Twelve Quilts of Christmas – #10

The museum writes about this quilt:

“In the late 19th century, decorative “crazy” quilts—made from silk, velvet, and wool scraps stitched together “crazily” and embellished with embroidery—were all the rage. Susan McCord made three crazy quilts—this is only one she completed. McCord pieced the top, embroidered nearly every block, added filler and backing, and then tufted the three layers together with wool yarn.”

I have to say, now that I am on quilt number 3 of her crazy quilts I am quite enjoying the whole concept of this genre … at least in her skilled hands.  Thank you Susan McCord!

I really like the asymmetrical layout she chose, placing the circular bits to the right side. And those two almost unpieced blocks in the middle of all that wow?  Well just wow!  I love all the different types of fabrics she used: Wool in solid colours, woven plaids, strips and floral, cotton fabrics and wool and silk combination fabrics.

One of the things that appeals to me about this quilt is the red “binding” that frames the whole composition and is a quiet retainer of all the energy going on in the quilt top.  To me it is the perfect finish. Other options would be drab. I don’t mind that on some sides the binding is thicker/wider than others as it adds to the interest of the quilt.

In this McCord crazy quilt, she has again included white moments of brightness with a few individual pieces in the blocks, and with the embroidery she has added throughtout the top. The spike heads of wheat in the quarter circle on the right are incredibly detailed.  And other blocks are sprinkled whimsically with other flower and leaf elements.  

The quilt is tufted/tied with wool yarn.  A wise choice given the thick fabrics and the thickness of the batt she used compared to her other quilts.  The tufting adds to the texture of the quilt, creating its own secondary design overlaying, so to speak, all of her piecework and embroidery. I do not see tufting/tying at all like a cheat of a way to “quilt” this work. It adds so much to the whole composition.  However, it wouldn’t be allowed into many shows today because of it. 

Do you think tufted or tied quilts should be allowed in quilt shows?

What are your thoughts on crazy quilts? 

Some other facts about this quilt:

Condition:  Very good/almost new

Construction: Hand foundation pieced, hand embroidered with silk and wool thread and “other embroidery”

Borders: Top border 3 inches. Bottom border 3.75 inches. Proper left border 2.5 inches. No border on proper right side.

Back: Red cotton, solid/plain, handsewn, 5 pieces (18.5 in; 24 in; 24 in; 3.5 in)

Batting: Medium loft cotton batting

Quilting: Tufted/Tied with yarn wool

Binding: is back turned to front, corners are butted not turned/mitred