Foolproof Crazy Quilting

Clouston, an Australian quilt teacher who grew up in South Africa, presents her fabulous crazy quilt composed of colorful fabrics cut in hexagons, then embroidered, beaded, and beribboned. In her introduction, she explains the imprint of her family and their varied lands on her, and she briefly describes the history of crazy quilts: what began as garish in the age of Queen Victoria became a “gentle art”; nevertheless, she allows, it “is time-consuming…and a little indulgent.” Clouston lists her preferred threads and needles, cites no-no’s (avoid too many patterns), offers tips, and instructs in methods such as foundation piecing. The body of the book details the 25 blocks in her hexagon-based quilt. She then describes how to take each stitch, whether threaded with perle cotton or twisted silk, whether Colonial or French knots, whether embellished with beads or rickrack. In the closing gallery, Clouston pictures variations - bags, box, and cozy - on the crazy quilt t heme. Throughout, pictures and graphics (hexagon patterns are given in the back) are maximal; text minimal. Publishers Weekly, November 4, 2013 Nothing shows off beautiful stitching and embellishments like the blank canvas of a crazy quilt. Jennifer Clouston’s gorgeously illustrated primer, Foolproof Crazy Quilting, introduces your customers to the joys of making their own heirloom crazy quilts. Learn how to pick fabric, threads and needles. Learn how to piece crazy quilt blocks and how to embroider with thread, ribbons, beads and other embellishments. Includes complete instructions for over 100 embroidery, beading, and embellishment stitches, full-size patterns for 9 hexagonal crazy quilt blocks, and 25 stitch keys showing proper stitch selection for 25 different blocks. FabShop News, 1/7/14 Crazy quilting can be very free-form and experimental, but there are some essential fundamental techniques which can be finicky and hard to master. Jennifer Clouston’s book attempts to demystify the processes involved, and does so very successfully. An interesting potted overview of crazy quilting leads on to effective guides on materials, foundation piecing and seam treatment, and also a rather brilliant idea for storing scissors and thimbles for easy access, which we won’t give away here… There’s an almost forensic dissection of the constituent parts and techniques for many blocks, accompanied by some excellent, detailed photographs, that will prove extremely instructive and informative for quilters of all levels. Overall the book is a good exploration of a sometimes overlooked, but nevertheless fascinating, area of quilting. Popular Patchwork Magazine, May 2014

Jennifer Clouston started quilting after the birth of her first child. Now that her kids have flown the nest, she keeps busy teaching, quilting, and writing. She is the author of Foolproof Crazy Quilts and Foolproof Crazy Projects, and she and her husband live in Australia.