a day in an artists life....: mom's done it again...

(who would've thought that this cute little girl would grow up to be such a great artist.... ) and her name is Rose...

my most amazing, talented mom has earned herself yet another ribbon at the quilt show...woohoooooo!

for any of you who are quilters, i know you are familiar with the crazy quilt...for those of you who are not, wow is the word that comes to mind to describe these quilts and their makers - the many fabrics, embroidery techniques along with the adornment of treasured pieces that are used, make each and every quilt a story in itself.

awesome quilt mom - keep them coming!

here is an article that i thought was not only interesting but fun to read from "womenfolk"...

"The 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition was a big event in Victorian society. One of the most popular exhibits was the Japanese pavilion with its fascinating crazed ceramics and asymmetrical art."

The Birth of the Crazy Patchwork Quilting Craze

Women were eager to incorporate this new look into their quilts and with the help of popular women's magazines the making of crazy quilts became quite the rage. Creativity was wide open with women sewing asymmetrical pieces of fabric together in abstract arrangements. This enthusiasm for this quilting fad continued until about 1910. Early quilts made in the crazy style were more show pieces than functional and were often made as smaller unquilted "lap robes" that were used to decorate the parlor. They were fitting showpieces for the lavish interior decoration of the day. These quilts were usually made using velvet, silk and brocade fabric, cut and pieced in random shapes. What a perfect way for women to show off their needlework skills! Using silk thread, women placed lovely decorative stitches on each seam. Intriguing names like feather, herringbone, fly and chain describe just a few of the intricate stitches. The imagination and skill of the seamstress was the only limit.

Each Quilting Patch Carefully Planned

To the Victorians the word "crazy" not only meant wild but also broken or crazed into splinters; a good description of the look the various triangles and other odd shapes gave to these quilts. Although crazy style quilts may appear haphazard they were carefully planned. Hours were spent cutting shapes and trying out various arrangements of the pieces before sewing. The following quote from an 1883 article in "The Chester Times", Chester, PA. gives an idea of how they were made. * "If your pieces are of good size, and all fresh and handsome, one way is to cut out blocks of cotton cloth, either square or diamond-shape. Cut enough blocks to make the quilt the desired size, then paste on the pieces of silk, satin, or velvet; lap the edges and turn the upper one under; then cover every seam with feather-stitch, cross-stitch, or any fancy stitch you can invent. "

Crazy Quilt Embroidery

We find a great variety of stitching styles and embroidered motifs on these quilts; sometimes small pictures were even painted on the fabric. Animals and flowers seem to be the favorite embroidery themes. Some quilters believed that embroidering a spider on its web would bring good luck to the quilter. Crazy quilts occasionally included embroidered verses and information recording family events.