Last June I played in my sewing room and pieced blocks I called 'Weird Scrappy Log Cabin Blocks'. While I was packing up my sewing room stuff, I came across a small bag labeled 'Scrap Vortex'. Scrap Vortex was a sewalong hosted by Amanda Jean back in 2015.
I also dug a bunch of orphan blocks out of the orphan block box to add to the mixture. (I wonder if this was how the designer of the Gypsy Wife quilt came up with the design, she was using up orphan blocks?!)
This is a fun project, no rules, whatever goes. I did limit the fabric choices to bright fabrics. It's interesting that the predominate color seems to be blue.
I might cut apart the small flimsy so the new blocks blend in with the older ones. I'm not going to sew these blocks together now, I want to make more someday. There is never a shortage of fabric scraps that needs to be used.
My fabric vortex isn't going to look like Amanda Jeans though, it's too easy to just sew a strip on the side of a block and call it good.
This quilt will eventually end up as a charity quilt so more blocks will need to be pieced to reach the necessary 60" by 80" size, unless I decide to make 2 charity crib quilts.
I'm always amazed that people need a pattern to make something so easy! Gay from Sentimental Stitches is selling Call Me Crazy if you need a pattern to make a similar quilt. Or you can head to Jo's Blog and watch her Youtube videos about piecing her Diamond Crumb quilt. As for me, I'll just keep on doing it my own way and save the money, there is really no right or wrong way to make these blocks!
I consider myself more of a traditional quilter but occasionally my wild side come out and runs rampant in my sewing room!
Warning - piecing this quilt makes a mess!
Linking to Monday Musings, To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Oh Scrap
There will not be a Friday post and Sunday's post will be late. I'm leaving Wednesday for the Jane Stickle Retreat in Shipshewana, returning home Sunday afternoon. If I make any progress with handwork, I'll have a Sunday post.
16 comments:
Have fun at your retreat! It's fun to look at what everyone is doing with their scraps. Love yours--those blocks are very happy! Have a great week!
I've made a number of scrap vortex quilts.I loved Amanda Jean's ideas, blog, and books; I'd forgotten about all those ideas. Your Vortex looks good! Enjoy the retreat; I'm sure it will be fun! ~Jeanne
you have a lot of blocks there it will be interesting to see what you do with them
I did not know that about the Gypsy Wife quilt. It makes me like Jen Kingwell even more. Your weird orphan block vortex (LOL!) looks like a lot of fun. Enjoy your retreat! Thank you for joining with us at To Do Tuesday!
That looks like a whole lot of fabric play. I bet it's relaxing and fun!
Great scrap blocks. The pile of scraps never does seem to go down. I wondered the same thing about the Gypsy wife quilt. LOL Enjoy your retreat.
Looks like it could be a fun project. Enjoy.
This looks like a fantastically fun project! I too feel more of a traditional quilter, but it is fun to get out of our comfort zone at times!! Thanks so much for linking up with Monday Musings! Have fun at your retreat, Gretchen!
Looks like a lot of fun. Enjoy the retreat!
I'm sure you will have a marvelous time at the Jane Stickle retreat. Safe travels.
Hope you enjoy your retreat! And you are correct about crumb blocks, and vortex blocks……very messy! But oh so fun! Even though I have fellow quilters that say, “yuk”!,
i find it very soothing to sit and make blocks this way, much like making a traditional puzzle... except for the mess
Love, love, LOVE that your wild side is having a say in this fun project, Gretchen!!
Re: "amazed that people need a pattern" -- I spent a fair amount of time in my studio yesterday, having an argument with the instructions for a pattern that I did purchase. It's for a quilt that one of my clients brought me for longarm quilting and I love the design and thought it would be a snap, but now that I'm looking at the instructions I can see why my young client, new to sewing and quilting, had some issues with it. I am grateful to have acquired the skills sufficient to ignore the instructions and make it my own way, with seams that will nest properly and points protected by a seam allowance along the outer edges of the quilt... Does that make me "Intermediate" now? ;-). Enjoy your retreat!
I wanted to thank you for this post! I have so many tubs of scraps and they weigh on me mentally. So I started sewing a bright crumb type quilt without a pattern, but as my blocks got bigger, so did the pieces and that wasn't the look I was wanting and the project lost momentum and got put away. After reading the scrap vortex blogs and watching Jo's videos, I came away with some fixes that will give me the look I am wanting. Thanks very much! And your new house is so beautiful. What a wonderful place to live!
I enjoy the freedom of making Scrap Vortex blocks too. I have a bucket of scraps next to my machine that I stitch in pairs using them as leaders and enders. Then I stitch the pairs together and so on until the pieces are big enough to be called 'blocks'.
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