My “Crazy” Quilts

This is an example of what is called a ‘crazy quilt’. I didn’t make this one. The idea is to use up your scraps in any shape whatsoever to create a quilt. Kind of fun looking right? There is nothing uniform about the sizes or the shapes. No plan, no pattern. Certainly this must have been a common quilt during pioneer days when there were only a few parts of every old piece of clothing to salvage, but still, it made a quilt!

There is another way to use up all your scraps and it is appropriately today called a ‘scrap quilt’ or a ‘scrappy quilt’. This time there is some planning involved but colours vary. It’s a great way to use up all of your scraps.

Well, I have my own personal version, a combination really of a ‘crazy’ quilt and a ‘scrap’ quilt. I call them my ‘crazy scrappy shirt quilts’. I use the word ‘crazy’ because I am crazy, well sort of. I make no secret that I have chronic depression in the form of bipolar disorder. Sewing fills my life with joy and purpose and as soon as I start sewing, I stop thinking negative thoughts. It is both therapeutic and productive. When I am sewing I am happy.

Plus I am an artist. I like to create my own designs and choose colours that make me smile. Plus I don’t want to spend much money because I make a lot of these (over 30 so far) and I don’t sell them, I give them away to women’s shelters. So what do I sew with? Recycled men’s shirts! They are often a great quality fabric, and they have a lot of fabric and they are cheaper than buying new fabric.

Here is a picture of a bunch of men’s shirts, bought at a thrift shop, freshly washed and folded and waiting for me to cut up.

And next is the quilt pieces ready to put together to make a beautiful quilt.

And now here is the quilt assembled, do you like it? Now it is not quilted yet, that part I do by hand and it takes the longest.

As you can see the ‘pattern’ is not random, I create it myself, and just like my thoughts, they are all over the place. But the colour choices give it consistency and besides, who cares? I got some therapy out of it, someone in a women’s shelter will hopefully get some therapy out of it as well.

We are a lot like my quilts. Bits and pieces of some old parts of our lives, maybe a part of us that we didn’t think mattered anymore, like an old shirt. But God can make something beautiful out of your broken bits if you let him.

“God will heal your broken heart if you give him all the pieces.”