I knew I wanted to do a crazy quilt for my cousin’s memory quilt, and RMQM did a whole crazy quilt exhibit this past fall! Crazy quilts became popular in the late 1800s and generally include colorful scraps of cotton and silk and velvet, ribbons, buttons, other baubles, and embroidery. They vary in the level of complexity of course, and I wanted to find a style or inspiration that I was comfortable using for my crazy quilt.

I went on a Saturday morning, and if you go right when it opens, usually one of the employees will walk around with you and tell you about the quilts. I was the only one there for a while, and a very nice employee walked around with me and we talked about the quilts. As a note, this post won’t have many credits because I forgot to take pictures of most the signs.

One thing I loved was that not all the quilts had borders. I struggle with borders and knowing what fabric to choose, how to quilt it, and it’s an optional step that stands between me and finishing the quilt so I tend to skip them. So I was instantly inspired by border-less quilts.

It also made so much more sense to create crazy-pieced square blocks and then put the blocks together instead of trying to crazy-piece an entire quilt. I also went into this knowing my cousin wanted a small-ish lap quilt, so I wasn’t overly intimidated by the size and scale of most of these quilts.

I liked this one that was kind of a medallion type of quilt, and you’ll see the very typical embroidery with that fun ribbon flower in the very center.

I loved this twisting and twirling quilt. It’s pieced rhombi, where each rhombus is one of the arcs.

This next quilt was my favorite of the entire exhibit. I loved the on point blocks, each with its own story. This quilt was made by Patricia and Allen Brown of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

And here are some other up-close inspirations!

I definitely walked away with a better idea of what I wanted to do with my cousin’s quilt, and so much inspiration for future projects. I don’t think I’d do a whole embroidered crazy quilt, but maybe something more like a mini art quilt. I really liked the idea of embroidering over printed fabric to enhance or create a new picture, and making little flowers with ribbon and zippers. Could be a fun mini project!

Stay tuned for the post on my second memory quilt coming up soon 🙂