Scrappy Trip Quilt Gifted and Lady Liberty

The orange peel quilting is finished and the binding is on so this little quilt was washed, dried, and delivered to the Boy Who Likes Green.

Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt

Three pieces of green fabric were used on the back.

Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt back

Gayle gifted me the green for the binding. She was tired of it; there was just enough for this small quilt.

Detail of binding on Scrappy Trip Around the World quilt

Here's a closeup of the quilting. Not bad.

Detail of Orange peel quilting

Quilt Details

Size: 43"" x 43"

Design: Scrappy Trip Around the World

Batting: Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon100% cotton

Thread: grey Aurifil cotton 50/2 thread

Quilting: Orange peel with walking foot

Personally, Mountain Mist is one of my favorites but the batt does shrink with the first wash. {About two-inches in this case but it's been as much as four inches.} I like the crinkled effect on the quilting, the very light weight, and prefer these 100% cotton batts.

Previous posts:

1. Finding the fabric
2. Trip in progress
3. Top finished

The other Scrappy Trip was mailed, too, but in the rush to get to the post office I forgot to take a photo. Here's the top. These quilts were made sequentially so have similar fabrics although this second one has more pinks. The back is pink, too.

The second Scrappy Trip has pinks and reds on the main diagonal

Until the previous post went live I didn't realize it was all about "man" quilts - either for men or made by men. War and Pieced is at the American Folk Art Museum in NYC until January 7. It moves to the International Study Center at the University of Lincoln-Nebraska on May 25 and runs till September 16, 2018. Hopefully you will be able to see it at one of these museums.


Lady Liberty
I was finally able to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Tickets to these sites sell out well in advance; there was only one left when we found out we were going to NYC. I took it and planned everything else around it. The overcast day made great photos.

The Statue of Liberty

Sculpted by Frederic Bartholdi, the statue is a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States. I knew the pedestal was built by the people of the US but didn't know the statue languished in storage for eight years until Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian immigrant, created a unique fundraising concept. Every person who donated at least a penny had their name published on the front page of his paper. He raised $100,000 in five months from 125,000 Americans and new arrivals. An immigrant with a newspaper.

"Immigrants. We get the job done."

I also didn't know Gustav Eiffel built the infrastructure of the statue. A wrought iron central pylon with a framework for cross-braced iron angle bar looks a bit like the Eiffel Tower. Flat iron bars connect the skin support system to the frame and act like springs allowing the skin to adjust to temperature and wind changes. Spectacular.

Model cutaway of the Statue of Liberty showing the framework

The pedestal sits on Fort Wood, an eleven-point star fort built in 1808. The design came from French engineers so, of course, it reminds me of Fort Ticonderoga (which you remember was built by the French.)

The Statue of Liberty

New Yorkers are the kindest people. They helped with my large bag on the subway and stopped to give directions. I so appreciated their friendly assistance. Thanks, New York!

Enjoy the day, Ann

Quilting TATW

Trip Around the World quilts are simply grids - like those we can mark for fancy quilting. At two-inches, they are just a bit larger than usual. So I decided to quilt orange peel on this one. I don't have to mark, it's a change from the diagonal grid I often use, and I want to see what it looks like at this scale.

Gentle curves with walking foot create Orange Peel design

I used the regular straight stitch with a walking foot and turned on the half-speed button. I'm a pedal-to-the-metal kinda gal. Actually I turned it on by accident and found it really helped the curves. Starting at a four-corner intersection, I angled the foot left while counting to two slowly, then center for another two, then right for two back to the next intersection. {That's lots more than two stitches. It just helped me keep a symmetrical arc.)

Once the serpentines were completed in one direction, I rotated the quilt ninety degrees and sewed the same curves on the other side of the blocks.

Quilting curves on all sides to finish the squares

They are not perfect but they are improving. Another nice surprise is how quickly this top becomes a quilt. Since I mostly make large quilts, it's a pleasant change to imagine a finish in the next few days.

If  you want more walking foot quilting ideas from an approachable, enthusiastic teacher check out Mel Beach at Piece, Love & Happiness. She always has a new tidbit to share.

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

Trips Around the Block

There's a Trip Around the World pattern; several small ones are Mini-Trips. I named this two block combination Trips Around the Block.

Trip Around the Block, X and O block layout

While I'm very pleased with the color choices in Scrappy Trips, I had intended to include more light values. I decided to make some Mini-Trips to experiment with that idea. O's only didn't have the strong diagonal; however, there is an interesting secondary trip where the blocks meet that could be square or oblong.

This is a Mini-Trip since it's made of O blocks only. 

The design improved with an alternate X block but was still too static since each X contained only four fabrics. I want to use more fabrics and draw the eye around with value. I've decided to make the O's first. As more are completed, it's easier to vary the layout and number of fabrics. Then I'll make X's. Some of the original blocks will be reworked; you can see where I've pinned replacement squares. It takes longer but I'm not in a hurry.

Fret not; enjoy the day.

Ann