A New Clarissa Block

Clarissa #18

Clarissa is my hourglass leader-ender challenge that started with the quiltalong last summer at Quiltville. There is a new leader-ender challenge for this year, but I'm still working on this one. This project is inspired by a quilt from the 1800's made by Clarissa White Alford - see the quilt here. I just finished block #18.

And here are all the blocks on the design wall. There are tons of little scraps in these blocks!  I try to make each block a little different from all the others.
My friend Cathy who blogs over at Sane, Crazy, Crumby Quilting is also making a Clarissa quilt and you can see some of her blocks here.
Hop over to the link up at Oh Scrap!

Totally in Love!

The Scrap Vortex quilt is FINISHED!  
The photos aren't great because it was late in the day and I had to fiddle with the camera's exposure settings, it was 5 degrees outside, and it was windy. But it's done!
Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways...

1) First of all, I love that it is a finished, useable quilt (instead of a UFO sitting in a closet). I am proud of my efforts to move it constantly forward to completion.

2) I love the asterisk corners and think that creative spark is growing into another whole quilt idea.

3) I love the metaphor that scrap quilts are. All those tiny bits of fabric have joined with their friends to become something amazing! That is the power of a group, and the beauty of a mosaic, with the strengths of each part contributing to the beauty of the whole.

4) I love that the quilt began with a quiltalong at Crazy Mom Quilts, and the quilting design also came from Crazy Mom Quilts! The spiral quilting is perfect for the vortex theme, and I am relieved at how flat this quilt is in spite of all those tiny pieces, bias edges, and intense quilting... there were a lot of variables to manage in this project. This is the back of the quilt, made from two pieces of yardage joined for a simple backing with two seams.

I like this terrible photo because it shows the wind and camera exposure elements I battled to get a good photo. At least I was able to get some shots before the rain started.
Ahh the trials of a quilt blogger.... LOL!

I am so excited to be able to post my finish over at the One Monthly Goal link up! Woo hoo!

Spiral Quilting

Progress is being made on machine quilting my UFO, but it's not done yet.
Here is a photo of one of the corners of the quilt and you can see the circular quilting lines out to the edge. So far it's laying fairly flat on the edges, which was my biggest concern with this quilting design. If everything isn't completely flat and well basted, you can end up with a teepee in the middle of the quilt and ruffles on the edges!
Also I have decided that it needs a dark scrappy binding, so I sorted through my basket of leftover binding ends and pulled out pieces to use. It will take extra time to construct a binding from so many smaller pieces, but it's perfect for this project. I hope it will be my Slow Sunday Stitching project to hand stitch the binding ... so exciting that the quilt is this close to finishing!!

Design Wall Monday - Finished Quilt Top

The Scrap Vortex is finally a quilt top!

I started this quilt in June 2015 and it has used up a ton of scraps. The piano key borders took a long time to prepare and attach, but I'm soooo happy with how it all turned out. It is rich with scrappy fabric memories and completely frenetic - just like my life! 
The quilt top measures 59" x 77".
I have a week left in April to get this quilt pin basted, quilted and bound. I feel like I'm on the amazing quilt race TV show...will she reach the finish line in time?!?!
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times. To see some amazing improv quilts, hop over to the AHIQ link up.

April's UFO

My UFO focus for April is the Scrap Vortex. This quilt was started 2 years ago and inspired by a quiltalong at Crazy Mom Quilts. It's such a fun technique for using up scraps and after teaching the improv class in Paris last month, I've been stoked about finishing this quilt.

Here are the tasks:

1) fixing the top 3 things about the quilt top that aren't quite right for my eyes.

2) piecing a scrappy border and attaching it to the quilt top. 

3) spiral quilting using the Crazy Mom Quilts tutorial. It only makes sense that since Amanda Jean started this quilt, I'd use her fabulous quilting idea too!

4) piece and add a scrappy binding. 

Can all this be done in one month? Well, my regular blog readers know that my goals usually exceed my available time.  Considering that my goal for last September took me SEVEN months to finish, I'd say I have a severe case of "delusional doability" (a perfectly coined term I learned from Elaine Therault)!!
Linky up to the April Goal link up and crossing my fingers for a finish within one month!

Donation Quilt is Finished

My little quilting group finally finished their donation quilt for the 2017 Mennonite Relief Sale in May. We have been supporting this cause for over 10 years now and have raised over $2,000 from our collective quilting efforts. 
It's a long journey from picking a pattern, gathering scraps from the stashes of 5 very different quilters, sewing blocks, organizing a layout, sewing the quilt top together, quilting and binding it, and finally putting on the label.

The pattern is called "Warm Breeze" by Sarah Maxwell and Dolores Smith (finished size: 78" x 80"). It was published in McCalls Quick Quilts magazine and is available as a free download over at the Fons and Porter website - click here. This is a photo from when it was just a quilt top on the design wall. It's now a finished quilt sitting in a bag at the MCC office waiting to be auctioned in May. I was so nervous about getting it submitted before the deadline, that I forgot to take a photo of the quilting on the finished quilts. Hearts are hand quilted in the blue setting triangles.
We are already working on our next quilt for the 2018 auction. We have decided to start by compiling the blocks we collected on last year's July Shop Hop and see if we can make a quilt out of them.

Design Wall Monday

Well here it is... my version of the Scrap Dance Tango quilt with the sashing and cornerstones finished. I'm loving it and happy that it is ready for the final border. I have to go shopping for that fabric, so progress is stalled for the moment. It was so fun to work on this in the midst of working on two other large on point quilts. It was easy sewing with manageable seams and everything fit together... gotta love that!
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times. 

Scrap Dance Tango Update

I have been working on my version of Carole's mystery quilt called Scrap Dance Tango. I finished sewing 20 blocks and then had to decide how to put them together. In order to avoid matching millions of points (and becoming best friends with my seam ripper) I decided to add sashing. Good decision. 
But that leads to many more decisions.
What size of sashing? Narrow? Wide? 
Should it be scrappy? Yardage? Neutral? Dark?
I thought about what size of quilt I wanted this to be, what sashing size looked more visually appealing to me, and played with some options on the design wall.

Finally I decided on neutral sashing cut the same size as the blocks. But then I got an idea to use square in a square blocks for cornerstones and started sewing some of these. Cute! 




Here is the quilt top so far.
I love the effect of these little cornerstone blocks in the sashing.
Now I think I need to make 18 more of them to add a sashing border around the whole quilt. And then I think it's finally done!
And just in time because Carole has started another scrappy quiltalong called Scrap Dance Waltz!



And another fun event happening this week is the release of Quiltmaker's new 100 blocks magazine. You can see some of the blocks on the Quilty Pleasures blog. This is volume #14 and I can't wait to get my hands on this latest issue of my favourite magazine!

Design Wall Monday

One of my projects that I would like to finish by the end of the year is the Scrap Dance Tango. I started this quilt in February and finished 12 blocks. Then I decided I wanted to make it bigger and needed 20 blocks (4 blocks across and 5 blocks down). Here are the blocks on the design wall. The bottom blocks are only partially finished and I need the components to make one more complete block. It's so close to becoming a quilt top!

This is such a wonderful scrappy project and there are hundreds of fabrics in these blocks. But every once in a while I come across a block I just have to fix. When I am trying to sew random scrappy blocks how is that these two fabrics ended up right beside each other?!? I remind myself that "random" does not mean evenly spaced. However, I really can't leave it like that! The seam ripper is ready to separate them!
I am linking this post to Design Wall Monday at Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

The Vortex is back! This quilt started with a quiltalong over at Crazy Mom Quilts last year.


It has been aging in the UFO closet for a while. I was feeling stuck with it, like something needed to be added, but I wasn't sure what it was. I finally decided to add some letters to the quilt.

Can you guess what I'm trying to spell?






See this bin of scraps? 
It's like a quilter's paint box! 
All the colours I need are in here, and part of the fun for a scrap quilter is to dig around for just the right colour or size of piece to add. I got out one of my favourite books Word Play Quilts by Tonya Ricucci. 



This book gives great tips on making free pieced or "liberated" letters. I decided to make the letters in black on white prints so they will hopefully stand out enough.
I will keep continue letter construction, and I also have an idea for a pieced border, so I'm happy about the direction this quilt is taking.
To see more design wall posts, hop over to Patchwork Times. No design wall link up available today :(

Scrap Dance Tango Update

Step 3 for this mystery quilt was posted by Carole last week. I needed to make 88 of these 4 patch blocks for the twin size quilt. I had used up most of the donated HST blocks that my quilt camp friend Gillian donated to this worthy cause, so for this step I had to make most of them myself (not complaining!)... for a total of 176 HSTs. 
It sure used up a lot of small scraps.

Here's a yummy looking plate full of blocks. It probably doesn't taste as good as it looks!
For those who enjoy the math part of quilting, so far I have cut and sewn together 1,144 pieces of fabric for this project.

Finished Quilt!

Big announcement today... 
drum roll please.... 
the braid quilt is finished! This quilt has been "in progress" for about 15 years. And it has finally become a useable quilt.
Finished size: 57" x 72"
I machine quilted it on my domestic sewing machine in horizontal squiggly lines following the braids. Using this quilting design prevented lots of twisting and turning of the quilt, but still gives it the zig zag effect.

I extended the quilting lines across the border right to the edge of the quilt, so I didn't have to figure out another quilting design in the border. That was genius if I do say so myself!
The backing is just a boring piece of sale yardage pieced down the middle. 

To see more finishes, hop over to A Lovely Year of Finishes and Crazy Mom Quilts.

Mash or Sash?

*blink*
Where did that week go?
I got lost in the vortex of life and scraps, trying to make everything fit together into a cohesive whole. It's a lot like building a giant jigsaw puzzle... trying to make something out of a big pile of leftover bits and pieces. But progress has been made on my vortex quilt (lessons are here).
So now the question is... should I mash the mess all together in a true vortex?

Or should I try to bring some order to the chaos and put in some sashing?

What is your vote - mash or sash?!?

Tonight is Friday Night Sew In. Have you signed up? I hope to spend a quiet night hand stitching and resting up for a Row by Row adventure with my friend Barb on Saturday. I'm not participating in the rowing since I already have so much on the go, but Barb is, so I'm driving her around to wherever she wants to go. And you never know where that might be!

Design Wall Monday

The scrap Vortex is still in production here in my sewing room. I have almost finished 5 rows of varying sized blocks. The rows all measure the width of my design wall, which is 49".

I'm not tired of the process of improv piecing yet, so I'm thinking of making another 2 or 3 rows to make it a bit bigger. However, I am eager to start another project this week, so I better get over to the sewing machine and get to "work"!

To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday Vortex

The Vortex is back!

Being in the vortex is addictive I tell you! The whole process is fun. I like digging in my scrap bags, wondering where the fabric came from and piecing together little bits that don't really go together in a perfect quilting project.

And then something wonderful happens... like you suddenly find Popeye! Where on earth did he come from? And then you start singing the song, and googling the lyrics that you can't remember. And you try to recall the characters names, and wonder what years you might have been watching the cartoon on TV. 
You're deep in a rabbit hole in the vortex!
I'm having too much fun to stop yet, and heaven knows I have enough scraps to make a few of these ;)
To see more design walls, hop over to Patchwork Times.

Design Wall Monday

Scrap Vortex before lesson #4

I am deep in the Scrap Vortex and up to my elbows in scraps. I started this project last week and have been obsessed with it since then. There are a lot of other things I need to sew, but this keeps whispering to me to just sew one more block.

Amanda Jean is hosting the vortex quilt along and she posted lesson #4 this past week, which was really helpful. I immediately saw the problem - she said a pieced string always looks better. See the long yellow strip joining the two parts of this block together? It had to go. I did a lot of unsewing of the long joining strips and the difference was amazing. 

Scrap Vortex after lesson #4

It was like a magic trick!
I couldn't believe how much more I liked these blocks! I also added in more bright colours like orange and lime green. It is kind of like working on a jigsaw puzzle and fitting everything together somehow. It's so fun! Thank you Gail for being a bad good influence and getting me started on this quilt!
To see more design wall posts, hop over to Patchwork Times.

A Finished Quilt Top

I put the pedal to the metal to finish this quilt top for the quilt guild meeting this week. It is the "Quilt Pattern for the Month" designed by Jackie Syer. It was completely made from my stash... nothing was purchased to make this quilt top!
The layout was random, and as I like to remind people, random does not mean equally balanced... it means random ("proceeding, made, or occurring without aim, reason, or pattern"). I tried to alternate the two blocks (the pinwheel and a 4 patch center) as much as possible. 


The photos are not great. They were taken on my clothesline at sunset, with the sun behind the quilt. I do like this photo since it gives the quilt a stained glass kind of a look.
I sewed the quilt together so quickly that I have since discovered two "concerns" - one is a hole due to no seam allowance (oh my goodness how could that happen?!?) and one is a hole caused by clipping threads, and accidentally clipping into a quilt patch! I will try to fix those errors today.

And now I am off to check out step #3 of the Grand Illusion mystery... TGIF!

Treadled Scrappy Strips

I am making slow and steady progress on my treadled scrap quilt. I have several pairs of strips sewn together in pairs with black sashing of various widths added. I keep putting them on the design wall to see what it looks like so far and I am liking it, so I will just keep on doing what I'm doing.
I might sew three strips together and see what that looks like between the black sashing.
There are so many great fabric scraps and memories in this project!

A Finished Quilt!

It's a wonderful feeling to finish a quilt!
And this finish is especially delicious, since the quilt was made in about a month (you can read about the start of this quilt here). Also great is that this is a total scrap quilt. Everything from the blocks, to the batting, and the backing were constructed from leftovers from other quilting projects!

This was a joy to sew, to quilt and to finish! 

Pattern by Jackie Syer at FRJ Designs.
Finished size: 50" x 64"


I should be cutting the grass today after work but instead, I plan to sit under my beautiful tree, snuggle up in my scrappy quilt, enjoy a cup of tea, and read a good book.

Scrap Happy Monday

The blocks are all sewn for my QPOM and I love it's yummy scrappiness! This isn't the final layout and changes will still be made every time I walk past, but the blocks are done, and a small dent has been made in the scrap bin! 

Lucy, my new Singer 301A, got a wonderful workout sewing these blocks. She is very clear that she does not like to wind bobbins, but I think I can fix that by replacing the bobbin winder tire ring.
Hop over to Patchwork Times to see more design wall postings.