Monday, July 27, 2015

Design Wall - Organized Choas

I am still working on making vortex blocks from thousands of tiny scraps. If you saw my design wall post from last week, you'll notice that the chaos has been organized into rows. Now it is starting to look more like a quilt.




How did I figure this out you ask? The comments from last week's post were very helpful, but it wasn't until I visited some wineries over the weekend that I could visualize the solution. I know it's a bit unorthodox to be inspired at the winery, but that's the truth of what happened. 





I went for a wine tasting tour and saw these skids of bottles of wine. As soon as I saw these boxes, I thought they looked like quilt blocks, and my brain suddenly understood how to piece the quilt top. It showed me how to offset different lengths of blocks while keeping the block height the same. Now that is serendipity!


I came home and started to sew the blocks together in rows. I put an episode of Quiltcam on the computer and enjoyed some free form block construction while listening to Bonnie Hunter chat as she sewed in her basement. It was very relaxing.
The scraps I'm sewing now are from that giant jar that you see on the left of the photo. The jar was given to me by my friends at quilt camp. It's so fun to include scraps from the quilts that my friends have sewn.
The plan of the moment is to make the rows a bit wider than my design wall, which is 49", and then sew the rows together. I have 5 rows started and I think I'll make 7 or 8 rows, so I still have quite a bit of sewing to do.
To see more design wall postings, hop over to Patchwork Times.

18 comments:

Jo said...

If you have a look at this post there are some photos of 2 scrap quilts.,they are only small photos though... But you can see what has been done. Great ideas...
http://jobutterfield.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/craft-and-quilt-fair-at-jeffs.html

Cathy said...

That's a great way to put these together. The individual blocks have disappeared.

Churn Dash said...

My favourite quilts are scrap quilts. And other people's scraps? So much more interesting than mine! My bee decided to make scrap quilts based on a diamond. Everyone fills a box and then each person in the bee gets a few weeks to make blocks from each box. One lady generally makes reproduction fabric quilts and so it is quite a different experience for her!

I love the way you found inspiration for your quilt and it really looks wonderful.

Helen

Kat Scribner said...

quilters brain can utilize everything. Your scrappy log blocks will be a lovely quilt.

scraphappy said...

Organized is my favorite kind of chaos. Looks like everything will fit together perfectly. Hope you used up all your scraps.

The Cozy Quilter said...

Looking good! Happy sewing to you!

Joanne said...

This is going to be awesome! Isn't it funny how quilting is always in the back of our minds and that we can find solutions to our "problems" in the strangest places? I am looking forward to seeing the progression of this quilt. Thanks for sharing today!

Janet O. said...

Well, we have to take our inspiration where we can get it. Now you need tiny sashing between rows to simulate the twine in the first photo. : )

Mary said...

LOL, getting inspiration at a Wine warehouse. My DH has a stack that look like that at his work.
Have fun scrap stitching!

Kat said...

Your scrap vortex looks awesome!

Julianne said...

Its looking awesome, I have a lot done on mine but I don't have a design wall to lay it on, its coming along though! Nice job! Keep on truckin!

Nell's Quilts said...

Only goes to show we shouldn't question where inspiration comes from just be glad it arrives.

Dar said...

I always did say there were more benefits from drinking wine than just the taste! Well done. I like that you are using up your jar of scraps. There may be a Vortex in my life some day.

margaret said...

this is going to be one super quilt giggled at where the idea came from thank goodness for wine I say! My vortex quit is at the flimsy stage, will no doubt stay that way for quite a while

Sarah Vanderburgh said...

LOVE your inspiration for your quilt - and the blocks:) Looks like a lot of fun!

Kate said...

Lots of fun scraps!

Gypsy Quilter said...

Hey there, your pieces are smaller than mine. Okay, you win.

Sew Create It - Jane said...

Very clever getting your inspiration from wine boxes!! Even healthier than getting it from the wine only! LOL