Fabric Vortex

I was tired of looking at the fabric vortex pieces on the design wall so I unpacked the box that went with the blocks and started sewing.

So many little pieces and what a mess!

I sewed and sewed and sewed, for 4 days I sewed and didn't seem to make progress, the mess just got worse! This was driving me crazy so I finally said enough. 

This is what I came up with, the flimsy is 44" by 61".

I wasn't sure what I would do with this quilt after it was quilted but a grandson spoke up and put his claim on it. That's the advantage of living close to grandma.

Here is a link to Amanda Jean's Scrap-Vortex sew along. This link is to week 5, you'll find the other weeks under the sew-along tab at the top of the page. I can't believe she had a mess like this in her studio for 5 weeks!

Here is a link to Jo's Diamond Crumb blocks tutorial on YouTube.

All these pieces were on the card table so I cut 4.5" by 8.5" rectangles from newspaper and sewed the strips on them. Somday I'll sew more of these rectangles until I have enough for a compassion quilt. I have a box with random strips.

I still had a mess on my card table. Some of the scraps I put into the box for the little pineapple blocks, the rest I THREW AWAY! I'm done with fabric vortex quilts, never ever again! 😧

I should clarify that I do save all pieces larger than 1.5" so it's very small scraps I'm throwing away.

Linking to Oh Scrap!, To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Rhapsody in Blue

Another row across Rhapsody in Blue has been hand quilted. 

The quilted feathers look elegant.

The crosshatching in the squares looks so nice. It's a lovely texture when I gently rub my fingers over the quilting.

This quilt is directional. I started quilting at the top of the quilt so the top of the center applique has been quilted.

I can't decide if I should add quilting to the background of the applique sashing or not. I'll let Elaine decide after the quilt is out of the frame.

And the right side border. This picture always looks darker gray but the gray isn't this dark!

Did you notice something in the very top picture and the above picture also?

See how the lines change direction with the inverted V?

That is the halfway point! The quilting is halfway completed!!

The quilt flimsy was too large for the side sticks, approximately 18" hung over the end. That would be the left side in this picture. 

It was pinned so it was tight but since I'm halfway finished, I'm going to adjust the quilt.

The flimsy has been adjusted so the rest of the quilt is now in the frame. I also switched the longer side sticks to shorter ones. I measured the short side, 60" to be quilted. 

The next step is to baste the edges of the quilt layers together then start quilting along the long side. 

I realize my quilt sticks and stand probably look foreign to you guys but this is how my grandmothers, my mother and my sisters hand quilt.

Quilting in this type of frame isn't better than other ways, it's just what I'm used to. You hand quilt in whatever type of frame you like and we'll both be happy.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

2025 Designer Mystery Quilt

The 7th block kit for the Designer Mystery Quilt from the Fat Quarter Shop came just before Christmas. It had to wait to be pieced until after the Tennessee flimsy was finished.

I pulled the finishing kit after #7 was completed and pieced the sashing for the blocks then sewed the first six blocks together.

And block 7 with it's sashing.

Block 8 arrived while I was at the January retreat. It has also been pieced, the sashing was added then sewn onto block 7. 

I haven't cut the border fabrics yet. I won't do that until all the blocks are sewn together which will be May.

I'm writing this post on a cold snowy winter afternoon. June will be lovely: green grass, flowers blooming, much warmer temperatures, sitting on the glider on the porch, sipping ice tea, watching the squirrels run around and listening to the birds sing. And . . . the best thing of all, no ice!

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Appliqueing Stonefields

The rest of the blocks in section 7 of Stonefields are completed. First are four Wrysedale blocks.

I chose to make a design change with these four blocks. The melons are supposed to be enclosed in a circle which means the outside of the fabric would be different than the background fabric of the applique.

I thought these blocks looked just fine as they are and didn't add the circles.

Next are the two Neil's Dairy blocks which you saw last Wednesday after they were pieced.

The yellow hearts are the same fabric as the center circles in the Wrysedale blocks.

Last are two appliqued blocks called Lucille. 

There are several variations of this stick flower in this quilt. I didn't like the tiny curves that the pattern has at the top of the flower so I decided to do broderie perse instead.

The broderie perse may not look right but I don't care. I do admit I'm getting tired of these blocks but I don't want to stop and have a project halfway completed. I really am getting close to the end, just 36 more blocks to make. I'm hoping to be finished making these blocks by springtime. I will probably put the blocks into time out until later then sew them for the flimsy center.

Section 7 is blocks 74 - 85. I chose to not do two of the designs, my quilt, my decision. I duplicated several of the blocks in this section.

Stonefields is designed by Susan Smith.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

Piecing Stonefields

Section 7 of Stonefields has finally been started! Here are the first 4 blocks which are titled Pyjama Party. 

I like to add fussy cutting to the center of blocks, it just adds more interest.

Next are 2 blocks called Neil's Dairy. Remember, I didn't name these blocks.

You will see these blocks again when applique has been added to the triangles. 

Stonefields is designed by Susan Smith.

Except for some of the neutral background fabrics, all the fabric for these blocks came from my stash.

I receive weekly emails from All People Quilt.com. This week they had a link with patterns to 41 blue & white quilts! As you know, blue & white are my favorite kinds of quilts so I'm sharing the link with you too. Enjoy the eye candy!

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Rhapsody in Blue

The quilt has been rolled again but I took pictures first. The quilting doesn't look very different from last week but progress was made.

Here is the quilting from the left to the right.

I'm taking 10 days off blogging. I'll be back Wednesday the 21st with more to show you.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts,  Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Oh Scrap, Handmade Monday, Sew & Tell, Craftastic Monday, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday

First Flimsy Finish of '26

Here is the first flimsy finish of 2026, the 2025 Laundry Basket Mystery quilt which has been renamed Tennessee by the designer, Edyta Sitar.

If you remember, I had made a start with this quilt in September and kept up for several rounds until I decided I didn't like the fabrics I was using.

I started over again in late November using other fabrics that had also been purchased for another quilt that didn't happen. I showed you that in another post.

Now the flimsy is completely finished and has been delivered to the long arm quilter.

Here are multiple picture in various displays for you to peruse. 

This was a fun quilt to make, it actually sewed together fairly quickly. The blocks all finish at 6" and there are a lot of them but making a round at a time didn't seem to take that long.

The outside gray border is the same background fabric used in the chain 'round'. The binding is a striped light blue fabric. I had thought about using it for the outside border but didn't think it would look right so I went with the gray.

Here is a picture on the display floor in the sewing studio. 

And another picture with the flimsy displayed on our king sized bed.

I made a change to the pattern. The outside pieced border has a light background triangle in the block. You are supposed to use the same block in the corner but I didn't think the light triangle looked right, at least I didn't like it.

Anyway this is what I came up with.

The lighter blue square doesn't look quite right since it's not centered in the corner but I didn't want to spend the time figuring out how to make that change. I still think this is better than having a light triangle in the corner. Here is a link to the Tennessee pattern, look at the corner and see the light triangle, what do you think?

My flimsy measures 98" square. In the online sew-along, Edyta had an option to add applique to the outside border. The appliques she had were coordinated to match the fabrics she is selling. I already have an applique project in progress and I was ready to be finished with this quilt.

After finishing the flimsy, there are all the scraps left from cutting the pieces. I was so tempted to just set those aside and start on the next quilt but we all know what happens when we do that. Instead I sorted them into piles and cut the smaller pieces into usable sizes and put larger pieces into their appropriate box. It really didn't take very long to cut into smaller pieces and now the cutting table is clean! Hopefully I'll keep that practice up throughout 2026.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, Free Motion Mavericks, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts, January Favorite Finish