Fabric Vortex

My Fabric Vortex quilt is quilted!! The 9 year old grandson is very happy with his new quilt, he didn't notice my 'not so perfect' quilting.

I quilted this little quilt myself on my domestic sewing machine using a spiral design. The quilt does not lay flat but that's to be expected with all those bits and pieces. The finished quilt measures 42.5" by 59". It would have been wider but I was trying to even up the edge, that was impossible so I gave up. I've used confetti fabric for the binding, it has all the colors of the quilt in it.

I used blocks from the orphanage for the backing.  It's a reversable quilt! The grandson was excited about that also, especially when I told him they were orphan blocks. I had to explain to him what that meant but he is very pleased to be the owner of this quilt.

This is an one and only quilt, no one else in the world has a quilt like this!

Here is a link to a post I wrote back in 2022 when I decided to make a Fabric Vortex quilt.

Here is the link to the post I wrote in February when I completed the Fabric Vortex flimsy.

Amanda Jean started the Fabric Vortex craze back in 2015 when she had a Fabric Vortex sew-along. This is the link to her Sew-Along page. Scroll down to find the links to the instructions.

I admit my squares aren't small like hers, I don't have that kind of patience! This is a link to Jo's YouTube video about making Diamond Crumb blocks. Those have larger pieces than Amanda Jean's.

I've browsed through Amanda Jean's blog, she says she has made several Fabric Vortex quilts. This is a link to a post about the bed sized quilt she made.

I'm impressed she's actually made several vortex quilts and one is large enough for a bed! I'll never do that, making my small quilt about drove me crazy, I couldn't stand the mess it made. I've crossed Fabric Vortex off my 'quilts to make' list, one was enough for me.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, Put Your Foot Down, I Quilted This!, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

Applique at Retreat

I appliqued three Stonefield blocks during the evenings at retreat. First are two blocks called Rosehip Tea. 

The pattern had several different views, you could select which views you to use for the blocks. For the first block I choose a single flower.

For the second block I decided on two flowers in the block. I honestly don't think these flowers look like roses but wouldn't blue roses be beautiful in real life?

The third block is named The Open Wreath which makes absolute sense! All of the circles were appliqued during show & tell except two of them, those I did first thing Saturday morning. 

The flower at the bottom doesn't look placed correctly, I wonder if it was appliqued upside down? Oh well, I'm not changing it. 

And a picture of all three blocks.

I have one more block to applique then all the 6" finished blocks for the center of the Stonefields quilt have been completed! 

These blocks will be safely stored for the summer. In the fall I will arrange them on the display floor for at least a week to critique then rearrange. After that the blocks will be sewn together for the center of the quilt. Next step will be foundation paper-piecing the flying geese border.

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

What I Sewed at Retreat

Here is my update on my retreat last week. I had several projects prepped, just in case, but I only worked on two of them.

The main project was foundation paper-piecing Carolina Lily blocks, 20 of them! I had paper pieced the green stem sections ahead of time, all the lily sections were pieced at retreat.

Here are the other 19 blocks.

Foundation paper-piecing is time consuming but it doesn't take a lot of thread. I used one bobbin for all of these blocks and it wasn't empty when I was ready to leave for home.

I'm using fabrics I already have on hand, I have a variety of green and red fabrics to use. All fabrics are going into this quilt from fossil fern to my mother's old 80's & 90's fabrics.

Now I have a total of 50 blocks, just 50 more to piece!

The other project was to applique Stonefield blocks. Three blocks were completed but you have to wait until Sunday to see them.

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Wait Loss, I Quilted This!, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

The Princess & the Pea

The two Stonefield blocks today are called the Princess & the Pea. 

The stars are EPP'd then appliqued onto the background fabric. After that, the circles were added.

Both blocks together.

Stonefields is designed by Susan Smith. 

I just realized that I made a mistake and I've got 2 posts today for handwork! Oh well, enjoy my blocks! Here is a link to Stonefields, Section 10 in case you missed it.

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

Stonefields, Section 10

The first four blocks in section ten of Stonefields are these pieced blocks called Fallen Rosebud. 

Foundation paper-piecing was used to piece these blocks.

The next two blocks are called The Dice. They were pieced then appliqued circles were added. 

These blocks remind me of the game, Tic Tac Toe except there are no X's, just O's. 

Just 6 more blocks then all the center blocks are completed!

These blocks were a good way to use up smaller pieces of background fabrics.

I'm home from retreat and playing catch up! I'll try to read missed blog post during the week sometimes but it's impossible to read all of them!

I now realize that somehow I published 2 posts today! Here is a link to the Princess & the Pea.

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

Stonefields, Block 109

The Lord is Risen! Have a blessed Easter with whoever you are celebrating with!

Block 109 from the Stonefields quilt is called 'My Bebe'. The star was EPP'd then appliqued. It's another very pretty block, it looked challenging but it didn't take as long as I thought it would.

Here are all the blocks in section 9 on the display wall.

I do have to say the next to the last block, Rollercoaster, is my favorite block of the group.

There is just one more section to stitch for Stonefields, just 12 more blocks! I'm so close to finishing the blocks for the center of the quilt. Stonefields is designed by Susan Smith.

Something totally unrelated to hand sewing is this apron I made for a little girl from church. She requested it from me, she enjoys baking with her grandmother and needed an apron. How could I refuse? The little apron sewed very fast, 3 hours from start to finish. The most time consuming part was when I turned the right side out and needed to pin the edge to press it. That took longer than the stitching!

I will not be having a Wednesday post this week. The Jane Stickle retreat starts Wednesday, I'll have a wrap-up retreat post coming later.

Linking to Patchwork & Quilts, Kathys Slow Stitching Sunday, Stitching Stuff, Sew & Tell, Design Wall Monday, Monday Musings, 

Garden Party

I have been piecing the various blocks needed for Bonnie Hunter's Garden Party quilt at the Jane Stickle retreats the last several years. Sewing all the blocks together went fast, a lot faster than piecing the individual blocks.

I decided to take the flimsy to a new to me long arm quilter, Dana Stalter. I am well pleased, she actually had the quilting finished and returned the quilt back to me within 10 days! 

This is a very busy quilt and those little squares finish at 1". I selected an all over Baptist fan quilting (no surprise there) to secure all the little pieces. 

This is not a regular Baptist Fan design, it's the one designed by the Three Sisters Fabric. This isn't the 3 Sisters who design fabric for Moda (I think it's Moda), 'my' sisters had a store before the designers started designing.

Can you believe it? I've actually made a quilt in which the main color is red. The backing fabric is red wide backing. My quilt was 97" before quilting but it shrank, now it's 92" by 94.5". I wish that I had added another row but too late now. Garden Party is found in Bonnie Hunter's Addicted to Scraps book.              

                                                                               

Next week is another Jane Stickle retreat and I've been trying to decide what project I'll work on. Maybe it will be another long term Bonnie Hunter quilt? I'll let you know what I sewed at retreat on my next Wednesday blog post which will be April 15.

Linking to Wednesday Wait Loss, To Do Tuesday, Put Your Foot Down, I Quilted This!, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts