Capitol Crochet, Part II: The Insurrection

In my last post, I showed off a very happy 2021 inauguration crochet scene, here. To recap the highlights, I made a whole lot of jubilant and competent people, diligently wearing masks (except when called upon to speak or sing.)

Plus a Capitol building:

When I showed it off on Facebook, friends asked me if I would do the insurrection next. No way, I thought. Crochet, almost by definition, makes sweet and adorable objects. How could you  crochet murderous cruelty and delusion?

But I couldn't let the idea go. In the late 70s/early 80s, I lived in Washington DC, part of that time in a townhouse on Capitol Hill. Every morning, I walked a few blocks to the Capitol, up the back steps, down the front steps, across the Mall, and up to my office in Dupont Circle. I developed great affection for the Capitol and the Mall, and especially for the happy wandering tourists from far-flung places. So the January 6 insurrection, defiling a place I truly loved, hit me personally.

After debating with myself for a while, I gave it a shot. (No pun intended.)

There's a Hitler worshipper. His hat says "abuse," which could stand for what he was doing to Capitol police officers, or what happened to him in his childhood, or both. 

There's KKK bat guy.

Boxcutter guy.

Hairy backpack man. I couldn't bear to embroider a real swastika, so I did it wrong.

The nail in his backpack could give you tetanus.

He's best friends with bullet vest guy, and they brought a ladder.

Bullet vest closeups. I bought the empty casings on ebay years ago, for a different social statement crochet project. (It involved a yarn gun). 

Vest guy believes he is a Christian. 

Knitting needle guy stabs the dome. 

Gallows guy. The hat says "hate." 

They all need help; some need prison. Here's the lineup. 

I don't really know what to do with all this. At the moment, I think of it as a playset that will allow me to work through my feelings surrounding perhaps the most bizarre month in American history, January 2021. 

Revisit the much more cheerful Inauguration crochet playset here. 

Capitol Crochet, Part 1: A Happy Inauguration

Inspired by the Bernie Sanders memes after the January presidential inauguration, I decided to crochet my own version. I didn't use a pattern - I just made him up as I went along, crocheting in spirals. He had a brief fling with the cat.

That was so much fun, I wound up making five of them, as gifts, plus one auctioned on ebay to benefit a food bank. Their clothing comes off, including, in most cases, the mittens.

The fifth one was my special edition Valentine's Day Bernie, showing off his chest like Putin (but with a tattoo, and no horse): 

One thing led to the other. Before I knew it, I'd crocheted a whole lot of inaugural figures:

And a Capitol building:

On the dome is my rendition of the statue of freedom, with scissors and earring serving as sword and shield, in a color that honors the people who built the building, who were anything but free. 

Here are Joe and Jill Biden, with bible, standing ready for the swear-in. 

In real life, Dr. Biden's beaded dress was exquisite. In my version, cheapo plastic pearls did the job.

All the clothes comes off. 

But because she is the First Lady, and holds a doctorate, I won't strip her down here.

In real life, Dr. Biden was actually wearing a  more somber shade of blue.

The Obamas are eternally adorable, even in masks.

Next, Kamala Harris, with her escort at the event, American hero and snappy dresser Officer Eugene Goodman

Kamala reenacts her big moment: 

I think that's a purple jumpsuit underneath. 

I don't know if she was really wearing Chucks on her feet, but I hope so! They go with the pearls.

The gorgeous Amanda Gorman is wearing my mother's earrings.

Lady Gaga sported a massively oversized bird pin (also from my mother's collection).

This thing takes up an entire small tabletop, and I'm not really sure what to do with it. Especially because it was about to grow significantly - and take a much darker turn. 

Capitol Crochet: Part 2. The Insurrection

Masked Hexagons, Part II: A English Paper Piecing Variation

Help!

I'm going nuts making masks! 

These are a few of my new masked hexagons, made from the scraps of face masks I've been sewing since March. In my last installment, here, I described how I made these hexies, using conventional English Paper Piecing techniques. At the time, I had only made about 35 hexagons. 

Since then, I've made many more masks to donate. So here's the finished quilt, with a total of 79 masked hexagons, all socially distanced. 

UPDATE: The digital pattern for this quilt is now for sale on Etsy, here. All money raised from this $1.99 pattern will go to my Los Angeles Regional Foodbank fundraiser, here. 

Here are some of my new favorite masked hexagons. The "faces" are cut from assorted solids; and the "mask" prints are from my vast stash of mostly novelty fabrics that I used in actual masks. Here's a bit of casino fabric that a friend gifted me.

The (mostly) round button eyes give them a startled look, appropriate for a pandemic. (Pandemic Pat?)

While making masks, I discovered that I own TWO radish fabrics. 

And numerous cat fabrics. This cat looks bored. 

Mighty Mouse intends to triumph over covid. The patriotic buttons almost look like eyes with red-and-white eyeshadow.

The red vintage paisley below is only nice in small doses.

Yes, that's matzoh fabric. 

Rainbow triangles go with everything.

A dandelion print reminds me that things more benign than viruses can blow in the wind.  

This awesome fabric features quilters' rulers:

Harry Potter is recognized universally as a symbol of meeting catastrophe with a great deal of anxiety (but triumphing anyway).

A truly horrible brown rose print made a remarkably nice mask for a hexagon. 

Bars - horizontal, or on an angle - keep the hexagons socially distanced. 

This next fabric -  the star - was from a print featuring Spongebob.  

A 1970's era flannel. So soft  and comfy. 

For quilting, I surrounded the masks with quilted covid viruses, and hypothetical pathogen-laden swirls. 

On the white area, I made more emanations

Again, the digital pattern for this quilt is now for sale on Etsy, here.

For a much simpler version of this quilt on a smaller scale, check out my previous post, here. 

Of course, I have hexagons and English Paper Piecing on my mind because my new book was just published by Landauer, Hexagon Star Quilts: 113 English Paper Pieced Star Patterns to Piece and Applique, available from Amazon (here) and wherever fine quilting books are sold! 

My mask-making resource page is HERE. Find my simple pleated mask pattern HERE. My roomy mask pattern is HERE.