Scrappy Trip Around the World Finish!

 I finally managed to stop cuddling under my quilt to take some photos of it to post here.  It's been a problem and I've wanted to bring it everywhere, just in case the Polar Vortex attacks again.

 And see?  I'm not the only one who loves it.  How could I possibly take a quilt away from this girl?

This is the first quilt I finished at my guild's retreat a few weekends back (there's a great write up of all the fun we had here).  I've had the top done since forever and I knew how I was going to quilt it, but it just lay in a pile.  I don't know why it took so long, but I'm glad it's finally finished.

It's the Scrappy Trip Around the World pattern that got really popular about a year back.  I pulled out all of my scraps (then had a moment of shock at how many there were since it was my first time really digging into them) then started just cutting one slice of fabric off most of the fabrics in my stash.  The result is a snapshot of what I was sewing with at the time, and it's very different from the state of my stash now.

I quilted it in the Dogwood pattern from Elizabeth Hartman.  I've wanted to try it since first seeing it on her blog, but never really had anything that would work.  The second I started making this quilt, though, I realized it would be perfect.  The two inch blocks are a great size for the first time trying the pattern.  You don't have to travel really far, so the arcs don't get too distorted, and since there's so many of them, the mistakes disappear.

I made the back scrappy too, using a couple pieces of leftover flannel from quilting previous quilts.  It's not been washed yet (too hard to get it away from the couch), but it already is super soft and perfect for cuddling under and watching TV or knitting.

Linking up with Blossom Heart Quilts for Sew Cute Tuesday and Quilt Story for Fabric Tuesday!

      

Scrappy Trip Around the World Quilt Finish

So this finish is not new, but it's from when I didn't have a blog, so I think that it still counts.  It's recent, and I've not cuddled with these quilts, so they still feel new to me.

Still mastering photo editing.  This one is too blue, where the one above is too yellow.  Someday I'll figure Photoshop out!  The rest of the photos are pretty dead on color wise.

I, along with many others got bit by the Scrappy Trip Around The World bug this summer.  It's pretty addictive, since the blocks go together so quickly and you can really use almost any fabric and it will turn out great.  (If you haven't yet, go check out the tutorial here that Quiltville put up.  It's pretty awesome.)

I first made the traditional Scrappy version that used every fabric I owned.  Of course, it's still waiting to be quilted, but soon!  Then I decided I liked making them so much, I would try to do another in just one color.   I have a lot of blue and teal, so those colors won.  I cut one or two strips from most of my blues and teals, and then added a bit of white and those two neutrals with red, blue and yellow, to break it up a bit.

I backed it in a wintery blue flannel and quilted it with straight lines that run through the points of each block.  The result is a bit softer and puffier than my normal dense quilting.  If I decide not to add this one to my Etsy shop, it will definitely be in the rotation of winter cuddling quilts at my house.

Side bonus to this quilt pattern?  If you start with strips cut the full 44" of your fabric, then cut that in half to make your tubes, the excess you trim off those tubes to make the Around the World blocks is enough to make a patchwork baby quilt!  (That makes sense, right?)

Once I'd finished the first quilt, I took the leftover joined squares and laid them out so they looked pretty random.  The I just sewed together the strips into rows and the rows to each other to make the top.  

I did the same quilting design on the baby quilt, straight lines through the points.  It's backed in another flannel, this one is white with little green dots.  

Linking up with Amanda Jean for Finish It Up Friday!