Project Quilting 12.5 - You're Crazy

Sometime in the middle of last year, I came across a blog that showed elaborately embroidered, four patch pin cushions.  They looked fascinating, so I bookmarked them for future reference.  If you're interested, the name of the blog is Hummingbird Highway, and here is a link to the article that shows some of the pincushions. Puffy Fours Pincushions

When I saw that the challenge this week was "Crazy", I immediately thought about those pincushions, because of the embroidery.  For me, the defining feature of crazy quilting is the embroidery.  I was thinking that I could piece the top like a crazy quilt and do some lovely hand embroidery on the seams.  I Googled 'embroidery stitches' and saw some really cool stitches that I wanted to try. 

I have done some hand embroidery, but it has been many years.  Mostly, it was very basic outline stitches, chain stitches and satin stitches.   But that didn't stop me from digging out the embroidery floss and perle cotton and planning to have a go at it.

Once I read the blog again, I realized that the pin cushions are a LOT smaller than I originally thought that they were.  They start with a four patch that finishes at 3 1/2 inches.  To tell you the truth, I wasn't in the mood to work with tiny pieces.  First of all, I would have to piece four 2 1/2  inch squares from even tinier pieces to make the 3 1/2 inch four patch. Then, the seams would be so short that it didn't seem like it would be worth embroidering on them. 

So I decided that I would make a pincushion, but start with regularly pieced four patches, much like the ones on Hummingbird Highway. I reasoned that one of the main features of crazy quilting is the embroidery, right?  And I would use all those lovely embroidery stitches along the sides and the middle seams....

After putting together the top and side piece and discovering that I didn't have a small enough embroidery hoop, doubts about the feasibility of this project started to surface.  I put it aside for a day or two while I thought about how to get a 4 inch project into a 6 inch hoop.  I grabbed some fabric strips from my stash and basted them to the sides.  Ah, ha!  That worked!  

I pulled up the site with the cool embroidery stitches, threaded my needle with a variegated blue perle cotton and got to work.  Well, 'got to work' is a bit of an overstatement.  It makes it sound like I actually accomplished something.  What actually happened is that I attempted the first stitch, a feathered chain stitch.  I mean, I've done chain stitches, so how hard could this one be?  Half an hour later, I had tried and ripped out the stitches numerous times.  My feathered chain stitch looked nothing like the diagram.  My brain just wasn't able to interpret all those arrows and numbers in the diagram. Maybe a different stitch would be better to start with?  

My next attempt was the open Cretan stitch, which according to the site, is a simple variation on the feather stitch.  Another half an hour passed, during which I attempted, ripped out, attempted again, ripped out again, etc. etc.  After throwing the embroidery hoop, perle cotton, needle and all across the room, I was seriously questioning my ability to finish this challenge.

Yesterday, I decided that all those fun looking stitches on my sewing machine were put there for a good reason!  I found one that I liked, and embroidered around the edges and finished the pincushion.  I really like it, but I decided that it really wasn't a good interpretation of the challenge.  Even with the embroidery, it is just too 'sane'! So I resolved to start over after a good night's sleep.

This morning, I grabbed my bin of small scraps and started sewing them together.  I ended up with an oddly shaped piece that was about 9 inches on the longest side. 

I've been trying to avoid making another potholder or mug rug for this challenge, since I've made so many of them for Project Quilting in the past.  But I knew that I would have to finish the challenge quickly, so a potholder would fit the bill. 

Using one of my other potholders as a template, I cut out a circle approximately 7 1/2 inches in diameter.  Two pieces of Warm and Natural scraps provided the insulation.  I used up a spool of variegated thread exploring all those fun stitches on my sewing machine.  I added a backing and a bias binding, and finally had a project for this challenge!