When I heard the Sharon Boggon was writing a book on crazy quilting, I knew I had to have it! I pre-ordered it, and when it arrived, it flew to the top of my book stack.

Sharon blogs – and has for a long, long time! – at Pintangle about crazy quilting and other artistic and stitch-related interests. Her encrusted approach to crazy quilting has fascinated me for years.

I love to look at her elaborate crazy quilt squares, with exquisitely arranged ground fabrics, perfectly placed and spaced stitches, ingenious stitch combinations, fantastic textures, and judiciously and tastefully added embellishments.

Her work is really a feast for the eyes!

And while I’m not a crazy quilter myself (I did dabble a bit with it – and goldwork – here), I love to look at beautifully executed crazy quilting.

There’s a lot to learn in crazy quilting that can be applied to other types of stitchery, too. I appreciate especially the freedom of crazy quilting. I think it’s a perfect outlet for creative stitchers who like to sew and who enjoy playing with fabric, threads, beads, ribbons, texture, and color.

While I’m not an expert (by a long shot) in bead embroidery, it’s something that I enjoy exploring. I love to dabble with beads and add them to my stitching when they make sense.

“Beads for the sake of beads” doesn’t always do it for me – they really have to fit in with the project I’m working on. So I don’t add them to everything I stitch, and in fact, I stitch without beads more often than I do with them.

But on certain types of projects (Party in Provence, for example), beads make perfect sense. They’re fun, they sparkle, and they work with the design.

If you’re interested in adding beads to your own needlework projects, you might find these bead conversion charts that I’ve come across online helpful. You’ll find conversions for beads to beads (one brand of bead to another) and conversions for floss to beads (choosing beads to match embroidery floss colors).

Remember the finish on this embroidered kaleidoscope project, Party in Provence, that I shared with you last week?

Well, I’ve been working my way through a variation on the theme, which is supposed to end up as a pocket on a tote bag. If you’ve been hanging out with me a bit on Needle ‘n Thread, you’ll probably recall this discussion on twill and duck for embroidery, following this discussion on some preliminary explorations of poor choices in linen.

The last time I showed you progress on this project was here, where I was just beginningto sample the embroidery on the cotton twill.

As I’ve worked my way through this little design excerpt on the cotton twill, I’ve discovered a few things – some likes and dislikes, some things I’d probably do differently if I were to start over, and the recurring joy I find in stitching certain stitches!