adventure

Hydrangea Quilt from Becca's Crazy Projects

The mother of one of my co-workers found out I am a quilter. She is a very new quilter and wanted some help quilting one of her quilts. After some back and forth through email, we agreed on the quilting and she sent the top, batting, and backing along to me.

I loaded the quilt up and looked at the great piecing and grabbed a couple colors of thread that I thought would work with the front and the backing.

I liked the cream-colored thread better, and she agreed. I recommended an all-over flower design found in Angela Walter's ...

added by Becca 4 months ago. under 2019 , adventure , crazy , design , long arm , longarm , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quilting , tool

Quilting Love from Becca's Crazy Projects

I shared this fun paper pieced mini love quilt with you last week. I quilted it up but it isn't quite finished. Pattern is paper pieced Love Stamp Quilt by Sam Hunter.

I used one of my rulers to help me quilt the background with a coordinating gray thread.

The square meander in the letters was done free-hand. so were some of the straight lines in the background, but most were done with a ruler. I trimmed it up and all it needs now is binding and a label.

Tools and supplies (affiliate links):
Fiskars Rotary Cutter ...

added by Becca 4 months, 1 week ago. under 2019 , adventure , crazy , design , project , projects , quilt , quilter , sew my stash , stash , tool

Paper Piecing Love from Becca's Crazy Projects

Sam Hunter is a quilt designer and a great advocate for knowing your worth. I have had a copy of one of her patterns in my collection for a while now. In truth, I have several of her patterns. I decided to do some paper piecing and make up a version of her paper pieced Love Stamp Quilt.

I basically learned to paper piece using her book Quilt Talk. If you want to make your quilts speak, and aren't afraid to learn something new, I recommend her book. If you buy it directly from her, she makes a little ...

added by Becca 4 months, 3 weeks ago. under 2019 , adventure , crazy , design , project , projects , quilt , quilter , sew my stash , stash , tool

Glam Clam Farmer's Market from Becca's Crazy Projects

I shared the assembly of this fun quilt last week. All the details for construction tools are at the bottom of the post.

I decided to quilt it with swirls and waves.

This was a quilt to use up a bunch of fabrics I collected over several years. For the binding, I used leftover strips from the backing from another quilt. When I added the binding, I realized I was short by several inches. I grabbed some of the leftovers from the scrap pile leftover from this quilt and spliced in some orange slices.

This was a great project to ...

added by Becca 5 months, 1 week ago. under 2019 , adventure , crazy , design , project , projects , quilt , quilter , sew my stash , stash , tool

Virginia Adventures from Becca's Crazy Projects

Last week I had to travel down to Norfolk, Virginia, for a business meeting. I drove down on Monday to make the meeting on Tuesday. Monday evening I went for a walk down by the waterfront.

There are many of these painted mermaids down there outside businesses.

I snapped a few photos while I was wandering around looking for a place to eat dinner.

Annapolis had a collection of birds downtown, so this kind of art installation is something I've seen before.

There was even this little one at a breakfast place rendered in miniature as a trophy.

added by Becca 5 months, 2 weeks ago. under 2019 , adventure , travel , virginia

Glam Clam Farmer's Market from Becca's Crazy Projects

I've had The Clammy 12" for a while now. It has been on my shelf waiting to be used to make something awesome. Check out Latifah Saafir Studios for more information about this great tool.

I also have this ridiculous stack of fruit and vegetable fat quarters. I decided it was time to put these two things together and make something. This will be another project taken primarily from my stash of fabrics.

Latifah Saafir Studios has some excellent YouTube videos on cutting, marking, assembling, and pressing the clam shapes. If you're nervous about those curves, I recommend ...

added by Becca 5 months, 2 weeks ago. under 2019 , adventure , crazy , design , project , projects , quilt , quilter , sew my stash , stash , tool

The Not Blue Ridge Beauty from Becca's Crazy Projects

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 ...

added by Becca 6 months ago. under 2019 , adventure , crazy , design , eq , hst , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville , scrap , scraps , sew my stash

Leftovers from Becca's Crazy Projects

I decided not to use the small half-square triangle units in a border for my Good Fortune mystery quilt. That meant I had to find a home for them.

I did some quilt math, and discovered I had enough to get half way to a crib quilt. I pulled out some coordinating prints and got stitching.

I also used the narrow string pieces to make the inner border on the quilt. A fun print of numbers and I had a complete crib-sized quilt top. I have some snuggly flannel in a coordinating color around here somewhere, I'm sure. Not ...

added by Becca 6 months, 2 weeks ago. under 2019 , adventure , crazy , design , good fortune , hst , mystery , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville

The Not Blue Ridge Beauty from Becca's Crazy Projects

In an attempt to work through my ridiculous amount of fabric, I decided I should add one of Bonnie Hunter's projects to my list for the year. This year, I did not make a Get It Done UFO Challenge list. I finished all the quilts last year, and didn't have a stack to put on the list. I didn't even have an unfinished quilt beyond Good Fortune.

I'm not excited about putting completely nascent projects on the list. That doesn't mean I don't have plans for the year. Just that I don't have ...

added by Becca 6 months, 2 weeks ago. under 2019 , adventure , crazy , design , hst , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville , scrap , scraps

Long Arm Quilting Details from Becca's Crazy Projects

One of the quilting groups I belong to on Facebook shared this awesome post by Kimmyquilt on how to straighten and square up the leaders on the long arm frame. I wish I had this information a few years ago when I replaced the leaders.

In the end, I made some very minor adjustments to my leaders. It isn't 100% perfect, but I don't think a difference of 1/4" from one end of my 10 foot frame to the other is something I'm going to fret over. The difference in a pieced backing, or the piecing ...

added by Becca 7 months, 1 week ago. under 2019 , adventure , crazy , long arm , longarm , md , modern , project , projects , quilt , quilter

Mystery Quilt: Good Fortune from Becca's Crazy Projects

Time to share my Good Fortune Mystery Quilt progress. I decided to pull the backing fabric from my collection of fabrics, too.

I was only a little surprised I found enough pieces in the right colors. I grabbed all the coordinating colors, laid them out, measured and was fairly certain I could come up with enough backing.

While I assembled the other pieces of the backing, I stitched out the label onto one section.

Due to a cutting error, I needed to make the pink section a little wider. I pulled out those two leftover blocks and added them in ...

added by Becca 7 months, 1 week ago. under 2018 , adventure , crazy , design , good fortune , hst , mystery , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville

Winter Holiday Adventure from Becca's Crazy Projects

With the recent lapse in appropriations for several government agencies, there have been closures of facilities in the Washington DC area. Darling Husband and I planned vacation time for the first week of January. We made that plan way back in November, when it seemed there would be many things to do in DC. Then there was a state funeral and a lapse in appropriations for several government agencies. What was open and what was closed was somewhat murky and more than I wanted to contemplate. Particularly knowing I might not get paid in January. A coworker recommended we check ...

added by Becca 7 months, 2 weeks ago. under 2019 , adventure , museum , travel , washington

Mystery Quilt: Good Fortune from Becca's Crazy Projects

Time to share my Good Fortune Mystery Quilt progress. Clue number: the reveal! That's right, no more clues.

The bin was overflowing with bits from the last clue.

There was a sneaky clue number seven. It was joining some of the smaller units into larger units. Nothing fancy, but it was nice to do some intermediate piecing.

First part of the reveal was the primary block. Other than piecing one of these incorrectly (I'm sure that block appears in this post) this was a very straightforward clue. Those parallelogram units really shine here.

The alternate blocks used up ...

added by Becca 7 months, 2 weeks ago. under 2018 , adventure , crazy , design , good fortune , hst , mystery , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville

Mystery Quilt: Good Fortune from Becca's Crazy Projects

Time to share my Good Fortune Mystery Quilt progress. Clue number six!

This is the stack of strings I pulled out of my string bin. It was almost enough to complete the clue.

I only had to cut a few strips from my other fabric to complete this clue. I still have to pull the paper off the back, but I'm ready for whatever comes next!

The rest of the units are ready.

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 ...

added by Becca 7 months, 3 weeks ago. under 2018 , adventure , crazy , design , good fortune , hst , mystery , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville

Mystery Quilt: Good Fortune from Becca's Crazy Projects

Time again to share my Good Fortune Mystery Quilt progress. Clue number five!

This week made me question my color choices. Only for a little while, though. I cut my pieces using the 4.5" Easy Angle Ruler and the Companion Angle Ruler. These tools make cutting units like these a breeze.

Once I had pieced a couple of the units, I liked the colors just fine. The combination of these colors reminds me of my On Ringo Lake, Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt from last winter.

You can read all about my On Ringo Lake finish in this post ...

added by Becca 8 months ago. under 2018 , adventure , crazy , design , good fortune , hst , mystery , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville

Mystery Quilt: Good Fortune from Becca's Crazy Projects

Time to share my Good Fortune Mystery Quilt progress. Clue number four!

This week we did a little string piecing. At first I wasn't very excited about this prospect, but I dug out some of my strings and made up a couple. I decided I really liked the effect and they went together pretty quickly.

So quickly that I reached my goal, plus a couple extra, rather quickly. I might add string piecing back into my after work routine because it is so satisfying to put together fun blocks and units with what would otherwise be thrown in the ...

added by Becca 8 months, 1 week ago. under 2018 , adventure , crazy , design , good fortune , hst , mystery , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville

Travel Knitting Kit from Becca's Crazy Projects

When I travel, I usually take along a simple kitting project to keep my hands busy during flights or long drives. This means I may need a few knitting tools. I want to share my kit so you can see what I have and carry regularly. I've never had a problem flying with this kit in my carry-on bag. I only fly domestically in the United States, so your mileage may vary.

I always have a project bag dedicated to my travel project. It helps me keep the yarn, needles and kit separate from the other things in my ...

added by Becca 8 months, 2 weeks ago. under 2018 , adventure , bag , craft , crazy , knit , knitting , maryland , md , pouch , project , projects , scissors , travel , zipper

Mystery Quilt: Good Fortune from Becca's Crazy Projects

Time again to share my Good Fortune Mystery Quilt progress. Clue number three!

This time we're making chevron units. I've learned over the last few mystery quilts that I can cut and piece these the most accurately if I make a template of the chevron piece. How do I do that? I cut a piece of paper the size required for the finished unit. Then I use the 4.5" Easy Angle Ruler to trim that piece to the correct parallelogram shape. I tape that template to the back of my 6.5" Easy Angle Ruler so I ...

added by Becca 8 months, 2 weeks ago. under 2018 , adventure , crazy , design , good fortune , hst , mystery , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville

Mystery Quilt: Good Fortune from Becca's Crazy Projects

Time for the sharing of my Good Fortune Mystery Quilt progress.

I pulled out my fuchsia fabrics (my substitution for Bonnie's blue) and got cutting. I absolutely love the speed and accuracy I get when cutting strip sets with the 4.5" Easy Angle Ruler . (If you want a more versatile ruler, the 6.5" Easy Angle Ruler may suit you better. I think I got a deal with a coupon at one of the big box stores when I bought mine. I'm a big ruler fan and have rulers I haven't even used yet.) I stack ...

added by Becca 8 months, 3 weeks ago. under 2018 , adventure , crazy , design , good fortune , hst , mystery , project , projects , quilt , quilter , quiltville

Home Ownership from Becca's Crazy Projects

Home ownership comes with joy and challenges. A couple weeks ago was a challenge. The dryer (that came with the house) decided it didn't want to dry clothes any more. I could go into a long discussion about the basics of dryers and how a thermal fuse works, but if you really want to know, there is great information on Appliance Repair.net. Seriously, if you can follow directions and use a screwdriver you can fix quite a few things.

I even found this video that helped me test the operation of the dryer before I went out to ...

added by Becca 8 months, 4 weeks ago. under 2018 , adventure , challenge , crazy , home-improvement , maryland , md , project

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