Make May Modern

Last Saturday the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild held their Make May Modern one day retreat. I didn't attend in person but they encouraged everyone to make a tote using the Ruby Star Society Reusable Shopping Tote pattern (free). Since I didn't attend I decided to at least sew along with part of my day and make the tote. This fabric has been in my collection for more than five years. I'm pretty sure it came to me as a mystery box of quilting cottons from Craftsy. Large prints almost always become totes or bags because I don't have much luck cutting them up for quilts. 

This little pattern has you measure for your cutting lines. I used my Creative Grids Circle Savvy 11-3/4in x 18-1/2in Quilt Ruler to cut the curves. I use the Fiskars Stick Rotary Cutter, 28mm to cut those arcs.

I cut the pocket a little bigger than the pattern asked for. 

I used the serger to tidy up the straps before folding and top stitching. This pattern uses French seams but doesn't make it sound complicated. 

It does fold into the pocket. Not that it I managed to fold it to look pretty. Usually I fold my totes so they are tidy but this is the first time I've made one with a pocket specifically for the task. 

Overall this was a great afternoon project. I don't think this bag will become my go-to bag as it does have some waste. I might use some of the techniques on other simple totes, though. It does have a very professional finish. 

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Creative Grids 4.5" x 12.5" Rectangle Quilting Ruler
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Rotary Cutter replacement blades
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
Juki TL-2010Q

Creative Grids Circle Savvy 11-3/4in x 18-1/2in Quilt Ruler

Fiskars Stick Rotary Cutter, 28mm

Quilting in Lime Green

 

When I picked up the Innova long arm I asked if there was anything MJ wanted me to quilt for her. she handed over a fun little quilt. 

I chose this pretty swirl design and got stitching. 

I chose a coordinating green for the top and bobbin threads. I love how the texture shows on the solid backing.

Now I can get it back to MJ so she can attach and finish the binding. 

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

Modern Quilting

Michael Miller Fabrics donated some fabric to the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild to help with our charitable quilt-making. I picked up a bundle of fabric at the last meeting and I finally pulled it out to come up with a plan.

This border print is super cute and deserved to be highlighted. I did some measuring and decided on a layout. I worked up a design in Electric Quilt, pulled fabrics from my collection to make up the top, and got cutting.

I'm not sure how modern this quilt is. It uses traditional blocks, but modern fabrics.

Here is the layout I settled on.

I've got the backing and binding ready to go. Now I just need to get it quilted.

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Easy Angle Ruler, 6.5" 

Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
BLACK+DECKER Classic Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Cheryl Ann's Quilting Design Wall - 72" White
Electric Quilt

Almost Instant Quilt

During the last meeting of the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild I grabbed a label for a charity quilt. Every year the guild makes quilts for charity. This year the theme is animals, but I'm a rebel when it comes to themes, or prompts.

I decided this was a great opportunity to use this fun panel I picked while shopping at Spring Water Designs. A coordinating dotted print from my stash, some backing and I was ready to go.

Quilted and bound, start to finish in a couple hours. Overall, a great Friday morning project.

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
Pilot Frixion Erasable Marker (mark on the back of fabric, or where it will be hidden in seams)
Omnigrid R1 1-Inch by 6-Inch Ruler

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

Mystery in Black and White

Since I picked up backing during the after Thanksgiving shopping craze, I decided I should load up my 2018 Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild mystery quilt. I've been trying very hard to keep working on finishing things instead of starting things. I think it is a challenge for every creative person.

I quilted this one with a wavy hand-guided design with a few swirls to fill in some of the arcs. More wave than swirl overall.

I had some time this week to finish the binding. A finished quilt is a happy quilt.

As part of my quest to buy less fabric I'm going to try to keep track of my fabric shopping in the new year. It will be interesting to see how much fabric comes in to my studio compared to the completed projects.

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

MQG Pouch Swap

The DC Modern Quilt Guild and the Baltimore Modern Quilt Guild are doing a bag swap at the next Baltimore MQG meeting.

As one would expect, partner assignments went out weeks ago and I just got around to constructing my swap bag. The recommended pattern was the Open Wide Pouch by Noodlehead. It's a free pattern with a great tutorial. I dug around in my stash for the appropriate colors. At least I hope they are the appropriate colors.

Then I fiddled with Electric Quilt 8 until I had design I liked. The block finishes at 12" by 12" so I can quilt it and then trim it to the right size.

I decided to make a couple stacks of flying geese. The tools I used are listed at the bottom of the post.

I pieced the panels after fussy cutting the background pieces. All that fabric going in the same direction is such a happy thing!

I dug around until I found a leftover piece of batting and got it loaded on the long arm. While this might seem a silly thing to make with the long arm, I have to admit I love the results. I'm just a better long arm quilter than I am a free-motion quilter on my domestic machine.

Aren't those panels fun?

I changed my mind on the zipper color, and I'm really glad I did. This is a much better choice than the blue one I had picked out early in the project. This is one of those projects I would love to keep. That happens way more than I ever thought it would. I hope my partner will be as happy with it as I am.

Tools (affiliate links):
Creative Grids 6.5" x 24.5" Rectangle
Fiskars Rotary Cutter
Fiskars Self Healing Rotary Cutting Mat
BLACK+DECKER Vitessa Advanced Steam Iron
Grabbit Magnetic Pin Cushion
Fiskars 8-inch scissors
Juki TL-2010Q
6.5" Easy Angle Ruler
Companion Angle Ruler
Tucker Wing Clipper Ruler
Creative Grids 6.5" Square Ruler
Electric Quilt 8