Harriet's Horrible Hair Day     Crazy About Quilts My mother taught me to embroider when I was around eleven. I enjoyed it then, and I love it now. Crazy quilts -- with their rich fabrics, creative embroidery stitches, fun embellishments -- have fascinated me since the first moment I discovered them. My favorite embellishment (besides the embroidery) are buttons. I remember sifting through my grandmother's button box. Joy! That box became my treasure trove and started me collecting buttons. Now I own two button boxes and a drawer organizer filled with rainbow colors and unique patterns.

The first quilts I look for in a quilt show are the Crazy Quilts with their lovely embroidery, lace inserts and appliqué. Some of them I view again and again, amazed to find a previously missed piece of stitchery or some small tidbit snuggled in the quilt design.   Crazy Quilt I feel fortunate to have won these Block-of-the-Month quilt blocks at my quilt guild's monthly raffle. The first block (top left) I sewed; and since I needed one more block to complete the setting, I sewed the middle block in the second row. Star fabrics (one green and one black) form the inner lattice and outside border. I tied the layers together with three-generations of buttons -- my grandmother's, my mother's and my own. The buttons make excellent conversation starters. It's amazing how many people love buttons or have collections of their own.  Below are close-up photos of some of the quilt blocks. The fabrics vary from square to square: cotton, faux leather, brocade, velvet, silk, satin. Some quilters preferred to embellish their blocks with metallic thread or hand- or machine-embroidery. Other quilters used ribbons, lace, beads, buttons and even satin piping.

Copyright 2000 Dawn Lesley Stewart