Category: blog

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 6

Awww yeah!!!! This is the final week of piecing! Are you excited to see your quilt coming together before your eyes? Next week is when it all comes together, but first, let’s finish making the final triangle blocks.

Step 1: Make strip sets.
Check the Arctic Vortex Quilt pattern for how many strip sets to sew and which order the fabrics go in. Remember to double check if the instructions call for WOF (40-ish inches) or half-WOF strips.
Whether you’re making a mini quilt and excited to finally start sewing, or if you just want a refresher on sewing tricky angles:

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 5

Can you believe we’re half way through the Arctic Vortex Quilt Along? If you’re making the mini quilt, you’re finally ready to sew some quilt blocks! The rest of us are shifting gears from diamond quilt blocks to some super speedy triangle quilt blocks to fill in the outer edge of our hexagon quilts or quilted tree skirts.

Step 1: Make strip sets.

Check the pattern for how many strip sets and which order the fabrics go in. Remember to double check if the instructions call for WOF (40-ish inches) or half-WOF strips.

Whether you’re making a mini quilt and excited to finally start sewing, or if you just want a refresher on sewing tricky angles:

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 4

Have you seen all the amazing Vortex blocks popping up?? This week we’re making 3 more blocks. If you’re making the mini quilt, you’re still on pause until Week 5.
Step 1: Make 3 Vortex blocks.
You’re a pro at these after last week, but in case you want a refresher, here are the videos on sewing tricky angles and partial seams:

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 3

I hope you’ve got an itch to STITCH! This week we’re starting to sew our Vortex blocks! If you’re making the mini, watch the YouTube video in Step 1 below. Eager beavers can work ahead, but really Team Mini is on pause until Week 5.

Step 1: Attach the first strip to your diamond.

Follow the pattern for details of which strip. If you’re new to sewing with with 60-degree and 120-degree angles, you’ll want to watch this tutorial first. I’ll show you how NOT to line up your pieces, and 2 ways to get them to match up just right.

Step 2: Attach the second strip with a partial seam

Don’t Panic!

You’ve probably sewn a partial seam before and you didn’t even know it. Partial seams are really No Big Deal. Here’s the scoop:

Autumn Quilt Inspiration: Pumpkin Spice and Peacock Plume

There’s a chill in the air and the days are getting shorter. That means 3 things:

Everything is about to get VERY pumpkin spice oriented on social media
Squirrels are trying to live in my roof rent-free*
Quilt palettes are about to turn warm and cozy, like roasted root veg and decorative gourds << sweary comedy article! Don’t click if you’re offended by swears!! So pull up an overstuffed armchair, grab a steaming mug of pumpkin spice oat milk chai tea latte and a gluten free, nut free, dairy free, vegan, free range pumpkin spice scone, and prepare to be inspired by some beautiful, seasonal colour palettes!

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 2

Plan your quilt!

The first question is which size Arctic Vortex Quilt are you making? The medium size makes a good throw quilt or tree skirt, but if you want a bigger tree skirt, the large size is a few inches larger thanks to the added sashing, which also adds a little extra visual interest. Either one can be made using fat quarters or yardage. You can even go scrappy if you have long strips hanging around in your scrap basket.

Either way, you’ll want to pair up fabrics, since each block is made with 2 colours of strips. You can choose high contrast pairs or low contrast pairs.

And of course the star of the show is the focal fabric for the diamonds! We’ll talk more about fussy cutting next week, but you can print out the diamond template from the pattern to check if your motifs are the right scale for fussy cutting. Feel free to go scrappy with these as well!

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 1

Plan your quilt!

The first question is which size Arctic Vortex Quilt are you making? The medium size makes a good throw quilt or tree skirt, but if you want a bigger tree skirt, the large size is a few inches larger thanks to the added sashing, which also adds a little extra visual interest. Either one can be made using fat quarters or yardage. You can even go scrappy if you have long strips hanging around in your scrap basket.

Either way, you’ll want to pair up fabrics, since each block is made with 2 colours of strips. You can choose high contrast pairs or low contrast pairs.

And of course the star of the show is the focal fabric for the diamonds! We’ll talk more about fussy cutting next week, but you can print out the diamond template from the pattern to check if your motifs are the right scale for fussy cutting. Feel free to go scrappy with these as well!

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along FAQs, Early Bird Prize, and Recommended Tools

We’re one week away from the beginning of Arctic Vortex Quilt Along and I’m sew excited for all the fun!

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along
Dates: September 14 through November 23, 2021
Duration: 10 weeks
Quilt Sizes: Tree skirt or hexagonal quilt:

Large: 53” x 61”
Medium: 47” x 56”
Mini: 23” x 28”

3 Secret Formulas to Picking Fabric Colors that Work Together for Your Quilt

It’s no secret that I love making colorful quilts. Bright fabrics are fun!

When I show my quilts in a trunk show, one of the comments that I hear the most is “I love the color palette you used for this quilt!”

Here are my 3 simple secret formulas for picking the perfect palette of prints for a quilt, without using a color wheel or color theory.