Wednesday, July 01, 2015

scrap vortex QAL, week 5

Welcome to the final week of the scrap vortex QAL! I'm thankful that so many of you have joined in and quilted along with me. It's been delightful to look through the #scrapvortexqal hashtag on Instagram. So many scraps are being put to good use! Hurray!

Before we get on with today's post, I wanted to share a few quilt tops made by others!
This one was made by Amanda of Material Girl Quilts. It measures about 46" x 63".
This one was made by Linda of Flourishing Palms. It measures a whopping 89" x 91"!
And this one was made by debpotteringabout. She used all of her scraps...ALL of them!!! How is that for a success story?

Didn't they all do a great job on their quilts??? Many thanks to Amanda, Linda and Deb for letting me share their work here!

Over the past few weeks, I've shown how to fit the pieces together based on the random sizes of your block. I would recommend using that method, if you are up for it. However, I would imagine that some of you may want to rely on a block format for construction. I've done a few quilt block mock ups to show a few options if the random layout isn't working for you.
For this first mock up, you could use all 12" blocks. This isn't a bad option at all, just a bit more structured than the typical randomness of a scrap vortex quilt. When you start the assembly, at least you are guaranteed that your blocks will fit together!
This second layout uses just 3 different block sizes: 12" squares, 12" x 18" rectangles and 6" x 12" rectangles. In this layout, you will lose the grid of the patchwork (which is a good thing) and it becomes more random, but it's still orderly and predictable. This isn't a bad option, either! These are just a few examples to illustrate my point. Of course, they can be sized up or down as desired. Completely random is good, too!
As far as quilting goes, I would recommend doing spiral quilt (tutorial here) to keep with the vortex theme.

A pieced back....
and scrappy binding are options that I would recommend as well!
It just makes sense, right? :)

Well, that's all I have for today! As always, if you any questions, I'll try to answer them in the comments!
Thank you ALL for quilting along with me!!!

15 comments:

Julie Bagamary said...

Thanks for the photos and options for piecing blocks. I'm making progress but not there yet. It is so much fun using up the tiny remnants!

MarchAnn said...

Thanks for this and I will be posting my finished one on Instagram when it is done. I have decided to make mine a large lap quilt for me to us in my recliner. Looking forward to seeing all the other finishes too.

The Cozy Quilter said...

I'm not on Instagram but I did blog about my quilt http://thecozyquilter.blogspot.ca/2015/07/happy-canada-day-and-more-of-vortex.html?m=0
I have the blocks made but not put together yet. This has been a fun project! Thanks for the QAL!

Unknown said...

L.O.L. Impatient me didn't wait for final instruction ... So THAT's how you put it all togetheršŸ˜®! There's always next time! Thanks for hosting, I've enjoyed it!!

Anonymous said...

Love the quilts. I didn't participate, I can't work that fast and I like to just plod along working on 1 projects at a time.

Lesley Gilbert said...

All the shared quilts look so good, so well done to everybody who made them :)

Mystic Quilter said...

Lovely quilts! My quilt will be made using your second layout as I love the mix of sized - thanks so much for getting me started!

Sewing In CT said...

These are lovely. I am looking forward to spending more time on mine.
Such fun! Thank you for taking us through it.

Little Black Cat Quilting said...

Such pretty quilts! I'm a slow little snail with my blocks, but the pile is slowly growing! :)

Live a Colorful Life said...

This is going to happen one of these days soon. I can feel a vortex starting...

margaret said...

man many thanks for this project have loved making the blocks now have to cut some to size as they are all different, even tempted to dive into fabrics that are not scraps! can`t wait to have more scraps and do another one

Lisa C said...

I made two NICU quilt tops with my scraps. It was great fun to see all of the former quilts come back to life by using their scraps. I didn't think about a scrappy binding - duh!

Quilted Lamb said...

I missed week 3 and 4. Is there any way I can catch up? I cannot seem to find the page for them.

Allison said...

This has been a brilliant series to follow - thank you for showing how to build a quilt from scraps! ☺

leanne said...

loved watching these quilts come together - of course I'm still going on mine and probably will be for a while !! thanks for the extra tips !