Crazy Quilting Dazzling Diamonds

January 20, 2020
Quilting teacher Shaw (Stunning Stitches for Crazy Quilts) shares her knowledge of needle arts with this crafty little book of “dazzling diamonds.” Her crazy quilts are modern: they still comprise scraps seamed together on a foundation, then embellished with embroidery, but she leaves the velvet and satin of vintage crazy quilts behind. “It is perfectly acceptable to create a modern crazy quilt from cotton fabrics,” she reminds quilters. She teaches how to complete one quilt in either spring or autumn colors in a geometric pattern of diamonds. They lie atop a foundation to support the significant weight of stitches embroidered with perle thread. Her quilt is embellished with beads, buttons, and baubles, but not with photos, lace, or trimming. Twenty-seven blocks are further separated into triangles, embellished at the seams with silk ribbon–embroidery flowers as well as beading. Shaw’s instructions are exact—she provides color diagrams that detail the silk ribbon embroidery and beading, and she indicates what embroidery stitches, or size of ribbon or beads she used in the block-by-block embroidery guides. This appealing guide makes crazy quilting for the more experienced quilter and embroiderer seem entirely doable.