Prudence Dissents

For those of you who may get your knickers in a knot over something you perceive as political, you can skip this one. If you believe women's rights are human rights, you can stick around to see what this is about. 

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg served 27 years on the Supreme Court of the United States. She changed the world both as a litigator before the Supreme Court and as a Justice on the Court. She argued six gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court between 1973 and 1976, winning five. My life as a mother, wife, and service-member was made possible because of the work she did to move gender equality forward. Her passing touched me in a way the passing of people of fame or power rarely does. I felt as though a life-long advocate for me had left the halls of power and I would not like the outcome of filling her seat on that high Court. 

PrudenceKitch is a cross stitch creator that says what she means. I love her snarky and powerful designs. I'm not much of a cross stitcher (I can cross stitch, but it isn't really my thing) but I am a quilter. I purchased her tribute design Prudence Kitch - Notorious and got to work making it into a mini quilt. 

Step one was to pull some fabrics. This is what I started with. Not likely all of this will make it into the quilt. I had some problems with some of colors not reading with enough contrast but this was a good first fabric pull. I used Electric Quilt to create my block design using Prudence Kitch's cross stitch pattern as a reference. Sam Hunter has a free tutorial on how to turn a cross stitch pattern into a pattern for quilting. Check it out along with the other great stuff Sam has on her site. 

This was the first block. I made some errors in pulling it together and had one partial seam. I'll be planning the next blocks more carefully. 

It still worked out fine. How big are these tiny blocks? you might ask. Those are 1" finished squares. I thought about using smaller units but I just couldn't do it. The finished quilt will be around 37" by 42". A largish wall-hanging. 

For her iconic lace collar I found this great print in my collection of fabric. I decided the only way to get what I wanted out the fat-quarter was to fussy-cut that collar. 

Here is the next block. This quilt will take a while to work through all the units. I really do love how it is turning out after just one finished block. I'll try to update again soon. As always, follow my Instagram (@beccascrazyprojects) for more regular updates about what I'm making. 

Get your own copy of Prudence Kitch - Notorious on Etsy. 

Remember, the patriarchy isn't going to smash itself. 

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
Juki TL-2010Q
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Quilt design software: Electric Quilt