16 March 2012

friday finish - a flimsy


I've seen a fair amount of pretty trips around the world quilts lately. Bonnie has a tutorial for this classic pattern.

(Would love to share more links of the inspiration quilts, but I am struggling to link in this blogspot version, not allowed to paste the web adresse- any advise is most welcome...)

This will be another string quilt for someone special, making it quite colorful. First step was to cut lots of 2.5" strips around 17" to 18" long from stash. And then grouping them in pairs of 6.


Usually I set up a few design rules for myself when making a quilt. I use this as a starting point and may change them later in the process. For scrappy quilts with lots of variation I find this quite helpful.

I based my This Scrappy trips around the World on these rules:

each block is a combination of several colors
each block uses the darkest value strip for the diagonal
there's a limited color palette (pink, purple, aqua, yellow and orange)

It's always exiting to see how the blocks turn out, and there is always lessons to learn from trying out a new pattern or a new combination of colors.

Some of my first blocks didn't have enough contrast in value, so they were put aside. I included a few very light fabrics to expand the contrast in value. I think this pattern ask for quite a bit of contrast (Both dark, medium and lighter colors.)


This is a fun pattern to make. The worst part was cutting the 2.5" strips. The blocks themselves are quite quick to put together. The trick is in the ironing...

My design wall (just a big piece of batting) is behind the table with my sewing machine. There was a lot of moving the blocks around to find the best layout.


The finished top is 60" by 72".


These strips made a small dent in my stash, and the bonus is the leftover strips waiting for the next string quilt. Which might be a new spiderweb....
; )


Wish you all a good weekend, hopefully with some happy stitching. Or stashing...
; )

32 comments:

Brenda said...

fun quilt and great colours!

Quiltefia said...

Morsomt!! Litt av et puslespill!! Nå skal jeg ha fri til etter påske, så nå håper jeg at jeg får sydd litt jeg også!! God helg!! AnneK:-)

kelly said...

this is so lovely. i'm intrigued.

Nifty Quilts said...

Wonderful! You have inspired me to make one too!! Tuk!

Lynn Dykstra said...

What fun fabrics you included.

Lynn Dykstra said...

What fun fabrics you included.

Jenny said...

such a fun quilt. i need to sit down and do something similar. im happy just to look at yours!

carol fun said...

LOVE it! Makes me want to pull tons of fabrics out of my stash and start cutting strips!

Sew Create It - Jane said...

Its fabulous! You've done a great job!

Lucy | Charm About You said...

Love it!! So fun and the layout is perfect :)

Elly D said...

Stunning!! What gorgeous fabrics are in this quilt.

Fran said...

That is stunning! I would love to make one.

Lappedamen said...

Herlig teppe. Jeg elsker restetepper. De har en spesiell sjarme.

Nicky said...

Great use of colour !

CATHY DANIEL said...

Have loved looking around your blog as I take textiles and quilts as inspiration for my work, but I am just staggered at the piece in this post - awesome! xCathy

Denise said...

This is such a cheerful quilt...it made my day just to look at it! Thanks for sharing and happy sewing!

mac said...

Love the quilt and the freedom to not match the trips around the world. Very exciting.

pinsandneedles said...

Love it! Very colorful and cheerful!

Vicky F said...

Hi Marit,
Your quilt top turned out wonderful!
This quilt is on my short list of things to make (I had already printed out directions from Bonnie's site about a month ago).
I'll be watching how you quilt it!
Vicky F
http://vickyfbbstitcher.blogspot.com

Tilonino said...

Hei Marit :)
Så mye fint du har sydd. Jeg er imponert :)
Klem fra Tine

Sharon said...

Glad to see you jumped right in and made one! It looks great - very bright and happy. Great fabrics too. And you were fast!! I love it.

These don't really make much of a dent in the stash, do they? And you can really wear out your seam ripper. But they're like eating potato chips - it's hard to stop at one. *smile*

Unknown said...
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Barb said...

what a great quilt!
I love your fabrics so fun and fresh!
the colors are inspiring. congrats on a fab top!

Marie said...

I was noticing your design wall - it looks very efficient. How did you hang it? It looks like a rod with a series of hooks, is that correct?

Marie said...

I was noticing your design wall - it looks very efficient. How did you hang it? It looks like a rod with a series of hooks, is that correct?

Carla said...

Oh, Marit! I just love your color choices for this.....it makes me happy just to look at it...another one of yours that I'd love to copy exactly!

Selfsewn said...

Gorgeous!

Misty said...

Oh my goodness, this is beautiful! You have a really nice collection of scraps. :) I am inspired to try this, too, with my scraps.

Mary Keasler said...

Marit! This is drop dead gorgeous. I adore this. And you know, to my eye, it would coordinate perfectly with "Nifty's" Spiderweb. What talent!

Browndirtcottage said...

Oh! Oh! Stop....this is just too cute, cool and fabulous! Your fabric choices are sooo exciting!

I won the 'trips' from the block lotto I posted about, but mine lean toward the darker shades. Kind of more old fashioned looking!

Yours is most refreshing!! I.LIKE.

Nancy said...

This quilt is looking great. I like Bonnie's instructions... you're right, it's easier than you might think. Good tip about making the few guidelines for your blocks to get a cohesive look.

Lynne said...

Oh wow, that is stunning!