Framing a Quilt Square

I'd Googled for crazy quilt patterns, and had found some royalty free ones, but decided at the last minute last night to just try putting things together and see what happened for the first quilt block. While sewing piece to piece, it occurred to me that it would be helpful to have a 6" frame, so I could make sure the piece was big enough (the minimum required size for CQJP is 36 square inches).

Raw form, just sewing pieces together on whim

So I cut a frame out of a cardboard box. 6" x 6" looked a little small, so I cut out an even larger frame of 8" x 8".  Then it dawned on me I could have done it with fabric instead of wrestling with a cardboard box and box cutter. Oh, well.  The concept worked, anyway.

6" Frame

8" Frame

It sure helped to conceptualize the block, and massage it a bit in determining where I might cut it, later.

So, what have I learned so far? It would help greatly in sewing to iron some light weight interfacing to the back of slinky or velvety fabric. I didn't, and small puckers can be seen above. I hope to be able to cover those with embroidery, rather than having to tear the seams apart and sew again. I'm pretty sure the imperfections are small enough, and I think leaving them alone and seeing what can be done will be more informative than making them perfect right now.

I've also learned that using a frame when not using a pattern helps a great deal to figure out how to cut the block. So, two things learned already. Next on to the embroidery!