Embroidery Mistresspiece part 1

This quilt is a full-out embodiment of the height of the crazy quilt style.  The embroidery is off the charts for precision and creativity.  

Here are some pieces where the maker toyed with and built upon the designs on the fabrics:

Wagon wheel spokes embroidered over the circles on a line and circle brocade. 

Embroidery added to cut velvet stripes.

Woven textured stripes became a garden fence or edging, 

when a row of embroidered flowers was added. 

Here is some amazing pictorial embroidery:

There is boundless creativity and joy all over this quilt - no space is left undecorated, color play is everywhere:

Here are some unusual and beautiful fabrics:

Brocade

Cut velvets

Woven texture (the yellow and black stripes are one piece of fabric)

 And finally, here is gorgeous personalization:

In the center of the quilt.  

Maybe the maker was a fan of Elizabeth I.

Both embroidered and painted violets appear quite a few times, all over the quilt.
You can see some of them in the above photos.
Maybe E.R. are her initials and violets her favorite flower,

but I like to believe that this tiny and beautiful piece is the name of the quiltmaker.

Violette was an amazing needlewoman!

The owner's story of how he came to own the quilt, and some photos of repairs in progress follow in the next two posts.