first crazy quilt

Oh dear - I'm obviously completely out of date >g< So, what's new?! . In message , Terri writes

Wow, what a nice quilt! I just love crazy quilts. Never made onel, but did take a course 10 years ago from a lady that did beautiful hand work. She had brought in an antique crazy quilt. Stunning! It didn't have a batting inside given that it was constructed using a foundation piece. If I recall, it had a silky backing. Thanks for sharing your work.

foundation for drunkards path blocks

ohh appliqué.. nah not easier in my book!

I'm trying freezer paper appliqué and I'm having a hard time of it getting everything prepped :-S I think I'll stick to reverse appliqué in future it's more my thing ;-)

Sounds yummy julia

Thank you for your compliment. I never though to use anything other than a cotton or flannel for a backing for this quilt and I have so many slinky fabrics here. something to think about for the next one. julia

Uh, I am a perfectionist, although I do seem to be loosening up a bit as I get older. I hope so, because I doubt my first effort, be it a crazy quilt or something else) will be perfect.

Funny thing. I find I usually am not thrilled with what I produce right after I produce it. Sometimes the things look better after some time as passed. I do have the crazy idea that my reaction is because *I* have preconceived notions about how the outcome should be. I also suspect that since I lack such notions about things that other folks produce, my reaction to those things is a lot more positive.

You are right that first quilts rarely come out the way you want them to. Do yourself a favor and keep that first one for yourself. You will be amazed as your addiction grows and the skill are perfected that you will treasure that first quilt all the more. When I look at my first quilt I smile and know that I can still do more and better things as time goes on. julia

That applies to about anything in life. I made straight A's in college, except for two C's one in Organic Chemistry the other in Microbiology. I worked much harder for those C's than I did any of those A's and you know those C's mean much more to me.

Jacqueline

Jacqueline

It probably won't be perfect, but it will be very good.

You can do a few small projects like I did. I call them my experimental quilts, and since they were experiments I wasn't worried about perfection, just learning. I decided to try two different battings in my first two projects, and I hand quilted one and machine quilted the other. I pieced squares and rectangles to make pieced blocks for one, and used some applique on the other. I also used two different binding methods on the projects so I know which binding I prefer doing. I learned I like applique better than piecing, and I like the look I get from fluffy poly batting more than the flatness of Warm and Natural brand batting. I also found out I enjoy hand quilting even though machine quilting is faster.

That is it, exactly. Just knowing that helps too. I've never had anything turn out exactly as it looks in my mind's eye, but when I finished the Pebbles and Bam Bam lap quilt I was just so tickled that I had made a quilt by myself that I proudly showed it to some non-quilting friends who do various needlework crafts. Well, they were so impressed that I made a small quilt that they couldn't see the imperfections at all. I expected to give that lap quilt away to a child, but I just can't bring myself to part with it. Debra in VA See my quilts at

With so many ways to do applique most people should be able to find at least one technique they can enjoy. I haven't tried reverse yet, but I will someday. Debra in VA See my quilts at

true - I can do needle turn but prefer reverse appliqué but wanting to see how freezer paper appliqué goes I decided to give it a go and very quickly discovered it's not my thing - one lives and learns and if one doesn't try one doesn't know but from now on you won't catch me suggesting freezer paper appliqué.

I just use freezer paper to stabilize my background fabric. It works like a charm for that. You won't catch me using it on the individual applique pieces though. Debra in VA See my quilts at

cool a new way of using freezer paper for me :-) I must give that a try!

I'm going to try it this very afternoon (if I get that far!). I've got to make the applique piece first, but I like the idea of a firmer background to sew to. . In message , Jessamy writes

I did the first two you mentioned and wanted to try the last but the freezer paper isn't up to the way I needle turn and kept on coming loose again so was a pain