Crazy Quilts

Jumbled, bizarre, erratic, insane - terms used to describe the “crazy” part of crazy quilt. That term popped into my head as I looked at clothing in the far corner of a closet. The various fabric, colors and decorations would make interesting shapes to use.

Crazy quilts gained popularity during the Victorian era, though the exact origin is unknown. The luxurious colors and textures of fabrics and embellishments of the times, like laces, beads, flowers and feathers, were distinct standouts in the fancywork the women used to accessorize their homes. The haphazard asymmetrical look was a plus. Spurred on by the abundance of crazy-quilt patterns available via magazines popular with the women of the time, the craft gained popularity in America.

As women became more independent, interest in fancywork declined. Utilitarian quilts replaced fancy ones. The history of quilting reflects industrial and societal changes in our country’s growth. Crazy quilting is enjoying a resurgence, according to one source, though it doesn’t have
the same historical significance. It is, however, valued as art.

A crazy quilt is a fitting analogy for my life. It has been jumbled and erratic, maybe just a little bizarre. I wouldn’t go so far as to use “insane” among the descriptors for my adventure but “random” and “haphazard” are certainly appropriate.

Visualizations of a crazy quilt to celebrate mCrazyy journey would start with a few hints of those Victorian times, since my great-grandparents were living then, on the verge of raising my grandparents. Appalachian influences would be prominent, then evidence of rations and war times and then cotton-picking, gardening, canning, raising chickens. pigs and milk cows. Though I didn’t live through those times and circumstances, my parents did. Those influences didn’t vanish during my upbringing.

Also apparent in this fantasy quilt would be harvest golds/ greens, the velvets of ribbons and hats with the mesh veils, the crinkles of can-cans, the sheen of patent leather and itchiness of lace-trimmed socks, the blacks and whites of saddle oxford shoes, expanding to vivid tie-dyed colors, plaids and houndstooth patterns, the comfortable feel of knee socks blending to various shades of denim, the colors and patterns of men’s ties, gothic darks and skull designs, sheer
floral shawls and stretchy fabrics, then cottons, colors and slogans of twenty-first centurytee-shirts.

Embellishments might include peace signs, hooped earrings, dragonfly, butterfly and hummingbird pins and trinkets reflecting fascination with flamingos, bees,
crystals, fossils, aliens and the marvels of skies and seas. As the technological age develops, the composition of scraps to complete the quilt would be
curious. What would the border signify and who would add it?