Penultimate Great Debater Quilt

Simple quilting with the walking foot on the diagonals. There are two ways to do this: sew each diagonal alone or turn at the edge. Guess which one I chose? The quilt turned time and again as long as the "lesser" amount was to the right. Like my grandson I've turned in circles until I'm about to fall down. Now that the quilting is done I'm dizzy.

Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt

Yellow binding kept it from competing with the multicolored top. All the yellow bits in the leftover binding bin were used.

Scrappy yellow binding on Scrappy Trip

A quick wash and dry shrunk the batting enough to crinkle the surface. It's my favorite look although the quilt becomes smaller. Keeping it out of the dryer and blocking the quilt after washing will both reduce shrinkage, at times almost to nil.

After this, only one quilt remains for the Great Debaters.

Quilt Details
Size: 68" x 78"
Design: Scrappy Trip Around the World
Batting: Mountain Mist Cream Rose 100%cotton
Thread: Presencia cotton
Quilting: Walking foot 

Continuing our vacation, we drove by the Pinnacles near the Black Canyon. Both are great destinations but that wasn't where we were headed.  

The Pinnacles, Gunnison CO

This site on the Dolores River shows the arid environment and geologic outcrops that mark this region. Played out gold and uranium mines dot this region. Occasionally, the deeds have been purchased to rework the tailings but production here halted by the 1950s. 

Hanging Flume hangs above the Dolores River

We stopped to admire the Hanging Flume near Uravan, CO. This thirteen-mile hydraulic flume was built for a gold mining operation. The last five miles clings to cliff faces and is visible in both photos. Fantastic engineering feat but unfortunately, the gold was not recoverable. 

Hanging Flume

Our campsite was in the Uncompahgre National Forest. Colorado is open range which means the ranchers don't fence their cattle in; you fence their cattle out. This doesn't apply to any other livestock; i.e., goats, sheep, horses, llama, etc. Three cows grazed by the gate until I started to pull my camera out. Then they ambled off although one is still visible in the distance. 

Cattle through the gate

Lots of flowers such as wild rose and columbine bloomed despite the heat.

Wild rose and Columbine,
Uncompahgre National Forest, CO

This old mailbox has been repurposed as a book drop for the Nucla Library. Love the lively painting which should encourage anyone to read.

Book drop, Nucla, CO

Enjoy the day,  Ann

Enlarged Mini Trip Around the World

Twelve more blocks finished and the top sewn together. The quilt will be six by seven blocks or approximately 72" by 84". Here it is.

Here was the planned layout on the floor. Somehow the blocks became reversed while sewing. {Who did that?} It still looks good; one of the joys of scrap quilts. The colors are a bit brighter in this photo than the previous. The real colors are somewhere between these two.

Enlarged Mini Trip Around the World 

When I last laid these out, the blocks seemed a bit too bright/dark. So for the final twelve I used fewer dark and bright strips. Just to tone it down a bit.

Finishing this quilt doesn't take long when many of the blocks are strip pieced. I also learned some finer points from this exercise. For example, since I like strong diagonals I made sure a red/orange/yellow strip occurred every seventh or eighth strip. Then I opened the tube at that fabric so they made most of the main diagonals.

Note: If you strictly make your preferred color on the main diagonal, you'll have a larger "square" where four blocks meet at the corners. If you alternate seventh and eighth locations you get more of an Irish Chain style. Does this make sense?

Of course, you can be completely random, too.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Kaleidoscope of Butterflies 16

My mother and I spent the day at the Dallas Arboretum. It was a bit early for many flowers and a hard rain and wind storm knocked the petals off the tulips. But we saw these moths busily mating.

Moths at the Dallas Arboretum

Monica at Lakeview Stitching says it's good luck when you see a white butterfly first in the spring. Do moths count? She's also making a charming Moth in the Window quilt. Take a look.

The Red Maple Rill is always gorgeous. Here's a view from the back side with the little waterfall and creek.

Waterfall near Maple Rill, Dallas Arboretum

This funny old woody was covered in flowers. Everyone lined up to have their pictures made with it. Peace out.

Flower Powered, Dallas Arboretum

Another scrappy Mini Trip Around the World in my perpetual attempt to reduce the scrap bag. And another Debater needs a quilt. Here's what I have so far. These blocks were made in a different way than I've seen others use. Most were made with expanded strips sets {directions here} but a few were individually pieced with leftover squares.

Scrappy Mini Trip Around the World blocks

Enjoy the day, Ann

InLinkz removed because it was hacked.

Alternate Method for Mini Trip Around the World Blocks

Since my scrap bag is still full, I decided to make another Mini Trip Around the World. I wanted to see if I could combine some quick piecing techniques with a bit of randomization.

There are two ways I to make Trip Around the World: use individual squares or strips. The first gives you complete control but takes a while. The second can be both more random and more organized. It may also yield unexpected results.

Scrappy Mini Trips
from strips on the left
and using individual squares
on the right

Many people make tubes of six or eight strips, cut them crosswise and unsew between the different squares to make a single block. Like this. Ok. Most people use six strips but I always use eight. The numbers 1-8 stand in for different colors but you see the fabric repeats on each side of the main diagonal.

One Mini Trip Around the World
from eight strips

My issue with this is that each half of each block is the same. What if I sewed more strips before cutting?  Here's what two sets to strips (16 total) would look like. As you see,  each block still has all the same fabrics although they are in different locations. Instead of one block having repeat fabrics on each side, now two blocks have all the same fabrics. Only the main diagonal is different.

Two sets of strips to make two
Mini Trip Around the World blocks

What about three Mini Trip blocks?

Three sets of strips to make
three Mini Trip Around the World blocks

Finally each block has some of the fabrics but they are all different arrangements.

I cut my strips two inches wide so they finish 1.5 inches. With eight squares across, my blocks finish at 12-inches. Each strip set appears in only two of the blocks so I need a bit more than 16-inches of 24 different strips to make these three blocks. When they are sewed into a tube of strips it will only be 18-inches wide. I can easily do this. Hooray.

You could also alter this to the more common 2.5-inch strip (finishing 2 inches) and only use six strips per block. The finished blocks will still be 12-inches and the tube will still be the same width. Your choice.

Here's my first tube of fabrics with a bit of extra length to make straightening cuts.

Tube sewn from 24
2-inch by 17-inch strips.

After cross-cutting the large tube into eight two-inch wide circles, I unsewed at different pairs until I had this arrangement of columns.

Tube sets lined up to
create Mini Trip blocks

Then I counted down eight squares and unsewed those on each column until I had this.

Three scrappy Mini Trip
Around the World blocks
from tube sets

Sew those short columns together to get three 12-inch finished blocks.

Enjoy the day, Ann

Comparing Trips

While I continue to play with the border I thought it would be fun to look at different trips. They've been posted before, but I like grouping smaller photos for easy comparison. Block choice really affects the quilt, as does fabric. Google search to find more examples.

Trip Around the World

Mini Trips Around the World (layout)

Trip Around the Block (layout)

Scrappy Trips

Original Trip Around the World creates one large diamond. (If you don't want the diamond effect, Postage Stamps looks like one quadrant of the original trip.) Mini Trips Around the World are made with multiple smaller Trips... more trips but fewer rounds in each trip.

Scrappy Trip block is composed of squares laid on one diagonal like a mini postage stamp. Rotating the blocks creates diamond shapes and strong sides that disappear at block boundaries. But blocks don't have to be rotated. Look at Sujata Shah's gorgeous quilts for alternative settings. Asymmetrical blocks like Scrappy Trip have more setting variations than ones like the other trips. Bonnie Hunter has examples and instructions for these quilts on her site: Quiltsville Trip and Quiltsville Scrappy Trip. (Note: I didn't use her method for my first Trip; the rounds don't repeat regularly.)

Trip Around the Block uses two blocks to establish strong center diamonds and grids. Value variations occur at block boundaries again but are subtly different than Scrappy Trip.

Isn't it amazing the different quilts you can make with only squares?

Fret not; enjoy the day. Ann

Progressing Around the Block

I finished all the O-blocks for Trip Around the Block. Here are the latest ones, laid out like Mini Trips Around the World.

These blocks are set like a Mini Trip Around the World, but they are just half the blocks I'll use.

Fret not; enjoy the day. Ann

More Trips Around the Block

Here are the blocks I finished yesterday. Just a few more to make.

O blocks for Trips Around the Block

Ann