Scrap Vortex Finish

I have finally managed to bring all those scrap vortex bits (and their gazillion seams) together in a whole quilt top.  It was a bigger feat than I had anticipated and in spite of having enjoyed the 'leaders and enders' approach with which the quilt started, I have to admit I fell out of love with it a bit when it came to making all of those scrappy sections fit one another.  You wouldn't think it takes much, but when the scraps you're working with are quite wee, then any trimming can potentially render them unusable.  So, there's a bit more thinking and head scratching involved than perhaps I had energy for.

Nevertheless, I did get there and had a final flimsy measuring 54" x 61.5" , which isn't very big really but big enough for this one.  I even managed to reduce that B&C stash a bit more by adding a full B&C backing (IG destash 3m piece of Happy Go Lucky).

Don't panic over the falling out of love thing!  That was quickly rectified by some super quick wavy line quilting and a B&C red gingham binding (Vintage Picnic, I think) and now I'm all heart eyes for this scrapilicious little lap quilt.

Someone else likes it very much too - she's been using it as a mat to spin on!!

Scrap Vortex Progression

I haven't shown much of my Scrap Vortex quilt since this little bundle of pieces, but it did progress a bit more back in April/May time.

Working with the vortex scraps gets very untidy and the mess gets bigger as the pieces do!

I think I spent a rainy afternoon watching BBC iplayer catch ups and pinning all of these next seams ready to stitch on during the pauses and gaps in the making of my See-it-all pouches.  Though honestly, it was hard to keep it to just working as leaders/enders and it did take on a life of its own at times.

Gradually, the pieces grew until I needed to make some kind of decision as to where these are going.  So I've opted for blocks around 15" or 16" tall.  Originally, I tried to make them square but it was forcing thing a bit falsely (namely, trimming things a bit too close to seams for comfort), so I'm happy to grow them to whatever widths they work out at and will have some rows that are 15" high and some 16".

I love this scrap happiness!

This is where I got to.  None of those are completed rows, they're just various widths laid side by side.  I think I will keep this just a small lap quilt. So, next is to decide what width I'm aiming for and fill in any gaps in those top three rows and then do quite a bit of work on filling out the bottom row.  There are still plenty of scraps in the basket to do the job!! 

BTW - the problem with my blog comments seems to be ongoing (i.e. I don't receive notification of them by email and cannot, therefore, reply).  Blogger help forum seems to suggest the problem has been resolved, but it seems they forgot to tell my blog! So, if I don't respond to your comment, you'll know why, but know I am reading and appreciating that you took time to leave me your thoughts.

Liberating Bonnie & Camille!

I want to make a quilt for a friend and have decided to liberate more of my beautiful Bonnie & Camille prints for the purpose.  They don't make anyone smile just locked up in a box, do they?

My friend has eclectic tastes - very modern but loves Cath Kidston style too, so I'm hoping that I can carry off something with this selection of B&C prints that she will take pleasure in.

I decided to keep the piecing quite large in order to cater for the modern side of my friend's tastes and I was inspired by Just Jude's amazing Boho Autumn quilt.  It's a perfect design to showcase prints without chopping them up too small.

My HSTs aren't quite as large as the one's in Judith's design.  These are 12.5" unfinished.  I love it already and I think this might be hard to part with.

I've reached the stage where the little corner triangles are ready to be stitched in place, and I'm itching to get at it so I can see how it all works out.  QI - Quilter's Impatience!  

Oh, and I may have started piecing my B&C scraps into pairs a la Scrap Vortex quilt style.  I was wondering why this scrappy quilt is called Scrap Vortex, but now I think it's because you get sucked in (to the vortex) once you start!  It was VERY hard not to keep sewing forever just to piece all my wee B&C scraps into more usable units.  I must remember that it's not a main project - LOL!

So, there you go, B&C is getting liberated around here and it's fun!!

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