Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Little Penguin Quilts Through the Year

Sunday, January 3, 2016

I did it!

I am so excited to have finished my Scrap Vortex quilt, just last night!  It feels like a big accomplishment for the end of 2015, and the beginning of 2016.  This quilt occupied my mind, my design wall, and my sewing space for a large part of the past year!


I decided to go big on the scrappy for this finish.  A scrappy backing:


 And a scrappy binding:


The only rules were that any fabrics included in the backing or binding had to also be in the quilt flimsy!  All I ended up buying for this quilt were the batting and thread (and I stock up on that kind of thing pretty often)! 

I quilted it in a spiral as AmandaJean suggested in her QAL last summer.  


Although this kind of quilting takes me awhile (and several spools of thread!), it was such a pleasure because I revisited every piece of fabric I used!  I have scraps from one of the first quilts I ever made (an all blue Irish Chain quilt for my MIL in 2000) all the way up to scraps from quilts and other projects completed in 2015. 


This quilt is not without its quirks!  One of which is that it isn't entirely square.  Even though I squared up the blocks and chunks I made as I sewed them together, and then tried my best to square up the whole quilt when it was completed, it still is a little out of whack on one side.  Is that because the quilting distorted it a little bit?  I'm not sure!  It is something I didn't notice until the binding was completely finished, so it is something I'm going to love and laugh at about this quilt as I am cuddling under it with a good book later on today!

Linking up with Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework today, because I can never get too much scrappy inspiration!






14 comments:

Tanya Quilts in CO said...

Congratulations on such a fantastic finish! I love that you quilted it in the spiral design- that is on my to try list. Happy New Year!

Melody A. said...

What an accomplishment and it looks terrific! unsquare or not it is beautiful.

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Look at all those beautiful scraps! It really did turn out great. Thanks for sharing with Oh Scrap!

Ivani said...

Great Vortex quilt. Love the scrappy binding, nothing better than a scrappy binding for a scrappy quilt. And the quilting finished it lovely. Yes, You did! You rock!!

Cathy said...

Congrats on the finish! What a great use of scraps. Did you use them all? Or do you have enough for another one. And I suppose you saved some scraps for RSC too!

Sandra Walker said...

Your quilt makes me smile, Diann! Sometimes those imperfections really endear our quilts to us. I love how everything except the batting and thread, is scrappy.

gayle said...

Hurray!
And I think it's perfect that it didn't end up quite square - appropriate for a whirlwind...

scraphappy said...

Congratulations on a huge scrap busting finish! Looks like it will be well loved. I am sure nobody will ever notice that it isn't a perfect square.

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Thanks, Gayle!

Linda said...

I am so impressed with this quilt! It's so pretty. I love the quilting - it's a vortex! I had seen that on Amanda Jean's blog and wanted to try it. Seems like a lot of wrestling - lol - but so worth it. Really nice job. None of my quilts is ever truly square. My last one was definitely not!

Ruth said...

Looks really lovely - congrats on getting it done! Love the backing - so perfect for it!

Kathy@KayakQuilting said...

Fantastic! Isn't it amazing what beautiful results can come from a pile of scraps?!

Kathy S. said...

I love the way you put it that you re-visited each piece of fabric with the spiral quilting. What a sweet through. Congrats on a big finish for the end of 2015!

Linda @ kokaquilts said...

A lovely scrappy finish! and I can see that your spiral quilting adds great texture.