quilt along – the geeky bobbin

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 8

It’s time to bind our Arctic Vortex tree skirts and quilts!

Putting binding on a hexagonal quilt may seem intimidating if you’re used to only doing mitred corners when binding square or rectangular quilts. I’ll show you how to bind the 120° mitred corners smoothly and easily, then we’ll take on the 60° mitred corners where the quilt splits to make a tree skirt. Finally, we’ll use the stretch of bias binding to bind the inside curve of the tree skirt.

Step 1: Make binding

For going around curves, your best choice is always bias binding. Lucky for you, I have a brand new tutorial with the absolute fastest way to make as much bias binding as you need. Best of all, there’s no marking, no scissors, and only 2 seams to sew! Check it out!

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 7

Can you believe we’re finally ready to quilt our Arctic Vortex tree skirts and quilts??

Whether you’re going fancy or keeping it simple, quilting is the most exciting part of the quiltmaking process. It’s the alchemy that turns it from fabric and batting into a quilt!

Step 1: Quilt As Desired

That’s really the only step. Or rather, I can’t break it down for you much more than that, since it really depends on how you’re quilting your quilt. If you’re quilting by hand, I’m of no use to you, since I’ve never hand quilted!

If you’re machine quilting, whether it’s a sit-down machine or a longarm, free motion or walking foot, here are a few tips that will help you have a bit more success, hopefully.

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 6.5

Hold on a second. Just because you have a finished quilt top, doesn’t mean it’s time to start quilting! This week, we’re taking some time to plan and prepare first, so that the quilting goes a lot smoother. And yes, you can start quilting once you’ve taken these important steps.
Step 1: Choose your quilting method

How are you going to quilt your project? By hand? Using a walking foot? Free motion on a domestic machine? Longarm? Send it to a longarmer? Some combination of the above? This decision will influence all of the subsequent steps. Take stock of your preferences, skill set, budget, and available time.

Step 2: Plan your quilting

The eternal question: How Do I Quilt It? We could do an entire 8-week course on this subject (and hey, maybe I will some day!) but my favourite way to plan out my quilting is to draw on a picture of the quilt top. You can use your colouring page and pencils, a clear report cover with a whiteboard marker, or a photo of your quilt top and a drawing app. Try out a few different ideas and see what looks good and what feels doable in terms of density, complexity, and efficiency of movement.

If you haven’t planned the quilting for a triangle/hexagon quilt before, you can follow my design process as I worked through the quilting plan for Rebecca Bryan’s Solstice Modern Triangle BOM.

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 6

🎵It’s beginning to look a lot like a quilt top🎵 This might just be the most satisfying week of the entire quilt along for me. Our Arctic Vortex quilt tops are finally coming together! Maximum satisfaction, minimal frustration. Let’s jump right in!

Step 1: Get organized!

Whether you’re using a design wall, design bed, or design floor, now is the time to lay out all your blocks, adjust their placement, and make sure you’re happy with the finished arrangement.

For me, the key is getting the stripe effect to continue from one block to the next. In the center of the quilt, all your lightest strips should meet (or all your darkest — just be consistent.)

At the “bottom” of each Vortex block, lay out 2 setting triangles. I find that the sashing strips on the large size add another stripe into the mix, so I wanted to continue the long light-dark-light stripe down the left edge of the block, while on the medium size I preferred the contrast of a dark-light-dark stripe.

Once you’re happy with your layout, pin or stack your blocks so you can chain piece them together.

Arctic Vortex Quilt Along Week 5.5

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:

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