectangles of muslin.  Next, I drew lines for the edges.  (Next time, I will extend the seem allowance by at least an extra 1/8-inch for the crazy quilted panels.  Some of my stitching went over the seem lines, to extend off the page, so-to-speak.  When it was time to cut the panel, I had to be very careful not to cut the embroidery thread, so the stitching would not come loose.)  And, rather than using batting and quilting the case, I adhered interfacing to the back of the muslin after I completed the embellishments and cut the panels down to size.  (I may use a slightly different pattern next time.  The Velcro made turning the case right-side-out without snagging the embroidery quite tricky!)

Using scraps of Oregon State University fabric for the center of the front and back panels, I machine pieced my blocks.  I only used orange and black fabrics.  Before I began stitching, I basted around the seem lines, to mark my boundaries.  I only intended to use orange and black flosses; however, some of the tone-on-tone was just too difficult to see.  So, I added white, as well.

The most time-consuming part for me was the alternating orange and white chain stitch I used to cover the white borders in the OSU print and to frame the center panels.  It was really quite fun to use two colors of thread on the same needle; although it was a bit tricky keeping the correct color on top of the needle.  So, it was a very slow process, but worth the end result.

While working on this project, I saw a lovely tree a friend of mine added to her current crazy quilt block.  (Her trees are gorgeous!  I encourage you too see for yourself, at Crystal's Crafty Adventures.)  When I mentioned how much I liked her trees, Crystal directed me to a tree tutorial on the blog, Shawkl.  (Even if you do not crazy quilt, and have no need for the tutorial, it is worth a peek.  Scroll down to see Kathy's tree.  It is quite impressive!)  My first attempt was way too far to the left, and could only bow to the right.  My 15-year-old, Monkey, took a look at it and asked, "It's a Dr. Seuss tree, isn't it?"  As much as I love Dr. Seuss, it was not the look I was going for; so, I took it out and tried again.  I opted to leave my tree (no pun intended) as a silhouette (orange leaves would not show up and I feared white ones would look odd.) 

After seeing the work I did on Mardeen's block in our current CQI Novice Round Robin, my sister commented that she liked the purple flowers (the Winter Iris.)  So, I added one here - in orange and black, of course.  And, I had seen several blocks with benches in them recently, so I tried to make one too.  It's a bit lopsided, but I was simply thrilled my boys looked at it and knew what it was without asking!

Personalized - and I made my first bullion butterfly - without directions, even!

In late August, we attended the Aurora Colony Days celebration.  Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a Yarn and Beads shop that sold some beads individually!  It will definitely be worth another trip in the future.  I picked up the letter beads to personalize the case while I was there; and I was so tickled, I have no doubt I provided my family with a few chuckles and shakes of the head with my exuberance.  (It truly is the little things in life...)

My sister opened her gift while I was on the phone with her; and she liked it, so I was happy.  It may be a simple glasses case, but it is also a small reminder that miles and miles may stretch between us, yet we are never far from each others thoughts.  Happy Birthday, Sis!

Thank you for visiting!
-Renee