Notorious

I finally took the plunge and started quilting this little piece. This was inspired by a cross stitch design created by Prudence Kitch. If you are a cross-stitcher you should check out their snarky little darlings. Get your own copy of Prudence Kitch - Notorious on Etsy. If you want to see some of my progress shots check out this post. 

The background is quilted with this flower motif. 

The dress is quilted with a variegated thread to make these swirls. 

I added some detail to the lily.

The swirls make their way up the bodice.

Nothing fancy for the gavel.

I'll trim and bind and prepare a hanging sleeve. I'm really pleased with how this turned out. 

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

Prudence Dissents

Blogger still hasn't gotten their crap together with this new tool. Geez. When the feedback form doesn't work you know they've got their best people working on the upgrade. 

Back to quilting. This past weekend I got back to work on this fun little quilt. You can read more about this project in my first post about Prudence. Admittedly, I got better at putting the units together as I went along. 

I got to this point and realized I needed to take another look at the lily. I sat down with Electric Quilt but just couldn't sort it out. I grabbed my printout and my erasable pen and got scribbling. 

I made some incorrect cuts while I worked on this block. Nothing tragic at these sizes. 

I think it came out pretty good considering I only used half-square triangle units. I used a couple half-rectangle units in the quilt but I'm not terribly good at them. I may need to do some research so I can get better at them.  

I think it worked out great!

I added the borders and put it back up on the design wall. I have grand ideas for the quilting but I'm not ready to talk that step yet. 

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

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

What's in a Name Tag?

To help people get to know each other, the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild coordinated a name tag swap.

I decided that I want to do some tiny paper piecing to make sure I got it right. I designed a stack of tiny flying geese. I used Electric Quilt 8 to design the paper piecing papers. There is an option to print as many as will fit on a page, so I went with it. There was a printing problem (the user) so I ended up with two pages of these.

I grabbed my bin of scraps and make a couple units. They came out rather nice, I think. 

I added some sashing so I would be sure not to trim off any of those carefully made points. I paired the piecing with an embroidered panel. 

I free motion quilted this on the Juki. It was my first time using the Juki to free motion quilt. It was a great experience! I left loads of room for pins, too. I have two pins attached to my current name tag and I wouldn't want to keep anyone from having room for their flash.

I added the binding and made it into a lanyard. I really hope Marcia likes it!

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

The Not Blue Ridge Beauty

I shared a little about my take on Bonnie Hunter's Blue Ridge Beauty in early February. I didn't have a bunch of blues, so I decided to make it with a bunch of reds I had on hand.

The block design is Blue Ridge Beauty from Bonnie Hunter's book Adventures in Leaders and Enders.

I decided to play with the layout in Electric Quilt (I use EQ8). I liked this layout so I rearranged the blocks until I had it on the design wall.

I used a technique called webbing to get the blocks all sewn up in the layout. Such a great technique for keeping the rows organized. If anything is wrong now, it's staying forever. 

I loaded up the quilt with a pieced backing. This quilt really is a great from my stash project. Not buying new fabric to finish a project is even better. 

I quilted it with an all-over flower motif. 

This is a great filler and goes rather quickly. It's one of my favorites. 

And a scrappy binding for the finish!

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
6.5" Easy Angle Ruler
4.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White
Bonnie Hunter's Book Adventures with Leaders and Enders
Quilt design software: Electric Quilt